Etymo

orthography

The conventions of spelling and writing a language.

Played on · Day 15 · word 3 of 5

Writing correctly.

How orthography reached English

oldest first
  • orthos‘correct’
  • graphein‘to write’

combined

  1. Greek

    orthographia

    ‘correct writing’

  2. Latin

    orthographia

  3. Old French

    ortografie

  4. Middle English

    ortografie

  5. English

    orthography

The story of orthography

Orthography uses Greek components for straight or correct and writing. Latin and French forms transmitted it into English. What sounds like a technical label is a compact description of conventional spelling.

This view explains the components. They are pieces of one construction, not consecutive borrowing stages.

Sources

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