From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!floyd!rhm
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Title: Re: "re: often"
Article-I.D.: floyd.359
Posted: Wed Jul 14 21:00:05 1982
Received: Thu Jul 15 05:23:36 1982
References: watmath.2995


Indeed you are mistaken. "often" was spelled (and pronounced) with a "t"
in Old English as far back as records go.  No ignorant scholar had to
intervene.

The other claim recently of an ignorant scholar is also weak.  No intervention
was necessary to insert an "s" in the word "iland" which was also spelled
"igland".  There was a parallel word "isle" already in the language which
had always been spelled with an "s" and derived (ultimately) from Latin.