In reply to:

in many fonts "rm" looks like just another 'm' to the careless reader. this is even more of a problem with "rn". that was two (2) letters just then within that last ""!

There is a similar problem in mediaeval manuscripts referred to as the minim problem. Apparently i was undotted at that time (and this was part of the reason it acquired a dot) and this made combinations of i, m, n, and u very difficult to tell apart (not to mention the fact that v and w had not been completely differentiated from u as yet). One way of getting round the problem was to write u as o when it came before an m, hence the irregular spellings of come and some.

I'm summarising this from having looked it up in David Crystal's "Encyclopaedia of the English Language" last night. I would have copied a direct quote but my computer at home is unwell, and it would be hard to follow his remarks without the pictures anyway.



Bingley


Bingley