Interesting, wwh...My source for the "Throne" information is " KANSAS-L digest 1800," the second hit on the Google search. I quote: > "There is one word in German that retains the "th" sound and that is the word "Throne". This is because Kaiser Wilhelm II decreed in the early part of the last [19th] century that the "h" sound in "th" would be removed in all words except "throne." >>So that is how Neanderthal became Neandertal. >Don't ask me how it took so long for other people than Germans to use it that way. >>"Throne" retains the spelling, but not the sound, Fred. Standard German doesn't have the English "th" sound at all, and never did. The German orthographic reform of 1904 wasn't really all that successful, either, even in Germany. Today, almost 100 years later, Deutschmarken can still be made there by selling computer programs which have the single purpose of catching uses of "old spelling." In fact, the URL of the Neanderthal Museum in Germany is itself www.neanderthal.com. I'm not sure the Austrians and Swiss have ever adopted that particular decreed change. Only in France does it seem possible to dictate spelling rules with any confidence they will be followed. Of course, the Kaiser was the son of Queen Victoria's first child, Vicky (also Victoria), and is reputed to have spoken much better English than his cousin George V of England. That might have something to do with his desire to "anglicize" German spellings. That's what my German professor thought, and we were marked down in his class for using "new" spellings." Unquote. (This is the best capsule explanation for all of this I've found)
So, evidently, there is a huge ambivalence in Germany, itself, about this...perhaps the editors of the site you quoted are adherents of the old spelling, ignoring the decree?
If anyone wants to confirm this source here is the URL (if it fits):
http://www.ukans.edu/~medieval/kansas-1/2000/20000901/msg00024.html 
