The unexpected typographic origins of the English we speak today
We often think of Modern English as a fixed entity, but its foundations were once a fluid landscape of shifting letters. From the interchangeable 'u' and 'v' to the disappearance of the 'thorn,' the way we write was once a work in progress.
Early Modern English, spanning from the late 15th century through the mid-to-late 17th century, served as the bridge between the dialectical variations of Middle English and the standardized English of today. While many readers can still navigate the works of William Shakespeare or the 1611 King James Bible, the language's orthography—its spelling and writing system—was remarkably unstable. During this era, letters like 'u' and 'v' were not distinct characters but different forms of the same letter, with 'v' typically appearing at the start of words (as in 'vnmoued') and 'u' elsewhere. Similarly, 'i' and 'j' were treated as interchangeable forms.
The standardization of these characters was a gradual process. The modern convention of using 'u' for vowels and 'v' for consonants only began to emerge in the 1630s, alongside the separation of 'i' and 'j'. Even the letter 's' had two forms: the 'short s' (s) and the 'long s' (ſ). The 'thorn' (þ), an even older character, survived in handwritten texts and appeared in printed forms like 'ye' (thee) in the King James Version, though it had largely vanished by the end of the period.
This linguistic evolution was driven by more than just literary whim; it was shaped by mass media and law. The rise of printing, pioneered by figures like William Caxton in 1476, and the widespread distribution of religious texts like the Book of Common Prayer (1549) helped cement a standard form of English. By the 1730s, legal mandates even required English to replace Law French and Latin in English courts, further pushing the language toward the stable, standardized version we recognize today.
Source: Early Modern English
