Gettysburg or GETTYSBURGH?

[Mr. Vittles]

I recently saw an article in the Civil War Historian about a particular Federal Regimental battleflag that had Gettysburg spelt GETTYSBURGH amongst their many battle honors. I believe it was in volume 2, issue 4 (one prior to the latest issue that just came out). I can't remember for the life of me what regiment the flag belonged to or where the heck I put that issue! Sorry for the vague description. :o
My question is, why the spelling difference? Was it an old spelling of that historic little town or, dare I say, a misspelling ?

I'll continue to look for that issue to better reference it. In the mean time, your comments are welcomed!

[markj]

Re: Gettysburg or GETTYSBURGH?

"Correct spelling" was a hit or miss thing in the 1860's. Look at enough newspapers and you'll see names and locales spelling multiple ways (sometimes even "phonetically").

Alternate spellings appear on various regimental colors. The Hardee-pattern color of the 17th Tennessee spells a battle honor "PERRYVILE" (which, when you think about it, is pretty accurate!). The locale of Cold Harbor is spelled "COAL HARBOR" on the color of the King William Artillery Battery (Virginia). Indeed, I've seen this same spelling used in numerous news accounts. Chickamauga is spelled "CHICAMAUGA," &c. &c., &c.

In a number of cases, battle honors were applied on flags by talented amateurs instead of professionals, so spellings on them often came down to personal tastes and "luck of the draw." The real wonder is that we don't see more spelling errors than we do.

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[Guy Gane III]

Re: Gettysburg or GETTYSBURGH?

Look at the typical spelling of "trowsers" in an 1860's context compared to the modern spelling of such as "trousers".

Think of how good the period education system was. There were spelling dialects the same as today's verbal dialects. If you have basic phonics skills, sounding out the word would cause a lot of people to misspell their words.

[cwd22]

Re: Gettysburg or GETTYSBURGH?

I beleive it was the New York Times who in all their headlines on the battle spelled it Gettysburgh (but oddly enough in a few prewar mentions it is spelled without the H), most other sources that I have seen name it as Gettysburg.

Chad Dunkelberger

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Gettysburg or GETTYSBURGH?

Hallo!

Getty's Tavern.... ;)

Even today with higher rates of literacy and education even when the spelling is more universally agreed upon- pronunciation can still vary.
In this State, it is not uncommon to find two pronunciations for cities such as:

Ohio versus Ohayah
Cincinnatti versus Cicinnatta
Loueyville versus Louahville
Medeena versus Medyna
Lyma versus Leema
Lahfayette versus Layfayette
Wooster versus Whaster
Bellefontaine versus Bellefountin
Cuyahaga versus Cuyahohga

Aside from phonentic or "best guess" spellings, sometimes city names vary according to whether their name is a contraction or not. For example,
Fort Pitt became Pittsborough which became Pittsburgh. Or Edinborough becomng Edinburg. Versus cities following a more "Germanic" tradition of endings of "berg" referring to hills or mountains versus "burg" referring to forts or fortifications (Hamburg versus Bamberg).

A lad with a paint brush and a can of paint can make his flag pretty much to the best of his or his unit's collective knowledge. (Without a discussion of varied place names such as Manassas versus Bull Run, Pittsburg Landing versus Shiloh, Murfreesboro versus Stone's River, Antietam versus Sharpsburg. Etc. Or variation on a theme- Harper's Ferry versus Harpers Ferry.

Curt

[Charles Heath]

Re: Gettysburg or GETTYSBURGH?

Mr. Vittles,

A good number of the Gettysburg locals still pronounce the name of the town as if "Get-tiss-burg." This is a variation on the "Get-teaz-burg" most of us hear. Just thinkin' this goes well with the rest of the thread. :)

[Jeff Prechtel]

Re: Gettysburg or GETTYSBURGH?

Crick or CREEK, anyone? :wink_smil
Like Kurt & Charles were talking about...
Spelling to some degree and speech patterns
have a lot to do with WHERE you live, especially
in the 18th & 19th centuries. Since people didn't get
around as much as we do today, their speech patterns
were usually a direct link to geographic region, social scale,
and etc.Then like now, people in more urbane areas have
a more (they like to think) "refined" speech pattern, than
people who liv(e)d in more rural settings.

Jeff Prechtel

[Mr. Vittles]

Re: Gettysburg or GETTYSBURGH?

Thank you all for your replies. They're all plausible answers to my question. I realized after reading your replies that phonetic spelling was more prevelant than I originally thought. I some how had it in my mind that when it came to a very important ocassion such as placing battle honors on a flag, it would have been done in a more methodical manner (i.e. find the generally accepted spelling of the battle's location as opposed to using a phonetic one). Thank you again for sharing your thoughts in this matter!

[henionjd]

Re: Gettysburg or GETTYSBURGH?

NPR recently had an article on the missing letter h on many town names. This might have some bearing on the confusion.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6243297

-Jeff Henion

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Gettysburg or GETTYSBURGH?

Hallo!

Herr Charles...

If one frequents a number of boards and fora, one can see that phonetic spelling is still alive and well.
;) ;) :)

Some languages drop "unnecessary letters" as they modernize over time.
German for example...

The older version of "Schmidt" (English: Smith) ends in "dt" ("d" is silent)
It progresses through "Schmid" (final "d" it pronounced as a "t")
It progresses through "Schmitt."
And since two final "t's" are not needed, there is "Schmit."

In Germany "smith" is also "Schmeid" (pronounced "schmeet")
but since in some parts of Germany the "i" in Schmidt is pronounced as a "long 'e'" it also sounds like "schmeet."

Kert
Tower of Babel Mess

[marine05]

Re: Gettysburg or GETTYSBURGH?

Reading the book of letters from JEB Stuart's staff officers, I notice Culpeper, VA referred to as Culpepper, Calpeper; Dumfries, in various spellings, Centreville as Centervile.

Even now in a town nearby to my old home town of Bridgewater MA, Middleborough is spelled many times a Middleboro

s/f

DJM

[MassPvt]

Re: Gettysburg or GETTYSBURGH?

As is Attleboro, Boxboro, Foxboro, Marlboro, Southboro, Westboro...

[FWL]

Not Just Phonetics

Charles V. as in not Charles the sutler Heath, it may be more than phonetics. For example here in central Mass we have some towns that still use an old english spelling vs. a modernized spelling for example

OLD NEW
Southborough Southboro
Marlborough Marlboro
Northborough Northboro
Westborough Westboro

You get the idea, nothing to do with how its pronounced.

Its my understanding that Marlboro recently (last 10 years) went to a legal name chance so in legal matters you could call spell it either way, not sure about the other central Mass towns but Southborough seems to like to keep the ugh and Northboro seems to have dropped the ugh.

Maybe someone that knows linguistics could explain this. I think I had too much time on hand today! Not!

[flattop32355]

Re: Gettysburg or GETTYSBURGH?

I realized after reading your replies that phonetic spelling was more prevelant than I originally thought.

It flows both ways: Not only were/are words spelled according to how they are pronounced (by many people), but can be pronounced according to how they are spelled. Silent letters, dipthongs, and local customs all contribute to "incorrect" pronunciations by individuals.