Article,
Errours and Endeavors: A Case Study in American Orthography
International Journal of Lexicography, 3 (1): 35--63 (Mar 20, 1990)
DOI: 10.1093/ijl/3.1.35
Abstract
English words with variant British and American spellings, none are of such historical interest and controversy as those in the '-o(u)r' set, including colo(u)r, humo(u)r, valo(u)r, hono(u)r, and the like. The present study attempts to shed some light on the origins of this discrepancy. The analysis focuses on thirty of the most common -o(u)r words and traces their orthographic evolution through an examination of various texts, including dictionaries and school spellers, the published work and private correspondence of Noah Webster (to whom the spelling difference is often credited), and a sample of Northeastern American newspapers published between 1740 and 1840
