Spelling
There's difference between spelling change and lettering change, as discussed in the Lettering section.
The text also contains word changes (the same base word but in a changed form, e.g. astrologer/astrologian, began/begun, sprang/sprung, strake/stroke/strooke [for struck], mine/my, toward/towards, while/whiles/whilst, mids/midst, mend/amend, bide/abide, far/afar, loud/aloud, rose/arose, ware/aware, pertain/appertain, stablish/establish), and word exchanges (the substitution of an entirely different word, though carrying the same meaning, e.g. in/on, no/not, journeying/journeyings, eighty/fourscore). To compile a list of spelling changes, these too must be identified and filtered out.
I considered organizing these according to frequency data, that is, which spellings are used 100% of the time, vs common variants, vs rare variants, vs 1-offs; but that isn't straightaway useful. You want an overview of the Patterns, and then to find out what's common via experience.
On this page, I've underlined spelling forms that are consistently used (one could say, these were the "normal spellings", while the form that caught on and that we use today was a "variant spelling" at the time). Note how each Pattern listed is not a "convention" touching every applicable word, but only some words are impacted, and of those impacted, only a few undergo the change pretty consistently.
Sometimes, a "consistent" change really means its the sole occurrence found in the entire Book, which isn't much of a pattern (on its own, you can neither label it common nor rare). If there are very few counts of the spelling change, I provide the count in superscript ¹/²/³.
Common Affix interchanges
Aside from dis-/des-, in-/en-, & -ious/-eous, there are other commonly-interchangeable affix forms (these don't generally impact the length of the printed word):
- -ent/-ant (apparant¹, currant¹)
- -tion/-tian/-cion/-cian (dissention¹, musicion¹/musition², physicion¹), and -cious/-tious (gratious², pretious³)
- -le/-el (battel, bottel, *bowles¹ [bowels], bundel², cattel, castel, pestel¹, muzzel, rifel[ed]¹, tinkel[ing]¹)
- -er/-re (flowre, mitre, scepter, showre, towre, suerty² [surety], entier¹, wiers¹)… Suerty/entier/wiers are neat ones; northren² [northern] may also fit in this category.
- -er/-ar/-or/-our — Several! We may or may not list these here.
Plain-Letter Halving & Doubling
- B (bablings, scrabled¹, stuble¹; cabbins¹), D (medle, sadle, swadle, troden; diddst/diddest [didst], hadd[e]st, midd[e]st, shaddow², widdow), E (ben[e], redeming¹, Galile, Pharise, Sadduce; heere), F (afright, ofspring², sherif², stifnecked²), L (alure, bdelium, folow, halow, wholy²; ballance¹, idoll, lillies, molle¹ [& moule], pallace², pellicane, perillous¹, scholler², stollen); M (commeth, becommeth, dammage, endammage), N (bonet¹, chanel, cinamon, maner, disanul, peny¹, pinacle; annise¹, linnen~, annoint), O (wollen¹; foord/afoord, foorth, behooved¹, moove/remoove, proove/approove/reproove, shooe, whoore¹, woonder¹, woont¹, woolf², woork, woord), P (saphire; chappel¹), R (borow, cariage/cary, garison, mulbery, mariage/maried, merie/merily¹, morow, quarell¹, aray, sorow/sory, sparow¹, tary; forrest), S (expresly, grashopper, hysop; ceassed¹, wass¹), T (botle², litle, netle, paterne, ratleth¹, setled, tatler¹, title [tittle], *later [latter]; catterpiller¹, pitty, filletted¹, trumpetter), and Z (wizzard¹). *Note 'later' is not a KJV word, it's only a spelling of "latter"
- L in word-end position is very frequently halved, or doubled (Al, bel, cal, dwel, fal, fel, fil, ful, hel, hil, kil, pul, sel, shal, skil, skul, smal, stil, milstone, tel, til, wal, wel, wil; Naturall, continuall, generall, evill, marvell, navell, shovell, vessell, towell, & the -full suffix)
Monograph/Digraph Halving & Doubling
- a/ea (harth¹, Elasa¹ [Eleasah]), a/au (lanch, tanting¹; baulm¹, auncient¹, chaunce¹, chaunge¹, chaunt¹/enchauntment¹, daunce, praunse¹, traunce¹, emerauld¹, straunger¹, graunt, herauld¹, commaund/demaund, cauldron, slaunder¹, servaunt³), c/ch (cameleon¹, Caldea, Cinneroth, Cloe¹; chrystal¹ [crystal], Choos¹, Milchom¹, Racha¹), c/ck (banck¹, flanck, planck¹, sprinckle, stinck¹, tinckling¹, twinckling¹, wrinckle²), e/ea (bedsted², bredth, brest, clense, delt¹, egle², ech [each], endevor, jelous, plesant¹, zelous, unlevened, medow, yerne², spred, wrethen¹; alleadge¹, deaw, heards, heardmen/shepheard, *lead² [led], *least [lest], measse, preasse, sheard/potsheard, shead/sheadeth), g/dg (alleadge¹, hindge, colledge², sacriledge¹), o/oa incl. some "Re-configs" (bords¹, foming, groned, bemoned, approch/reproch, rost; cloak [cloke], cloathe, coard, *coates [cotes], loathe, shoare, smoake¹), o/ou (armor, thogh³, yong; doung, aboundant, coult¹, fourbish, infoulding¹, fourm/perfourm, fourty, moulten, nourture¹, slouthful, souldier)
- S/Sh - S could be used for Sh and pronounced as Sh; these common/accepted spellings came from Latin which had no Sh (Eschol¹, Esthaol¹, Hosama¹, Ismael¹, Jesohaiah¹, Jesurun, Josuah, Lachis¹, Sallum¹, Saveh¹, Sechaniah¹, Sem³, Semaiah², Sigionoth¹, Tarshis¹, Vasthi [Vashti]; Amashai¹, Michmash¹, Methushelah¹), Z/Sh (Rezeph¹, Zimri¹, Ziphmite¹; Amashiah¹)
- H/Th (fift, sixt, eight [eighth], twelft², Ahitophel², Japhet; Ramath¹, Sathan² [Satan])
- H deleted or inserted, to reduce or lengthen a Vowel: "O" ["Oh"], Ammiud² [Ammihud], Bethleem¹, Halloesh¹, Jeroam¹ [Jeroham], Pharao²; abhominable², preheminence¹, Ahiham¹ [Ahiam], Hiericho¹ [Iericho], Hierusalem [Ierusalem], Isahac², Jehiel [Jeiel], Rehu¹ [Reu].
- The "Ha" segment - Ahashtari¹ [Haahashtari], Amedatha² [Hammedatha]
Simple Vowel Changes
- a/e - *pray [prey], raign, swarve¹, waigh, wrack², wrastle, townclark¹ [clerk]; *then [than], vineger, seperate¹, Jorden, Emorite [Amorite]
- ein/ain - certein, ordein, constein, detein, maintein, obtein, retein, contein, pertein, sustein
- i/e - enimy¹, clift¹, gardiner¹, navil¹ [navel], Niniveh¹; pedegree¹, spettle¹ [spittle], verely [verily], vertue/vertuous
- i/o - crimsin², basin [bason], venim[e]¹
- i Omit/Add - plaster [plaister], sluces¹ [sluices], sutes [suits]; *bruit¹ [brute], *hailing¹ [haling], Moyses² [Moses/Moises]
- o/e - becken/beckning, recken/reckning, ebeny¹
- o/u - stubburn, fornace
Multi-Vowel Changes
- "Re-configurations" (Halve Vowel Then Add E to preserve the sound): cole, flote², fome¹, grone, oke, othe, rode¹ [road*], sope², throte, uprore; dore²; bridegrome; shepe¹
- ea/ee - cheare², speach; Neere/neerer, yeere, cleere², insteed¹, threed
- ea/ee Then Halve Vowel (resembles a Re-configuration): Nere, yere
- ea/ie - pearce/pearse [pierce/pierse]
- ee/ie - beer¹ [bier], cheef¹, geer¹ [gier eagle], greeved, releeve¹, beleefe/beleeve, peece³/apeece², theefe/theeves, yeeld
- eal/eil - reveil
- le/ail - battail, marvail/marveil/mervail, travel/travail/traveil, *male² [mail] … *bile [boil]
- oo/ou - floud, roume [room], southsayer³, stoupe, troupe; yoong² ('yong' 230/300 then "o" doubled)
- owl/oll/ole - *bolle² [bowl], moule¹ [& molle], roule/rouler, scrowl¹/scrole¹
- ue/ew - renue, slue [slew], Jurie² [Jewry]; revenew, spew [spue], fewell [fuel], *blew [blue]
- MISC - chuse [choose], staul¹ [stall], yer [ere], charet [chariot], damosel, dongue¹ [dong/doung], flixe¹ [flux], gard/safegard¹, sodenly¹/suddainly¹, chamberlen, villeny¹, leese¹ [lose], purtray¹, Ruben¹,
Consonant Changes
- c/k - scull¹ [skull]; kab¹, kall² (caul), skall [scall], skare¹, skarlet², Kain²
- d/th - burthen, hundreth, murther
- t/ct - perfit [perfect]; jacinct² [jacinth], sainct¹
- j/ch/dg - chaws² [jaws], partrich¹, … sergeant² [serjeant]
- ick/ike/ique - strick[e]¹ [strike], heretike, lunatike, Stoikes¹, publikely²/publique¹, traffique, … stomack¹
- n/m - naned¹ [named]; renowm [renown], cinamom
- s/c - *advise [advice], choise, scarse, fensed¹, prophesies, recompense, practise, pierse, entise, twise, thrise, sieling [cieling/ceiling]
- s/z - blase¹ [blaze], hasel¹, amased, *neese¹ [sneeze], topas¹ [topaz], Mispah¹ [Mizpah], Sion [Zion], Sechariah¹ [Zechariah]; Elizeus¹
- s/c/z - cise² [size]
- Omission - ilands, iles, kinred [kindred], morgage¹, receit³
- Addition - grinne (gin), whot¹ [hot], scituate¹, Sampson¹ [Samson]
- MISC - clime, crummes³, dumme²; detter [debtor], ghest, brickkill² [kiln], prophane, secke² [seek], *sent [scent], shamefastness¹ [shamefacedness], Steven [Stephen], Gnidus¹, Ziglag¹
Other/Hybrid Changes
- Short Forms - hie/hieway, nie [nigh], delite¹, hauty/hautiness, bin [been], mo/moe [more], Elpalet¹ [Eliphalet], Esai¹ [Isaiah], Izreel¹ [Jezreel], Jarib¹ [Joiarib], Joakim² [Jehoiakim], Medanites¹ [Midianites]
- ail (and "c" change) - vitail [victual], counsel/council/counsail
- ard/erd/art - scabberd¹, standerd/standart³, desart²
- ce/se/ss/x - lattesse³ [lattice], terrise¹ [terrace], matrice [matrix]
- Alien - alient¹/aliant³
- Carcase - carcaise/carkase²/carkasse/carkeis
- Seize - sease¹/seise¹/seaze² (Resembles "cease"; compare "size" spelled as "cise")
- Merchant - marchant², marchandise¹/merchandize
- MISC - accompt [account], anker²/ancre² [anchor], causey² [causeway], creeple¹ [cripple], cruddle¹ [curdle], *champion¹ [champaign], *fain [feign], forreiner, banketting¹, surfetting¹, happily¹ [haply], emeraude³, mussell/mousell [muzzle], amearse¹ [amerce], nource² [nurse], nosethrils/nostrels, licour¹, shrich¹ [screech], Siloe¹ [Siloam], Jaakob¹