cahn | Historical Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 44

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Not only are these posts still going, there is now (more) original research going on in them deciphering and translating letters in archives that apparently no one has bothered to look at before?? (Which has now conclusively exonerated Fritz's valet/chamberlain Fredersdorf from the charge that he was dismissed because of financial irregularities and died shortly thereafter "ashamed of his lost honor," as Wikipedia would have it. I'M JUST SAYING.)

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From:

selenak

Spelling: well, before Duden, there was no standard spelling. Now if you read German literary works predating Duden, unless they're academic editions, the spelling has been cleaned up to standard to make them accessible to modern readers, so honestly: I don't know. Could be, could not be. Maybe a comparison with FW's letters would enlighten us further on whether he spells it "guht" or "gut"?

From:

mildred_of_midgard

Well, yes, I'm aware of that, but no standard spelling doesn't mean no norms or common spellings. If you ask me if "th" was a common spelling for modern "t" in older German, I will say yes, because I've seen it a million times. If you ask me if "ht" was a common spelling for same, I will hesitate, because I've only seen Fritz do it. [ETA: By which I mean none of the letters to Fredersdorf did.]

That said, had a quick glance at the FW to Dessauer letters, and he does indeed write "guht"!

Edited Date: 2023-06-24 06:12 am (UTC)

From:

selenak

Wouldn‘t be the first habit Fritz adopts from Dad…

More seriously, I do think that‘s the case, because FW is the one insisting Fritz talks and writes in German to him, and who writes back in German. All of Fritz‘ actual teachers like Duhan would have taught him in French. So naturally he‘s going to adopt FW‘s spelling for German.