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Southeast Florida Archaeological Society |
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| Frequently Asked Questions |
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Why is 'archaeology' sometimes spelled 'archeology'?
Is a broken piece of pottery pronounced "shard" or "sherd"?
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ARCHAEOLOGY VS ARCHEOLOGY
The usage appears to be one of printers' preference. In 1975, John Howland Rowe reported on this discrepancy in a Newsletter of the American Anthropological Association: Basically, it was a decision by the GPO (Government Printing Office) to substitute "e" for the [British] ligature "ae" in ca. 1890-1891 supposedly to save money. From that time on government archaeologists were forced to spell archaeology without the second "a". Other presses took this spelling up (e.g., Chicago, Columbia, Yale) and scholars dealing with these presses had to use the new spelling.
SHARD OR SHERD
According to "The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000", the primary pronunciation is "shard"; a variant pronunciation is "sherd". The word applies to both broken pottery and to glass or metal fragments. |
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