William of What's it's Razor

[or.phan_ann]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" 
<justcarol67 at ...> wrote:
>
> > >Carol:
> > 
> > > I've recently been enjoying the Occam's/Ockham's razor 
> > >thread on the main list and started wondering about the 
> > >variant spellings. I've always spelled it "Occam's," and 
> > >Merriam-Webster Online gives "Occam's" as the main entry 
> > >with "Ockham's" as an alternate spelling, but the placename 
> > >is spelled "Ockham," and William himself is generally called 
> > > William of Ockham, AFAIK.
> >  
> > > Does any one know whether one spelling is more correct than 
> > >the other? Maybe "Occam" is an Americanism? (I don't suppose 
> > >Noah Webster "improved" that spelling as he did by dropping 
> > >the "u" in such words as "colour" and "behaviour." Or did he?)
> > 
> > Goddlefrood:
> > 
> > It's a simple case of long usage. Ockham was the original, but 
> > because phonetically it is the same as Occam and because our 
> > forebears on both sides of the Atlantic were quite loose about 
> > spelling the convention has now become Occam.
> > 
> > Other than in one post at main I've never seen it spelt Ockham, 
> > although strictly that would be correct as it was William of 
> > Ockham who devised the concept.
> 
> Carol:
> Ah, sir, you are so kind. That's "favor" for us Americans, though,
> thanks to Noah Webster. But thank you; your response is roughly    
> what I thought was the case, only until I first saw the            
> spelling "ockham," I thought that "Occam" was pronounced "OCK sum," 
> so I'm not sure they're phonetically the same, not to mention that 
> British English isn't phonetic, anyway--witness Worcestershire and 
> similar place names. (Neither is American English, but I don't know 
> of any such drastic examples.)

Ann:
Oh dear, sorry to be so confusing. It's *my* understanding that 
because in Brother William's* day spelling was still variable, both 
Occam and Ockham are used to refer to the same man and village. (I 
wonder what other spelling there were, back in the days? "Oakum" 
doesn't seem to be related, though.) As he was a scholastic (another 
HP reference) this would be the thirteenth or fourteenth century. 
Personally, I typed "Ockham" automatically; if I'd known "Occam" was 
the standard, I would have written that.

I'm glad you've been enjoying "my" thread from Theory Bay. Do come 
and join us some time. The water is lovely at this time of year!

Ann

*The reference to "Fr. William" on the Razor's case is short 
for "frater", Latin for "brother", and not "father"; William was a 
friar, not a priest.