Neil wrote :
""Was the letter "W" in the alphabet at the time or was v = w or indeed was
there a Swedish import of the motto into the spelling of work-verk. We forget
that the Swedish culture was highly developed in the middle ages and had
heraldry and chivalry to becoming a well developed art. I suspect that
because the "o" was also changed (work = verk) we are looking at old English,
phonetic language or simply the import of another word from Sweden. ""
I remember from my study of German many years ago that "" V "" is pronounced
as a "" W "" and "" W "" as a "" V "" !!!
I presume that the same may be said for the Scandinavian languages ??
Also , the "" E "' in "" werk "" also follows the Germanic usage closely !
The craftsmen of the Middle Ages could not read in most cases and in any
event from what I have seen in my other research , the spelling of words was
not as fixed in form as we follow today
Regards to all ,
Joe Greigg
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