Dear Antonia:
Sorry, I didn't see your earlier message and not sure that I received it.
As in so many things in the UK from common law to spelling, stuff seems to
have evolved on their own with no regard for consistency. When you consider
that English (or as lowland Scots was referred to in the Middle Ages
"Inglis" ) had its first dictionary with Samuel Johnson in the mid 18th
century, all kinds of archaisms and idiosyncracies have been preserved like
flies in amber or if you prefer, like mens' ties, as a throwback to
something that was once useful and no longer is but remains as a kind of
palimpsest of former times.
Both spellings Roslin and Rosslyn were interchageably in use (plus a few
more such as 'Roislin' and 'Roislyn') for hundreds of years before usage and
time have made the former the town and the latter the estate and Chapel.
Consistency in spelling is a relatively modern complusion and our Medieaval
ancestors had no such obsession.
Your question, a valid one, is related to asking why 'rough' and 'through'
and 'though' are spelled so similarly but sound so differently.
Aye,
rory
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