I have also seen daughter written "dafter" and I assumed it to be a phonetic spelling, indicating that the pronunication of the word by the writer was not the same as our modern one. English is such a weird language with a mish-mash of pronunications - just look at plough and rough - with no rules as to which local dialect version won out and became the "standard" Eve McLaughlin wrote: > > > >I am trying to get it right. When transcribing parish registers for 1500/1600s I > >have come across the word "daughter" looking like the word "dafter". > That is so - quite common. You might think that some people were being a > mite too clever, assuming a pronunciation from reading, because other > aught words were pronounced f. (draught for one and Woughton in Bucks is > pronounced Wuffton (though nearby Loughton is pronounced Low (like cow) > ton) But this does seem a little far fetched. The name must simply have > been pronounced 'aft' at one time, since the surname Dafter occurs. > Strange, isn't it? The sort of similar sound 'dahter or darter' is also > found in speech. > > -- > Eve McLaughlin > > Author of the McLaughlin Guides for family historians > Secretary Bucks Genealogical Society > > ==== OLD-ENGLISH Mailing List ==== > To contact the list administrator: > OLD-ENGLISH-admin@rootsweb.com