"comptroller" redux

[Laurence Horn]

At 9:26 PM -0400 9/28/10, Ben Zimmer wrote:
>The troublesome word "comptroller" has come up here a few times. Here's the
>latest from Sam Dolnick, metro reporter for The New York Times (quoting
>Jesse Sheidlower among others):
>
>http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/29/nyregion/29compside.html
>
>--bgz
>
Interesting.  Growing up in NY, I wondered about "comptrollers", and
rolled my eyes on cue when hearing references to "comp-trolling".
 From Jesse's comment--

==============
Most etymologists trace the strange spelling to the 15th century,
when the Middle English term "counteroller," meaning someone who
compares two scrolls to verify financial information, was erroneously
combined with the French word "compte," meaning calculation,
according to Jesse Sheidlower, editor-at-large for the Oxford English
Dictionary.

"The C-O-M-P spelling has been with us for 500 years by mistake," he said.
===============
--it appears that there's the same sort of
etymythological-reconstruction-cum-spelling-pronunciation that led to
"Anthony", "author", and (without the effect on pronunciation)
"doubt", "debt", and others I'm forgetting.

LH

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