Just how American are the origins of center, scepter and theater, spellingwise?

One of the differences between British and American spelling is between those words that end in -re in British English and -er in American English, such as fibre / fiber. In this post I look at five words ending in -tre / -ter - centre, lustre, mitre, sceptre and theatre.

Talking about the differences between British and American spelling at Oxford Dictionaries, they say:

The differences often come about because British English has tended to keep the spelling of words it has absorbed from other languages (e.g. French), while American English has adapted the spelling to reflect the way that the words actually sound when they're spoken.

Oxford Dictionaries

Which I understand to mean that these words entered English with their (for example) French spelling, and were later changed in American English. This change is usually attributed to Noah Webster, and especially to his An American Dictionary of the English Language, published in 1828. So I was rather surprised when I came across an instance of theater in a British book from the seventeenth century.

A note on the 'clippings'

You can click on any of the 'clippings' to go to their source at Google Books, even on the rare occasions where it shows 'Image nor available'.

Older British dictionaries

First stop, Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language from 1755. True enough, here we have theatre, but no mention of theater. And it's the same with centre, lustre, sceptre, although he does have both spellings for one meaning of mitre (the wood joint), but not for its more common meaning of a kind of ecclesiastical hat.

Johnson's may have been the first really comprehensive dictionary, but it was by no means the first English Dictionary. Thirty four years earlier, in his An Universal Etymological English Dictionary, published in 1721, Nathan Bailey listed both forms for centre, lustre and theatre, but only the -re forms for mitre and sceptre:

An Universal Etymological English Dictionary, Nathan Bailey, london 1721

Earlier than that, just after the beginning of the eighteenth century, John Kersey had published the Dictionarium Anglo-britannicum, in which only the -er versions were listed for centre, sceptre and theatre, but both for lustre and mitre.

Dictionarium Anglo-britannicum, John Kersey, London 1708

And even earlier still had been Edward Phillip's The New World of Words (1658), which similarly also only listed the -er versions for centre, sceptre and theatre, but both forms for mitre; lustre doesn't appear.

The new world of words, Edward Phillips, London 1658, (revised John Kersey, London 1706)

So the situation for British spelling seems rather more complicated then suggested at Oxford Dictionaries.

Problems with Google Books and Ngram

Google Books is a wonderful resource, but there are obviously big problems with digitising older books, no doubt partly due their typeface, but probably mainly due to their physical condition. So that this:

A Chronicle, Conteyning the Liues of Tenne Emperours of Rome, Bp. Antonio de Guevara, London 1577

Bassianus, with all his army in armour issued forth to beholde them, and he commaunded to bring them selves into a square, to the end, that one by one, shoulde pass before him, of whome he woulde take his choice, and presently after give them armour.

has been digitised as this (a real, if extreme, example):

Zafzianozwt af mie in armour ilkued foxth to heholde them , ntaunded to being them feines into a lquarez_ to yemxthat one by oneubqulde pam: befoxe bwlzqflnhomehe woulde take his choYce and pxefcntly after gute theater-item

and what appears in search results as theater, turns out to be them ar(mour). This obviously heavily skews search results, and I presume is also reflected in Ngram graphs.

Publication dates are also unreliable (there are U.S.Congressional reports shown as being published in the seveteenth century, for example), so it is absolutely vital to be able to look inside the books, which is often not possible, as this page of search results for theater between 1500 and 1600 shows.

So to gauge what spellings might have more common at this time, we have to use other methods.

Samuel Johnson's examples

One way to do this is to look at the examples Dr.Johnson gave in his dictionary, all with -tre endings, and compare them with the originals (or as close to the originals as we can get - and published on the island(s) that would become Great Britain).

Johnson's dictionary - centre

What with both noun and verb, Johnson cites eleven books with twelve examples:

The heavn's themselves, the planets, and this centre,
Observe degree, priority, and place.

Shaksp. Troilus and Cressida.

If we frame an image of a round body all of fire, the flame proceeding from it, would diffuse itself every way; so that the cource, serving for the centre there, would be round about an huge sphere of fire and light.

Digby on Bodies

One foot he centred, and the other turn'd
Round through the vast profundity obscure.

Milton. Paradise Lost. b vii l 228

By thy each look, and thought, and care, 'tis shown
Thy joys are centred all in me alone.

Prior

He may take a range all the world over, and draw in all that wide air and circumference of sin and vice, and centre it in his own breast.

South

O impudent, regardful of thy own
Whose thoughts are centred on thyself alone!

Dryden

Where there is no visible truth wherein to centre, errour is as wide as men's fancies, and may wander to eternity.

Decay of Piety

What hopes you had in Diomede, lay down
Our hopes must centre on ourselves alone.

Dryden's Aeneid

The commom acknowledgements of the body will at length centre in him, who appears sincerely to aim at the common benefit.

Atterbury

It was attested by the visible centring of all the old prophecies in the person of Christ, and by the completion of these prophecies since, which he himself uttered.

Atterbury

As God in heav'n
Is centre, yet extends to all; so thou,
Centring, receiv'st from all those orbs.

Par. Lost, b IX

Johnson's Dictionary Online

Let's now look at the originals:

William Shakespeare - Troilus and Cressida

Troilus and Cressida, William Shakespeare, First Quarto, 1609

Sir Kenelm Digby (1603 - 1665)

Digby was a diplomat, courtier and natural philosopher. In 1664 he published Two Treatises, his major work, of which there is a 1645 edition at Google Books. In the whole book there are 36 results for center, and none for centre:

Two Treatises, Sir Kenelm Digby, London 1645

John Milton (1608 - 1674) - Paradise Lost

Johnson gives two extracts. For the first, both in the 1667 original, and in an 1800 edition with a preface by Johnson himself, the spelling is center'd:

In Johnson's second example, which he marks as Book IX, we have both centre and centring. In the original 1667 version, which had ten books, this was in fact in Book VIII (lines 107-109), which became Book IX in the later twelve book version, first published in 1674. In the 1667 version we have center and centring.

Matthew Prior (1664 - 1721)

This comes from the poem Celia to Damon. This 1719 edition has a dedication signed by the poet, so seems pretty close to the original.

Poems on several occasions, Matthew Prior, London 1719

Strangely enough, versions of this poem appearing in anthologies collected and edited by Johnson kept this spelling, for example The works of the English poets, Vol 32, London 1779

Robert South (1634 - 1716)

This quotation is from a sermon, and appears in a collection of sermons first published in 1592; this is from the sixth edition of 1727:

Twelve Sermons, Robert South, London 1727 (6th ed)

John Dryden (1631 - 1700)

There are two citations from Dryden, the first being from his translation of Homer's 'Illias' (Illiad).

Fables Ancient and Modern, John Dryden, london 1700

And the second is from his translation of Virgil's Aeneid:

The Works of the English Poets Vol 19: Virgil, trans. by Dryden, 'with prefaces biographical and critical' by Samuel Johnson, London 1779

Decay of Piety, by Bishop John Fell (1625 - 1686)

The full title being 'The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety':

The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety, John Fell, London 1667

Francis Atterbury (1663 - 1732)

Fourteen sermons preach'd on several occasions, Francis Atterbury (bp. of Rochester.), London 1708

Fourteen sermons preach'd on several occasions, Francis Atterbury (bp. of Rochester.), London 1708

Tally

Of the twelve instances of centre and its variations that Johnson quotes, in the originals he quotes from there are three instances of center as a noun (none of centre), four of center as a verb (none of centre) and three instances of center'd (and none of centred). The only cases where the spelling Johnson quotes is the same as in the original are two cases of centring.

Johnson's dictionary - lustre

You have one eye left to see some mischief on him.
—Lest it see more prevent it; out, vile gelly; where is thy lustre now?

Shakespeare's King Lear

To the soul, time doth perfection give
And adds fresh lustre to her beauty still.

Davies

The scorching sun was mounted high
In all its lustre, to the noonday sky

Addison's Ovid

Pass but some fleeting years and these poor eyes
Where now without a boast some lustre lies.

Prior

All nature laughs, the groves are fresh and fair,
The sun's mild lustre warms the vital air.

Pope

Ridotta sips, and dances till she see
The doubling lustres dance as quick as she.

Pope's Horace

His ancestors continued about four hunfred years, rather without obscurity, than with any great lustre.

Wotton

I used to wonder how a man of birth and spirit could endure to be wholly insignificant and obscure in a foreigh country, when he might live with lustre in his own.

Swift

Both of us have closed the tenth lustre, and it is high time to determine how we shall play the last act to the farce.

Bolingbroke to Swift

Johnson's Dictionary Online

Apart from Shakespeare, all the originals appear to have had the -re spelling, although it should be noted that the version I've found are all eighteenth century.

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

Ser. Oh I am slaine: my Lord, you haue one eye left
To see some mischefe on him. Oh

Corn. Lest it see more, preuent it; Out vilde gelly:
Where is thy luster now?

Sir John Davies (1569 - 1626)

The British Muse, London 1738

Joseph Addison (1672 - 1719)

The Works, Vol 2, Joseph Addison, London 1722

Matthew Prior (1664 - 1721)

Poems on several occasions, Matthew Prior, London 1719

Alexander Pope (1688 - 1744)

Pastorals 1709

The Works Vol 1, Alexander Pope, London 1736

Imitations of Horace 1733 - 1738

The Works Vol 4, Alexander Pope, London 1753

Sir Henry Wotton (1569 - 1639)

This appears to be from a short account of the life of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, originally printed in 1642. Here, lustre means a period of ten years:

The Harleian Miscellany, Edward Harley Earl of Oxford, London 1746

Jonathan Swift (1667 - 1745)

This is from a series of pamphlets, The Drapiers Letters, first published 1724-1725

The Drapiers Letters, published in Works, Vol 4, Dublin 1735

Bolingbroke to Swift

This is from a letter written to Swift in 1729, from Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, 1678 - 1751, a leading Tory.

Letters to and from Jonathan Swift, Dublin 1741

Johnson's dictionary - mitre

Nor Pantheus, thee, thy mitre nor the bands
Of awful Phoebus, sav'd from impious hands.

Dryden

Bishopricks or burning, mitres or faggots, have been the rewards of different persons, according as they pronounced these consecrated syllables, or not.

Watts

Johnson's Dictionary Online

Both Johnson's examples appear to have had -re endings in the originals:

John Dryden (1631 - 1700) - Virgil's Aeneis

Edinburgh 1773

Isaac Watts (1674 - 1748) - The Improvement of the Mind

London 1787

Johnson's dictionary - sceptre

Nor shall proud Lancaster usurp my right
Nor hold the sceptre in his childish fist.

Shak. Henry VI

Thou sceptre's heir
That this affect'st a sheephook

Shakespeare

How best of kings do'st thou a sceptre bear

B.Johns.

The sceptre bearers lent
Their free attendance

Chapman's Odyssey

The parliament presented those acts which were prepared by them to the royal sceptre

Clarendon

The court of Rome has, in other instances, so well attested its good managery, that it is not credible crowns and sceptres are conferred gratis.

Decay of Piety

Johnson's Dictionary Online

I can't find Chapman's translation of the Odyssey anywhere, but all the other five citations of Johnson's seem to have first seen the light of day with the -er spelling:

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

Nor shall proud Lancaster vsurpe my right,
Nor hold the Scepter in his childish Fist,

Thou a Scepters heire,
That thus affects a sheepe-hooke?

Project Gutenberg

Ben Jonson 1572 - 1637

Ben Jonson, quoted in The Poetical Register, Giles Jacob, London 1729 (facsimile)

Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon (1609 - 1764)

The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Edward Hyde Earl of Clarendon, 1667 (This edition Oxford 1707)

Bishop John Fell (1625 - 1686) - Decay of Piety

The causes of the Decay of christian piety, John Fell, London 1667