Why was spelling so outrageously liberal in Elizabethan England?

You exaggerate, at least as far as you are talking about print. Printed spelling wasn't as liberal as all that. Elizabethans may have written 'originall' but not 'orijinal'. You've got 'alphabeticall' - big deal, but not alfubetikal or alferbetikul.

Most of the modern conventions in spelling have been in place since at least the early 17th century. Yes, an -l has been dropped here, an -e there, -ick has changed to -ic, but most of the other stuff was as today.

I have just looked into an Elizabethan book. Of the first 50 words, 40 were spelt as today.

I have now just looked into an early eighteenth-century book (well before Dr Johnson's dictionary). Of the first 50 words, 49 were spelt as today, the exception being the word 'shatter'd' - which is what has happened to the 'no spelling rules before Johnson' idea.

Sometimes in print one finds an extra letter where none was a few lines before. The reason is that printers found it hard to justify their right margins on occasion without inserting or removing an extra letter - as is the case with your example.

Most common folk of that time couldn't read or write as it was limited to the very few who could afford schooling or to the Church. When reading and writing became more widespread, unless you'd already read the word you wished to use, there were no reference texts to check if you were right. That, combined with the various conquests from different cultures over the years, some of which were specific to isolated areas of the country, meant the language had to incorporate various pronunciations depending on where you lived. Roman influences i.e. Latin were particularly confusing to someone trying to read them as English if they didn't know they were Latin. The Church didn't help much either.

Punctuation and grammar are sadly being misused or worse not used at all in modern life. They are vital if a piece of text is to be understood and interpreted properly as the writer intended.

The famous book "Eats shoots and leaves" is a testament to this requirement for correct punctuation if the writer's intended meaning is to be correctly understood.

Americanisms (or bastardisations as they're referred to by any English speaking person) have fallen into the common parlance, many having no relevant connection to the word from which they originate. If you tenderise a piece of meat, you make it more tender. If you are burglarised, does that turn you into a burglar? If you are accessorised, does this turn you into an accessory? Urgghhh. Horrible!

Spelling you can be forgiven for as some words make no sense when read how they are spelled. Punctuation should be common sense. The sentence should make sense if it's read out loud as it was written. If it doesn't then it's incorrectly punctuated. Txt spk was invented as there used to be a limited a number of characters available per text. With the advent of predictive text and unlimited free texts, this should now not be the case. Ho hum!

In Elizabethan times, the evolution of the English language had passed from Middle English into Modern English.

Whenever you see any Old English text, the chances are that it is in the Wessex dialect, which was also known as Winchester Standard.

After the Norman Conquest, Old English started to evolve into Middle English, because the Winchester Standard became extinct. Hence Middle English wasn't standardised, but had many different dialects.

The Elizabethan era saw the emergence of Modern English, which is often associated with Shakespeare, as Middle English was often associated with Chaucer. But even at this point, it wasn't standardised.

The very first dictionary wasn't written until the reign of George III.

Nowadays our written grammar and spelling has become standardised, because everybody is educated to write in a standard form of English.

But dialectic forms of written English still do exist.

http://www.pant.co.uk/humour/poem3.php

http://www-maths.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/~gmp/gmpDORI...

If you read some of the questions on YA you would think we were in a second Elizabethan Age as far as spelling goes.

Shakespeare's spelling of his name a runnning gag through 'No Bed for Bacon' by Brahms and Simon - hilarious take on Merrie England.

English comes from diverse sources - Anglo Saxon, Norman, Danish, Latin, Imperial legacy and transatlantic influences. hardly surprising it is illogical. In the middle ages the class system meant you literally spoke a different language according to your place in society - Cow and Beef for example - the peasants would know it as the former, the people who would get to eat it as meat would call it the latter (French) name.

I encounter hopeless spelling daily by people who should know better. All a result of wolly-minded liberal teaching policies in the late 1960's, just before dyslexia was invented. (I myself am ace at spelling but rubbish at typing).

because most people write the words how they sound, spoken word came first, then written. When most people don't have access to a dictionary or have never seen the word written with the correct spelling will automatically write it how it sounds (in their head).

It's only in recent times where education and access to literature has made people more capable of spelling 'correctly'.

There is much debate over certain spellings of words at the moment as they are often incorrectly spelt due to how they sound, and this is not necessarily an incorrect way of spelling the word.

English was very new in the 1600s. Noone really decided how to spell things and even if they did, school was done in Latin.

Olde English is considered a different language by some. Then the Americans changed everything again.

"Proper English" is not a valid term. There are so many differences over space and time it can not be summed up as correct across these boarders.

Being a traitor to the Queen and country would be one way to get yourself executed. Plotting the overthrow of the Queen, being English and being paid by another country to spy on the Queen is another couple of reasons.

No one had the idea of a dictionary and standardised spelling until Dr Johnson.