Re: A couple of points
Giving 1150 AD to be generous, it seriously took you 600 years to document your own blasted language?
It didn't start being modern English until about 1550.. So that's only 200 years!
And for a lot of that, consistent spelling was somewhat of a luxury - until you get near-universal literacy then some variation is to be expected. As we are finding out now[1].
And let's not forget, English is (and always has been) a living language that shifts and changes constantly[2]
[1] I was moaning to my wife recently that no--one else seems to remember how to parse verbs correctly any more. More and more, the grammar structures of US English seem to be creeping in (AKA 'verbalising nouns', the inability to use the part tense properly etc etc). It's even affecting her even though she's a fairly well educated woman.
[2] Not always for the good. See [1] above. But trying to resist change leads one down the French path and as a British male it's not a comfortable idea..
Biting the hand that feeds IT
