Submitted by joanneleclair on June 23, 2021, at 16:51
“A Brief History of English Spelling”: “The printers also tended to lengthen words. This was driven partly by money – they were paid by the number of lines printed – and partly by page layout...” According to the Society, that explains why “frend” came to be spelled “friend” and “hed” became “head.” But my understanding is that words like “colour” and “honour” owe their “our” spelling to the influence of French, following the Norman Conquest of England. - The Our Languages blog team, on behalf of Sheila Ethier