Shipwreck John Posted June 15, 2007 Posted June 15, 2007 Just Curious. This came up in another forum and I was wondering myself...Is there a historical significance? Shipwreck Adventurer of Independent Means TALL SAILS AND MERMAIDS TAILS, THIS BE THE LIFE FOR ME "THEM THAT DIE WILL BE THE LUCKY ONES"
Abrams Posted June 15, 2007 Posted June 15, 2007 I've always considered "pyrate" to be a spelling to give a more archaic feel. A similar thing with vampire and vampyr... I dunno, they're the same troublemakers to me! I've got the heart of a pirate, just not the garb...
Caraccioli Posted June 15, 2007 Posted June 15, 2007 I had always thought it was just an interesting way for the site owners to differentiate the site. I figured they were using the spelling from the title of Captain Johnson's book A General History of the Pyrates. (Which is also mistakenly attributed to Daniel Defoe. Oh, what a tangled web...) Spellings are often quite varied in documents from the GaOP, probably due to the fact that the first widely distributed dictionary was written by Webster in 1783. And that was written for a school, so I don't imagine it gained popular circulation until years, possibly decades after that. Without a source like that being available and with education being quite spotty during that time, it would make sense that one spelled words in whatever way made the most sense to them during the GaOP. (Well, that's my guess, anyhow.) As for pirate, one source gives the etymology thusly: [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin pirata, from Greek peirates, from peiran, to attempt, from peira, trial; see per-3 in Indo-European roots.] (From http://www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/p/p0327300.html ) [Note: corrected a favorite error of mine thanks to a note from wages. I seem to have this mysterious Captain Adams wandering around in my head who wrote the General History. Anyone know why that is?) "You're supposed to be dead!" "Am I not?"
Captain Midnight Posted June 15, 2007 Posted June 15, 2007 I would think "pyrate" is just an archaic way of spelling "pirate". No difference in the definitions of the terms. "Now then, me bullies! Would you rather do the gallows dance, and hang in chains 'til the crows pluck your eyes from your rotten skulls? Or would you feel the roll of a stout ship beneath your feet again?" ---Captain William Kidd--- (1945)
The Doctor Posted June 15, 2007 Posted June 15, 2007 An archaic writing convention was to use a "y" in place of the phonetic long "i". Yo ho ho! Or does nobody actually say that?
John_Young Posted June 16, 2007 Posted June 16, 2007 So are there Vampyr Pyrates that practice Magick? Heh. I always thought it was just a great way to spell it. Now there is a difference between Crew/Crewe and Krewe... "Yo Ho, all together hoist the colours high Heave Ho, theives and beggers Never shall we die..." "I don't care who ye say you are lad, if ye say 'savvy' one more time, I'll bury this cutlass in that thick skull of yers!" -Captain John Young - PILF
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