It’s the people’s choice

September 4th, 2009 at 07:00am Barry Wood

“Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn and cauldron bubble.”

In this famous passage from Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” the word “cauldron” is spelled the traditional way, with a “u” in it.

Webster’s considers this the variant and prefers “caldron.” This is more in line with its Latin root “calderia,” which also gave rise to “caldarium” (”a room for taking hot baths” in ancient Rome) and “caldera” (”a broad, craterlike basin of a volcano”).

However, it just plain looks wrong without the “u.” And ever since it began evolving from Latin, it’s had one — first the Old French “cauderon,” then the Anglo-French and Middle English “caudron.” The “l” was reinserted during the Renaissance — not its only accomplishment, by the way.

Plus, according to “Garner’s Modern American Usage,” “cauldron” is the clear winner by 4-to-1 in American print sources.

So I vote against Webster’s and for “cauldron.”

Entry Filed under: spelling, definitions, word origins