Note 157 — Chapter XIII

It is much more likely that it originated as a misunderstanding of pervise, to survey, look through, earlier printed peruise. We have a similar misunderstanding in the name Alured, for Alvred, i.e. Alfred. The influence of spelling upon sound is, especially in the case of words which are more often read than heard, greater than is generally realized. Most English people pronounce a z in names like Dalziel, Mackenzie, Menzies, etc., whereas this z is really a modern printer's substitution for an old symbol which had nearly the sound y (Dalyell, etc.).