The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 4, January 28, 2007, Article 8

CONDER TOKENS AND THE SPELLING AND PRONUNCIATION OF GAOL

Leon Worden writes: "I appreciated the discussion in the January 21
E-Sylum about the spelling of the word "gaol" (an old English jail).
I recently picked up a couple of Conder tokens where the word was
spelled G-O-A-L. A quick check on the Internet suggested that the
word was often spelled that way. Does anyone know why the misspelling,
if it is a misspelling, was apparently so common?

How was it supposed to be pronounced? Where did the word come from,
anyway?  And where did it go? I thought our word "jail" came from the
Old French "jaiole." Also, my Conder tokens seem to refer to a debtors'
prison. Was a "gaol" any type of prison, or just a debtors' prison? Is
the word still in use anywhere today?

Also, I appreciated Bob Evans' thoughtful reply to my question about
the S.S. Central America. The E-Sylum is quite a place!"

Eric Leighton writes: "As it turns out, the spelling of "jail" a few
generations ago was EITHER "Gaol" or "Goal".  I found several web sites
to support that comment, some of which are from Ireland, England, Canada,
and the USA.  One of the latter includes in part: 'The Walnut Street
Jail (Goal) was built 1773-76 from designs of Robert Smith and demolished
about 1835. The prison's lot was bounded by Walnut Street, Sixth and
Prune Street (now Locust) with the main building fronting on Walnut
Street. William Penn, who did not favor capital punishment, established
the most humane penal code in the colonies. Only murder and treason
were punishable by death...' (See website at www.ushistory.org.)

All I did to check this was to type "Goal (Jail)" into Google.  I am
glad your reader provided me with the impetus to find out this
interesting tidbit."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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