I recommend reading The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mother_Tongue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mother_Tongue Each littl

I recommend reading The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mother_Tongue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mother_Tongue Each little area of England used to have its own spellings. Heck Shakespeare didn't even spell his own surname consistently! Eventually (1700's IIRC) things started to go national such as dictionaries and newspapers which did start leading to consistency, as well as simplification over a period of about 30 years. However sometimes the consistency came before the simplification. Consequently English has some words from before simplification and most from after. We just see these as exceptions and quirks. Bryson covers this stuff well, and is a very amusing and informative writer. (And there are those who quibble with his content.)