[Spellyans] Jazz > loan words?

[Michael Everson]

At 08:52 +0100 2008-07-06, Craig Weatherhill wrote:
>Pizza is also Italian and English doesn't have a word, or a distinct
>spelling, for it.

English doesn't have a "phonetic" orthography.

>So, a pizza is a pizza in Rome, Rochester and Redruth.

And a pitsa in Cardiff. :-)

>If other languages don't respell it, neither should we.

But they do.

Azerbaijani: Caz
Esperanto: J^azo
Estonian: Dzäss
Irish: Snagcheol :-)
Creole: Dyaz
Hungarian: Dzsessz
Icelandic: Djass
Latin: Iazium
Lithuanian: Dziazas
Latvian: Dzezs
Slovak: Dzezs
Slovene: Jazz or Dzezs
Turkish: Caz

I love the Wikipedia. Yes, plenty of languages retain Jazz.

>The word "jazz" is of uncertain origin, according to my dictionaries. 
>If we don't even know where the word came from or how it was derived,
>how can we respell it?  We can't.

Of course we can. We don't spell on the basis of etymology.

>Jazz must remain jazz.

Double zed has no part in KS orthography because 
it wouldn't contrast with anything. Zed has. 
(Compare bùs 'but' and bùss 'bus'.) If spelt 
"jazz" it would be an unassimilated loan.
-- 
Michael Everson * http://www.evertype.com