In the course of my work at Bead&Button, I occasionally come across a spelling variation that never fails to make me do a double take – jewelry vs. jewellery. My computer doesn’t recognize the second spelling, yet I’ve seen it used in the names of established bead-related businesses. I decided to track down the meaning of this variation with a little help from the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), a premier source for all things etymological.

You may be interested to know that, according to the OED, the first recorded written use of the English word for jewelry (or jewellery) was in the 1300s, though its spelling is unrecognizable to modern-day readers: “iuelrye.” By 1470, the word was “jowalre,” and come 1786 we were wearing “jewellery.” Then, in 1814, poet Robert Southey (the author of the original Goldilocks and the Three Bears story) published the epic poem Roderick, the Last of the Goths in which he spelled “jewellery” as “jewelry.” Fourteen years later, “jewelry” appeared in Webster’s dictionary. But throughout the rest of the 19th century, and even to this day, the older spelling is sometimes retained. Why?

The OED says that “jewellery” is a common commercial spelling (hence it’s used in the names of bead-related businesses), while “jewelry” has poetic and figurative connotations (perhaps because it first showed up in an epic poem?). In fact, originally, jewelry wasn’t even associated with the jeweler (then spelled “jeweller” with two Ls and consequently only associated with “jewellery” with two Ls). Today, the accepted American spelling is “jewelry” (and “jeweler” with one L), while other countries, notably the UK, still retain the traditional spellings. Regardless of how you write it, it’s nice to know that the history of the word “jewel(le)ry” is as rich as the art form itself!