> To reiterate: Apparently before the invention of the printing press, words 
> didn't have standard spellings. People just wrote them down however seemed 
> right at the time, making up the spellings as they went along. It's only 
> when printing started the mass dissemination of written material that 
> words acquired fixed spellings. So it's only after this point in time that 
> silent letters could have survived.

Why couldn't words have been spelt before printing presses with silent 
letters?  It's probably precisely the fact that words were spelt in many 
ways that led to some unusual spellings becoming "standard".

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