Ceasar vs. Caesar

Al X.

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A quick Google would suggest that "Caesar" is the correct spelling of the former Roman ruler and salad (and that the salad was not in fact named after the ruler) but NOBODY SPELLS IT THAT WAY*. In fact, now that I think about it, I remember being taught in school at some point that "Caesar" is an antiquated form of "Ceasar." Spell check keeps wanting to change "Ceasar" in to "Caesar" but it just doesn't look right. And no, I don't write about ancient Rome, my protagonist likes salads.

What say the brain trust, "Ceasar" is just wrong, or so commonly used it is an acceptable spelling? The question is somewhat rhetorical in that I am not going to edit all of my books.


*Obviously some people do, it's just an observed generalization
 

Maggie Maxwell

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I've literally never seen anyone use "Ceasar" except for typos. I more hear the argument "Is it pronounced Seize-er or Kai-zer?" Never heard or seen any argument over the spelling. It's Caesar.
 

Marlys

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I've literally never seen anyone use "Ceasar" except for typos. I more hear the argument "Is it pronounced Seize-er or Kai-zer?" Never heard or seen any argument over the spelling. It's Caesar.
Same here.
 

LJD

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I've literally never seen anyone use "Ceasar" except for typos. I more hear the argument "Is it pronounced Seize-er or Kai-zer?" Never heard or seen any argument over the spelling. It's Caesar.

Me, too.
 

Tazlima

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When I see the letter combination "ae," I generally assume it's derived from the letter æ. You still see it in use occasionally with words like "encyclopædia" when people want the word to look old fashioned and fancy.

It's also used in several other languages, as well as the International phonetic alphabet (the "pronunciation" symbols used in dictionaries in most countries outside the US which, for some reason, has clung to its own pronunciation symbols almost as tightly as to imperial measurements), to represent the a sound in words like "cat."

Wikipedia (or should it be... Wikipædia?) has a pretty good overview.
 

Bufty

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And another who's never seen 'Ceaser'.
 

cornflake

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Caesar, never seen the reverse and would assume it was a typo.
 

cornflake

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So far that's ten for ten.

Also this is coming from a guy that, until two years ago, never realized that there was no 'x' in 'espresso.' But seriously, I see 'Ceasar' all the time.

Where? I've never, to my knowledge, seen it and I feel like I'd notice bc it looks like a typo. Also, I had a parakeet named Caesar when I was small.

I'm looking at menus of some Italian places near me, heh --

classic caesar salad, fresh shaved parmegiano & garlic crouton

Classic Caesar crispy romaine, shaved Parmesan, homemade croutons 9

Little Gem Caesar Salad Lunch Parmesan frico. $13.00
 

morngnstar

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Ceasar is just wrong. It might be a common misspelling, but not to the point of being acceptable. I've never seen it in a published work.

There are some variants in foreign languages. The Italian-American inventor of the Caesar salad was known as Caesar Cardini in America, but his birth name was Cesare. In Spanish it's Cesar, like Cesar Chavez. But never Ceasar.
 

Chase

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But seriously, I see 'Ceasar' all the time.

Quit reading that junk. :greenie. Just kidding, but if I came across "Ceaser" in a client's manuscript, I'd instantly line through it and suggest "Caesar."
 

Al X.

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Where? I've never, to my knowledge, seen it and I feel like I'd notice bc it looks like a typo. Also, I had a parakeet named Caesar when I was small.

I'm looking at menus of some Italian places near me, heh --

classic caesar salad, fresh shaved parmegiano & garlic crouton

Classic Caesar crispy romaine, shaved Parmesan, homemade croutons 9

Little Gem Caesar Salad Lunch Parmesan frico. $13.00

Thirteen bucks sounds a little steep for a salad.

But yeah, you (all) made me look.
 

Enlightened

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But seriously, I see 'Ceasar' all the time.

Maybe you are thinking of a Latin male name with a different spelling, such as Julio César Chávez (pronounced say zar). Then again, maybe not.
 

mrsmig

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That's what I was thinking - like Cesar Milan, the Dog Whisperer. I've never, ever seen Ceasar unless it was a misspelling on a menu.
 

cornflake

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Thirteen bucks sounds a little steep for a salad.

But yeah, you (all) made me look.

And for lunch! The other -- without the price, was also 9 iirc and both of those were dinner. SMH.
 

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A little trick from an ESL speaker:

To determine the most common usage (not always the most correct), look at google hits.

caesar: 130,000,000
ceasar: 8,860,000
ceasar -caesar: 576,000

(the last search shows you stuff like "Center for Adolescent Substance Abuse Research (CeASAR)" which allows you to determine if the googled word has another meaning that inflates your number of hits)

It's not the most reliable way to collect data since Google keeps tabs on your browser history and doesn't show you the "real" results, just what its algorithms determine to be the most likely results you want, but it should give you an idea.