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These plantes are moste efficacious in the inflaming of the braine, and are therefore much used in Confusing and Befuddlement Draughts, where the wizard is desirous of producing hotheadedness and recklessness ...

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

I guess these three words ('plante', 'moste' and 'braine') might be the old version of 'plant', 'most' and 'brain'. But I haven't found any evidence. Have I gotten it right? Are these old-fashioned words?

Update: The quote above was excerpted from one of his Potions books that Harry was reading.

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    They look like faux old-fashioned words, which would be unsurprising in a work of fiction. You don't provide any additional context, but it looks like this might be an excerpt from a very olde book in the wizarding world, and Rowling is trying to underscore its ancientness by tacking on a few extraneous e's.
    – J.R. ♦
    Commented Feb 20, 2019 at 11:21

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These are mock-old spellings. It is true that English was written for a long time before there was anything approaching consistent, standardised spelling, and an extra 'e' after a final consonant is a common old version of spelling - sometimes also doubling that last consonant.

Basically, it's done in fiction like this to indicate that the text being read is either old, or written by someone who is using old-fashioned or archaic spelling, or is affecting to use such spellings for some reason.

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  • "and an extra 'e' after a final consonant is a common old version of spelling" Is it for short vowels?
    – Acccumulation
    Commented Feb 22, 2019 at 15:51
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    @Acccumulation: in my experience, that's when people usually double(d) the final consonant. Shop/Shoppe.
    – SamBC
    Commented Feb 22, 2019 at 15:52

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