Dam/dame, script/scrip

Hello,

In the book "Parrot and Olivier in America" by Peter Carey which I am translating I have discovered a thing which seems strange to me: The author uses the word dame (presumably instead of "dam" - female animal), and the word "script" instead of "scrip" (paper money), tendons instead of tenons (meaning a kind of jointing). In the case of tendons/tenons I think it could be an intentional use (so called malapropism because tenon is rather a technical carpentry word). But I am not sure about the other two cases (dam/dame; script/scrip) - they don't seem like terms to me. Could these be local variants, or are they mistake, a kind of "milder" malapropisms? I am asking this to find out whether I should take it into account somehow in my translation. Below are the words in their contexts. AND MANY, MANY THANKS FOR YOUR HELP .

It was difficult to guess what he really thought but he began to interview them one by one as if it was an agricultural occasion and he must check their weight and teeth and breeding and know who the sire and who the dame and all this he recorded in his notebook and it was my great privilege, when he was done, to transcribe his scrawl into the journal and in all cases have a carbon copy which would be sent as safety back to France.

In the above mentioned sentence Parrot says how Olivier interviewed Americans.

"Don’t let her accept script. She must not take any notes issued by any bank at all.’

In the above mentioned example, from the context it is clear that the person has paper money in mind (script instead of scrip). The speaker is Parrot's landlady. He is giving advice to Parrot what they should do with his mistress Mathilde when they go to the bank.



Before their journey to America, Parrot, a servant was supposed to prepare all financial instruments for Olivier. Parrot didn't want to go to America with Olivier and he didn't like Olivier either, so he prepared the instruments in a rather malicious way. When they arrived in America, Parrot says (or thinks):

When the gangplank was lowered, I left Olivier de Garmont to discover the wonder of the financial instruments I had constructed for him like a clever box with hidden tendons, tricky mortises, and a secret lock you might take a week to find.