Let’s look at the word once.
Why is it not written wonce ?
It was written as such, but we need to go back to the 16th century where there is an example.
1599.
The rebell wonce in Rorie O More shewed himselfe, withe about 500 foote and 40 horse, 2 myles from our campe.
(The rebel, Rorie O More wonce showed himself, with about 500 foot soldiers and 40 horses, 2 miles from our camp.)
Someone, somewhere down the track decided to change the spelling to once.
Probably because it’s ONE time (once)
not WON time?
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The origins of the word goes back many centuries before 1600.
Old English for one was “aene” - from around 1200 the adverbial form was “anes” - I suppose pronunciation shifted over time.
I can’t see why one would wish to spell the word beginning with a “w” - if you want to go for totally phonetic spelling, then should we change our numbering system to
Won, Too, Three, For, Five, Six, Seven, Ate, Nine, Ten ? 
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Let’s remember that language just evolves and changes over time. It’s never someone who can make such a decision but lots of people who start using a word (and the language as such) in a specific way which will then be included in standard reference books as the accepted norm.
There are numerous examples where the use of a grammatical case which used to be considered wrong usage have gradually become acceptable so that two variants coexist until one variant disappears.
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Back in 1599 there were no rules, and now we have rules we still make it up as we go along. Anyway, wasn’t Rorie O More Irish?
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Correct.
Rory Oge O’More was an Irish noble and chief of the O’More clan. As the Lord of County Laois, he rebelled against the Tudors’ sixteenth-century conquest of Gaelic Ireland.
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@Bretrick As different ages pass, most languages change in their written form. As a wordsmith and a past crossword compositor, I find this both fascinating and endearing. If you think English is odd, then be thankful you do not use Yiddish, which is Judeo-German (a West Germanic language) and based on High German with added elements taken from Mishanic Hebrew. Added to that, there are Eastern and Western dialects 
My wife is Swedish and of course learning her language was a prerequisite for me, but I was very lucky in that most languages are somewhat easy for me to learn and become a fluent speaker; the written word is more difficult. Now this said, my wife does speak and write fluently in English, but in times of stress, she reverts to Swedish and I have to follow or become left out of the profanities😉
Well that was a hell of a read. 
A Treatise on the Astrolabe.
A message to his son in Middle English
Lyte Lowys my sone I aperceyve wel by certeyne evydences thyn abilite to lerne sciences touching nombres and proporciouns . And as wel considere I thy besy praier in special to lerne the tretys of the astrolabie . … therfore have I yoven the a sufficient astrolabie as for oure orizonte compowned after the latitude of Oxenforde, upon whiche bye mediacioun of this litil tretys, I purpose to teche the a certain nombre of conclusions apertenying to the same instrument.…. This tretis*… wol I shewe the under full light reules and naked wordes in Englisshe: for Latyn canst thou yit but small, my litel sone
Little Lewis, my son, I have well perceived from clear evidence your ability to learn sciences concerned with numbers and proportions. And I also take into account your earnest request specially to learn the treatise of the astrolabe… I have therefore given you an astrolabe appropriate for our horizon, calibrated to the latitude of Oxford, about which, through the means of this little treatise, I intend to teach you a certain number of propositions pertaining to the same instrument…. I will expound this treatise to you with very easy discourse and simple words in English, for you as yet know only a small amount of Latin, my little son.
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Likewise … I’m an authority on Portuguese swear words.
I was trying to find how many words are more-or-less the same in Portuguese as in English
Portuguese is 80% Latin, but English only 28%, I thought that figure was higher.
Wiki says:
English is
French, including Anglo-Norman (28.30%)
Latin, including modern scientific and technical Latin (28.24%)
Germanic languages (Old English, Old Norse, Dutch) (25%)
Greek (5.32%)
No etymology given (4.03%)
Derived from proper names (3.28%)
Other (5.83%)
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