PRONOUNCING NAMES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2059, 10 August 1893, Page 41

PRONOUNCING NAMES.

Englishmen are wont to demur at the favet era te habit of their Welsh neighbours of , filling up propejf names with legions ot \ unnecessary consonants, thereby vonderi ing- the pronoun elation of the saxae practically a feat of impossiblity to any bub i a native of Cambria. ' However, after all that is said and done,. Welshmen, might; retort with a certain degree of reason aad justice by denouncing the way in- which Englishmen of all classes' deliberately sound many of their own names quite differently from the way in which they spell them, and this perverleion of ordinary rules applies equally to the pronunciation of both places and persons. This custom baa in the majority o! cases arisen either through the medium of local dialects, or else through a not unnatural desire for abbreviation. Of course, in the names of county families, several casea aye well known, such as Lp; v f ~ son being sounded as if spelt "Lp; d oia "-• Wymondham, " Wyndham "' ; Ohortnonde--ley, " Ohumley " j Pennycomequiok,' "Penny- - chuke"; Dumareeq, " Dutmyiick " ; and a Majoribanks, "Marcßbanks.. 1 * However, it is not ao tnuch in faraitaname>, such as tho foregoing, in which w<& delight to conSusa foreigners, as in-ths names of towjas and villages; besides, these family n&mos Indulging in conjuring tricks are comparatively few in number, anO everybody is supposed to be acquainted with their little weaknesses. Yet vie who laugh at these apparent affspta,tions in others, are nothing lfttfc to commit the saofe ©rimes ourselves and to. boldly pronoanee names of familiar places in a way that is totally at variance with the spelling. To say "libel " instead of Ws\ ox '^Uolck." instead of strike,, would

be to acknowledge ourselves to be of Cockney origin; neverthless, all the world over, Thames becomes " Terns." We sound Greenwich as if it were spelt "Grinige"; whilst Woolwich correspondingly becomes " Woolige"; and then we pride ourselves upon speaking the Qaeen's English correotly; although, perhaps, we really do speak grammatically, even in the face of these apparent blunders, for what is grammar but the oflioial recognition of custom with regard to speech. Ye* in all this we give strong grounds for disciples o£ phonography to base their arguments upon. There are numerous examples of this habit of mispronunciation to be encountered throughout the country, it being by no means indigenous to tha metropolitan area. It is doubtless to save time and trouble that Cirencester is abbreviated into " Cicester," Willesden into " Willsden," Sydenham into "Sydnam,"" and Woolfardisworthy into "Woolsery." Brighthelmstone is a thing of the pas'-, for when that little Sussex village expanded itself into the dimensions and dignity of a town, it equalised matters by contracting its name into " Brighton." But even when we meet with a short and seemingly simple name like Darby we must needs sound the " c " as if it wera an "a," and say "Darby"; nor is tho reason apparent why the county of Shropshire should be sometimes converted into " Salop," norßarnstaple into "Barum." For brevity's sake we write •'WiltV'Yorks," and "Berks" instead of Wiltshire, Yorkshire, and Berkshire— which last named, by the way, following the before- 1 mentioned lead of Derby, metamorphoses itself into "Barkshire," a fact which Punch wittily makes "use of by referring to it as beiDg the Parliamentary constituency of Toby, M.P. In a similar manner " Harford " or " Hartford " represents Hertford. Salisbury is prdnouned " Saulsberry " ; and that j favourite termination for the name of a town, Burgh, is sounded as if written "Burror," thus expanding the word by a more inexplicable process than that by which Jack Tar calls a helm a "helium." Badge worthy Water, a Devonshire stream figuring somewhat prominently in Mr Blackmore's romance "Lorna Daone," i 3 locally called " Badgery Water"; whilst .in the neighbouring county of Somerset, an obsoure little village with the rather ambiguous title of Bathealton is invariably known as " Battleton " ; and Newport (Isle of Wight) becomes "Nippub" in the language of Wessex. Such changes are not altogether surprising in localities where traditional names are entrusted to the keeping of a semi-educated or ignorant peasantry; but surely we are entitled to expect more care and consideration in the great centres of learning t However, as a matter of fact we are disappointed in this respect, even in our universities— at least as regards the names of colleges— for at Oxford we have Magdalen pronounced " Maudlin " ; whilst at Cambridge, Caius becomes " Keys."— Ohambera's Journal.