Pronunciation dilemmas for Galanthophiles ('Poculiform' etc.)

[Anthony Darby]

I'll buy that Brian. 

[Alan_b]

.. Ben Lomond is a muckle great hill near Glasgow ...

Yes, and the pronunciation I have learned is something like 'Low mund'.  But if my ancestors had moved from Scotland to New Zealand in 1860 would they have pronounced it the same then?

[Anthony Darby]

Judging by the poetry of Robert Burns, I suspect it was pronounced the same in 1760.

[Maggi Young]

Pronunciations change, particularly of places I think.  Sometimes that happens even after the spelling has been fixed.  'Leicester', for example, is surely spelled that way to reflect some past pronunciation (now it's 'Lester').  Are you sure Ben Lomond isn't a corruption of the original Ben Le Mond, Anthony?

Quoting from a book , Scottish Hill Names  -
"Ben Lomond is a landmark on the southern edge of the Highlands, visible from many Lowland spots. Th is gives credence to the idea  that, like Fife's Lomond Hills, it comes from the Cumbric word, Ilumon meaning a beacon or blaze or light, giving the hill an ancient telecommunications function.
The Gaelic luimean,  a barren hillock, might also seem appropriate as it rises near-naked above a heavily wooded base."

Ben is  "the commonest  Scottish Gaelic hill-word" - meaning " a mountain of any shape or size......"

From "Scottish Hill Names - Their origin and meaning" by Peter Drumond  - published by the Scottish Mountaineering Trust. ISBN 978-0-907 521-95-2

[Maggi Young]

The "latinising" of plant names is an artifice - sometihng quite artificial and I doubt if anyone whoe name has been subject to such a thing would bother to give much thought to the matter.

There are names in English, which are equally, if not more, liable to being mangled - Cholmondeley, for instance! 

Not exactly the stuff of life and death tho', is it?  I personally would prefer to spend time on the actual plants 

[johnralphcarpenter]

Captain Mainwaring would be proud of you, Maggi!

[Maggi Young]

Captain Mainwaring would be proud of you, Maggi!

Thank you, Ralph, Rafe, Raff ............   

[fermi de Sousa]

The "latinising" of plant names is an artifice - sometihng quite artificial and I doubt if anyone whose name has been subject to such a thing would bother to give much thought to the matter.

I think I read in one of Bowles' works that a waggish taxonomist named a species taurii after a Mr Bull!
cheers
fermi

[Matt T]

The "latinising" of plant names is an artifice ... I personally would prefer to spend time on the actual plants 

Here here, Maggi!

To add to the artifice, the source of names used in binomial nomenclature to create a "latin name" for living things is not exclusively latin words. There are greek words, other languages and names of people and places in the mix too. So a 'correct' latin pronunciation is quite unnecessary.

Best to just enjoy the plants.

[Maggi Young]

Hi Matt - good holiday?

[Matt T]

AMAZING holiday! Wish I was still there    I'm sorting through the 2,802 photos    and will post a select few on the Forum when I get a chance. First visit to the Forum since getting back, so just catching up on all the activity I've missed.

[Lesley Cox]

Galanthus el-wes-e-i or el-wes-e-e
Galanthus el-wheeze-e-i or el-wheeze-e-e

Sorry to see you have a chest cold Mark.

[Lesley Cox]

During Dunedin's recent biennial Arts Festival, I was thrilled to attend a concert/recital/performance by Belgian chanteuse (her word) Micheline Van Houtem. She sang all songs by Jacques Brel and was a fantastic entertainer. Why I mention it was because she said she had thought our city was pronounced as dunny  din (to our horror! but went on to say she'd been told it was, in fact a combination of DUN from Dundee and EDIN from Edinburgh. No-one corrected her but I'm sure this is incorrect, rather the old Celtic word Dun, meaning hill combines with edin, as in Edinburgh which also means Edin hill surely? Please correct me if I'm wrong myself, here.

[Lesley Cox]

If they accuse you of racism, try getting them to pronounce some UK placenames: Pwhelli, Betws-y-Coed or Machynlleth come to mind. Or how about Sgor an Lochain Uaine, Liathach or Sgùrr na Banachdaich?

Thanks Ralph, I'll do that. Most NZers havee nough trouble with Craigellachie here except the dozen or so who live there (on the way to Roxburgh in Central Otago)

Sorry about the reference above to Micheline. I seee I'd already mentioned that wonderful evening. Her music still sings in my head.

[Maggi Young]

I think the delightful Belgian Chanteuse was mislead. Dùn Èideann  - meaning a hill fort, I think, was the original  name for what became, in a more Anglo-Germanic naming, Edinburgh. Dundee doesn't come into the equation at all 


(Small world, isn't it - I was born in Edinburgh and my Father had relatives in the (Scottish) Craigellachie! )