[PW] Re: ? pronunciation of "lieutenant"

[Bye, Dan J]

for what it's worth, OED2 says:

"In the normal British pronunciation of lieutenant the first syllable sounds like "lef-". In the standard US pronunciation the first syllable, in contrast, rhymes with "do". It is difficult to explain where the f in the British pronunciation comes from. Probably, at some point before the 19th century, the u at the end of Old French lieu was read and pronounced as a v, and the v later became an f."

Basically, they don't know either.

Dan 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: project-wombat-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org 
> [mailto:project-wombat-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org] On 
> Behalf Of Reed C Bowman
> Sent: 06 November 2006 08:44
> To: list at project-wombat.org
> Subject: [PW] Re: ? pronunciation of "lieutenant"
> 
> John Franklin wrote:
> 
> >The following question is being sent to the list on behalf 
> of Peter E. 
> >Blau, because for whatever reason his attempts to send it 
> have failed.
> >
> >Why is it that "lieutenant" is pronounced "leftenant" on one side of 
> >the Atlantic, and "lootenant" on the other?  I find the 
> explanation at 
> >Wikipedia less than authoritative.
> >
> >Many thanks,
> >--
> >Peter E. Blau
> >7103 Endicott Court
> >Bethesda, MD 20817-4401
> >(301-229-5669)
> >_______________________________________________
> >Project Wombat
> >list at project-wombat.org
> >http://www.project-wombat.org/
> >
> >
> >  
> >
> I cannot pretend to be authoritative on the subject, but the 
> f (and formerly v) sound in it seems to be the real English 
> pronunciation as it evolved, mostly or entirely separate from 
> the spelling. OED says a few not-terribly-clear things on 
> this subject. Maybe OED2 is better. Does mention someone's 
> saying "leftenant" was unheardof in the US outside the 
> retired naval lists.
> 
> I would assume that the western-hemisphere pronunciation is 
> either from Webster's reforming hand or from the typically 
> prosaic, literal-minded
> (literally!) American approach to pronunciation. I recall 
> this being described by Alistair Cooke, I think it was, by 
> saying, How can you teach this new language to an immigrant 
> from Germany or Italy or Poland or wherever, and tell him 
> that the word "Waistcoat" is pronounced "Weskit"? While you 
> can't get an American to articulate all those French vowels 
> correctly, they're at least going to avoid throwing in spare, 
> invisible consonants without good reason.
> 
> RCB
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Project Wombat
> list at project-wombat.org
> http://www.project-wombat.org/
>