SCRIPTURE NAMES DIFFERENTLY PRONOUNCED

A List of such Scripture Proper Names as are pronounced by Oliver, Perry, Fulton and Knight, and Calmet's Dictionary, in a Manner different from the Pronunciation of Walker.

The abbreviation O. stands for Oliver; P. for Perry; F. for Fulton and Knight; C. for Cal met's Dictionary: [Calmet's Dictionary of the Holy Bible, by the late Mr. Charles Taylor, 2d Edition, London, 1832.]

A-na'mim, P.

Bēē'ra, P.

Cas-i-phila, C.

El-te'keli, P. C.

Ha-ra'dah, P

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES.

REMARKS ON THE PRONUNCIATION OF GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

THE pronunciation of geographical ames forms a very difficult branch of orthoepy; and the principal difficulties use from the want of good authorities and well-established and known usage with respect to the greater part of the words, from the disagreement in the author.ties which exist, and from uncertainty how far the English analogy should be followed in the pronunciation of foreign proper names, instead of the analogy of the language of the country to which the names belong.

The author has devoted considerable attention to this subject, by examining such pronouncing vocabularies as he could obtain, by marking the usage of the poets, and by endeavoring to ascertain the present usage, both by observation and inquiry; but he has not been able, in all cases, by any means to satisfy himself; and be has probably failed, with respect to a number of words, to exhibit that pronunciation which is to be most approved. He, therefore, offers the following Vocabulary with much diffidence, yet not without hope, that, imperfect as it is, it may, nevertheless, be of some use.

Persons who are not acquainted with any other modern language than the English, incline strongly, in the pronunciation of foreign names, to the English analogy; and any other mode seems to them unnatural and affected; but those who are familiar with foreign languages, or who have formed their taste and habits by residence abroad, more readily adopt the foreign pronunciation. The former class of persons will probably think that the author has departed too often from the English analogy and the latter, that he has adhered to it too closely

Geographical names pertain to all parts of the globe, and their vernacular or native pronunciation is affected by every variety of language; but it would be impracticable to teach an inhabitant of any one country to pronounce all these names with the appropriate pronunciation of the countries to which they severally belong; and in a book which is to be used chiefly by those who have no knowledge of any modern language except the English, and who will never become accustomed to a foreign accent, it is necessary, as a general rule, to incline to the analogy with which those by whom the work is used are familiar. There are many cases in which the pronunciation of foreign names is par

most to be approved; but when the Anglicized form is supported by good usage, it seems proper to adhere to it, how much soever it may differ from the pronunciation of the country to which the word belongs. It would seem pedantic and affected for a person, in reading or speaking English, to pronounce Paris, pahree; but whether Nantes and Poitiers ought to follow the English analogy may be more questionable. In all doubtful cases of this sort, the disposition to allow common students in geography to follow the English analogy, seems not to be worthy of censure; yet it may often be satisfactory to know what the foreign pronunciation of a word is, though it should not be thought advisable to adopt it.

With regard to a considerable number of words respecting which there is a diversity in usage or in the authorities, two forms are given in the Vocabulary.

The following Rules respecting the pronunciation of certain letters in modern European languages, the English excepted, may be of some use; though it is not recommended that English students should apply the whole of them to practice; and it will be seen that they are not all applied in the following Vocabulary.

1. The vowel a, in situations in which the analogy of the English language would naturally give it the sound of long a, as in fate, has, in other European languages, the sound of a in father; the vowel e, at the end of a syllable, the sound of long a, as in paper; the vowels i and y, except when short, the sound of i in marine, the same as long e; and u, except in French, the sound of u in rule, or of oo in moon.

2. The diphthong au and the triphthong eau, in French, have the sound of o long, as in note, as Chaumont (sho-mong), and Beauvais (bo-va); and the diphthong au, in German, has the sound of ow in now, as Austerlitz (ow'ster-litz); the diphthongs ei and ey, in German, the sound of long i, as in fine, as Leipsic; the diphthong eu, in German, has the sound of oi in toil, as Neustadt (noi'stat); and the diphthong ou, in French, the sound of oo in pool, as Toul (tool).

3. In French and Portuguese, the consonants ch have the sound of sh; in Spanish, the sound of ch in the English word chill, ch in La Mancha being thus pronounced in Spanish, though this word is commonly pronounced in English with the ch hard like k; in German, these letters have a hard or guttural sound; and in Italian, they sound hard like k, as they do in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin words.

4. In Italian, c before e and i has the sound of ch in chill, as Vercelli (ver-chel'le); g, in German words ending in gen, is hard, and is thrown back on the penultimate syllable, as Hechingen (hek'ing-en); j and often x, in Spanish, have the sound of h strongly aspirated, as Guadalaxara or Guadalajara (gua-da-la-häʼra) ; j, in German and Italian, has the sound of y consonant, as Jena (ya'na); z, in German, and often in Italian, the sound of ts, as Zara (tsä'ra); and th, in Euro