Posted by Rick Denney on February 19, 2002 at 18:01:21:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Pro-nun-see-ay-shun posted by Doug on February 19, 2002 at 17:37:38:
Beats me. But looking at the spelling, it seems to me that "Cologne" has taken a trip through the French countryside on its way to these shores.
The French do all sorts of hilarious things when they transliterate other languages--almost as hilarious as was we do when we transliterate them back into English. Here's my favorite: A canyon in northeastern Arizona, described as "Tsegyi" by the local inhabitants (who, alas, have no written language). It is often spelled "Tsegi" by American scholars attempting to match the sounds to English pronunciation, but I've heard it spoken by the residents of the area, and even that misses the mark.
But the spelling you'll find on the map comes from French explorers: Canyon de Chelly, which is usually pronounced "shay" by Americans not realizing that the French were doing their best to approximate sounds that don't occur in their language either.
I suspect that most mangled place names can trace similar histories. How does Bergundy (BER-gun-dee) wine come from Bourgogne (Boor-GOHN-ya)? Yup, same place. In New Orleans, they are slightly closer: ber-GUN-dee.
Rick "thinking that Americans did not invent Gringo-Mouth" Denney