Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 11.djvu/131

 ii s. XL FEB. is, MIS.] NOTES AND QUEEIES,

121

LONDON, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1915.

CONTENTS.-No. 268.

NOTES : Pronunciation : its Changes, 121 The Pronun- ciation of Polish, 122 Holcroft Bibliography, 123 "Cultura," 125 The Early Lords of Alenon The "Hermit's Cave," Cratcliffe, 126 Rolls of Honour Caius or Gonville and Caius College The Opera-House, Haymarket, 127 Dr. Edmond Halley's Ancestry Mon trose and Ibn Ezra on Grief, 128.

OUERIES : Origin of the Name Hammersmith, 128 Letter Sought : Scottish Ecclesiastical Affairs Words of Song Wanted Josselyn of Essex ' Guide to Irish Fiction' Henley Family: Overseers: Sampler, 129 Hour - Glasses Early English Toymakers Maturinus Veyssiere la Croze Names of Novels Wanted The Royal Regiment of Artillery, 130 Dr. Thorpe Colonel the Hon. Cosmo Gordon" Frightfulness "Hygrometer : Movable Scale Sherborne, Shireburn : Place-NamesChildren's Books : Authors Wanted, 131.

REPLIES : Punctuation : its Importance, 131 Renton Nicholson, 132 Black-bordered Title-pages Bonington's Picture of Grand Canal, Venice, 133 The term " Varap- pe'e " George Fitzroy, Duke of Northumberland Farthing Victorian Stamps, 134 " Wangle " Author of Quotation Wanted Medal of George III. Dufferin : ' Letters from High Latitudes ' Henry Gregory of Gloucestershire, 135 Authors of Poems Wanted Families of Kay and Key Vin gris A Scarborough Warning Regent Circus, 136 Oldest Business-House in London English Sovereigns as Deacons Woodhouse, Shoemaker and Poet Crooked Lane, London Bridge, 137 France and England Quarterly The Sacrifice of a Snow-White Bull, 138.

NOTES ON BOOKS : 'Bygone Haslemere ' Prussianism and its Destruction' 'Fortnightly Review '' Burlington Magazine.'

Booksellers' Catalogues.

PRONUNCIATION: ITS CHANGES.

RECENT notes on pronunciation have led me to look through a booklet called ' Mis- takes of Daily Occurrence in Speaking, Writing, and Pronunciation Corrected.' This was published at 6d. by John Farquhar Shaw, London, in 1855, and evidently attained considerable popularity, as my copy, dated 1858, bears the words " Thirty-first thousand." The author's name does not appear, and the only works advertised at the end are those of the Rev. John Gumming of the Scottish National Church ; and though many of these are pamphlets, all are reli- gious in subject, so that it does not seem reasonable, without further evidence, to assign the authorship to him.

The * Mistakes ' illustrated number 406, and the very needlessness of many of the examples points to considerable "changes having taken place in the last fifty years. Others reveal us as confirmed in our evil ways, and a few suggest an extreme of

pedantry in the author. Perhaps it is worth while to place a few of them on record in ' N. & Q.' Some of your correspondents may be disposed to offer comments.

5. We keep them at various prices : pronounce prices exactly as written, and not prizes.

6. That was a notable circumstance : pronounce the first syllable of notable as no in notion : Mrs. Johnson is a notable housewife, that is to say, careful : pronounce the first syllable of notable as not in Nottingham.

23. Constable's Miscellany was an interesting publication : pronounce miscellany with the accent on mis, and not on eel.

34. I prefer the yolk of an egg to the white : say, yelk, and sound the I.

36. I am very fond of sparrow grass : say, asparagus, and pronounce it with the accent on par.

38. It was very acceptable : pronounce accept- able with the accent on cept, and not on ac, as we so often hear it.

42. He is very covetous : pronounce covetous as if it were written covet us, and not covetyus, as is almost universally the case.

44. He does not learn arithmetic : say, arith- metic, and pronounce it with the accent on rith, and never on met, as we sometimes hear it.

55. Many people think so : say, many persons, as people means a nation.

66. He was averse from such a proceeding : say, averse to.

95. You cannot catch him : pronounce catch so as to rhyme with match, and not ketch.

102. We amuse ourselves with gymnastic exercises : pronounce gym as gim in the word gimlet, and not jim.

103. Spain and Portugal form a peninsula : pronounce peninsula with the accent on in, and not on su, as we often hear it.

108. The land in those parts is very fertile : pronounce fertile so as to rhyme with pill. The He .n all words must be sounded ill, with the excep- tion of exile, senile, gentile, reconcile, and camomile, 'n which He rhymes with mile.

113. I propose going to town next week : say, purpose.

120. Exaggerate : pronounce exaggerate, and do not sound agger as in the word dagger, which is a very common mistake.

123. Decorous, indecorous, dedecorous : in the first and second words lay the accent on the syllable co : in the last word lay it on the second syllable de.

128. The affair was compromised : pronounce compromised in three syllables, and place the accent on com, sounding mised like prized : the word has nothing to do with promised. The noun compromise is accented like compromised, but -nise must be pronounced mice.

136. The meat is quite rere : pronounce rere

mere, and never like rare.

157. The yellow part of an egg is very nqurish- ng : never pronounce yellow like tallow, which we o often hear.

162. Allow me to suggest : pronounce sug- so is to rhyme with mug, and gest like jest : never
 * udjest.

163. That building is an episcopal chapel : renounce episcopal with the accent on pis, and

lot on co, as we often hear it.