Page:The Czechoslovak Review, vol3, 1919.djvu/139

 and multiply on every step in trying to go further with it. It is true that J. V. Sládek in his translation of our national anthem retained very successfully the name “Čechia”, but there is little doubt that it sounds so well more to our ears than to those of the Americans. If the French became more or less accustomed to call us “Tcheques”, we still must admit with them that their old name of the country “Bohème” sounds better than “Tchèque pay” or anything else, designed to supplant it. Therefore, it looks to me that we should not forget to direct our effort toward correcting the fallacy as to the correct meaning of the name “Bohemians”, designating our nation, while trying to establish the name “Čechs” in the English vocabulary. And while explaining the spelling, the pronunciation and the meaning of the name “Čechs” on all sides and at all occasions, let us insist further on the meaning of who are the real, historically, geographically and ethnologically defined Bohemians, and we can rest assured that due respect to our old and honest name in the English nomenclature will not be withheld.

However, I do not wish to be understood as advocating to hold the Bohemian name “Čechs” anyway in the background. That name is the best for us and dear to us amongst ourselves, and if used in our English writings, it will by itself permeate into the English vocabulary as easily as anything else and with more merit and less humor than for instance, our innocent old word “pantáta”. Only let us unite on the mode of its spelling and teach others its right pronunciation which, unfortunately, forms the greatest obstacle to its introduction. In analysing the difficulties of properly establishing the name in English, we soon come to the conclusion that it is unavoidable to create something new in the English speech, since none of the various modes of spelling is by itself capable of being pronounced correctly. The sound is simply not in the English mouth, and, therefore, cannot come out of it, except it is first properly placed there. The word “Czech” is a miscreant to the English eye and tongue. It appears to have been put down in a hurry by someone whose mind was used to move in the sphere of the German. I hardly can believe that the Polish language had much to do with it and also feel like correcting Mr. Nigrin’s impression that “it never occurs in the Čech language.” On the contrary, up to the time of John Hus we find it spelled that way only. It was he who took the from behind the c and placed on top of it in the form of the hook in the same manner as he did with all the other diacritic marks, when simplifying the art of writing the Bohemian language and rendering its spelling into the phonetic type. But ask an American or an Englisman to pronounce it, and he will invariably say, “”.—On the other hand, Mr. Nigrin’s proposition to spell the name “Chehs” is only another miscreant. To make sure, I put in to a practical test and asked a few people knowing only English to pronounce it for me and found invariably that, after some hesitation, they would pronounce it “Čes” to use the Bohemian phonetic manner. For the in English, and especially the final, is used to extend the length of the preceding vowel, mostly in foreign languages, e. g., Noah, Nineveh. And in pressing the test further and asking the party subjected to the test to pro nounce “Chehia”, I found invariably an expression reminding one at once of the fragrancy of the Bohemian bucolica. So, then, to my taste, I would rather remain a Bohemian from Bohemia than become a and come from. As to the idea of using the letter instead of  and asking an English speaking person to not keep it silent and then expecting him to utter the Bohemian, that looks to me preposterous. If Mr. Nigrin would consult his knowledge and memory, or maybe better still, some cyclopaedia, he would find no difficulty in encountering the letters used in the Bohemian sense and the letter  marked with a secondary accent, or, to make the right pronunciation sure. Otherwise, is commonly used in English to designate the sound of the Bohemian, as e. g., in Kharkoff, Khartoum, etc. To arrive at the right pronunciation by such method would require the spelling of the name as “Chekhs”.

The result of my observation and study in the matter is about this: Let us not object to the name Bohemia and Bohemians, but should any occasion arise of encountering a person so ignorant as to be in doubt as to the meaning of the expression, let us gracefully elucidate his dark mind. On the other hand, in order to introduce the words “Čech”, “ˇČechia”, into the English language,, [sic]we cannot improve on the spelling of the words from the Bohemian way. Then, instead of teaching the Americans how to pronounce correctly various distorted forms of spelling of the name, let us teach them how to pronounce our and, and I feel convinced that we shall encounter less difficulty than in doing the same thing any other way. There is no originally in the English alphabet, and yet we find the Spanish word “caňon” printed correctly in English dictionaries and pronounced correctly by the people. I remember the time when our Antonín Dvořák was director of the American Conservatory of Music and when his name was being pronounced by Americans right and left absolutely correctly. The British Encyclopaedia gladly undertook the trouble of using all diacritical marks in Bohemian names and words in Lutzow’s articles, and, therefore, there is no valid reason why the names “Čechs” and “ČechciaČechia [sic]” should not retain their original Bohemian form, if we teach the Americans their correct pronunciation. The Slováks are in this respect at a decided advantage, since their name, all but the length of the vowel á needs no special interpretation.

As to the hypenated Čecho-Slovák combination, there may be some scruples as to the invention, philologically. But in political combinations such matters represent only a debate about a goat’s hair.

Mr. Nigrin’s on the spelling of the word Czechoslovak called forth considerable comment, all of which it has been impossible to publish. The