Magdalen

SubBusted

Why do some people pronounce the word magdalen/magdalene as mag-dah-lenn while others pronounce it as maude-lin? Which is correct?

P. Breathnach

In my view, any pronunciation is correct if it is established in a community that speaks a language. So it can often arise that different pronunciations are correct. I like consistency, and would go along with the idea that a pronunciation imported from a different language community is a bit off, arguably incorrect.

I associate maudlin with English upper-middle class English, and especially Oxbridge. In Ireland, I think mag-dah-len is pretty well the established version, and maudlin is best avoided.

slowburner

Is the maudlin pronunciation not unique to the college?

Alun

slowburner wrote: »

Is the maudlin pronunciation not unique to the college?

I thought so too.

tac foley

There are many examples in English of words that are pronounced in a much different way than they appear to be phonetically -

Beauchamp = Beecham
Cholmondeley = Chumley
St John = Singeon
Featherstonehaw = Fanshaw

..and so on.

Some of it is down to affectation, some to an older pronunciation.

tac

mitosis

There was a case in Australia some years ago, IIRC, wherein a shop called Harrods was sued by Harrods of London.

The defendant won because while it spelled the same as Harrods, it was in fact pronounced "Smiths"

Pronunciation is, as noted by P B above, locally governed by usage.

Ralph Fienes.