If English is your mother tongue, you probably don’t realize how challenging it can be to master English pronunciation. Now, that is true for many languages. But many children (myself included) puzzle over the pronunciation of the day of the week spelled Wednesday. The dichotomy between spelling and pronunciation is due to the mongrel nature of English from many languages.
Remember there are many foreign words that seem almost unpronounceable for English speakers.
In German, there is Fünfhundertfünfundfünfzig.
Welsh has, Llanhyfryddawelllehynafolybarcudprindanfygythiadtrienusyrhafnauole and Icelandic has Vaðlaheiðarvegavinnuverkfærageymsluskúraútidyralyklakippuhringur.
There are several English words that are easily mispronounced due to their unusual spelling. Here are a few for your enjoyment.
Ragout, in culinary terms, refers to a stew of well-seasoned meat and vegetables cooked in a thick sauce. The word can also be used as a term for a mixture of just about anything.
It is pronounced \ra-GOO\ despite the spelling. Ragout comes from the French, ragoûter, which means ‘to revive the taste.’ It is based on the Latin word for taste, gustus.
We often use ragout to define a sauce of meat and vegetables often poured over pasta. One can also use the word for a movie that is a mixture of fantasy, science fiction, and old-fashioned romance.
Colonel is certainly a word that is pronounced very differently, \KER-nul,\ from its English spelling. The word came from the French word coronel, which was adapted from the Italian colonnello, meaning a column, especially the leader of a column of soldiers. It is a quirk of languages to often substitute l’s for r’s and r’s for l’s. Thus, when the word came into English usage in the 1500s it utilized the ‘r’ sound but was spelled the Italian way, with an ‘l.’ The French have since altered their pronunciation to the ‘l,’ but the English stubbornly keeps to the original French ‘r’ sound in the word. A very confusing word to pronounce for learners of the English language since it is pronounced more like kernel than colonel.
Segue is a difficult word to pronounce for any English speaker. Most English words ending in “gue” end with a \gE\ sound. Examples are vogue, vague, league, fatigue. Yet segue is pronounced \SEG-way.\
Segue means to proceed to what follows without pause, as a direction in music. It expresses movement without stopping from one activity or topic to another. An example is, “in the movie, a shot of the outside of the house segued neatly to a shot of the family inside the house.”
To make pronunciation easier, segue is often spelled segway. There are two likely reasons for this change in text. The familiar suffix way, as in driveway and runway, seems to agree with the notion of a segue as a "path" along which something transitions. Also, the existence of the American company that produces electric transportation devices is Segway. The standard spelling segue comes from the use of the word's Italian root as a direction in music, indicating a transition without interruption.
Victuals means a supply of food or provisions. It is pronounced \VIT-ulz.\ It is derived from the Latin word victualis meaning ‘of nourishment.’ Victuals also went through French changes before entering English. One would think it should be spelled "vittles" if its pronunciation dictated its form. It is most known to English speakers as ‘food’ in the supposed language of cowboys and backwoods yokels.
Solder is a metal or metallic alloy used to bond metallic surfaces. It is pronounced \SAH-der.\ A silent ‘l’ is common in English, as in salmon, calm, walk, should, and calf. It derives from the Latin solidare meaning ‘to make solid.’
Remember some of this when you encounter new people in our community that have not grown up with English as a mother tongue. Don’t be too judgmental on their pronunciation of English words. Give them a break, please!
Columnist John Kreutzwieser loves to research words and writes this weekly Word Wisdom column for Moose Jaw Express/MooseJawToday.com. He has an interest in the usage, origin, and relevance of words for society today. Greek and Latin form the basis of many words, with ancient Hebrew shedding light on word usage.
John would like to know if anyone has a sincere interest in a relevant word that he could possibly research for an upcoming column. If so, please send your requests to wordwisdom2021@gmail.com . Words will be selected according to relevance and research criteria. We cannot confirm that all words will be used.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
