I am not sure I trust Jacob Grimm's powers of observation - this is the man who invented a detailed description of the worship of a supposed Germanic pagan goddess of spring, Ostara, out of a single, brief, and unclear statement in the Venerable Bede's writings and absolutely no other evidence. Grimm thus inflicted on English speakers the recurring claim that the Christian holiday of Easter is actually of pagan origins. Grimm was a real life version of the character of Mr. Casaubon in 'Middlemarch', trying to create a key to all mythologies out of very tenuous links.
However, it can be observed in modern languages that certain vowels are interchangeable, dependent on regional accent. For example, I have observed while watching Hindi language films that some actors pronounce a specific vowel more like a 'b', while others pronounce it more like 'v'. This is similar to how the Spanish I was taught by Hispanic teachers pronounces 'v' with just a slight hint of the 'b' sound. By contrast, the Cockney accent, particularly as rendered by Charles Dickens, turns all English 'v's to 'w's. So it unsurprising to see consonant and vowel slippage over centuries.
Haha re Grimm and Casaubon. Point taken. Thankfully, the work doesn’t stand on his efforts alone. And, yes, these pronunciations are all far more flexible than we’d probably like to admit. Written text, particularly post print, has created a veneer of stability where there really isn’t much. We speak our English differently than we write it—and if there weren’t written forms, we’d never notice how far we’ve veered off the supposed standard.
I love reading books about language. The loose connection between spelling and pronunciation is something I particularly notice, perhaps because I am both a trained musician and I also experience synesthesia connect to written letters. When I am listening to spoken language, I am often mentally transcribing it back into its written form, which enables me to decipher heavy accents in English or learn new words in another language. So I constantly notice differences in consonant and vowel pronunciation.
The Greek υ (upsilon) is a fascinating study in pronunciation drift. When I learned the koine Greek alphabet from flashcards as a teen, the pronunciation guide said 'υ' had a short 'u' (oo) sound. When I studied ancient Attic Greek in university, my textbook said υ had a short or long French 'u' sound. When I listened to the modern demotic Greek spoken in Athens, I realized υ had become, like the English 'y', sometimes a vowel and sometimes a consonant.
There is a metro stop on the Athens underground named after the Greek word for Annunciation, the same word English gets 'evangelism' from. At the stop, the automatic annoucer on the subway train pronounces it "Evangelismos" (with a soft 'v' and hard 'g' sound) while the sign on the wall of the station spells it Ευαγγελισμός. So, υ can be a consonant with a 'v' sound.
The first modern Greek word I deciphered orally while walking around Athens was the Greek word for 'thank you'. It is pronounced ef-kha-ri-STOH, and spelt Ευχαριστώ, which is where Eucharist comes from. So, υ can be a very soft consonant, with an 'f' sound.
When I attended a Greek church, I recognized the word for Lord, κύριος and noticed it is pronounced Kyrios, with the υ or 'y' taking a long 'ee' sound. So υ is still a vowel too.
It is at such points that you realize letter pronunciation changes over time are immensely complex and unpredictable.
Indeed, the work of the Grimms doesn't stand on its own. And while they may have been overly speculative about pagan religions, when it came to collecting and collating etymological evidence, they were quite scrupulous.
words, words, words....would that we used the whole lot of them instead of the four letter Anglo-Saxonisms that shiver the ears....and not just the guttr ones..."like" usage is a plague of the devil in our current conversation
I am not sure I trust Jacob Grimm's powers of observation - this is the man who invented a detailed description of the worship of a supposed Germanic pagan goddess of spring, Ostara, out of a single, brief, and unclear statement in the Venerable Bede's writings and absolutely no other evidence. Grimm thus inflicted on English speakers the recurring claim that the Christian holiday of Easter is actually of pagan origins. Grimm was a real life version of the character of Mr. Casaubon in 'Middlemarch', trying to create a key to all mythologies out of very tenuous links.
However, it can be observed in modern languages that certain vowels are interchangeable, dependent on regional accent. For example, I have observed while watching Hindi language films that some actors pronounce a specific vowel more like a 'b', while others pronounce it more like 'v'. This is similar to how the Spanish I was taught by Hispanic teachers pronounces 'v' with just a slight hint of the 'b' sound. By contrast, the Cockney accent, particularly as rendered by Charles Dickens, turns all English 'v's to 'w's. So it unsurprising to see consonant and vowel slippage over centuries.
Haha re Grimm and Casaubon. Point taken. Thankfully, the work doesn’t stand on his efforts alone. And, yes, these pronunciations are all far more flexible than we’d probably like to admit. Written text, particularly post print, has created a veneer of stability where there really isn’t much. We speak our English differently than we write it—and if there weren’t written forms, we’d never notice how far we’ve veered off the supposed standard.
I love reading books about language. The loose connection between spelling and pronunciation is something I particularly notice, perhaps because I am both a trained musician and I also experience synesthesia connect to written letters. When I am listening to spoken language, I am often mentally transcribing it back into its written form, which enables me to decipher heavy accents in English or learn new words in another language. So I constantly notice differences in consonant and vowel pronunciation.
The Greek υ (upsilon) is a fascinating study in pronunciation drift. When I learned the koine Greek alphabet from flashcards as a teen, the pronunciation guide said 'υ' had a short 'u' (oo) sound. When I studied ancient Attic Greek in university, my textbook said υ had a short or long French 'u' sound. When I listened to the modern demotic Greek spoken in Athens, I realized υ had become, like the English 'y', sometimes a vowel and sometimes a consonant.
There is a metro stop on the Athens underground named after the Greek word for Annunciation, the same word English gets 'evangelism' from. At the stop, the automatic annoucer on the subway train pronounces it "Evangelismos" (with a soft 'v' and hard 'g' sound) while the sign on the wall of the station spells it Ευαγγελισμός. So, υ can be a consonant with a 'v' sound.
The first modern Greek word I deciphered orally while walking around Athens was the Greek word for 'thank you'. It is pronounced ef-kha-ri-STOH, and spelt Ευχαριστώ, which is where Eucharist comes from. So, υ can be a very soft consonant, with an 'f' sound.
When I attended a Greek church, I recognized the word for Lord, κύριος and noticed it is pronounced Kyrios, with the υ or 'y' taking a long 'ee' sound. So υ is still a vowel too.
It is at such points that you realize letter pronunciation changes over time are immensely complex and unpredictable.
Indeed, the work of the Grimms doesn't stand on its own. And while they may have been overly speculative about pagan religions, when it came to collecting and collating etymological evidence, they were quite scrupulous.
I love this post with a thousand hearts!
Thank you, Mary!
words, words, words....would that we used the whole lot of them instead of the four letter Anglo-Saxonisms that shiver the ears....and not just the guttr ones..."like" usage is a plague of the devil in our current conversation
Joel, many thanks for this delightful article. This is totally my jam. And ANOTHER book is added to my TBR. 📚
“Proto” is really fun. And this was totally fun to write! I’ve been singing bits of “My Fair Lady” around the house for two weeks now.
“Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn!”
“I can’t believe you did it! You did it! You did it!”
“For God’s sake git me to the church on time!”