A few years ago, I was asked to explain
the logic behind the crazy pronunciation of some British names. Not
entirely possible!
As you'll see....
According to the nursery rhyme, "The man in the moon came
tumbling down and asked his way to Norwich. He went by the south and
burnt his mouth by eating cold pease porridge." Yes, in England
Norwich (norridge) rhymes with porridge. If the moon had asked
for Nor-witch, he'd still be lost.
Similarly, Warwick is Worrick (not War-wick); Hardwick,
Har-dik; and Keswick in the Lake District is Kezzik.
"Doctor Foster went to Gloucester in a shower of rain"
because Gloucester is pronounced Gloster. Most of the place
names ending in '-cester' behave the same way. Thus we have Bicester—Biss-ter;
Leicester—Less-ter; Worcester—Wuss-ter; and Leominster
is Lemster. Yet though some guide books may tell you that
Cirencester is pronounced Sissiter, you're more likely to hear
Siren-sester, so take your pick!
Another ending to watch out for is '-ham' meaning village or homestead.
Hadham, Birmingham, Farnham, etc., are pronounced HAD'um, BIRMING'um,
FARN'um. But just in case you thought there was a rule,
Berkhamstead is Burk-HAM-stead, while Wymondham in Norfolk
(NOR-f'k) is often mispronounced even by the British. Locals go
home to WIN-dum. There's also Brougham, like the carriage,
Broom, and Wrotham—Root'm.
The place name endings '-borough' and 'burgh' (meaning 'fort') are
usually pronounced -bruh. Thus Edinburgh is Edin-bruh
or Edin-Bu-ruh, never 'burg' as in hamburger. And just
to make things interesting, Marlborough is Mawl-bruh and
Happisburg is Haze-bruh. Confused yet?
Names connected with the upper classes are particularly likely to have
odd pronunciations. Witness: Beauchamp, Coke, Cholmondeley,
Featherstonehaugh, Home, Levenson-Gower, Mainwaring, Ruthven, Menzies.
Respectively: Beech'm, Cook, Chumley, Fanshaw, Hyume, Loos-n-gore,
Mannering, Riv'n, Mingies or Minjies. One of the
characters in my own Rogue's Reward,
Major Sir Robert St. John Crabtree, has a middle name the saints
wouldn't recognize: St. John is pronounced Sin-j'n. Alas, there
is more than one Mrs. Sidebottom who calls herself Siddy-bot-tome.
Magdelene and Caius are the names of Cambridge colleges. If you
correctly say Mawdlin and Keez, no one will know
you're not a graduate. But perhaps you went into the army and became a
lef-tenant (not loo-tenant!), instead.
If your title is viscount, there's no 's' pronounced. Please ask for the
vy-count. However, if you're a marquess or marquis, only answer
to mark-wiss, please. Marquess is the more common spelling in
England, marquis in Scotland, but they're pronounced the same, unless
you're in France.
Vowels can also take some interesting excursions into each other's
territories. Shrewsbury is often SHROZE-bree (though not
always), and Salisbury SAWLS-bree. Derby, Hertford, Berkshire,
Berkeley, are Darbee, Har'ford, Barkshuh, Barklee. As a clerk
is a clark. While Thames, of course, is Temz.
That leaves us with some names obviously invented by the man in the moon
himself: Belvoir, Lympne, Wemyss, Kirkcudbright, Culzean, Prinknash,
Caerleon. Ask for Beaver, Limm, Weemz, Kir-COO-bree, Kullane,
Prinnidge, K'LEE-an. (But this last only if you're speaking
English. The Welsh—whose country it's in—say Kire-lay-on.)
Unless you're in the know, you might also invite odd looks by asking for
Marylebone Station. It's Marl'b'n. And Grosvenor Square is
Grove-ner. Isn't that obvious?
Cornwall has some famous odd place names, too. Mousehole—MOU-sel
(rhymes with cow-sell), and Praa Sands—Pray Sands, are
two that come to mind. To complicate matters further, regional accents
around Britain add merrily to the confusion. In the end the only safe
way to know a local pronunciation is to go there and ask.
But you won't get lost looking for Towcester. It does follow the rules:
it's toaster, of course!
Copyright 2015 by Jean Ross Ewing |