Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-12-27
PRONUNCIATION.
The Queer Twis,.ag OF Family Name.


A correspondent writing from Lon
don says: In the obituary notices
which the death of the Duke Of Somer-
set called forth last week curious d.
versity in the spelling Of the family
names was noticeable. The old Duke,
a plain, rough-tongued, unostentatious
man, spelled it Seymour; the new
Duke. who himself is seventy-fve years
old, writes it st. Maur. And as the old
brothers disagreed on this point, so the
nephews Of the present Duke differ, Tor
there is among them Lord Algernon st.
Maur and q Lord Edward Seymour.
When members Of the family are them
selves of two opinions it would be
temerty indeed for plebeian outsider
to attempt to determine the right OF the
thing. Apparently the original name
was Norman, and the family harks back
to a William de st. Maur, who held
lands in Monmouth under Henry Ill.
But three generations afterward, in the
time of Edward ILL.,, the head OF the
house wrote himself-if, indeed, he
knew how to write at all-Roger Sey-
mour. This name they bore with them
when, in Tudor times, they emerged
from obscurity by a lucky chance,
gained court favor, lattened them
selves on church lands, and finally, from
the pinnacle Of the Lord Protector
ship, gained the right to sniff at all the
other families of England, barring
only the Towards. Indeed, | am not
sure that this exception ought to be
made, for although the Dukes Of Nor
folk (l4S3) antedated the Dukes of So
merset by some sixty-four years, it is
well known that Howard is a corrup-
ton of the excessively commonplace
Saxon name Hogward; while now that
Seymour is spelled St. Maur, there can
be no manner Of doubt about its Nor
man blue-bloodedness. Of course it is
true that vulgar tongues corrupted the
name for something over five centuries,
but, thank Heaven, it has been restor ed
now, and we can all breathe easier.
The name will continue, however, to
be pronounced Seymour, just as st.
John is called Sinjun and st. Leger is
spoken Sillinger. Alas we did not all
know this last until lately-at least the
reporters in Commons's gallery didn't
and when the arstocratic Marquis Of
Harrington spoke of the correspondents
who had been killed in the SOudan, one
of whom was named st. Leger, the
papers next morning all had it Sillinger.
But now that we know what fashion
demands in the matter of orthoepy, it
shall never happen again.
Some time | am going to make a
whole book about the funny things
in English pronunciation. Everybody
knows about Majoribanks being Marsh
banks, and Cholmondeley being Chum-
ley, and Levison-Gower being Lewson-
Gore. These are the stock samples
familiar to all. Most people know,
too, that the Norman names Of Bel
yoir and Beauchamps are pro-
nounced Beaver and Beecham, while
the equally Norman name Of Gros-
venor retains its French sound.
But these are only signposts on
the road to a general knowledge Of the
subject. When you get to know why
Boughton is pronounced Bawton, while
Houghton has the long o, why Wemyss
should be Weems. and Knollys should
be Knowles, you will be getting on in
the mastery Of the subject. But there
are no rules. Some words, like PAIL
Mall, which is pronounced Pell-Mell,
retain the sound of their foreign origin
after they have lost its form. Bat, then,
the word mall, meaning path, is pro-
nounced NAL and, as they both came
from the old French game Of Paille
Maille, it may be seen that the English
man disdains mere laws Of analogy. He
says Rumsted when he refers TO Roth
ampstead, but he pronounces South
amptom out fully and clearly. In Lon
don, too, he has a dialect Of his own.
lie says clark, but the rest OF England
says clerk. lie turns all his long as
into long is, saying dyly pyper instead
of daily paper, but the country people
do not. But, then, he says Hereford,
while the natives Of that shire call it
Hartford.