The Osceola times., 1886-01-23
lNoLIsH PRONUNCIATION.
A A Number of Inexplicable British PecuI
iarities.

A Number of Inexplicable British PecuI,
iarities.
In the obituary notices which the
death of the Duke of Somerset called
forth curious diversity in the spelling
Of the family name was noticeable. The
old Duke, a plain, rough-tongued, un.
ostentatious man, spelled it Seymour.
the new Duke, who himself is SEVENTH.
five wears old, writes it st. Maur. And
as the old brothers disagreed on this
point so the nephews of the present
duke differ, for there is among them
Lord Alpernon st. Maur and a Lord
Edward Seymour. When members Of
The family are themselves of two opm.
ions it would be temerity indeed for a
pebeian outsider to attempt to deter.
mine the right of the thing. Apparently
the original name was Norman, and
the family harks back to William de
St. Maur who held lands in Monmouth
under Henry Ill. But three genera.
lions afterward, in the time of Edward
Ill. the head of the house wrote himself
if indeed, he knew how to write at
ell-Roger Seymour. This name they
bore with them when, in Tudor times.
they emerged from obscurity by a lucky
chance, gained court favor, fattened
themselves on church lands, and finally.
from the pinacle of the Lord Protector.
ship. gained the right to sniff at all the
other families of England, barring only
the Howards. Indeed, | am not sure
that this exception ought to be made,
for although the Dukes of Norfolk
G4S3) antcda.cd the Dgkes Of Somer
set by some sixiy-four years, it is well.
known that Howard is a corruption Of
the excessively commonplace Saxon
name Hogward, while now that Sey.
mour is spelled St Maur. there can be
no manner of doubt about its Norman
blue-bloodedness OF course, it is true
that vulgar tongues corrupted the name
for something over FIVE centuries; but
thank Heaven, it has been restored now
and we can all breathe easier.
The name will continue, however, te
be pronounced Seymour, just as st
John is called Siniun, and St
Leger is spoken Sillinger. Alasl We
did not all know this last until lately
at least the reporters in the Commons
gallery didn't-and when the aristo-
cratic 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 il Sillinger. But not that we know
e., J.t,,a a f,, fla al Al
orthoepy il shall never happen again.
Sometime ! am going to make a
whole book about the funny things in
English pronunciation. Everybody
knows about Majoribanks being Marsh
banks. and Cholmondeley being Chun-
ley, and Levison-Gower being Lewson.
Gore These are stock samples familiar
to all. Most people know, too, that
the Norman names Of Belvoir and Beau.
champs are pronounced Beaver and
Beecham, while the equally Norman
name of Grosvenor retains its French
sound. But these are only sign-posts
on the road to a general knowledge Of
the subject. When YOU get to know why
Boug ton is pronounced Bawton. while
Houghton has the long o, why Wemys
should be Neems, and hnollys 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 nell, retain
the sound of foreign origin after they
have lost its form. But then, the word
mall, meaning path, is pronounced NAL
and as they both came from the old
French game of paille maille. it may be
seem that the Englishman disdains mere
laws of analogy. He says Rumsted
when he refers to Rothamstead, but he
pronounccs southampton out fully
and clearly. In London, too, he hasa
dialect of his own, He says clark, bw
the rest of England says clerk. III
turns all his long as into long is, say
ing dyly pyper instead of daily paper
but the country people do not But
then, he says Hereford, while the ma
tiyes of that shire call it Hartford
London Cor. ~ y Times.