The Irish standard., 1892-04-09
PROPERLY PRONOUNCED.
The Names Of Some Celebrated
Race Horses Defined.
- Rule They Arc Incorrectly Called BY
Even the FroQuentors Of Race
Courses-Interesting Facts for
Lovers Of Rorssaesh.

It Is odd that the names Of the three
most celebrated horses in the world to-
day are mispronounced as general
thing Those three are Palo Alto,
Sunol and Arion. Column after column
has been written about them ever since
last fall, but it is probable that of the
writer's themselves not one in ten
knows how the names of the great trio
should De pronounced And it is equal.
" probable that not one in ten knows
what significance the names carry with
them.
It may shock the horse world horri-
bly,. says the Stockton (Cal.) Mail. to
learn that the great two-year-old stall.
lions name, when correctly pronounced,
sounds almost as Irish as the name Of
the constellation Orion The latter is
pronounced as lift were spelled Organ
The name Arion is pronounced the
same as Orion, save that the initial
sound is that of instead of o The
lctus is on the second syllable. and the
| has the long sound, as in the word
"wine." Most people in speaking of
Arion put the ictus on the A and give it
the long sound.
The two words Palo Alto are Spanish
and should be pronounced as such
The should have the broad sound, as
the in father" and the final letter O..
should have the long sound as in
'tone." The ictus should be Oh the
drst syllable. Properly pronounced the
words are Pablo Ahl-to. They mean
''tall tree" The word palo means liter
ally stick, but it is also used to desig~
nate any tree having tall, straight
trunk. The Palo Alto stables got their
name from the place where they were
located, and that place was named Palo
Alto because there was an exceptional
~ tall and straight tree growing on it.
The early Californians were accustomed
60 name their ranches in accordance
with some circumstance often trivial in
Itself. For instance, Ell Rancho de Los
Pesos was so named because of the
many water holes on it, the word IA
weu) being used to designate such a
hole; FL Rancho Pescadero, because a
fisherman lived on it, pescadero mean.
ing ''fisherman;" Ell Rancho del Campo
de Los Franbeses, because some French
men had established a camp on it: Yer
ba Buena (the old name for San Fran
cisco) because Of the fact that the herb
known as yerba buena (good herb)
grew plentifully at that place. In like
manner the place Palo Alto most likely
derived it's name,
The name Sunol is also Spanish, and
should be pronounced with the ictus on
the last syllable, and by giving the let
ter the sound Of ny. The word is pro-
nounced as If it were written soon-yole.
the double-o in ''soon" having the
sound Of double-o in Zoo" the
broad sound of double-o in moon"
Sunol is a. Spanish proper name which
was we'll known to the early Californi
ans--that is, those who lived in Call
fornia before the days of the gold fever
Antonio Maria Sunol was d native of
Spain and served in the French army
He came to this states in the French
naval vessel Bordelai; in 1877 and de-
serted the service the following year
During his lifetime he held various
prominent offices in this state under
Mexican rule and acquired large pos
sessions. He died in 1865. leaving an
excellent reputation. The Sunol valley
was named after him.