Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-08-26

sets spells "CrunshIe.' Beall In vrs'nia
is BELL" and Taliaferro in Kentucky ID
plain "Tullifer"
Dumaresque. too, manages 10 get cnppeo
to "Dimeric' and then TO appear as an
other name entirely, Dimmery. Mouitrie
IL mutry and Bowie bu-ie, both with the
III" long, as 1t is I'm Houston in spite Oh
the spelling. OImstead as umsted, Comp
ton as cumton are other New EnSianu
corruptions. Devereux Is deyeroo, ne
mans has the sc" short, Reay is the same
as Ray; Deadly is deedy, an excellent
name for a lawyer: DEMO is accented on
the ST." which is long; Rouse is pro-
nounced as II roose Chisholm and Tren-
holm are chiz'm and trenum; Hoag and
Poag are pronounced with the 90 long,
and, finally. Timberlake gets to be
through the mutilation and attrition OF
the ages, "timlik."
Names from the French are far from
being uncommon In this country, owing
to Louisiana, Acadia. Canada, and seye-
raj early immigrations Of Huguenots
For the most part, these last have been
distorted into pronunciatons as little
French In sound as the names are Eng
lish i'm spelling. Bowdoin is bodin. for ex-
ample. and Faneui something remarkably
like funnel. 1t Is not difficult TO tell how
long a name Of this kind has been In
America by its deviation from the origi-
nal Gallo sounds. Huger and Legare are
only in the second stage, for they are
called yuJee and legree, respectively,
with the accent on the last syllable. This
is true of Bowler and Sevier-booveer
and sever. Angler, on the other hand,
is properly called AMER, with the "a
both long and accented. We Americans
have curious custom. in open violation
of that law Of the language which de-
mands that the accent shall go back as
far as possible I'm every word, Of accent
ing the last syllable of words In "ll'
or TT" or even some combinations Of
a liquid and mute. Mrs. Alice Meynell
(maynle I'm England has her family
designation changed to a strong stress
of the voice on the nell" Similarly,
good old names like Buzzell and Darrell
are changed almost beyond recognition,
and Burdett and Burnett and the like
suffer no less 1t is due for the most
part to ignorance of the fact that On ac-
cent on the last syllable of any surname
indicated a recent immigrant. The old
New Jersey name of Sellover, TO take a
little know instance, was French. with
the ''ver'' accented when IL was import
ed hither in the seventeenth century.
Later, it became changed 10 the middle
syllable, with the "o' long. Then It
received it's final baptism as a fully
adopted English name by being called
slower" This lacked distinction I'm the
estimation Of some moneyed members
of the family a generation ago, and they
have since attempted TO take up one or
the other of the earlier methods, quite
as if the name had lust landed"
Another cause at work i'm this is the
feeling, obtained from overmuch reading
OF romances. that French names are
more distinguished than those OF any
other nation. Owing to the fact that so
many of the noblest families of England
take their titles from Norman-French.
this is true to a certain degree; but II
must be remembered that there are good
and bad names in France as well as
every other place. No amount of noto-
riety could make Boulanger mean any
thing but baker. nor will the shifting Of
an accent persuade Boucher into being
other than butcher, both good names,
and the better for being left alone.
Knickerbocker names have been pretty
thoroughly Anglicized according 10 a few
simple rules Of their own. BY these IL
may be known that ''ch" is always TO
be pronounced like "k." whether pre-
coded by an IS" or not. Schouler Is
"scooler" because it is Dutch, just as
Schurz IS "shoorts" because 1t is Ger
man. "Schiedam schnapps" is a good
phrase to fix in the mind in this connec-
ton. since it is compounded from both
the languages, and is called 'skeedam
shnaps," with the accent on the dam.
And, by the way. this is where the ac-
cent belongs In the name OF "Edam.
'Uy." as I'm Schuyler, is generally long
81" in English, though Schuylkill Is ex-
ceptional. And 'J' receives the full
English sound, as I'm Rapalje and JAMS.