Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-12-03
The AutomObiIe-The Thing; the
Name; the Pronunciation.
Q3y r. r. Howison. LII d.


The Weekly Dispatch Of November .,
1899, in its column Of Queries and An
swers." had question as TO the proper
pronunciation of automobile" ending
with a statement that the answer would
"scttlo a great many disputes The an
swer given is as follows: "Ot0mobcel,
with accent on the first and last sylla-
blcs. or au-to-mO-beeL"
The critics and lingusta who write for
tho Dispatch are fin general. accurate
and instructive. But as the question i'm
this case relates TO new thing and
new word. fair discussion is admissible.
Tho thing designated IS q machine. or
engine or vehicle. having its motive
power within itself. and intended TO move
ON tho land, over dirt roads or highways
of human construction. And as this thing
has been I'm actual existence for barely
three years. Of course, we need not OK
pcct TO find its name I'm any OF the older
and stable and standard English leXicOns
or dictionaries. such as those Of BOunt,
or Phillips, or Bailey. or Johnson, or
Richardson or Worcester. Neither can
tho name be found in "Webster's Inter
national" Dictionary OF tho edition Of
1886, although that is supposed TO contain
every word ever used as English In earth.
or air. or sea, or sky. Worcester. of the
best edition. is the standard Of English.
j contains about 10000 words. All beyond
these are the products Of pedantry. or
slang or can't or Of the necessity for
new words to express new ideas. scientific
! thoughts or original inventions.
Tho man who first put forth the word
"automobilo" may have been a genius I'm
mechanic art. but he was certainly not q
skilled philoloeist For he has given to
us a hybrid, tho child of a father ana
mother OF radically differing genus or
ordO. And we know that hybrids are by
nature barren and sterile. The word is
/ constructed from tho Greek autos. which
means SELF or che himself" and the
Latin adjective mobiles" which means
movable or having the power Of motion.
/ The word ought to have been "auto-
| kinetron," which would soon have been
! as familiar to US as "stercOpticOn" or
/ 'thermometer." or autograph" all Of
which are Of pure Greek metal. Thus.
! the thing and tho name being new, we
/ have no lexicon 10 give rs a precedent
/ OF pronunciation. Hence the disputes
which have arisen. To settle these. we
have only principles. and not authority.
! "O-to-mo-bcel" ought TO be rejected
/ What scholar would venture on toto
| graph? And it seems clear that our
! best English usage requires that the word
shall be pronounced in five syllables-au-
! to-mo-bi-lce. The reason is that when
! the word is an adjective. and is derived
/ from Latin adjective ending IN "is.'
the final go" IS not pronounced. We say
| subtle" from "subtilis" 'facilc'' from
/ "facilis." But an adjective is not the
| thing itself, but only a quality or acct
| dent OF the thing Therefore, when we
| form an English noun on a Latin adjec-
| tive ending in els" we pronounce the
final sc" Thus we have our English
nouns "simile" and finale" and other
analogous nouns in which the final 'e'
| is always sounded. About $50 years ago
there was an Old English word, mobile
| which was pronounced mo becl" But
It did not come from the Latin 'mObiis' 20
II came from the English noun mob"
and meant mob, a tumultous and law
| less crowd. Worcester gives the word,
| and the meaning. and the sound But he
/ expressly desgnates the word as obso-
: let,.
| Mr.. Howison's argument is beside the
| question. We are asked TO give the pro-
nunciation OF automobile. and We said
| o-to-mo-b eel, or aw-to-mo beel. The first
mode of pronunciation is taken from the
French. and is used 10 limited extent
in this country. The other Is the form
I'm common use in the United States. As
TO hybrid words, our language Is fun OF
| them. We could furnish our friend with a
long list Of them IL thereby we could
serve any useful purpose suffice ii to
say now that Automobile" has been in
corporated into our language. and is
there 10 stay. At present diligent search
Is being made for an abbreviation or sub
stitute for II which will serve the pur-
pose and have fewer sylables. II our
correspondent will try TO help I'm that al.
recuon he may be more successful than
IL ~ likely he will be in attempting 10