This post is related to this one.
“PH” says “F,” not “P,” so it’s ophthalmologist, not “opthalmologist,” and certainly not “optomologist.”
In the same way, “th” says “th”, not “t,” in “anesthesia,” “anesthetist,” and “anesthetic.”? The same is true for “aesthetic.” In these words, the “th” represents the Greek theta, which sounds like, well, “th.”? It is harder to say “th” after an “s,” but it can be done.
“Th” can say “t” sometimes, especially in words or names borrowed from German, because in German “th” says “t.” So the composer Hindemith is pronounced “Hindemit,” and your Rosenthal china is pronounced “Rosental.”? “Mathis” in Mathis der Maler sounds like “matis,” not like Johnny Mathis or Curtis Mathes.? (The fact that Mathis der Maler is by Hindemith makes it all the more fun.)
And please don’t get me started on people who want to call Mozart “Moe’s Art.”
9 responses so far ↓
1 WonderGirl // Apr 25, 2008 at 11:47
I try to avoid saying “ophthalmologist” altogether because it taxes my pronounciation skills. I call him Dr. Eye instead, and this seems to do the trick.
2 GuessWho // Apr 25, 2008 at 12:34
But, the Balanchine ballet and Tchaikovsky suite of the same name, MOZARTIANA, is pronounced ?Moe?s are ti anna.? Unless, of course, you?re from ?Tennersee,? then it?s ?Moe?s are ti annER.?
I don?t remember Uncle Don saying ?Hindemit? in music history classes.
Care to take on how to pronounce J. J. Fux?s name?
3 cancerman // Apr 25, 2008 at 16:53
shibboleth
4 vrouw_jonker // Apr 26, 2008 at 7:09
Sure thing, Banksthon.
This would be why I pronounce the name of that reformander “Lutter”. I’m pretty sure the Dutch do the same thing, but it’s before my koffie & I choose not to puzzle it out at this time.
5 RevJATB // Apr 26, 2008 at 8:11
Right you are, Vrouw, and usually he’s referred to as Doktor Luther. He’s been rehabilitated among many Roman Catholics in Germany as well, and many of them refer to him as “Brother Martin” (Bruder Martin).
Yeah, it would probably be the same in Dutch. It’s with the vowels that the Dutch get weird, like writing 17 vowels in a row in the middle of words and stuff. I guess they just get so bored because their country is so flat . . .
6 GuessWho // Apr 27, 2008 at 19:50
I just remembered . . . there was a famous German ophthalmologist named Fuchs, which as a surname is a play on the word “fox,” as is fugue-master J. J. Fux’s surname. (See how my tangential little brain unconsciously works!)
So how do the Germans pronounce “ophthalmologen?”
How much spit would Sylvester Putty Tat send flying enunciating all the stuff in this thread?
7 Sara // Apr 27, 2008 at 20:44
Nieuw Amsterdam! Breukeleyn! Haarlem!
And my all time favorite: Spuyten Duyvil!
Sorry, that is all I have to contribute at the moment. Except for the fact that French also pronounces “th” as “t”.
8 Orion // Apr 24, 2009 at 5:34
@GuessWho: In Germany we pronounce “Ophthalmologe” (which is ophthalmologist) like in english one would probalby pronounce “offtullmologua”. The first o is short like in “off”, the first a is like u in “skull”, the second and third o is long like in “over”, the g is like in “guitar” and the last a is short like in “building a house”.
9 Orion // Apr 24, 2009 at 5:37
Oh yeah, the last o is stressed. So much for the German lesson
Leave a Comment