Toscead betweox fadungum "Mōtung:Canada"

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Walda (motung | forðunga)
Líne 9:
:I'd guess at saying 'Kanada' will get you closer to the pronunciation an Anglo-Saxon would use. Darned Yanks' pronunciation...oh, wait, I am one. :)
:I agree with Stephen that the spelling is fine. If it were an actual OE word, it'd probably be declined like nama and guma would. But, how would we say 'Canadian' (noun or adjective)? --[[User:James|James]] 4 Mǽdmónaþ 2005 21:53 (UTC)
 
:A very likely Old English pronunciation of Canada is /kæ n^ d^/. "Canada" is a loan word by way of French. As far as anyone can tell it has always been pronounced as it is today. To deduce how it may have pronounced in Old English, we can take a look at loan words with a similar structure as Canada. The pronunciation of some loan-words stayed the same as the original foreign word, but very many were Anglicized. Remember that Latin has no /æ/. There are many examples of Anglicization, and here are just a few:
 
cæfester [] n (-es/-) halter, head-stall [L capistrum]; see gecafstrian.<br>
cæppe [] f (-an/-an) cap; cape, cope, hood [L]. <br>
cæpse [] f (-an/-an) box [L capsa]. <br>
 
There are many examples, and they are telling, since they show that many loan words were quickly Anglicized -- from an /a/ to an ash.
 
Further, these strongly suggest that the ash was not only a more natural pronunciation than /a/ (or NO words would have changed from /a/ to /æ/), but also that <i>Old English was spelled as it was pronounced.</i>
 
Also, I don't think the pronunciation of either French or German is relevant. Neither is descended from Old English. Modern English is, and unlike either French or German, it has an ash-sound like Old English had.
 
Therefore, rather than to spell words based on a spelling in a foreign language, I think it best to keep it simple: <i>spell words as they are pronounced.</i><br>--[[User:Walda|Walda]] 7 Mǽdmónaþ 2005 02:34 (UTC)
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