On Thursday, July 15, 2004, at 07:38 , Tristan Mc Leay wrote:

> Ray Brown wrote:
>> Yep - and up in Scotland, yogh and z seem to have got themselves
>> confused,
>>  so we know have. e.g.
>> capercailzie /k&p@(r)'kejli/ a species of grouse
>> and the surnames:
>> Dalziel /di'El/
>
> Whoever thought that up?! silly orthographies :)

The Scots   :)

>
>> Menzies /'mINIs/
>>
>> Tho I gather the latter has acquired in spelling pronunciation /'mEzIz/
>> in
>> our former colonies  :)
>
> More like /'menziz/ (or /mEnziz/ or however you want to think of it)
> where  the /i/ is like -y, but I suppose you just accidentally forgot to
> type the /n/ and were thinking in RP.

I did forget the /n/    :=(

> (At least in this former colony
> that has had a Menzies as our head of Government.)

I know.

> But is it actually pronounced /'mINIs/ in England? I'd thought that was
> a Scotland-only thing...

'tis so. I don't know any Menzies who hail from south of the border, tho
they obviously exist. I suspect it depends on how Scottish they feel.
After all 'Dalziel' south of the border is still /di'El/; I've never heard
any spelling pronunciation used.
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On Thursday, July 15, 2004, at 08:47 , B. Garcia wrote:

[snip]
> Archibald Menzies was a botanist in the 1700's who introduced a good
> number of plants from California to Europe. His last name shows up in
> a lot of California native flora botanical Latin names:
>
> Arbutus menziesii - Madrone (related to the Strawberry tree of Ireland
> - Arbutus unedo)
>
> Pseudotsuga mensiesii - Douglas Fir
>
> Ribes menziesii - Canyon Gooseberry
>
> Nemophila menziesii - Baby Blue Eyes
>
> Tolmiea menziesii - Piggy Back Plant
>
>
> Erysmium menziesii - Menzies Wallflower (a very rare but pretty native
> plant)
>
> Everyone i've heard pronounces it /mEnziEsiaj/,

Well, yes, */mINIziaj/ would be asking a bit too much for botanists who
have a hard time pronouncing their 'Latin' names at the best of times.

> and pronounces
> Menzies as /mEnziz/

As I said, it's /'mEnzIz/ or /'mEnziz/ in our former colonies   :)
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On Thursday, July 15, 2004, at 11:04 , j_mach_wust wrote:
[snip]
> There's also a mention of "Menzies, Daiziel, Cockenzie, and the word
> gaberlunzie".

Ah, yes - gaberlunzie /gab@(r)'luni/ "a beggar's pouch", "a strolling
beggar"    :)

Ray
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