Re: While we're talking about language...

Oh God yes. I could shoot Byron. The first canto of _Don Juan_ rhymes "Don
Juan" with "true one" and with "new one" consistently and in several places --
so that "Juan" should be pronounced "joo-an" I left my copy at work or I'd
quote a few lines.

I guess I should say I -would- shoot Byron if he wasn't so much fun. I haven't
laughed out loud so much while reading in quite some time. I've been reading
his passages about marriage out loud to my wife.

She doesn't think they're nearly as funny as I do for some reason.

I sent the same question to a Renaissance listserve. I got one response citing
the OED as saying "wind" (as in "gust of wind") with a long "i" is consistent
with some English dialects and has also been poetic convention since at least
Shakespeare's time. Another guy responded saying there's no way to tell just by
reading and cited a few other verses of a different poem.

I'm inclined to think that English dialects are so varied and unpredictable that
it's very difficult to establish pronounciation with any certainty. Poetry
yields a few hints...that's it.

Jim

PS Nice to see you back, Robbie.

"L. Manning Vines" wrote:

> Jim wrote:
> <<In many Byron poems, though, wind in "gust of wind" seems to be pronounced
> the same as "wind" in "wind the clock" -- to rhyme with mind, behind, etc.
> I haven't found an exception yet in the little bit of Byron I've read. Does
> anyone know if this is just a "visual" rhyme, or if it's possible Bryon
> really pronouced the word that way.>>
>
> Surely it is at least possible. If it occurs consistently enough, if indeed
> it occurs in other English writers of his age, it would appear more than
> merely possible. Analysis of the rhyme and meter of poetry is the primary
> method of determining ancient pronunciations, and I presume of lost but not
> yet ancient ones. It seems reliable enough.
>
> Isn't it quite widely accepted that Byron pronounced Don Juan as Don Joo-un
> or something similar?
>
> -Robbie

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Received on Tue Oct 14 21:58:29 2003