Ethiopia et al. (was NATLANGS: What's that writing system?)

Mark J. Reed wrote:


> On 7/10/06, Philip Newton <philip.newton@...> wrote:
> > And they say "Echiopia de wa", or roughly, "In Ethiopia, ..."
>
> ...and "chi" is phonemically "ti".  And the Ethiopians I know refer to
> it as something like /i:'tjo.pi.ja/.  So why does it have a /T/ in
> English?
Latin had aethiop/s, -is, adj. "Ethiopian" (my little dict. adds "fig.,
stupid" but let that pass). Most likely adapted from Greek...
??ai(th)io:ps?? IIRC that simply referred to (black?) Africans in general.

(Wikipedia says: "derived from Greek terms meaning "of burnt (αιθ-) visage
(ὄψ)". However, this etymology is disputed.")

> Is that a spelling pronunciation, like the way we used to
> pronounce "Neanderthal"....
and (many) still do...

> before we were edjumacated as to the proper
> French pronunciation?
German, I do believe (see also Wikipedia); but same difference. Pronouncing
foreign names correctly seems to raise eyebrows in certain American circles
(even worldly, well-educated ones). I've been blasted for referring to
[ke'bEk]; back in the 80s SNL did a good skit on newscasters going into
contortions to get [nika'ragwa] and other Hispanic names right.

And we'll always have ['p_hEr\@s].

And try to avoid Mr. Featherstonehaugh and the Marquess of Cholmondeley
:-))))

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