Re: OT: English -uice
| From: | Roger Mills <rfmilly@...> |
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| Date: | Friday, July 28, 2006, 21:29 |
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Mark J. Reed wrote:
> Where did the orthographic <i> come from in words like juice and
> sluice? In ME they apparently had -use, so I'm confused. Was the -i-
> ever pronounced?
>
> "Juice" is second-nature, but "sluice" still throws me. Makes me want
> to say /sluwIs/ or something.
"Suit" also (vs. suite).
In juice/suit it could be a half-hearted attempt to duplicate the French
pronunciation.
Is sluice in ME? I'd suspect a later borrowing of Dutch sluis, again with an
attempt to get the weird diphthong right.
Just speculating.
(Just noticed-- my little Hugo's pocket dict. gives "-ow-" for the
pronunciation of "ui" words, "hows, slows, slowten" for huis, sluis, sluiten
et al.... Contrary to everything I've ever heard/read.)
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