CHAT: Old English

* Padraic Brown <pbrown@...> [000331 02:18]:
> On Thu, 30 Mar 2000, Padraic Brown wrote:
>
> >On Thu, 30 Mar 2000, John Cowan wrote:
> >
> >>BP Jonsson wrote:
> >>
> >>> Agree.  How would you Anglos pronounce Skien, BTW?
> >>
> >>The regular pronunciation of "ie", except finally, is /i:/, so /ski:n/ would
> >>be expected.  (Derivatives of words with final "ie", like "dies", are an
> >>exception.)
> >
> >I've always heard (and oh so commonly used) [ske:n].
>
> Well, there's me confusing skein and Skien. For the former (loosely
> wrapped yarn) I have, as noted, [ske:n]. For the latter, I've only
> ever seen it in the dictionary as [Si:n] or [Se:n].
Those versions are *rare*, *grmbl* that dictionary must have been made
by some darn tootin' city folks or sumthin', maybe even someone from...
Bergen! *sound of people running in in panic* *dramatic music*


t.