Stephen Mulraney wrote:
>Ah, I guess Syvia's explanation that it comes from "a diós"
>accounts for the "-ss" then. Also, since the Spanish form has
>the "stress one syllable further away from the initial "a" than the
>French "a dieu" does, it helps explain why the first syllable
>disappeared in the German/Dutch form...
IMO that is not correct. I don't believe that "adios" is a 3-
syllable word. I've always understood the "i" to indicate a
palatalization of the "d." One of my linguistic pet peeves is to
hear Americans pronounce the Italian name Giovanni as gee-o-van-ni.
Charlie