JOHN C. DELPRAT, Esq. JOHN C. ZIMMERMAN, ESQ., A. B. ENGSTRÖM, Esq., JOSIAH HARLAN, Esq., Nearly twenty years a resident of that country. HENRY KALUSSOWSKI, Formerly professor in St. Paul's College, Long I. HORATIO HALE, Esq., Philologist to the U. States Exploring Expedition. Chevalier J. C. DE FIGANIÈRE E MORão, The late MARMADUKE BURROUGH, M. D. Dr. WILLIAM COLESBERRY, Many years a resident in different parts of that continent. FELIX MERINO, ESQ., Formerly professor of Spanish in the University of Pennsylvania. RICHARD SELdener, Esq., Consul of Sweden at Philadelphia. WILLIAM B. HODGSON, ESQ., Formerly acting consul at Algiers and lately drago. man or oriental interpreter at Constantinople. } PORTUGAL. SOUTH AMERICA. SPAIN. SWEDEN. TURKEY AND THE BARBARY For the pronunciation of names of Great Britain and of the various colonies of the British empire, as well as of the anglicized forms of well-known foreign names, and for other important information of a more general character, we cannot forbear to express our great obligations to WILLIAM A. DOBBYN, ESQ., Formerly an officer in the British service. The Rev. WILLIAM P. HINDS. WILLIAM PETER, ESQ., Her Britannic Majesty's consul for the State of Pennsylvania. We should do injustice to our feelings, did we not express our warmest thanks to JOHN K. TOWNSEND, Esq., for his valuable information respecting the names of Oregon and of the Indian tribes west of the Mississippi, and other subjects noticed in the Appendix. INTRODUCTION. Ir is proposed, in this portion of our work, to set forth more fully some of the arguments alluded to in the preface, by which the propriety of our system of pronunciation is supported, as well as to explain the particular method in which this system has been carried out, in the dictionary before us. I. It has already been intimated, that not only the present practice of the best speakers, but the usage of our more distinguished poets, is clearly in favour of the system which we have chosen. If any might be allowed to pronounce foreign names without regard to the peculiar sounds of the letters, or to the accents, which prevail in other countries, this privilege might surely be claimed by the poets, who, in the use even of English words, are considered to enjoy a special license. It is very evident, however,-as every one who will take the trouble to examine the works of the better class of them, must admit-that, as a body, they have neither claimed nor used this privilege. On the contrary, our more distinguished poets have usually exhibited a classical-we might almost say a punctilious-accuracy, in the employment of foreign names, whether of places or persons. To illustrate by examples,-GRANADA,* and GENOA,† are pronounced by all the great poets "The Moorish king rides up and down "And GRANADA must be won And thyself with her undone."-BYRON. "GRANADA caught it in her Moorish hall, Galicia bade her children fight or fall."-SCOTT. "There was crying in GRANADA when the sun was going down,"- +"Signior Baptista may remember me who use these names, from CHAUCER and SHAKSPEARE down to the present time, with the native accentuation; that is, GRANADA has the accent on the penultima, and GENOA on the antepenultima, though the generality of English-or at least of American-speakers, who have not heard these names pronounced, but merely follow analogy, or their own notions of propriety, reverse the accentuation, making GRANADA rhyme with Canada, and GENOA with boa. No poet, perhaps, employs foreign names so frequently as BYRON, and yet-though he often writes very carelessly-it would be difficult, in all the poetry he has written, to point out half a dozen instances where he has not conformed to the foreign accentuation, excepting, always, those few well known names which have acquired an established English pronunciation, and in these cases he appears invariably to adopt the pronunciation of the best English speakers. The same may be said of SCOTT; though he writes with great freedom, he rarely, if ever, violates the strictest rules of geographical pronunciation. In the poetry of ROGERS, SOUTHEY, MOORE, CAMPBELL, and MONTGOMERY, We have met with scarcely a solitary example of departure from the native accentuation of names, which does not properly come within the exception above stated. WORDSWORTH takes the liberty of changing the accent in a single instanceCHAMOUNY-but acknowledges the authority of the law by apologizing in a note for its violation, (see Descriptive Sketches of a Tour among the Alps.) What has already been said respecting the usage of the poets, refers principally to accentuation, which, for the most part, can be readily determined by the metre of the poetry. Their manner of pronouncing the letters of a foreign name, is far less easily ascertained, since it can only be known when the name ends a line in rhyme, and even then it is often extremely uncertain, as they appear to consider themselves entitled, in such cases, to much greater license than in the accentuation of words. Thus we often see associated in rhyme, words which correspond but very imperfectly in sound, as "Were GENOA's galleys riding in the port,”— Byron. "That noble haven, where, when GENOA reigned, "My native GENOA, if with tearless eye Prone in the dust thy beauteous form I see,"-MONTGOMERY. enemy and lie, mourn and burn, &c. Nevertheless, by comparing a number of examples, and especially by observing the usage of those poets who are most remarkable for the correctness of their rhymes, we shall frequently be enabled to ascertain the true pronunciation of a word or name. Now it will be found that the system which we have adopted, is supported by the practice of the poets in this respect also. In other words it will be found, that while foreign names that are in familiar use in our own language, have an English pronunciation, those not very well known are generally pronounced with the native sound of the letters, as will be seen from the following passages: "Not now to while an hour away, ""Tis Jacqueline! 'tis Jacqueline," She comes along the mountain side." "De Courcy, lord of Argentiere! Thy thirst for vengeance sought the snare."-ROGERS "Winding between Alpine trees; Spiry and dark around their house of prayer, Below the icy bed of bright Argentiere."-WORDSWORTH, "Sure there never was hero so civil-he "And though to-morrow's tempest lower, "This circumstance may serve to give a notion But the town ditch below was deep as ocean, The rampart higher than you'd wish to hang."-BYRON "For many an age remembered long Shall live the towers of Hougomont,* And fields of Waterloo."-SCOTT. It would be easy to cite a multitude of such examples: but these will perhaps be sufficient to illustrate our position. The t at the end of perfect; the o in the The latter syllable In these names the letter n is similar in sound to ng. Hougomont is silent. The rhymes, however, are not quite last syllable of Hougomont should be sounded like o in won't. of Vauban sounds like bong.-Vauban was a noted French military engineer, who flourished in the reign of Louis XIV. On the other hand we shall find the poets pronounce foreign names of some celebrity, such as NILE, PARIS, LYONS, CADIZ, POITIERS or POICTIERS, &c., with the English sound of the letters, as may be seen from these and similar examples: "Deep in those solitary woods Where oft the genii of the floods, And hail the new-born Giant's smile."-MoORE. "Oh never talk again to me Of northern climes and British ladies; Like me, the lovely girl of Cadiz."-BYRON. "And Courtenay's pride and Percy's fame- At Cressy red and fell Poitiers."-SCOTT. "So the shaft Of victory mounts high and blood is quaffed In fields that rival Cressy and Poictiers Pride to be washed away by bitter tears."-WORDSWORTH. II. Instead of saying that the poets conform to the native accentuation of proper names, except in cases when these are well known, we might, perhaps, with more propriety say, that they merely follow the practice of the best speakers, of which their own may generally be regarded as the written representation. With this view of the subject, we have occasionally cited in the body of our work, passages from the poets in support of the pronunciation there given. These citations, for the most part, are not intended to be decisive of any doubtful question, but rather to illustrate and confirm what is believed, on other grounds, to be the correct pronunciation. The supreme tribunal to which we would on all occasions appeal, is the authority of the best speakers* in England and this country. To the former we generally give the preference when the question relates to names belonging to the old continent to the latter when it relates to those of America. But since it is impossible to produce oral evidence in a book, we have availed ourselves of the authority of the poets, as the only one at our By this phrase, we do not mean those who, from their superior knowledge and judgment on general subjects, may be presumed to be qualified to decide questions of orthoepy. In order to deserve a place among the best speakers, it is not enough that one should have what is commonly termed a good education and good sense, he must have paid particular attention to the subject of pronunciation, unless he has been surrounded during the whole period of his education with none but correct speakers, which is seldom or never the case, at least in this country |