Apropos of absolutely nothing

[ksmith]

Names. Pronunciation.

During my art major days, I took an overview course in Renaissance Art. One of the Italian painters we studied was Cimabue, whose name, according to our instructor, was pronounced "chim-a'-boo-ay".

So. Paul Tagliabue, the NFL commish. He is, iirc, Italian. Everyone pronounces his name "tag'-lee-a-boo", but should it be pronounced "tah-lee-a'-boo-ay"?

Comments

[stevenagy.livejournal.com]

Don't know about how it should be pronounced, but I know I've only heard it as "boo" and never as "boo-ay"

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I've only heard "boo" as well. I've just always wondered if it should be pronounced differently.

[stevenagy.livejournal.com]

I think these are the kinds of questions that make us writers. :-)

When I was a kid and I first started to read, one of the first books my parents provided was a children's illustrated Bible (Catholic upbringing/indoctrination, don't you know). But I didn't know how to say Egypt, so when I was reading about Moses, I pronounced it as edge-o-pet. Used that in a story about Egyptian gods. :-)

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I mispronounced 'weapon' during the comic book-reading days of my early youth. I pronounced it "wee-pon" until I about 7. I don't think there's a story in that one.

Wish I still had some of those comic books...

[stevenagy.livejournal.com]

Hindsight in my case would amount to around a cool quarter million as far as comics go. I used to own the Spider-Man issue where Gwen Stacy died at the hands of the Green Goblin. It's auctioned for at least that much.

[juliabk.livejournal.com]

Select the most likely answer from the options listed below.

A. the pronunciation of 'abue' has altered in the past few hundred years
B. The pronunciation of "Tagliabue" has been somewhat Anglicized to its current state
C. all Art History professors learned it wrong from the same person
D. they're just messing with our heads.
E. none of the above
F. all of the above

(don't you go crittin' my test instrument construction - I got me grad credits in this here stuff ;-)

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing that it's been Anglicized. I just want to know how a native Italian would pronounce it.

[excessor.livejournal.com]

An Italian speaker would say "tah-lee-a-bu-ay". I would put the stress on the penultimate syllable, but then, I would for Cimabue as well. Anglicization does strange things to the Italian names.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU!

I wasn't sure about where to put the accent, so I guessed. Odds are excellent that my memory of exactly how to pronounce "Cimabue" isn't precisely correct.

Anglicization does stange things to many names. Many folks on my mom's side dove into the pool and legally changed their names to Anglo versions of the native Polish because it was just easier.

And in some other universe, folks with names like "Smith" legally change them to names like "Dniepzowicz" in order to fit in.

Hummmm....

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I remember the pronunciation being something like "chim-a'-boo-ee" in that the last syllable doesn't have the punch of the earlier ones. But my memory is notoriously unreliable these days.

And I even made a demo Cimabue for a Medieval/Renaissance class, so shame on me.