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

[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.