"Wolfgang Schwanke" wrote in message
news:6l81avFb3p2hU1@mid.uni-berlin.de...
> "AllEmailDeletedImmediately" wrote in
> news:aXmHk.1691$yI6.450@nwrddc01.gnilink.net:
>
>>>> it doesn't matter, really. they pronounce it wrong here (usa).
>>>> this used to be french
>>>> territory, but they don't know how to pronounce a french word.
>>>
>>> "Dolphin" is of Greek origin, "delphys". French butchers even worse
>>> than English, but both of you aren't really doing a got job at it.
>>
>> the word is dauphin, a french word. they pronounce it here as
>> dolphin or doffin, neither of which is correct.
>
> The word is of Greek origin, both languages have imported it as a loan
> from Greek, where English may have received it "second hand" through
> French (which is true for many other words). Anyway it's normal to
> adapt pronunciation and spelling of loan words to the importing
> language, nothing to be ashamed of, all languages do that. For example
> do you pronounce the French loan words in what you typed above akin to
> French? (that would be "matter", "really", "pronounce", "used",
> "territory", "correct"). Anyway if you want to be anal about it, you
> ought to mimick Greek pronunciation of "dolphin". It's your choice if
> you prefer modern or ancient Greek.
so you're saying that the word for the ocean creature and the one for the
french
crown prince have their roots in the exact same greek word?
wikipedia would seem to agree:
The area of the future Dauphiné was inhabited by the Allobroges and other
Gaulish
tribes in ancient times. After the end of the Western Roman Empire, it
slowly acquired
independence as a sovereign mountain principality within the Holy Roman
Empire. In the
12th century, the local ruler Count Guy IV of Albon (c.1095-1142) had a
dolphin on his
coat of arms and was nicknamed le Dauphin (French for dolphin). His
descendants changed
their title from Count of Albon to Dauphin of Viennois, after their family
seat in Vienne. The
ruler was known by this title until 1349, when the heirless Humbert II of
Viennois sold his
lordship to King Philippe VI by the terms of the treaty of Romans,
negotiated by his protonotary,
Amblard de Beaumont. A major condition was that the heir to the throne of
France would be known
as le Dauphin, which was the case from that time until the revolution; the
first Dauphin de
France was Philippe's grandson, the future Charles V of France. The title[2]
also conferred an
appanage on the region. Louis XI was the only king of France to reside in
the Dauphiné for any
length of time. Humbert's agreement further stipulated that the Dauphiné
would be exempted from
many taxes and imposts; this statute was the subject of much subsequent
parliamentary debate at
the regional level, as local leaders sought to defend this regional autonomy
and privilege from
the state's assaults.
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