Pronunciation of XAVIER
Priyabroto Chatterjee
What's the correct pronunciation of XAVIER?
Webster's gives it as 'zayvier'(my phonetic interpretation, of course).
But, here in the US, quite a few people (even the erudite ones) say
'exzayvier'.
Thanks in advance.
Priyo.
--
Priyabroto Chatterjee
Graduate Student in Economics
University of Pennsylvania
email: bu...@econ.sas.upenn.edu
Phone: (215)387-1787
--
'Maybe this world is another planet's Hell' --- Aldous Huxley
Keith Ivey
: What's the correct pronunciation of XAVIER?
: But, here in the US, quite a few people (even the erudite ones) say
: 'exzayvier'.
I've noticed this, too. I think these are the same people
who pronounce Yvonne "Yuh-VON".
They don't seem to say "exylophone" or "exerox", though.
--Keith Ivey <kci...@cpcug.org>
Washington, DC
Ecology Center
>
>Webster's gives it as 'zayvier'(my phonetic interpretation, of course).
>But, here in the US, quite a few people (even the erudite ones) say
>'exzayvier'
Xavier is my mother's maiden name: the opinion of her family is generally
that those who pronounce it as "igzavier" are annoying fools. :-)
But I imagine there are Xaviers out there who use the three-syllable
pronunciation.
And in the southwest, you're more likely to hear "Hah-vyAIR."
Chris Clarke
Peter Moylan
>Webster's gives it as 'zayvier'(my phonetic interpretation, of course).
>But, here in the US, quite a few people (even the erudite ones) say
>'exzayvier'.
But of course. Ex-Xavier is the past tense of Xavier.
--
Peter Moylan pe...@ee.newcastle.edu.au
(also pe...@tesla.newcastle.edu.au, ee...@cc.newcastle.edu.au)
Peter Campbell Smith
(Priyabroto Chatterjee) wrote:
> What's the correct pronunciation of XAVIER?
>
> Webster's gives it as 'zayvier'(my phonetic interpretation, of course).
> But, here in the US, quite a few people (even the erudite ones) say
> 'exzayvier'.
I vote for ZAY-vi-er. However it's mostly encountered here (in the UK) as
a French name, wher it's pronounced something like zav-ee-yay.
+++ Peter Campbell Smith, Logica, London. Tel +44 171 637 9111,
+++ fax +44 171 344 3638, internet mailto:TD00...@macgate.logica.com
Jean-Marc jugant
|> In article <34ga7v$b...@netnews.upenn.edu>, bu...@econ.sas.upenn.edu
|> (Priyabroto Chatterjee) wrote:
|> > What's the correct pronunciation of XAVIER?
|> >
|> > Webster's gives it as 'zayvier'(my phonetic interpretation, of course).
|> > But, here in the US, quite a few people (even the erudite ones) say
|> > 'exzayvier'.
|>
|> I vote for ZAY-vi-er. However it's mostly encountered here (in the UK) as
|> a French name, wher it's pronounced something like zav-ee-yay.
|>
the ones in "guard" and "v'yay" is one syllable.
BTW, I'd be curious to know where this name actually comes from.
Jmj
Ismael Cordeiro
> What's the correct pronunciation of XAVIER?
> Webster's gives it as 'zayvier'(my phonetic interpretation, of course).
> But, here in the US, quite a few people (even the erudite ones) say
> 'exzayvier'.
In Portuguese it's pronounced SHAH-VIH-ER. The E is open and the tonic
syllable is the last one.
Ismael
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+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| ISMAEL CORDEIRO | Internet: ism...@cam.org |
| Montreal - Quebec - Canada | Fidonet: 1:167/179 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
Kay Dekker
>What's the correct pronunciation of XAVIER?
approximately "have-yare", at least pronounced so by the
people that I know who bear the name.
affectionately,
Kay
Gary Williams, Business Services Accounting
>>What's the correct pronunciation of XAVIER?
>>
>>Webster's gives it as 'zayvier'(my phonetic interpretation, of course).
>>But, here in the US, quite a few people (even the erudite ones) say
>>'exzayvier'
>
> Xavier is my mother's maiden name: the opinion of her family is generally
> that those who pronounce it as "igzavier" are annoying fools. :-)
I am willing to take the word of the owners of the name as authoritative. But
wouldn't it be possible to have *both* a two-syllable pronunciation *and*
maintain the distinction between "x" and "z". Can't an English speaker
pronounce 'gzayvier' or 'ksayvier', without a leading vowel?
> But I imagine there are Xaviers out there who use the three-syllable
> pronunciation.
>
> And in the southwest, you're more likely to hear "Hah-vyAIR."
A lot of people spell the name "Javier."
A problem of Spanish names from before about 1650: although Spanish
spelling in most cases has been changed from "x" to "j" to reflect the shift in
pronunciation from "sh" to "h", the spelling of names is more resistant to
change, causing no end of confusion when the names are taken into other
languages--cf. Don Quixote and Mexico.
>
> Chris Clarke
Joe Collins
formal name of the school was 'College of St Francis Xavier'. It was
a Jesuit/Military College Prepatory school at that time.
Anyway, the word Xavier was pronounced by everyone there as:
ZA-vyar (Where the first A sounds like the A in SAY)
Some new freshmen pronounced it X-za-vyar but were told that was
wrong by the faculty.
Hope that helps...
Joe
--
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Joe Collins - jo...@morgan.com - Usual Disclaimers... |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
Edwin S. Russell
> The (Catalan) pronunciation of
> the name is intriguing; the closest approximation I can give is:
As I recall, the letter 'x' is very common in Catalan having approximately
the same sound as the Spanish 'ch'. Hence, words like xocolate. Perhaps
this is the first attempt at implementing George Bernard Shaw's proposal for
reform to English spelling?
--
Ed Russell e...@unixhub.slac.stanford.edu
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center Palo Alto/Menlo Park, California
Dave Munroe
Priyabroto Chatterjee <bu...@econ.sas.upenn.edu> wrote:
>What's the correct pronunciation of XAVIER?
Occasionally we will have engineers from HP/Barcelona visit our site and
Xavier is apparently a common name there. The (Catalan) pronunciation of
the name is intriguing; the closest approximation I can give is:
cha-bi-YAY
-Dave
John Winder Taber
>From: bu...@econ.sas.upenn.edu (Priyabroto Chatterjee)
>Subject: Pronunciation of XAVIER
>Date: 5 Sep 1994 23:39:43 GMT
>Hi,
>What's the correct pronunciation of XAVIER?
>Webster's gives it as 'zayvier'(my phonetic interpretation, of course).
>But, here in the US, quite a few people (even the erudite ones) say
>'exzayvier'.
And a LOT of people pronounce Knopf "Kah-NOFF" rather than simply "Noff" as
well.
Katherine Catmull
John Winder Taber <tab...@caedm.et.byu.edu> wrote:
>
>And a LOT of people pronounce Knopf "Kah-NOFF" rather than simply "Noff" as
>well.
Yes--for example the publishing family of that name pronouces it as in
your first example.
So I do, too.
Kate
----------------
"Be the voice of night and Florida in my ear."
Ash Nallawalla, VK3CIT
>Priyabroto Chatterjee (bu...@econ.sas.upenn.edu) wrote:
>> What's the correct pronunciation of XAVIER?
>> Webster's gives it as 'zayvier'(my phonetic interpretation, of course).
>> But, here in the US, quite a few people (even the erudite ones) say
>> 'exzayvier'.
>In Portuguese it's pronounced SHAH-VIH-ER. The E is open and the tonic
>syllable is the last one.
I am not contesting this, but it is interesting that in India, the
predominant pronunciation used by the Society of Jesus was the
"Zayvier" version. I went to a St Xavier's Boys' Academy in
Bombay and we pronounced it that way. It is interesting because
many of the teachers were from Goa and spoke Portuguese.
It might not have been made clear to the original poster that
the "Havier" pronounciation is Spanish/Mexican ("MeHico").
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Nigel Burnett
: And a LOT of people pronounce Knopf "Kah-NOFF" rather than simply "Noff" as
: well.
Of course, there are no silent letters in German. Knabe is pronouned
ke-na-be albeit with a very short e after the k.
N.
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Gary Williams, Business Services Accounting
> In <34id1l$l...@ocean.CAM.ORG> ism...@CAM.ORG (Ismael Cordeiro) writes:
>>Priyabroto Chatterjee (bu...@econ.sas.upenn.edu) wrote:
>
>>> What's the correct pronunciation of XAVIER?
>
>>In Portuguese it's pronounced SHAH-VIH-ER. The E is open and the tonic
>>syllable is the last one.
>
> the "Havier" pronounciation is Spanish/Mexican ("MeHico").
Apologies if I am repeating my earlier post, but I think it got lost in the
ether. Part of the problem is a pronunciation shift in Spanish; the character
"x" at one time represented the sound usually written in English as "sh". When
the pronunciation changed to what is written in English as "h", Spanish changed
the spelling in most cases to "j". However, proper names seem to be a little
more resistant to change, which accounts for "Mexico" being pronounced as if it
were spelled "Mejico" and also accounts for the family name being spelled
Javier as well as Xavier.
Gary
Peter Hoogenboom
: In article <taberj.86...@caedm.et.byu.edu>,
: John Winder Taber <tab...@caedm.et.byu.edu> wrote:
: >
: >And a LOT of people pronounce Knopf "Kah-NOFF" rather than simply "Noff" as
: >well.
: Yes--for example the publishing family of that name pronouces it as in
: your first example.
: So I do, too.
I pronounce the "p" as well as the "k," the "n," the "o," and the "f."
Is this not correct (for the publisher, I mean)?
--
Peter Hoogenboom phoo...@wlu.edu
Department of Music, DuPont 208 phoog...@eagle.wesleyan.edu
Washington and Lee University (703) 463-3147
Lexington, VA 24450