Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2011 November 23

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November 23

"aërial"

I've been reading the article Lighting and Public Safety by Lord Kelvin, and one thing that keeps bugging me is that he spells aerial with a diaeresis over the e - aërial. I know the diaeresis can be used to indicate that vowels should be pronounced seperately (as in naïve, reëntry or coöperation), but I don't see what role it plays here. The "aer" bit of aerial is still one syllable, and as far as I can tell, it still would have been one syllable in Victorian Scotland (the article was published in the USA, so I suppose it could be a quirk of an American editor, but again, I can't find any evidence that the pronunciation has changed). Does it simply show that the "ae" isn't quite pronounced like the normal dipthong, or am I missing something obvious about the diaeresis here? Smurrayinchester 11:31, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

According to the OED, the word was usually composed of four syllables until the mid-20th century. The 19th-century pronunciation was apparently /eɪˈɪərɪəl/ - so Kelvin's diaeresis does indeed mark that the vowels should be pronounced separately. Warofdreams talk 12:08, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

And it goes back to Latin, in which aer was pronounced something like /ˈɑːeːr/. Thus, aeris, "of bronze", was a disyllable (from aes), but aeris, "of air", was a trisyllable. Deor (talk) 12:19, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

The modern Latin spelling la:Aër reflects it (the diaeresis is modern). --Pp.paul.4 (talk) 13:03, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

Ah, thanks! So I guess the modern prounciation of aerial was originally a kind of eggcorn from the word "air"? Smurrayinchester 13:27, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

Japanese Given Name

Resolved

I am translating a document at the moment, and there is a given name in it which I am unsure of. The kanji is 啓, which can be pronounced 'hiraku', 'mousu', 'kei', or 'ke' when not used as a name. In compounds where it is used as either the first or second element in a name, it is pronounced 'hiro'. However, I have reason to believe this gentleman's name is actually 'Akira'. Can anyone verify that this kanji can be used for the name 'Akira'? KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 14:01, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

No worries - I have found definite evidence. KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 14:09, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

In future, you might want to try the Japanese name dictionary JMnedict, which you can access through a fairly user-friendly frontend at jisho.org. JMnedict has "Akira" as the fifth term for that kanji when used as a name, and the second male name. Smurrayinchester 14:50, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

Cheers - I usually have my own ways of finding out, but this had me stumped for a while. I've bookmarked that page, though, cheers. KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 18:02, 23 November 2011 (UTC)