Word pronounciation!

[Donnachaidh]

Hi highthawk...

my surname is actually Donachie.
I've been in Canada 17 years now and I've met nobody who can say it properly..even my wife, who is Danish has problems with it..

G

[Dale Seago]

Hi highthawk...

my surname is actually Donachie.
I've been in Canada 17 years now and I've met nobody who can say it properly..even my wife, who is Danish has problems with it..

G

Mike Myers' voice in character as Shrek:

"Donkey?!?"

[EagleJCS]

Hi highthawk...

my surname is actually Donachie.
I've been in Canada 17 years now and I've met nobody who can say it properly..even my wife, who is Danish has problems with it..

G

I would first think DON-a-hee. (With the 'h' slightly aspirated - at the back of the throat).

The second pronunciation that comes to mind is don-ACK-ee.


As far as the OP, I've always thought targe was pronounced as TARG, with a hard G (like target, without the 't' on the end). But then, I hadn't knowingly even seen the word until I started looking at my (possible) Scottish heritage.

[OC Richard]

targaid (target, shield) is in both my Irish and Scottish Gaelic dictionaries.

In Scottish Gaelic, the final D would sound much like an English J, due to the fact that it is slender.

The medial G would be devoiced.

So, TARK-uj.

Question is, is targaid borrowed from English, or borrowed from Old Norse? I suppose one could establish it as a native Celtic word if cognates were found in Cornish, Breton, Manx, and Welsh.

Anyhow since targe is a Middle English borrowing from French, would it not be "tarj" with a soft j sound (as in the French name Jean) ?

[Donnachaidh]

Don 'ach' ie......if you think of L'och' as in Lomond...or 'och' aye...that's the way it sounds, although I've had the Italian sounding 'Don Achee' said to me afore, followed by a respectful bow and alarmed look..

G

[saxandpipes]

I'm always reluctant to pull people up (especially in writing!) on their spelling or grammar- of course, that's when one is bound to make mistakes themselves! :S But I'm reminded of a very good friend of mine who is always critical of people's "pronounciation".

I always have to laugh quietly to myself.

(edit: I knew I would miss something...irony, anyone?)

(double edit: would that be double-irony?...) :S

[Droid]

If I may commandeer this thread for a moment... while on the subject of pronunciations... I've never heard anyone say sgian dubh. How is it correctly pronounced?

[Jock Scot]

If I may commandeer this thread for a moment... while on the subject of pronunciations... I've never heard anyone say sgian dubh. How is it correctly pronounced?

SKIan doo.

[Mike_Oettle]

Saxandpipes wrote: “I’m reminded of a very good friend of mine who is always critical of people’s ‘pronounciation’.”

My father was very strict with us about the pronunciations of various words, and one of his pet peeves was “pronounciation”! He used to accuse me of saying it when I had not done so!
Regards,
Mike

[Nighthawk]

SKIan doo.

Thank you, Jock! Personally, I have heard it pronounced (by a Shetland native) but it's great for these gentlemen to hear (or in this case, read) it from you! (And given the fact that voice inflection is lost on the interwebs, I don't know weather or not this will read as sarcastic. I want to make it clear that it is most certainly not!)

Saxandpipes wrote: “I’m reminded of a very good friend of mine who is always critical of people’s ‘pronounciation’.”

My father was very strict with us about the pronunciations of various words, and one of his pet peeves was “pronounciation”! He used to accuse me of saying it when I had not done so!
Regards,
Mike

Both of my parents were teachers; my father, a library media specialist. Please note the way I type- punctuation, capitalization, et cetra.