Toyoda/Toyota

[Douglas G. Wilson]

I'm not sure whether this is obvious or has been noted here before, but
one should note that the family name è± ç”° has at least two routine and
conventional pronunciations (or furigana): "to yo ta" and "to yo da":
I'm not sure but I think maybe "to yo ta" might be the more frequent.
The name è± ç”° is a reasonably frequent and familiar surname (comparable
to maybe Larson or Wheeler in US). So it's not that the founder's
surname was morphed into some peculiar neologism.

In contrast, the Mazda name appears to be a novel alteration of the
founder's name Matsuda 松田, I suppose adapted for an eye-catching
exoticism. The frequent surname Matsuda (usually "ma tsu da") apparently
has some alternative pronunciations (e.g., "ma tsu ta") but Mazda (= "ma
zu da") doesn't seem to be one of them. In Japanese the company name is
written plain "ma tsu da" and at least sometimes so spoken [in (e.g.)
home-market Mazda TV ads (some can be seen on YouTube)]. I deny any
expertise.

-- Doug Wilson

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org