[Ads-l] Heard: "Hey, is this one of ?_ours's_/?_ourses'_ birthdays?"

[Wilson Gray]

On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 2:02 PM, W Brewer <brewerwa at gmail.com> wrote:

> <Jacomus>


Jacomus > Jacmos > Jacmes [e = shwa] > Jaimes > James
                                                                  > Jammes
> James

In Middle French and its dialect, Norman-French, _J_ was pronounced [dZ].
This older French pronunciation of _J_ is still retained in English, except
in words of foreign origin, such as _Beijing_ or _raj_, commonly pronounced
as "Bei[Z]ing" and as "ra[Z]."

_Jacmes_ and _Jammes_ - pronounced with long /m/ [m:], regardless of the
spelling - are used by Occitan language-nationalists who, attempting to
preserve their languages from official extinction, have revived these
spellings and pronunciations lost to French-only laws, beginning in 1789.

Gaelic-speaking monks were not involved.

-- 
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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