Czechia (pronunciation?)

[Steve Kl.]

On Mon, 7 Jan 2002, Barnhart wrote:

> Is the second consonant cluster pronounced as an affricate or stop?  If
> the former it may be dangerously close to Chechnya, mightn't it?

'ch' is an affricate.

However, the adjective is (in nom sing masc form) cesky (with a hacek over
the c and a long y). Czech republic is "Ceska' republika" with the stop
[k]. The Bohemian parts are "Cechy" with that affricate.

Also, in Czech, you don't really see the place names ending in -ia:

Czechoslovakia = Ceskoslovensko
Slovakia = Slovensko
Slovenia = Slovinsko
Poland = Polsko
Hungary = Madarsko
Silesia = Slezsko (or something similar, I don't recall exactly)
Italy = Italsko
Spain = Spanielsko

So it would be weird, in Czech, to use the word Czechia. The equivalent
would be along the lines of Cesko.


-- Steve