Aengus and X's for kisses?

[Tom Zurinskas]

Aengus!

from thefreedictionary.com

n. 1. the Irish god of love and beauty; patron deity of young men and women.

To hear it, click on the US and UK flags for pronunciation and hear:

US  ~eengus
UK  ~aengus  (~ae is long a as in Mae)

The n's are velar if followed by g in the same syllable.

Which is the better pronunciation?  I assume it being a Celtic word that the UK version is correct.

(m-w.com does not have it.)

Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
see truespel.com













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> Date: Mon, 2 Mar 2009 10:23:52 -0500
> From: wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
> Subject: Re: Aengus and X's for kisses?
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Jonathan Lighter
> Subject: Re: Aengus and X's for kisses?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I can believe the birds but not the bit about the X's.
>
> JL
>
> On Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 10:19 AM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: "Joel S. Berson"
>> Subject: Re: Aengus and X's for kisses?
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> At 3/2/2009 09:04 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>>Somebody mentioned "Golden Apples of the Sun." The name of Yeats's poem
>> is
>>>"Song of the Wandering Aengus."
>>>
>>>(No, it isn't about a loose cow.)
>>
>> Since Jon was unforthcoming, I had to find out what it was. The OED
>> tells me it (he, she?) wrote (had?) a Festilogy. But Wikipedia
>> clears it all up with its article.
>>
>> I notice, however, that the article says "He was said to have four
>> birds symbolizing kisses flying about his head (whence, it is
>> believed, the xxxx's symbolizing kisses at the end of lovers' letters
>> come from", citing
>> http://www.godchecker.com/pantheon/celtic-mythology.php?deity=AONGHUS
>>
>> Joel
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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