[Ads-l] G. MacKay and Co.

[Baker, John]

Do we have any evidence for a "muhkye" pronunciation of "McCoy"?   This certainly seems the most plausible explanation for the transition from "MacKay" to "McCoy," if they were indeed pronounced similarly.


John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
Sent: Wednesday, June 1, 2016 11:53 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: G. MacKay and Co.

My guess is that "McCoy" was the more common surname in the US, and
that it was usu. also  pronounced "muhkye" (more or less) by its Scots
and Irish bearers.  That would be pretty normal for first-generation
immigrants (I think).

"The real "Mc /koi/" would thus be a "spelling pronunciation." .


JL



On Wed, Jun 1, 2016 at 7:05 AM, Dave Wilton <dave at wilton.net> wrote:
> Datum: I knew a Scottish woman with that name, and she used the /eye/ pronunciation.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of James A. Landau
> Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2016 1:39 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: [ADS-L] G. MacKay and Co.
>
> Somebody (I lost the reference) said that "MacKay" is pronounced /M@ KEYE/
>
> Some time ago we had a discussion of how /oi/ can get transformed into /eye/, as in Camptown Races "Gwyne to run all night gwyne to run all day".  Perhaps we have the reverse phenomenon here, with /keye/ getting transformed into /koi/.
>
> Incidentally, people from some areas in Eastern Europe when reading Hebrew transform certain vowels into /oi/.
>
> - James A. Landau
>
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