OK - this how I think geneaology is related to the pronounciation of the
word "either":
Two of my grandparents were born in Wales, one in Anglesey, the other in
Pembrokeshire.
My letters from Anglesey are mostly in Welsh with a note, in English, on
some, to the other spouse who could not speak Welsh - these notes were
intended for my Pembrokeshire ancestors. The letters date from about 1870.
I've learned that Pembrokeshire was a part of what is known as "Little
England".
Philadelphia County in Pennsylvania, USA was settled by primarily the Welsh
and some English beginning in 1682 by Wm. Penn with his land grants. Before
1710 the first Germans began arriving. The present-day city of Philadelphia
was cut out of this originally larger Philadelphia County, and the rest of
it is now, basically, what is known as the "Welsh Tract". The Germans
immediately began intermarring with the Welsh and deliberately adopted the
Welsh and English culture. I had two grandparents dating from those early
Germans in Philadelphia County.
In the German language the two vowels written together as "ei" would be
pronouced as "i", whereas the vowels "ie" would be pronouced as
"e".
Everyone in my family pronounces the word "either" as beginning with the
"e"
sound. I grew up in Philadelphia 60 years ago where everyone in my German
neighborhood pronounced "either" as beginning with the "e" sound. I
then
lived in the Chester County Welsh tract for 30 years where everyone
pronouced either as beginning with the "e" sound.
More and more lately I hear "either" pronounced with the "i"
beginning.
These may be descendents of much later emigrants from Germany or elsewhere -
so my question is: does my family say it as "e-thor" because of the Welsh
or the German background? How did most of the Welsh pronouce it 150 years
ago?
Others descended from SE Pennsylvania ancestors may be able to get a handle
on their European ancestry and date of immigration to America by the way
just one word is pronounced.
Some years back our USA public TV had a series on the English language, and
they reported that the English spoken in the US today is more like that
spoken in Britain 300 years ago as compared to the English spoken in Britain
today.
That's a lengthy explanation - hope it helps with the genealogy backgrounds.
Elida of South Carolina, USA
----- Original Message -----
From: <AlwynapHuw(a)aol.com>
To: <WLS-ANGLESEY-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2004 12:27 AM
Subject: Re: [ANG] Language Question
In a message dated 26/02/2004 04:10:39 GMT Standard Time,
purrysburg(a)islc.net
writes:
> Believe it or not, this is a genealogy question:
>
> How do the Welsh and English people pronounce the word "either"?
>
> Is it e-thor or i-thor?
>
Personally, I would say ai-ther
AI (rhymes with die) - and thEr rather than thOr
I am intrigued by the genealogy conection to the question - tell us more
!!!!
:-)
all the best
Alwyn
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