Wednesday 22 April 2015

Medieval (April)



Kingsley Amis instructed that medieval be pronounced in four syllables, “meedy-eeval”. To pronounce it in three was “an infallible sign of fundamental illiteracy.” February is pronounced in two, three, or four syllables, depending on how we manage the rhubarb sound in the middle. Whether any of those are signs of fundamental illiteracy does not vex those in the middle of a February heat wave. Feb will do. April brings no such accusations. Two syllables, though Amis would have taken those to task who didn’t know whether emphasis was on the pea or the are. Only what of Chaucer’s Aprille? Three?    

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