Pronunciation question -- quixotic

[James Heard]

I'm with keeHOEtic. Less harsh gluttals, more similarity to the original word, and basically prettier than anything relying on a sound like "Kwiks". The way some of you are trying to say it is pronounced makes me think of a sneeze. That might work in German, but (sorry) German as a whole reminds me of a sneeze. Ugh. It's bad enough, the slimy business we're already saddled with in English.

 

[Ambrus]

I think we purposefully pronounce it wrong because it would otherwise sound too much like "chaotic". Red dragons are quixotic-evil.

 

[tarchon]

The only problem being that everyone who knows the word quixotic is very likely to know the source of the word, Quixote, and have a reasonable idea of how to pronounce it. What you say is pretty good as a general standpoint, but -- if anything -- the root Quixote is much better known than the derivative English words, like quixotic, quixotism, quixotry, etc. making the pronunciation very odd indeed. This also applies to Arbiter of Worms' post; sure, that's true in general.

Yeah, but people pronounce it "kee HOTE ee" "KEE oh tee" "kee HOTE ay" "KEE oh tay" etc., and with the derive-it-yourself approach the adjective comes out as "kee HOTT ik" (which I think is what Fusangite is using with "kee hot tick") "kee OTT ik" "kee HOTE ik" and "kee OTE ik". There just isn't a regular correct way to make a word obey the phonetic and orthographic rules of two languages at the same time, so you either have to accept any vaguely supportable attempt at a hybrid (like "keeks OTT ik" "kweeks OTE ik" or Henry's "kiks-OT-ic"), or you can pick something that fits the language and stick with it.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

The only problem being that everyone who knows the word quixotic is very likely to know the source of the word, Quixote, and have a reasonable idea of how to pronounce it.

Doesn't this thread indicate just the opposite? (Or did you mean a reasonable idea of how to pronounce Quixote?)

Again, I say: Smart enough to know that "Quixote" is the source of quixotic, not smart enough to know that, in fact, it's pronounced kwik-sot-ic.

Yer puttin' on airs, is wot yer doin.

 

[Desdichado]

I did mean Quixote. If you know that Quixote isn't pronounced Kwicksoat or Kwicksoty, as anyone other than the aforementioned Jed Clampett probably does, then the pronunciation kwicksottic, while maybe technically correct, still doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

 

[Klaus]

While "quixotic" originates with Don Quijote (Quee-HOT-ay), the pronounciation does indeed seem to stem from the Portuguese pronounciation of Quixote (Kee-SHOT-ay). Quixotic, in Portuguese, is "quixotesco" (kee-shot-AYS-koe).

 

[Desdichado]

Klaus, the pronunciation does not include a [sh] in includes a [ks] which is not at all similar.

It's also highly unlikely that that would have migrated from Portugeuse even if it were used; Spanish x used to be pronounced [sh] a few hundred years ago as well, before migrating to the [x] sound, and largely the j letter. Even today, some Indian words in Mexico that were spelled phonetically in Spanish retain that, as in Oaxaca which is pronounced [washaka]. Portuguese, Galician and Catalan retained the [sh] sound for that letter to this day (And Occitan too, I believe, but I'm not as familiar with Occitan,) but the Spanish pronunciation migrated. At the time of Don Quixote, and Cervantes, for that matter, it would still have been pronounced [keeshoatay].

 

[tarchon]

I did mean Quixote. If you know that Quixote isn't pronounced Kwicksoat or Kwicksoty, as anyone other than the aforementioned Jed Clampett probably does, then the pronunciation kwicksottic, while maybe technically correct, still doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

I believe the way Jed says it is "a bit tetched."

 

[Umbran]

There's a very simple thing that folks seem to be missing - language does not have to "make sense". While shifts in pronounciation and grammar tend to follow guidelines, it is only a tendency. On occasion, you'll get a made-up word with a made-up pronounciation.

Remember - English does not borrow from other languages. It follows other langages down dark alleys, mugs them, and rifles through their pockets for spare grammar. It isn't a neat and orderly process.

 

[tarchon]

There's a very simple thing that folks seem to be missing - language does not have to "make sense". While shifts in pronounciation and grammar tend to follow guidelines, it is only a tendency. On occasion, you'll get a made-up word with a made-up pronounciation.

Yeah, but this isn't one of them.