Quizzes & Puzzles0 min ago
Midwifery schism!
9 Answers
Why do we pronounce midwifery 'midWIFFery' and not 'midwife-ree', 'midwife-ery' or even 'midwivery'?
And I was taught that the word schism was 'sizm' [ the 'siz' sounding as in 'scissors'], but there seemed to be no logic to that. Why that pronunciation?
And I was taught that the word schism was 'sizm' [ the 'siz' sounding as in 'scissors'], but there seemed to be no logic to that. Why that pronunciation?
Answers
The change in the pronunciatio n of 'midwifery' seems to have occurred over the past 20 years, Fred. In the print version of the OED (1980s) the two pronunciatio ns offered were wiff and wife. The more recent, obviously, online OED offers only wiff; however, there are still two versions, as the stress may be put on the first OR second syllable, thus MIDwiffery...
08:23 Thu 01st Mar 2012
The change in the pronunciation of 'midwifery' seems to have occurred over the past 20 years, Fred. In the print version of the OED (1980s) the two pronunciations offered were wiff and wife. The more recent, obviously, online OED offers only wiff; however, there are still two versions, as the stress may be put on the first OR second syllable, thus MIDwiffery or midWIFFery. Only Americans nowadays, it seems, still have midWIFEry.
Re schism, both print and online OED versions still offer sizm or skizm, so use whichever appeals to you. I recall an American comedian suggesting that we Brits said shedule rather than skedule because that is how we were taught to say it in shool!
Re schism, both print and online OED versions still offer sizm or skizm, so use whichever appeals to you. I recall an American comedian suggesting that we Brits said shedule rather than skedule because that is how we were taught to say it in shool!
In a word derived from another, the pronounciation of the root part is often different from the original. When the word is longer, we tend to make the vowels shorter so the syllables flow more easily. Say "photograph" then "photography" - the pronounciations of the "o"s in the two words are quite different.
I think the same process is applied to "midwife" and "midwifery" and we just accept that the link to the the root word "wife" is weakened.
I think the same process is applied to "midwife" and "midwifery" and we just accept that the link to the the root word "wife" is weakened.
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