"Janet" > wrote in news:6csag2F3hevlnU1
@mid.individual.net:
> Now let's establish whether cumin is pronounced kooMEEN or CUEmin. <G>
Koo-men, as it is from the Spanish, comino, through the French cumin.
Nowhere in those previous conditions was the first syllable pronounced
"kyu-".
Pronouncing it "kyu-" means you are saying the letter "u" ("yoo") as you
sound it in English, which is fine for English but not for words derived
from non-English sources. This also implies that first contact was with
a written word, hence the error.
Or you could avoid that and pronounce it "jira" (as in jeera, not jyra)
which is the Indian word.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumin
What you (collectively) should decide is whether you will habitually
impose English pronunciation on words of foreign origin or adopt a
forever shifting reality. I opt for the latter but as English is not my
father tongue I am here much like the residents of Washington DC, aware
of the problem, contributing to the debate, but likely not allowed to
vote.
For what it's worth, French imposes French pronunciation so that "cumin"
sounds like "cul-main" (or arse-hand ;-) ). But then again French has
clearly defined rules.
Further to this:
Do you say "sil-antro" or "chil-antro"?
Do you write "ą la mode" (the proper way) or "ala/alla mode" (as though
it was Italian)?
Do you say Eye-rak or Eerįk (with emphasis on the last syllable)? Guess
which one is correct (hint: it's not the way you would read it).
NOTICE: The comments and questions are addressed to all who read this and
who are unilingual anglophones, in any case where the author has used the
term "you". This is not intended to be read as being directed at a
single individual. Let's see how many people read this far ;-)