“Yeah,” I thought, “Wonderful word, tilting at windmills and all that. Used it myself quite often, in fact.” Then I noted its pronunciation: kwik-SAH-tik.
Huh? Kwiksahtik?! I’d always pronounced it in roughly the same way that Don Quixote’s name itself is pronounced, rendering it kee-HOE-tik. Merriam Webster, Dictionary.com, and Encarta all insist that I’m wrong, not offering kee-HOE-tik as even a secondary pronunciation. Now I’ve used and heard used this word numerous times and never once heard it mangled into such an awful Americanism as kwiksahtik.
And so, the questions: have you ever heard or do you use the more authentic kee-hoe-tik pronunciation? And because this is veering dangerously close to IMHO, can you site any example where an accomplished English speaker (news anchor, actor, politician, preacher, etc.) used one or the other pronunciation?
I have never heard the pronunciation [kihoUtIk] for “quixotic” – it has always been [kwIkzAtIk], so far as I know.
:rolleyes:
Is there evidence that “quixotic” was a Spanish word borrowed into English? If not, I’d have difficulty accepting the assertion that a pronunciation that no one has ever used is the “more authentic” one.
Officially, the pronunciation is kwik-sotick. I’ve never heard it pronounced Kee-ho-tick and I can’t find an online dictionary to support that pronunciation.
It’s an English word, after all, not a Spanish one. It doesn’t matter in the slightest how the Spanish would prounouce it.
There’s nothing “authentic” about using the Spanish pronuciation.
I’m with you STARK. “Kwickzatik” sounds awful. I don’t think I’ve ever used the term in conversation (maybe I need to find a more literary circle of friends) but if I do, I’ll say “Kee-Hoe-Tic”. or something similar. Since the word is based on the name Don Quixote, that should be the pronunciation. Or do people refer to the Man of La Mancha as Don “Kwicksot”?
I would say “Quick-zottik”, which I guess is the same as “kwik - SAH - tik”… more or less
I must say though that I am always intrigued in these discussions by the representation of the short “o” vowel as “AH”. I know, I know, people talk differently in different parts of the world, but how can these sounds be considered the same?
I have read of pronunciations of “Quixote” as “Kwik-sote” (the last syllable with a long-o sound, and a silent -e). Do UKers say it this way? For some reason, I’m thinking that’s where it’s from.
But if you pronounce “quixotic” any way other than “kwickzatik,” you’ll deserve the snickers that you get.
Should we pronounce the capital of France as “Pa-ree,” since that’s how the pronounce it?
Should we pronounced the “p” in “pneumonia” because that’s how it was pronounced in its original language?
Since “woodchuck” was originally “wuchak” in a Native American language, are we required to pronounce it their way?
Why does it matter in the slightest how the Spanish pronouce a word? We’re speaking English, not Spanish, and it doesn’t matter in the slightest how the Spanish pronounce it.
“Kwicksotic” is the correct pronunciation. There’s not even debate about this by lexicographers. Deal with it.
I don’t know what part of the world you’re from, r_k, but there are several accents in the United States, particularly in the Midwest, in which the vowels in “father” and “bother” are pronounced identically – as a low, back, unrounded vowel – signified as “script a” in I.P.A., as [A] in ASCII I.P.A., and as “ah” in a lot of informal phonetic renderings.
Similar merger is seen in the vowels in the following sets of words in Midwestern accents –
caught/cot (but “court” is different)
Mary/marry/merry
horse/hoarse
pearl/purl
Are you saying Miguel Cervantes’ “Don Quixote” was an English invention? I think you’ll find plenty of evidence that the word has pure spanish roots. Merely adding an “ic” to the end of it doth not giveth it thee english rootes.
Initially, you won’t be laughed at, because no one will have any idea what the hell you’re talking about. When they figure it out, then they’ll have a good laugh at your expense.
I don’t know if I’ve ever used the word aloud, but when reading it, I’ve always pronounced in my mind as the OP - kee-HOE-tik. Made sense to me – it’s derived from the word/name Quixote.
You’re my boy, STARK. Kee-HOE-tik. I have heard others pronounce it similarly and have never heard it any other way.
Now that I look at the word, it should be pronounced like ‘exotic’, just substituting the ‘qui’. But my mind doesn’t work like that, and English doesn’t always do what it ‘should.’
[itty bitty hijack, not even since I’m not asking a question, just providing more things for you all to laugh at me about] (how’s that for coding?)
I learned French before chemistry, so when describing molecular transformations that happen easily (facile), I describe them as fah-seal, as opposed to fass-ile. Now whenever I hear the fass-ile pronunciation, I cringe.