Americans pronounce it lew-ten-ant. Canadians pronounce it left-ten-ant. I assume Canadians are with the Brits when we differ from Americans. How did the two North American English speaking populations differ so fundamentally on the pronunciatian of this common military rank?
I don’t know.
Lobsang is right.
Check out the Mavens’ explanation.
As for the question of the Canadian usage (which is not monolothically “leftenant” in my experience) - well, Canada inherited its military traditions from the Brits, so the pronunciation would carry forward, I would assume.
While this is an oversimplification, Bill Bryson’s book on the development of the English language, The Mother Tongue, suggests that when Americans and Britons (and Canadians) pronounce the same word differently, it is because the American pronunciation reflects the pronunciation of the word in the mid-eighteenth century. It may be that in the 1750s a junior officer in the British army was a lew-tenant, and that the left-tenant pronunciation came into use after the American pattern had been well established.
Isn’t lieutenant French for place holder?
Spavined Gelding, that’s not the view taken in the Mavens link, posted by JeffB. They give examples of the “leftenant” pronunciation cited in the early 18th century, with spellings suggesting that pronunciation from the 14th century.
Piper, like I said–May be.
I was under the impression that ‘lef-tenant’ was referring to a 2nd Lt , and ‘lew-tenant’ was referring to a 1st Lt. (higher grade then 2nd Lt.)