Reading The Merchant of Venice and starting act 2, I’m puzzled as to the pronunciation of “Ducats” The old coinage. I’m pretty sure it’s Doo-kats, reason being Dukes used to make their own coins hence Dukats. Help?
According to Encarta, it’s is pronounced
Duck et
duc·at [dúkt ] noun (plural duc·ats
http://dictionary.msn.com/find/entry.asp?search=ducat
you can hear it here.
Lyllyan’s cite is almost certainly correct.
If you went back a few hundred years prior to Shakespeare, when Medieval Latin was around, you might have heard the “dook” sound, as it came from the word ducatus. Of course, this assumes we know how Latin/Medieval Latin was pronounced.