Mrs Prosequi and I are acquiring some of the well-known Adirondack chairs.
But we are not American, and are hearing different versions of how to pronounce the name. I am not confident with the Wiki version because of the vehemence and apparent confidence of views I am hearing. Hence my approach to the teeming horse’s mouth.
So - is it Uh-DIE-ron-rack? Uh-DEE-ron-dack? A-duh-RON-dack? Or something else?
I’m from NY State and I’d say it’s the third one, A-duh-RON-dack, with the emphasis on the third syllable. Not to confuse you more, but I’ve also sometimes heard it pronounced A-duh-RON-dyke, the last syllable sounding the same as Dick Van Dyke…
Mohawk Valley resident here: Yup, me too. Never ever heard the last syllable pronounced “dike”. And nobody ever emphasizes the second syllable, whether as “die” or “dee” or (paceelbows) “durr”.
Also, do not be fazed if you ever encounter references to the identically pronounced but differently spelled “Adirondak Loj” = “Adirondack Lodge”. This is a rustic resort on the Adirondacks’ Heart Lake run by the Adirondack Mountain Club but named in the early 20th century by the Club’s then-President, Dr. Melvil Dewey (the decimal-system Dewey), who was a proponent of so-called spelling reform.
When I was a kid, I had an adder-RON-dack baseball bat, much nicer than a Louisville Slugger, lighter and wiry, felt flexible. Bobby Doerr model. All the kids wanted to use my Adirondack.
Much later, though, I learned that “appelation” is not how the southern mountains are pronounced, but /apple-LATCH-in/. My book-learned school teachers came up with a few pronunciation doozies.
Well, for the region in general, as opposed to the mountains, some people pronounce the “latch” as the same “a” as the first “a” of adder-on-dack, apple-AT-cha and some pronounce it more like “laitch”, apple-H-ah. However, the mountains and the trail I always hear pronounced as apple-H-an. I can’t tell if that’s what you mean or not, nor if there are people who pronounce the mountains apple-AT-chan.
I live in the state that has the Adirondack mountains. I suppose it’s possible that folks upstate closer to the actual mountains say it differently, but seems unlikely.
Add-a-RON-dack.
Or as Fear Itself spelled out out, same difference.
For what it’s worth I’ve only ever heard the A-duh-RON-**dyke **pronunciation when the mountain range is referred to in its entirety (and plural). IOW like when saying, “It’s somewhere up in the A-duh-RON-dykes…”