I just saw Wicker Man (it might be the worst movie I’ve ever seen, but that’s a topic for another thread) and the word “Quixotic” was used by one of the characters.
It was pronounced, “Quick-sotic.”
How can this be correct? We say “Don Kee-hotay” when referring to the book and its title character. So wouldn’t we say “Kee-hotic” when using the adjective bearing his name?
You would think, wouldn’t you? But I’ve only ever heard the pronunciation in the movie, and dictionary.com doesn’t list any alternative pronunciations.
The spelling of a word occasionally affects its pronunciation; most people assume that the spelling follow normal rules of English pronunciation, but it may not, due to it being borrowed from another language or other factors.
One similar case is “victuals,” which most people spell like it’s written, but really should be pronounced “vittles.” I’m guessing at some point the “vittles” pronunciation will die out.
Other examples are “comfortable” (originally three syllables) and “often” (the “t” is silent).
And those are native English words. Words that are borrowed are probably more likely to have this happen.
Also keep in mind that Quixote is a proper name from Spanish, and the norm is to pronounce foreign proper names at least reasonably close to how the bearers of said names would pronounce them themselves. Quixotic, on the other hand, is an English adjective, not subject to the same courtesy.
Interesting. I’ve been using this screen name for years, and had an occasion to meet some friends from an on-line game a few years ago. I was surprised to learn a couple of them thought the proper pronunciation should be “Kee-ho-tik”, but I’d never heard of any variant till then. I’d just always known it as the standard American English “kwik-sot-ik”. FWIW.
Not much to add, I know, but I just had to post in this thread 
Of course. If you didn’t, the very fabric of all that is proper and expected would be threatened. I’m glad you showed yourself, it makes me feel that there is still something right in the world.
I would think it’s more likely that everybody will spell it “vittles.”
How is Mexico pronounced in English? In Spanish it’s pronounced approximately Meh-hee-co, but in English Mek-si-co. It’s basically the same deal as Quixotic.
The “x” in both words is an archaic spelling, current in the 1500s. My understanding is that at the time the x represented a “sh” sound in Castilian Spanish. Modern Spanish pronounces this approximately like an English “h,” and thus sometimes substitutes a “j” in spelling these words; Quixote is often spelled Quijote, while México can also be spelled Méjico.
For Quixote, English these days tends to adopt the modern Spanish pronunciation, Qui-ho-tay, while pronouncing both quixotic and Mexico the way they are spelled.
Since the question’s been answered, I just want to say that every time I see the word quixotic it reminds me of a poster on the SDMB named donkeyoatey (well, a former poster - last active in 2004).
This is an interesting comparison, because victualler (a supplier of victuals) may be legitimately pronounced vict.ual.er (it isn’t the only way to say it, but it’s valid).
This is , I think, partly the result of cultural influences where you are. British tendencies are to render the pronunciation as if the word was Engliash, thus giving you “Quick-sottick”.
In Amwerica, with its regions of Spanish Influence and French influence, the pressure is often to pronounce the words as in the original. You can’t pronounce “La Jolla” as if it were English – you’d be misunderstood and laughed at. It’s “La Hoya”. And don’t try to pronounce the capital of Louisiana “Bay-ton Rowdge”, either.
(But we still pronounce Mexico as “Mecks - i -ko”. And, for that matter, in Connectiocut they pronounce “Thames” River not “tems” as in England, but “(soft th) AY-mmms”. And the British get all bent outta shape when we pull that “but we’re just pronouncing it as it’s spelled” schtick. Weird place, America)
I was brung up pronouncing “Quixotic” as “KEE-hot-icl”. Dictionaries I’ve seen gave both pronunciations.
The beauty of this board is that it teaches you something every day.
My reading vocabulary has always been much larger than my spoken vocabulary – there are lots of words that I know the meaning of but mispronounce, or don’t know how to pronounce. “Quixotic” is one of those, apparently. I don’t believe I’ve ever said the word out loud, but have always assumed it was pronounced ‘kee-hot-ic,’ because of Don Quixote.
BTW, I checked the big dictionary (a gigantic, three-volume) Webster’s) here in my library and also my husband’s dictionary (a pocket-edition, also Webster’s) up in his office – both listed ‘kwik-sot-ic’ only. I also have a Dictionary of Pronunciation (not Oxford, the one by Abraham & Betty Lass) that lists ‘kwik-sot-ic’ only, too.
Now I’ll have to school myself to say it right, if I ever have to say it.
Native English in the sense that they [comfortable and victual] were borrowed from French in the medieval period?
I always assumed that the “vittle” pronunciation was an American thing, like creature > critter or vermin > varmint. Very interesting. Turns out the word (and thus pronunciation) is borrowed from Old French and the spelling from its Latin etymon. French itself does this a lot: re-inserting etymological consonants that haven’t been pronounced in centuries just to confuse people (Fr. et “&” vs. Ital. e, sept “7” vs. Ital. sette, etc.).
(kwĭk-sŏt´ĭk) in my dictionary.
I just looked it up in my dictionary and online, and all sources give only “quick-sotic”. Interesting, because I’ve heard “Kee-hotic” more often than that version, and because I’m certain I’ve seen dictonaries with both forms.
“Comfortable” isn’t supposed to have three syllables? I pronounce it that way, and also, quixotic as KEE-hot-ick (not that I have much occasion to say it).
Yes.
America is weird. The spelling of place names differs more than somewhat from the way we spell them.
Quixote is the old fashioned spelling, from way back before it was more-or-less agreed that when something sounds J it should be written J (notable exceptions are Texas and Mexico; some people write Xavier but it’s kind of an affectation). Quixotic was invented by a translator who ran into “quijotesco” in a Spanish text… which I seriously doubt is the Quijote!
I’ve always pronounced Quixotic with the X as a KS.
Quijote isn’t exactly a proper name, by the way, although it does identify a single person (in this case, a fictional character). The guy’s name is Alonso Quijano, Quijote is unkown as a firstname but he gave it to himself as part of a “nick” that sounded to him more chivalrous than his actual name. After all, nobody ever refers to Lancelot as whatever his family name would have been… he’s always Lancelot du Lac. So, Don Quijote de la Mancha (la Mancha being the part of Spain he was from).
You’ll hear people saying “com-fort-ta-bull”, not “comf-ter-bull,” usually because they’re trying to fit the pronunciation in with the spelling.
Native in the sense that they’ve been in the language considerably longer than quixotic.
As opposed to England, where “Worcestershire” is pronounced the way it’s spelled? Or France, who pronounce their capital city exactly the way it is spelled.