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From: (Raymond Whritenour)
Subject: German Surname?
Date: Mon, 1 Aug 2005 12:33:20 -0400
In-Reply-To: "Ken Nordtvedt" <knordtvedt@bresnan.net>'s message of Mon, 1 Aug 2005 08:34:40 -0600


Ken:

Any letter that appears in an English surname was pronounced, AT ONE
TIME. The date at which the pronunciation of final -e was dropped,
likely varies. Some folks still pronounce it, or have revived the
pronunciation. The Chinese scholar and missionary, James Legge,
pronounced his name as "leg." I have heard people named "Soule,"
pronounce it both as "soul" and as "su-lay." Final -e could, of course,
be either Germanic or Romance.

Ray Whritenour

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