52 ilra/nsactions. — Miscellaneous. 



Archipelago commonly spelt by the English Bally, and sub- 

 stitute for this Bali, we gain much in euphony. We might 

 apply this to Balimahon for Ballymahon, Balishannon for Bally- 

 shannon, &c. The use of y as representing the diphthong ni or 

 uai ought to be abolished. 



The change to a correct pronunciation of Latin is sometimes 

 opposed, because people cannot decide upon the Latin pronuncia- 

 tion of the consonants, cannot settle whether or not Cicero is to 

 be called Sisero or Kikero, Csesar or Kaisar. Probably, like the 

 Italians, the Eomans pronounced c soft before e and i, and hard 

 before the other vowels. Thus Kaisar would be correct, and 

 Kikero wrong. Now this is matter of comparatively little con- 

 sequence, and might be left alone ; but no doubt the English do 

 make a mess of the consonants as well as of the vowels. Thus, 

 in German we hear them call Schwalbach, Swalback, Schlangen- 

 bad, Slangenbad ; and when the tourists go to the Highlands in 

 autumn what a burlesque they make of the Celtic names ! 



The effect of the degradation of the letter a to the inferior 

 sound of ae is to eliminate the basso sounds from the language, 

 and the result is similar to that which would be produced in an 

 opera if all the basso sounds were omitted. 



The tendency also to reduce the sound of ■*• to a minimum, 

 particularly in the South of England, diminishes the force of the 

 language. Thus, what must a Eoman think when an English- 

 man calls him a womamo, with a faint approach to a roll in the 

 middle of the w ? Or imagine an Englishman in the days of 

 Lord Palmerston proclaiming himself, in the English fashion, 

 " Saivis womaenus sum!" The force of the expression has 

 evaporated in the feeble and effeminate pronunciation. 



For the sake of force, also, it may be regretted that the 

 English have dropped all the strong gutturals, as in such words 

 as light, might, which still retain their old sounds in broad 

 Scotch. With regard to the word height, the Americans give us 

 an excellent illustration of a step in the wrong direction by 

 changing the spelling to hight, thereby converting a diphthong 

 into a vowel. Instead of this they ought to change might, right, 

 &c, into meight, reight. The gh in these words are now of no 

 use, but they do no harm, and serve to show where the gutturals 

 once existed. 



I must confess to a liking for strong gutturals. What 

 force there is in such words as Junta, Xeres, Ojos, in Spanish, 

 where the j and the x have the sound of the Scotch or German 

 ch; or, in Arabic, of Hassan, Achmet, Bahr, Mahmoud, wherein 

 the h is pronounced as a very deep guttural. How much force 

 Spanish gains over its sister language, Italian, from which 

 gutterals have been entirely eliminated. 



Many tourists may remember John Campbell, who drove 

 the coach from Loch Goil Head to St. Catherine'6, in Loch 



