334 PHONETIC ANOMALIES OBSERVED IN SOME 
original word, Jsar or Isara ; so that locally this a must have been 
sounded somewhat in our English way, or the name would not have 
been phonetically expressed and handed down in the modern dialect 
as Isére. - ; 
Again, take the familiar word Clermont, the name of the principal 
town in the Department of Puy de Dome : the e also here represents 
ain the Latin word clarus—Clarus Mons. And similarly in Clair- 
vaux 10 the Department of Aube=Clarus vallis,—although here the 
ay sound of a is represented by ai, as in Aquitaine also, from Agui- 
tania, Aix from Aque, &e. In Seine from Sequana, the dipthong ez 
to some extent represents the same sound. 
In the common words, pére, mére, frére from pater, mater, frater, 
—cher from carus, chair from caro, aimer from amare, taire from 
tacere, plaire from placere, &¢c., there seem to be traces of the Eng- 
lish long-sound of a. So also in maire from major—although there 
ean be no doubt that in Lago Maggiore, we approach nearer the real 
vocable major. .In the Italian word for an apple—-mela—we are com- 
pelled to pronounce at least the stem of the Latin name for that fruit 
in the English manner—mal-um: this word ought to have been trans- 
mitted to us pure and simple, if mah-la was the sound that struck 
the ear of those who first wrote down the modern word. 
One more instance will suffice to show that our English a-sound, 
however wrong it may be, has more to say for itself, than could have 
been conceived. 
Take Reate—Ree-ay-tee, as the ordinary Englishman would call it ; 
a very ancient city in Central Italy. Its modern existing name is 
Rieti—Ree-ay-tee—proving that the a in this case had the English 
sound in the ear of the person who reduced the popular Janguage to 
writing. Compare Teate, hodie Chieti.* 
* Castra, which in so many instances became Caster (comp. Lancaster), in more than one 
became Caister, (e.g. in Lincolnshire) in which we have phonetically the Hnglish sound of 
a. The Anglo-Saxon form of caster was ceaster, wherein ea was still pronounced ay. Where 
we have chester for caster, the e had probably the sound which we give it in Derby, Hert- 
fordshire, &c. In other words the ea came at length to be written a, as in shame identical 
with sceam modesty. In the fact that a came to represent ea, we have probably the origin 
of the English sound of a. 
The Anglo-Saxon @ also, was converted in some cases into ea, still sounded ay, as inlefar 
to leave. Great and break, with us, retain the sound of ea; but to call leave, lave is not 
considered polished. Shame-fast-ness, from sceam-fest-nes, has been changed to shame- 
Faced-ness: “faced” is, of course, the phonetic biunder of some unweeting person, but it 
serves to shew that the a representing @ of fest, (firm, resolute,) had the aysound. In 
Wessex (Devon e.g.) the Anglo-Saxon rendering of ea survives: heal is popularly hayle, &e.— 
Query: Was éea intended to be the French ¢hé, or the unusually elegant botanical Thea ? 
The Chinése word is said to be fecha. In Persian cha-khutai = tea of Cathay. 
