Pronunciation of Proper Names
The Mexican Indians pronounce the name of their country with the accent on the second syllable (the penult), Mex-i´co. The Dakotas pronounce their name Dak´o-ta. The accent on Wy-o´ming is on the second syllable, though Campbell places it on the first:
“On Susquehanna’s side, fair Wy´oming.”
Goldsmith, in The Traveller, accents the penult in Niagara:
“Where wild Oswego spreads her swamps around,
And Niaga´ra stuns with thundering sound.”
Moore, in “The Fudge Family,” conforms to the modern pronunciation:
“Taking instead of rope, pistol, or dagger, a
Desperate dash down the Falls of Niagara.”
In Braham’s song, “The Death of Nelson,” the second syllable is accented:
“’Twas in Trafalgar Bay
We saw the foemen lay.”
But Byron, in “Childe Harold,” lays stress on the last syllable:
“Alike the Armada’s pride and spoils of Trafalgar.”
Repeated in “Don Juan,” i. 4; also in the Prologue to Scott’s Marmion.
In the “Lay of the Last Minstrel,” Carlisle is accented on the first syllable:
“The sun shines far on Carlisle wall.”
Pope, in his translation of the “Iliad,” says,—
“Then called by thee, the monster Titan came,
Whom gods Briar´eus, men Ægeon name.”
Shakespeare employs the name as a dissyllable:
“He is a gouty Briareus; many hands,
And of no use.”
—Troilus and Cressida.
Lady M. Wortley Montagu following Spenser’s “Then came hot Ju´ly boiling like to fire,” accented July on the first syllable:
“The day when hungry friar wishes
He might eat other food than fishes,
Or to explain the date more fully,
The twenty-second instant July.”