2007-11-01 22:19:17 · 13 answers · asked by punch 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
As with many pronunciation/spelling discrepancies in English, esp. those involving foreign words borrowed into the language, the key seems to be dialectal differences and the spelling from one dialect becoming standard, while the pronunciation from another dialect is most widely adopted.
The word was borrowed from the French in the 14th century. But there seems to have been some difference in how English people HEARD the word. Some believe the gliding sound of the W-sound at the end of "lieu" sounded like an "f" of "v" to the English.
As a result, in 14th century English there were a variety of spellings of this word in English, including leef-, leve-, lyff- and later lief-, live-, liev-, and luff-. Alongside this was a spelling that reflected a "w" pronunciation, such as lu-, lieu-, lyue-, and lew-.
So what happened is that two sets of spelling and pronunciation were around. Each made sense in its own right, but the "lieu" SPELLING "won out", while the /f/ pronunciation of other dialects became dominant.
http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20000107
(This also looks a lot like what happened with some other FRENCH words brought into English. The older English spellings matched their own pronunciation. Then scholars insisted on "correcting" the spelling to match the French spelling of their own day. But they could not change how most people PRONOUNCED the word! Something like that happend with "colonel", though in that case the spelling was changed to its current one when the FRENCH changed it... but the English pronunciation still followed the earlier pronunciation, which HAD matched its spelling.)
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-col1.htm
2007-11-02 00:37:42 · answer #1 · answered by bruhaha 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Spell Lieutenant
2016-12-16 17:18:00 · answer #2 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In British and Australian Army and Air Force it is pronounced "LEF-tenant". In the British and Australian Navies, the pronunciation is "LUH-tenant".
Never "loo-tenant".
The word is French in origin. "Lieu" means place and "tenant" means holding, so an lieutenant is holding the place of a superior. Lieutenant is the lowest rank of a commissioned officer, so all other COs would be superior.
It is possible that an alternative Old French spelling "luef" may be the origin of the "lef" syllable in English.
And it may have been spelt leeftenant and luftenand in Old English.
BTW, many ranks have unusual pronunciations. Consider Colonel (ker-nel), Sergeant (sar-gent) and Field Marshall (Mon-ty).
2007-11-01 22:41:39 · answer #3 · answered by templeblot 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
This Site Might Help You.
RE:
how do you spell "lieutenant" why not leftenant.?
2015-08-10 05:59:35 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Leftenant
2016-10-04 14:46:48 · answer #5 · answered by sather 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
lieutenant has its origins to french where lieutenant roughly translates to holding a position.
it was earlier pronounced as leftenant every where other than america where it was pronounced as lieutenant.by 1893 the pronounciation leftenant was declared old fashioned and changed to lieutenant mostly everywhere bt it is still pronounced leftenant in the indian sub continent.
2007-11-01 22:42:15 · answer #6 · answered by Sandy 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Blame it on Queen's English!
If it had been "leftenant" instead of "lieutenant", then it would have been "enuf" and not "enough", "rite" and not "right", and so on.
There is really no reason why these words are spelled the way they are!
2007-11-01 22:30:37 · answer #7 · answered by ravi_gandh 1 · 1⤊ 4⤋
It is spelt as 'levt-en-ent' or left-en-ent'. The difference is only to the drawling as there is a common rule that the westernites would face difficulty in the accents of eastern languages and vice versa. Pronounciation and accent are different as the origin of pronounciation belong to the origin of the people of that particular language, who are well versed in its literature and arts. Besides, every word is a product of another word or words and the rule of way to spell is the 2nd or 3rd person's clear understanding. (If one say perhaps as 'praps' you should revert as 'praps' for his understanding.) Vowels, diphthone, triphthone etc., are the science of voice and if pronounciation is written, it has its limit. It has to be practised by reading or uttering.
2007-11-01 22:33:53 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 4⤋
In England it is pronounced 'loo - tenant' and that of course is where the spelling originates. .......
...... well there and France ..... 'lieu' = french for place (and is pronounced 'loo') .... a lieutenant is anyone who is in charge of a certain situation (or place)
2007-11-01 22:22:17 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 5⤋
He/She is not a tenant who left your house. He/she has to often `lie' to his officers and subordinates to continue his position as a tenant in the army
2007-11-01 22:22:47 · answer #10 · answered by villager 3 · 1⤊ 6⤋