6.6M views · Dec 14, 2020 · 8:14 · 4 HN recommenders · 6 mentions · discussed 2021–2024
The Map Men explain why British place names are so hard to pronounce, tracing it to layers of Viking, Anglo-Saxon, Celtic and Norman influence, with a pronunciation guide.
Why Hacker News points people here: Recommended as an entertaining, short explanation whenever British place names or their linguistic history come up.
“The Map Men on YouTube did a short (8min) video on why pronunciation is hard and a guide”HN comment, 2024
“Ref. for entertaining additions.”
Entertaining explanation of how British place names are pronounced.
Off-central-topic, but regarding where this was found, if you find yourself discussing this offline, "Loughborough" is pronounced "LUFF-burro" or "LUFF-burrah". Ref. this video for entertaining additions.
“Map men explain it best.”
Explains why British place names reflect many invading languages.
It's due to being invaded by many different counties over the years, and each of them only invade a portion. Map men explain it best. this video
“The Map Men on YouTube did a short (8min) video on why pronunciation is hard and a guide”
Short video on why British place names are hard to pronounce, with a guide.
> Just needs a pronunciation guide now The Map Men on YouTube did a short (8min) video on why pronunciation is hard and a guide: this video
“The video helps it makes sense.”
Shows multiple language roots behind English place names.
Hopefully Map Men might help with this. this video TLDW; We have multiple different root languages in English city names, and you are only thinking one dimensionally, with the Roman Latin root. Cirencester is a good example, pronounced how you might expect while further north the town names get more germanic, and eventually Scandinavian. The video helps it makes sense.
“Here's a fun clip about it, focusing on British place names”
Fun clip on British place name pronunciation drift.
Yes, yes it is. My understanding is that it used to be spoken in a way closer to the written form, but it has drifted. And then there are all the loan words that retain at least some of their original pronunciation. Here's a fun clip about it, focusing on British place names: this video
“by plotting British place names of Viking origins, it is possible to see the true extent of their invasion”
Map Men episode showing Viking influence via place names.
This reminds me of an episode of Map Men where they offhandedly point out that by plotting British place names of Viking origins, it is possible to see the true extent of their invasion: this video . In fact, the map they show in that episode ( link ) looks strikingly similar to this map I've found on Wikipedia of Celtic, Danish and English territory in 878: link
