The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 12.2826 Wednesday, 12 December 2001
[1] From: Peter Groves <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Wednesday, 12 Dec 2001 11:25:27 +1100 (EST)
Subj: RE: SHK 12.2807 Re: Pronouncing Petruchio
[2] From: Dale Coye <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Tuesday, 11 Dec 2001 21:59:06 EST
Subj: Re: SHK 12.2807 Re: Pronouncing Petruchio
[3] From: Clifford Stetner <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Tuesday, 11 Dec 2001 22:01:37 -0500
Subj: Re: SHK 12.2807 Re: Pronouncing Petruchio
[4] From: John E. Perry <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Wednesday, 12 Dec 2001 00:20:23 -0500
Subj: Re: SHK 12.2796 Re: Pronouncing Petruchio
[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Peter Groves <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Wednesday, 12 Dec 2001 11:25:27 +1100 (EST)
Subject: 12.2807 Re: Pronouncing Petruchio
Comment: RE: SHK 12.2807 Re: Pronouncing Petruchio
> Italians spell the name "Petrucio" or "Petruccio" but not "Petruchio.")
> Does it matter how we pronounce it? Probably not much. In this case, I
> prefer following the textual and linguistic clues.
>
> In other cases, though, I prefer following theatrical tradition--e.g.,
> "Perdita," which I've been told ought to be pronounced "pur-DEE-tuh,"
> given its Latin root, but which is usually pronounced "PUR-di-tuh" in
> performance. Anybody have an opinion on that one?
>
> Bruce Young
Opinions are irrelevant, as is etymology: the metre establishes without
any kind of doubt that the name is "PUR-di-tuh"
Peter Groves
[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Dale Coye <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Tuesday, 11 Dec 2001 21:59:06 EST
Subject: 12.2807 Re: Pronouncing Petruchio
Comment: Re: SHK 12.2807 Re: Pronouncing Petruchio
An answer to these pronunciation questions, including proper nouns, can
be found in my book Pronouncing Shakespeare's Words: A Guide from A to
Zounds (Greenwood, 1998) soon coming out in paperback with Routledge, I
hope.
My research for that volume includes a random sample survey of
Shakespeare professors in 3 countries for the most controversial words:
here were the results for Petruchio
Canadian: CH- 4, K- 8
UK: CH-8, K-14
US: CH-14, K-27
/puh TROOK (ee) yoh/ is preferred in in all countries, though I believe
Shakespeare intended the -ch- spelling to indicate the usual /ch/ sound
in English. He never heard of Pinocchio, and -Machiavel- is -Matchavil-
in the Quarto of MWW 3.1.101 (F1 Machivell), suggesting your average
Elizabethan probably equated the -ch- spelling of these Italian words as
the English /ch/, not /k/.
Perdita was not included on the survey of professors, but the
traditional pronunciation would be the anglicized form /PUR dit uh/
Dale Coye
Asst. Professor of English
The College of New Jersey
[3]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Clifford Stetner <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Tuesday, 11 Dec 2001 22:01:37 -0500
Subject: 12.2807 Re: Pronouncing Petruchio
Comment: Re: SHK 12.2807 Re: Pronouncing Petruchio
>I've nearly finished my doctoral edition of William Heminge's The Jewes
>Tragedy -the first play to quote 'To be or not to be'. The same
>character who quotes it, goes insane and acquires an attendant called
>'Petrusio'.
>
>A clue? A lisping pronunciation? Or a pathological symptom?
In Gascoigne's Supposes, posted at
http://leehrsn.stormloader.com/gg/supposes.html the servants of Scen