The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 13.1877  Wednesday, 11 September 2002

[1]     From:   Ronald Moyer <
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        Date:   Tuesday, 10 Sep 2002 10:35:36 -0500
        Subj:   Re: SHK 13.1869 Pronunciation of Arcite

[2]     From:   Clifford Stetner <
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        Date:   Tuesday, 10 Sep 2002 12:21:30 -0400
        Subj:   Re: SHK 13.1869 Pronunciation of Arcite


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Ronald Moyer <
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Date:           Tuesday, 10 Sep 2002 10:35:36 -0500
Subject: 13.1869 Pronunciation of Arcite
Comment:        Re: SHK 13.1869 Pronunciation of Arcite

The sibilant pronunciation is offered by Dale Coyne in _Pronouncing
Shakespeare's Words_, Louis Colaianni in _Shakespeare's Names: A New
Pronouncing Dictionary_, Kenyon and Knott in _A Pronouncing Dictionary
of American English_, and Daniel Jones and A. C. Gimson in _Everyman's
English Pronouncing Dictionary_.  Seems to be the way to go.  Best,

--Ron Moyer

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Clifford Stetner <
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Date:           Tuesday, 10 Sep 2002 12:21:30 -0400
Subject: 13.1869 Pronunciation of Arcite
Comment:        Re: SHK 13.1869 Pronunciation of Arcite

>The instructor of my Chaucer course, B. J. Whiting, pronounced the C in
>Arcite as a sibilant; so did his younger colleague, William Alfred.
>I've followed their example.  But the actors in the current Stratford
>Festival production of *TNK* make the C hard: ArKite.  Ideas about this
>from the list?  Reliable sources of info?
>
>Dave Evett

I'm guessing that it derives from bow as in arciform bow shaped (soft c,
although arcus is hard); on the other hand, there are two Greek writers
named Archytas (hard c). There's also Archidamas from WT and Cymbeline
which imply that a hard c before i would be spelled in Shakespeare with
an h.  Chaucer with his French influence must have meant it soft as in
Marc Arcis, a French sculptor of the 17th c.

Clifford Stetner
CUNY
http://phoenixandturtle.net

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