Active Now

my2cents
Discussion » Questions » Names » Why was Sigmund Freud's name pronounced "Froyd"? Why wasn't it pronounced "Frude", rhyming with "dude"?
Bez

Why was Sigmund Freud's name pronounced "Froyd"? Why wasn't it pronounced "Frude", rhyming with "dude"?

.

Posted - September 1, 2016

Responses


  • 17596

    Wouldn't it be great if Great Britain still controlled some of what they gave up.  So many unstable areas were once British colonies.  When I look at what has happened in Lebanon I wonder how much they wish they were still a French colony.   It's one of those be careful what you wish for things.

      September 2, 2016 5:54 PM MDT
    0

  • 258

    Because "eu" is a German dipthong, also written as äu, with a pronunciation similar to "oi" or "oy". Similarly bored people got into a big deal about Boener's name being pronounced "boner", but they were showing typical lib ignorance. His German name contains the "oe" dipthong, also written as ö, pronounced -ay, though the same ö character may have different pronunciations in other languages.

      September 2, 2016 6:05 PM MDT
    0
  • Bez

    2148

    I thought "äu" in German had an "ou" or "ow" sound (as in "autobahn"). I would have imagined "oe" would have had an "oy" sound, I could see how it would make sense. I wouldn't have thought "oe" would be pronounced as "ay". Maybe I should try listening to a few Kraftwerk albums, I might learn something from them. Lol:)

      September 3, 2016 4:44 AM MDT
    0

  • 124

    Do you mean Boehner?

    Besides, I'm not sure how political inclination is in any way related to German phonetics. 

      September 3, 2016 10:03 AM MDT
    0

  • Because some time down the line, the diphthong that was originally pronounced /ew/ came to be pronounced /oj/ in Standard German (approximately). I have no idea why; Germanic languages are not my forte. The general rule in language change, however, is that pronunciations change frequently and the spelling does not change with them. 

      September 3, 2016 10:25 AM MDT
    0