[alt-photo] Re: ware cyanotype paper sensitivity

[Loris Medici]

I'm extremely far from being Greek expert; I hear it very often, understand
very little of it and speak few words... (Mostly insults I have learned from
friends when I was much younger; it's a very rich language in that sense,
"as it is in many other senses...") But, according to what I hear around, I
would pronounce the g in argyros in the voiced velar fricative form. (This
sound is used both by Turks and Romioi. BTW, Greek and Romioi pronounciation
and language can be quite different, even to foreign ears; I can instantly
differentiate someone from Greece and Turkey just by hearing them speak
Greek even if I don't understand what they say...)

English: I guess it has to be that way since English has many words from
many different cultures. (Celtic? Germanic? Greek -> Latin -> Norman/French?
...) Therefore, pronounciation and spelling depends much on the origin of
the word perhaps!?

Regards,
Loris.

-----Original Message-----
From: alt-photo-process-list-bounces at lists.altphotolist.org
[mailto:alt-photo-process-list-bounces at lists.altphotolist.org] On Behalf Of
Tomas Sobota
Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 1:44 AM
To: The alternative photographic processes mailing list
Subject: [alt-photo] Re: ware cyanotype paper sensitivity

I don't think that it's so simple as to say "Mike pronounces it that way
so..." because the root 'argyro-' has been used well before  'argyrotype'
has been coined, so there is or should be an established way of pronouncing
it in English as there is in other languages. For example, histologists use
'argyrophilia' to denote the affinity of some tissues to be stained by
silver. This usage goes probably back to the XIX century if not before.
Just out of curiosity, how is 'argyros'  pronounced in modern Greek? I'm
familiar with classical Greek pronunciation, but not with modern Greek. Is
the sound of the gamma similar to the sound of the 'g' in Italian 'argento'?
BTW you cannot understand English. Only a good memory, a long practice and a
bit of luck can help you :-)

Tom Sobota
Madrid, Spain