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HelpRe: Leigh vs Lee
in reply to a message by LMS
It's just one of the quirks of English.
In a similar vein, there's a town in West Yorkshire called Keighley, which is pronounced keith-lee, so the 'eigh' there makes neither an 'ay' or 'ee' sound. English is fun!
~Charley~
https://www.behindthename.com/pnl/184785
In a similar vein, there's a town in West Yorkshire called Keighley, which is pronounced keith-lee, so the 'eigh' there makes neither an 'ay' or 'ee' sound. English is fun!
~Charley~
https://www.behindthename.com/pnl/184785
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That makes sense from a historical perspective. The -gh digraph used to make a guttural sound similar to -th, but it dropped out around the time of the Great Vowel Shift (c. 1500). While most words shifted to make -gh silent, Keighley retained the original pronunciation.
Just a little linguistics nerdery.
Just a little linguistics nerdery.
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Yes, I do recall hearing that, it's actually quite common over here to have places which are pronounced totally different to how it would appear, as they retain ancient pronunciations.
Another example back home in West Yorkshire, is Sowerby, which retains the Old Norse pronunciation of saw-be. I love these quirks!
Another example back home in West Yorkshire, is Sowerby, which retains the Old Norse pronunciation of saw-be. I love these quirks!
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