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ArchivesRe: Svein
in reply to a message by LillieMae87
I have never heard anyone pronounce it that way. In Norwegian, the EI is pronounce like the a in "Ash" and ee after. The rest is pretty straightforward. If you know any German, the word "Schwein" is similar, just without the sh-sound and a v instead of a w.
I think I've heard it pronounced SVAYN too, but that is probably not the common way. As for the other Scandinavian Languages and Icelandic, I don't really know.
I think I've heard it pronounced SVAYN too, but that is probably not the common way. As for the other Scandinavian Languages and Icelandic, I don't really know.
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Some regions of America had a lot of Scandinavian migrants a very long time ago, Pronunciations may be different again. Then again it may be a German name disguised as Scandinavian. The standard modern meaning is "boy", but the original sense seems to have been "brother-in-law" or "son-in-law", an archaic relationship-term related to German Schweiger (mother-in-law), Schwäher (father-in-law) and Schwager (brother-in-law - originally the same word as Schwäher), and OE -swiria (sister's son).
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