Jer-RIG-onee - or Gur-RIG-onee - or GRIG-onee? (But not Jerry-gone.)

[calyptorhynchus <>]

Ha, thought you going to say it should be pronounced kisticola (which it should, because of the derivation from Greek kistos (=Cistus, Rock Rose), but the pronunciation sisticola is now well established.

Anyway, as it the endings of words, we tend to pronounce these much less carefully than the beginnings of words because recognition of a word by listeners happens in the first syllable or two, not the end (unless it’s crucial whether the word is singular or plural or present or past tense). If you recorded yourself and other people talking about cisticolas you’d find that the pronunciation of the final syllable would differ between speakers, but also within each speakers’ usage.

JL

On Sat, 29 Aug 2020 at 06:52 Dave Torr <> wrote:

And how about cisticola - some pronounce it to rhyme with Coca Cola, bot I end if "kerla"

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On Sat, 29 Aug 2020 at 06:35, calyptorhynchus <m("gmail.com","calyptorhynchus");" target="_blank">> wrote:

f you’re going to go on about the Greek derivation as your source does then it doesn’t make sense to recommend jer-rig-onee as (ancient) Greek doesn’t have a ‘j’ sound (and the two gammas in the word should be pronounced alike). Therefore gur-rig-a-nee is logical.

JL

On Fri, 28 Aug 2020 at 23:47 Richard Nowotny <m("bigpond.com","richard.nowotny");" target="_blank">> wrote:

This pronunciation question seems to have been a contentious subject for Australian birders since the common name of the several species in the genus Gerygone was changed from fly-eater and/or warbler to the genus name, as recommended by the RAOU (Recommended English Names, RAOU 1978).

 

Some years ago, seeking to address my own ignorance, I posted an enquiry on Birding-Aus requesting informed comment on the subject, only to receive nothing apparently authoritative. Responses suggested all three pronunciations, seemingly based on little more than personal belief, typically arising from usual practice.

 

I note Jason Polak’s comment that he learned it as “ger-RIG-a-nee” from ‘one of Sean Dooley’s books’, but it is unclear as to whether that is a hard ‘g’ (gur) or a soft ‘g’ (jer).

 

I own a copy of the wonderful Australian Bird Names – A Complete Guide by Ian Fraser and Jeannie Gray (CSIRO 2013) in which the matter is dealt with as follows:

 

Gerygone Gould, 1841 [dje-RI-go-ne]: ‘child of song’, from Greek gerugonos, child of song (an echo), geruo, sing (including to sing of or celebrate), and gone, offspring or birth. (Note that due to technical difficulties I have omitted the accents on the Greek letters which are shown in the book.)

 

I don’t know just how authoritative this is but it strongly suggests that Jer-RIG-oh-nuh (with a soft ‘g’ and perhaps no distinct ‘nee’ at the end) is the correct/preferred pronunciation.

 

Other contributions?

 

Richard

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Birding-Aus <m("birding-aus.org","birding-aus-bounces");" target="_blank">> On Behalf Of Jason Polak
Sent: Thursday, 27 August 2020 6:21 AM
To: m("birding-aus.org","birding-aus");" target="_blank">
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Thornbill's R Trcky

 

Indeed, I pronounce it ger-RIG-a-nee, which I learned from one of Sean Dooley's books (actually I learned a lot of my pronunciations from there)!

Jason

 

 

On 2020-08-26 2:08 a.m., Carol Probets wrote:

 

> Hi Chris,

>

> After the Buff-rumped you have (1) Brown Thornbill, (2)

> Chestnut-rumped,

> (3) Yellow Thornbill, and the last one is Mangrove Gerygone.

>

> And to answer your gerygone question in the 4th paragraph, in my

> experience it’s usually pronounced “jer-RIG-a-nee” (with accent on the

> second syllable) but I’ve also heard it said with a hard g -

> “ger-RIG-a-nee”. The only people that say “jerry-gone” are people who

> have only read the word and haven’t heard other birders pronounce it

> :-)

>

> Cheers,

>

> Carol

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