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I was watching a non-fiction TV show and a man was named Svein which I thought was pronounced like Sven, but everyone was pronouncing it like Schwinn and Schvenn. None of these people were Norse or Scandinavian (They’re we’re American), including the man but all had Norse/Scandinavian names and surnames.
Are these legitimate pronunciations?
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~ "I'm Princess Angelina Contessa Louisa Francesca Banana Fanna Bo Besca the Third. But you can call me Dot."
Are these legitimate pronunciations?
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~ "I'm Princess Angelina Contessa Louisa Francesca Banana Fanna Bo Besca the Third. But you can call me Dot."
This message was edited 3/11/2019, 2:06 PM
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Replies
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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