Re: Osithe
This is a standard Germanic dithematic name, of which the first element is Os "deity", which has a long "o" (in English there is loss of |n| before the |s| of the root ans-, with compensating lengthening of the vowel). The second element is gyþ "battle" (again with lengthening of the vowel with loss of |n| before |þ| of the root form gunþ-). In this case the vowel in English underwent i-umlaut due to the earlier nominative stem, and y represents this i-umlaut of u, a sound similar to Greek Υ, and German ü. In most English dialects, this y lost its rounding and merged with i, with the y spelling only retained in words of foreign (usually Greek) origin, like Cyprus, Lydia, etc.. Now, front vowels such as i and e cause a preceding (and final) Old English g to be palatalized to |j| (but still spelled g), and if the front vowel is an i, then final or medial g may vanish altogether, as in Godiva, from Godgifa (medial f is frequently pronounced as v, and later spelled as such, cf. wolf v. wolves; leaf v. leaves - the actual condition is whether the preceding/following letters cause the f to be "voiced"). The English pronunciation would have developed from OHS-gooth>>OHS-yeeth>>OHZ-eeth>>OH-sith; since french does not have a consonant |þ|, this normally becomes t or d, while |z| is simply the voiced allophone of |s| and frequently retains the "s" spelling; since in French the second syllable is accented, the s is naturally voiced to |z|; similarly |d| is the voiced allophone of |t|, so Osithe seems to have been pronounced oh-ZEED, which explains the later record.
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Messages

Osithe  ·  namebug  ·  1/19/2009, 1:58 PM
Re: Osithe  ·  Carole Brow  ·  6/20/2023, 9:08 PM
Re: Osithe  ·  Alicia Richards  ·  12/30/2022, 11:34 AM
Re: Osithe  ·  Su  ·  10/2/2022, 11:51 PM
Re: Osithe  ·  Osithe  ·  6/28/2022, 7:14 AM
Re: Osithe  ·  Lisa  ·  8/5/2019, 9:30 AM
Re: Osithe  ·  stacey  ·  2/9/2009, 9:53 AM
Re: Osithe  ·  Cleveland Kent Evans  ·  1/19/2009, 3:59 PM
Re: Osithe  ·  thegriffon  ·  8/8/2019, 11:03 PM