Talk:Bliaut

How does one pronounce this word? Thanks

• Blee-ow

Or something similar. It'll depend where you are if that pronunciation guide actually works in your native accent, but it should at least be close. (Don't worry, you'll hear lots of variants). Cian as our resident linguist pedant (and one who has the same accent as me), can you render this into the article in a form that should be accent proof? Tiff

• Well, I have never said the word, and so rarely have I heard it said that I need to guess that you give it a silent "t", rather than just doing the Aussie habit of leaving off the end of some words. The major online dictionaries don't have any entry for "bliaut", except as the Old French word that eventually became "blouse". Unfortunately, they don't have pronunciation guides for etymology. Alternative spellings I have seen on other sites are Bliaud, Bliaus, Bliant, Bliaunt, Bliand.

Perhaps "Blee - oo" might be a more Frenchified pronounciation. Don't really know since we are talking Old French. - Cian Gillebhrath 11:53, 8 Jun 2006 (EST)

• • Following modern French pronunciation Blee-ow is correct, providing the "ow" is pronounced as in the English word "Snow". There is a slight stress to the second syllable, but not as strong as stresses are usually in English. The t is only pronounced in French if the succeding word begins with a vowel or h, (e.g. "Le bliaut est rouge": le blee - o tay roozh), and in English would be disregarded completely. This however does not answer how it was Anglicised, and this will partly depend on when it came into English from French. My guess is that it would have been early enough for the final t to be pronounced, with the au vowel sound either being o as in go or o as in got. That help? :) Conrad Leviston 13:30, 8 Jun 2006 (EST)