Pronunciation of -eity

In England, if you sing Hark the Herald, everyone around, as far as I can tell, pronounces deity as day-ity, and it has been thus since I regularly got to sing it in the school choir in the 70s. Likewise sponta-nay-ity. But on one occasion, in the mid 80s, I was singing in Oxford and an erudite gentleman suggested it should be dee-ity and he averred day-ity was some horrible modern mispronunciation. Likewise it should be dee-ify, sponta-nee-ity, though these are rarely heard in England these days. However one does hear dee-ism and dee-ist quite often, perhaps because we are most aware of these words from Richard Dawkins and Archbishops and the like saying them on telly, and they say them like that.

If I look in 30-yr-old copy of Chambers Dictionary I have to hand, it suggests that -ee- is the only pronunciation for all of these. Makes sense really. It isn't -ei- as in beige or ceiling, it's -e-i- as in reiterate. Further, -eity often comes from -eous which is pronounced -ee-us, and in the de- ones from deus which would have been pronounced dee-us in the old English pronunciation. A modern Collins dictionary gives both pronunciations, no doubt reflecting present reality.

So, anyone here say dee-ity, sponta-nee-ity? Is this your dogged persistence, or do other people round you say them like that? What is the geographic extent of -ay-ity and how recent is it?