Don Quijote

It is spelled "Quixote" in English because that is how Cervantes spelled it. Look at the original title page. DON QVIXOTE DE LA MANCHA.

English speakers pronounce it "kee-HO-tee" or "kee-OH-tee." Old joke: I named my donkey Hodee.

Edited ot add: one dictionary gives chiefly British KWIK-s@t. (@ is a schwa, rhymes with hut)

Edited by: nutraxfornerves

Wow, only now I realize that this must be the source of the adjective "quixotic". I feel stupid. But why is that word pronounced quick-so-tic and not qui-ho-tic?

Quixotic :It is pronounced kwik- zotic because that's how we thought it was pronounced ~ in Britain at least
As nutrax's extract indicates, in Britain until recently even educated people pronounced the name of the hero Don "kwik 'zot" When I say recently in the last 50 years we have learnt it should have been rendered "kee-ho-tay"

That X is there because of ancient spelling. In general Spanish it evolved into a J but in other languages the original spelling was preserved. A similar situation you have with México and Texas, in Spanish the correct pronunciation of those names are Méjico and Tejas.

In Spanish is pronounced kee-ho-teh (regardless of the spelling).

In archaic Spanish, X was often used instead of J (although both with the same sound = modern J). The RAE tried to homologate and standardize the use of J and X, and it is standardized in modern Spanish from Spain; but in Mexican Spanish, for instance, there are a lot of anachronisms and old-fashioned phonetics/spellings, so the sound of the X is still used in different ways, sometimes in the old way (instead of J), or in the modern way (as X), or in alternative ways such as SH or even as a long S, especially in native Mexican words. That's why in Mexico, Mexico is written Mexico+ while in Spain it is written +Mejico.

This is off topic but other examples from Mexican Spanish with non-standard/old use of X are:

Xalapa (pronounced Jalapa)
Xochitl, Xochimilco (sochitl, sochimilco)
Xoloitzquintli, Xola, Xicotencatl (sholoizquintly, shola)
Exequias (ecsequias = traditional Spanish pronunciation)

There are hundreds of other words like the above, and this is confusing for Spanish speakers who are not Mexican.

Edited by: palindroma (accents removed)

Edited by: palindroma

suez_channel says that "even educated people" used to pronounce it kwiksit (my transcription; my classmates and I were startled in the late 60s when a professor (US) pronounced it like that).

Yes, and even educated people continue to call Paris PARiss and Muenchen MYOOnick. When they're speaking English. Kwiksit was the pronunciation of the word in English. The correct pronunciation -- in English. Starting towards the end of the 19th century, English speakers started trying to approximate foreign pronunciations of foreign words, often falling about halfway there as with Dahn Kee HO tee (US).

Byron rhymes Don Juan with "new one" (which in context was pronounced new'un). That was also the correct pronunciation. Still is, if you're talking about Byron's poem.

{quote:title=VinnyD wrote:}{quote}
suez_channel says that "even educated people" used to pronounce it kwiksit (my transcription; my classmates and I were startled in the late 60s when a professor (US) pronounced it like that).

Yes, and even educated people continue to call Paris PARiss and Muenchen MYOOnick. When they're speaking English. Kwiksit was the pronunciation of the word in English. The correct pronunciation -- in English. Starting towards the end of the 19th century, English speakers started trying to approximate foreign pronunciations of foreign words, often falling about halfway there as with Dahn Kee HO tee (US).

Byron rhymes Don Juan with "new one" (which in context was pronounced new'un). That was also the correct pronunciation. Still is, if you're talking about Byron's poem.

Lol. I'm imagining Man of La Mancha being staged in the West End and someone belting out "I am I, Dawn Kwiksit! The Lord of La Mancha!" The U.S. pronunciation may not be on the nose, but at least it's in the ballpark. "Kwiksit" is not even in the same time zone.

I also remember that when I was doing year-abroad in the U.K. and first heard Don Jew-Won I did an actual spit-take. But, of course, you're right that Byron's metrics require that pronunciation. It may not be rational, but I have much less of a problem with manglings of geographical names than I do with people's names. Geographical names will inevitably be shaped by long-term linguistic and historical considerations, but when it comes to people, real or fictional, it seems to me one should try for at least a "near miss."

palindroma, What a good thorough, SHORT explanation. I was about to explain the same thing, but you did it so much more succinctly.

One VERY minor correction. The Royal Academy of the Spanish language (damn, I hate not being able to write in Spanish!) NOW says that, and I paraphrase, "if Mexico and Mexicans WANT the name of their country spelled with the archaic "x" rather than the more modern "j", then THAT is now the ONLY correct spelling that anyone, writing in Spanish, should use. After all, it's THEIR country."

I thought it was pretty big of them to admit that it was they, the RAE, that was in error, NOT the Mexicans!

But the Guia Roji maps of Mexico, probably because they are distributed worldwide, still show Xalapa as Jalapa.

No longer an issue except for orthography because the medial consonnant is disappearing except in music.

Wonders never cease. Dictionaries adopting descriptive methodology. Larousse dropping rants against anglicisms.
RAE bending to multiculturism. Webster defining with frequency instead of antiquity. Are there others?