strathspey@strathspey.org:63975

Anselm Lingnau

Re: Fair Donald

April 22, 2013, 6:45 p.m. (Message 63975, in reply to message 63974)

Norma or Mike Briggs wrote:

> John Drewry wrote "Dunsinane." And I learned from the index that
> Shakespeare got it wrong; it's DunSINane, not DUNsinANE.

Makes sense. In Gaelic, »dun« means »hill« (and, by extension, »fortress«), 
and often occurs as a prefix (i.e., Dunsomething). We say »DunDEE« rather than 
»DUNdee«, »DunFERMline« rather than »DUNfermLINE« and so on – consider 
Dunblane, Dunoon, Dunkeld and Dumbarton, all of which are stressed on the 
second syllable.

Anselm
-- 
Anselm Lingnau, Mainz/Mayence, Germany ................. xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx
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