Larry -

Hope you finish catching up soon - I can only imagine how much unread email
you have.

Very interesting dissection of place names.  I don't know why Lowville is
pronounced with a "how" sound, but I'd have to say that the NYS way of
saying Onondaga is "correct", seeing as the Onondaga Indian Nation is about
4 miles south of Syracuse.  To me, On-un-DAY-ga sounds totally off the
mark.  But, then again, a lot of people don't know how to pronounce Indian
words unless they live in the area, such as Taughannock ("Tu-GAN-ic",
rather than "TAUG-ha-nauck", which I've heard many a non-native Ithacan
say).

All of this goes to changing a language over time, hence words that would
seem completely disparate in different languages have the same root from an
ancient Sumerian who travelled the globe.

- Pam
------------ Previous Message from  Lawrence Kestenbaum
<[log in to unmask]>  on  10/13/98 07:41:03 AM ----------
However, sometimes the pronunciation differs.  Here in Michigan, I grew up
with a TV station which frequently reminded its viewers that it had
"transmitting facilities in Onondaga": On-un-DAY-gah.  Later, one of my
fellow county commissioners (now a state senator) was from that area, and
she pronounced it the same way: On-un-DAY-gah.

So in 1988, I move to Upstate New York for grad school in preservation.
Not far away is Syracuse, which is in Onondaga County, presumably the
namesake of Onondaga Township back in Michigan.  In New York, though, it's
On-un-DAHG-ah, which to my Midwestern ear sounds highly affected.

Another New York place name which is pronounced in an unexpected way is
Lowville.  The place was named for Nathaniel Low, rhyming with "go".
But today, the first syllable of Lowville rhymes with "how".