On Tue, 27 Apr 2004 21:08:32 +0200, Erik Haugan <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >* Wilkinson Jens <[log in to unmask]>: >It's amazing how long this thread has gone before anybody looked it up >in a dictionary. According to the Webster (look up "paleolithic" or >"Paleo-Indian" at www.webster.com) the first syllable is pronounced like >"pale" or "pal", the latter especially in Brittish. In Australia, the word is used in two overlapping realms of discourse: the academic (where the first syllable generally rhymes with "pal") and the more popular - sometimes as an insult: as the words "caveman" and "Neanderthal" are used. (In this second case, the pronunciation may be as in "pal" or as in "pale". I have never heard it pronounced with the "a" as in "Karl", "gnarl" "darling"). In either case, the word does not exist on its own, but only as a prefix to Paleolithic, Paleobotany etc. Erik makes the obvious point well: language is transmitted orally. The Greek origins are less obvious when it it spelled "Paleo" rather than "Palaeo" and most Australian and British uses take the "Palaeo" spelling - as I did, unil I joined this list. Keith