Most of us know that Latin is a dead language, and there’s no definitive way of pronouncing latinized scientific names, but I’ve heard Castilleja pronounced several ways and was wondering if there is a “correct” way to pronounce it. Here are things to consider:
Latin originally had no letter J but was later added to include the J sound from other languages.
As a plant native to the Americas, many people assume a Spanish origin of the name, and pronounce the J as in Spanish (more like an H). So the most common pronunciation I hear is cas-till-AY-haw.
If we assume a Spanish origin, shouldn’t we also pronounce the LL like in Spanish (more similar to a Y)? I’ve only heard it pronounced cas-tee-YAY-haw a couple times.
I’ve also heard it completely Anglicized as cas-till-AY-jaw, but this seems wrong.
How do you pronounce Castilleja, and do you think there’s a “right” way to pronounce it?
Posted on
01 April, 2024 15:48
by
observerjosh
Comments
The genus name is named after a Spanish botanist, so I go with "Cas-tee-yay-haw"*, but no telling what it sounds like with my "grew up in Texas but mother was from Rhode Island" accent.
*edited to change a typo in my original comment.
I see that it’s named after Spanish botanist Domingo Castillejo, so it should be similar to how you say (without the l) like cas-tee-YAY-haw<\b>. But many English speaking Americans (not just Texan or Rhoad Islanders) mispronounce Spanish words in general (myself included).
What made me think of this, I’ve almost exclusively heard it as cas-till-AY-haw (pronouncing the L), but I heard someone pronounce it correctly and it made a flag go off in my head, and I though, “that’s different… I think that’s how it’s supposed to be pronounced.” 😂
It's common name is pronounced kastilleya and I wouldn't change it to a Spanish version cause the name author should've thought about how it should be written in another language to save the "ll" an "j". People have quite a fantasy, but why end it with "aw" when there's just an "a" in the end?
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