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WORLD
WORDS
Recommended Pronunciations
W. CABELL GREET
Associate Professor of English in Barnard College, Columbia University
CBS Speech Consultant
Published for the COLUMBIA BROADCASTING SYSTEM
by COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS • NEW YORK

COPYRIGHT 1944
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS, NEW YORK
FOREIGN AGENT: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, Humphrey
Milford, Amen House, London, E.C., 4, England, AND
B. I. Building, Nicol Road, Bombay, India
MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

To the Memory of
GEORGE PHILIP KRAPP
LATE PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK
and
ARTHUR LLOYD JAMES
LATE PROFESSOR OF PHONETICS, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
"Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you,
trippingly on the tongue . . ." HAMLET, III. 2

PREFACE
SINCE the publication of War Words a year ago, the relentless battle
fronts have brought more strange names into
communiqués and press
dispatches. Names long alien have now become hallowed in the English
language as the places where American soldiers fought and died—1 arawa,
Arawe, Salerno, Garigliano, Carroceto. The list is daily lengthening.
In this book of World Words, about ten thousand names and words
are pronounced. They include the battle fields and air force objectives
of the past two years, the likely places of attack during the coming
months, names that will figure in the peace and appear on the air routes,
names of important persons, and words that are difficult for broadcasters.
Pronunciations for two thirds or three quarters of these cannot be found
in any other volume of easy access.
Whatever the defects of this book, it shows the need of pronunciations
as well as of accurate spellings in all reference works, and particularly
in gazetteers and map indexes. The construction of pronunciations is a
fascinating business; it combines the interest of making crossword
puzzles with the excitement of betting on an election. Nevertheless,
every
branch of lexicography is better pursued at leisure. This book has
been prepared in great
haste. To be readily understood and, in radio
parlance, to be on the nose, were its prime requirements. It is desirable
that the United States Board on Geographical Names and the Perma-
nent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use be
granted the
necessary funds to give reasonable pronunciations for all
names that are spelled on maps. Or in the absence of government sup-
port, perhaps the National Geographic Society and the boards of the
Encyclopedia Britannica Atlas and similar organizations will undertake
to complete their indexes by supplying pronunciations. In this radio-
minded world, pronunciations are
quite as important as spelling.
To anyone who works with pronunciation and the other parts of
rhetoric, the nicest fable for critics is in Holofernes' speech, beginning
"He draweth out the thread of his verbosity finer than the staple of his
argument" (Love's Labor's Lost, Act V, scene 1) ; Holofernes in lambast-
ing Don Adriano's rhetoric shows himself just as fantastic, and pedantic
to boot. For effective radio (or so we believe at CBS), pronunciation is
not an opportunity to be elegant but an everyday problem of what to
do with difficult names and debatable words. This book is an effort to
find reasonable solutions, fanciful as some
of the respellings may at
first seem.

[vi]
The pleasures of working with learned experts are great and long
remembered. A hundred or more busy professors, consular agents, and
foreign correspondents have directly contributed to these judgments on
pronunciation. Professor L. Carrington Goodrich and Professor Cyrus
H. Peake of Columbia University and
Dr. Lin Lin of the Chinese Min-
istry of Information showed the patience of the East before hundreds of
queries. Dr. J. van Beusekom of the Netherlands Information Bureau
and Mr. Chris 0'Sullivan and Mr. Alwyn Lee of the Australian News
and Information Bureau gave in their pronunciations a sense of nearness
to the life of the South Pacific. Professor Einar Haugen of the University
of Wisconsin, Dr. F. G. Nelson of the University of Minnesota, and Mr.
Oka Fen of the Royal Norwegian Information Service provided author-
ity for many Scandinavian pronunciations and evidence of a great
variety of usage. Mr. A. E. Gilliat of the Burma Civil Service, Mr. T. A.
Raman, head of the Indian Information Service, Washington, Mr. Paul
A. Eakin of the Presbyterian Mission, Bangkok, and Mr. and Mrs.
J. J. Van Hine of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, Tonkin, had
much more to say of east Asia than could be set down in phonetics.
Mr. Jonas Budrys, Consul General of Lithuania, Mr. Ernst Jaakson of
the Estonian Consulate General, Mr. Harry W. Lielnors, Mr. Otto G.
Lindberg, and Dr. Thomas A. Sebeok of Indiana University, interpreted
the names of the Baltic languages and Hungarian. Dr. Fred House-
holder was ever the admirable consultant on Greek. Professor Clarence
A. Manning and Professor Arthur P. Coleman of the Department of East
European Languages, Columbia University, Mr. Vladimir Alexieff,
and members of the American Association of Teachers of Slavonic and
East European Languages made an indispensable contribution to the
difficult problems of comparative Slavonic pronunciations. Dr. J. A. W.
Bennett of Queens College, Oxford, and the British Library of Informa-
tion, Dr. Charles E. Funk of the Funk & Wagnalls Company, and Mr.
Edward Artin and Dr. John P. Bethel of G. & C. Merriam Co. con-
tributed good cheer when the burdens were heavy. Mr.
Ambrose Lansing
and Mr. C. K. Wilkinson of the Metropolitan Museum of Art were de-
lightful instructors in the ways of Arabic and Persian. Professor Os-
waldo Serpa of Rio de Janeiro sent a phonograph recording of his own
pronunciation of important Brazilian names. Prof. Leon Feraru, Long
Island University, chanted the Rumanian list like a medieval epic. Mr.
Solomon V. Arnaldo, director of the Philippine Bureau of Information
checked the pronunciation of Philippine names; Mr. Raif Erisken of the
Turkish Consulate General passed on the Turkish. Professor Harry
Morgan Ayres, Professor Adriaan J. Barnouw, Professor Carl F. Bayer-

[vii]
schmidt, Professor Dino Bigongiari, Dr. William Bridgwater, Professor
Elliott V. K. Dobbie, Professor Robert Herndon Fife, Mr. Philip
Hayden, Professor Frederick W. Heuser, Professor Frédéric Hoffherr,
Mr. Roger Howson, Mr. André Mesnard, Professor Tomás Navarro,
and Professor Henry H. L. Schulze—to these and to other colleagues
and masters at Columbia University the debt is deeper than probably
they realize. Professor Ayres, Mr. Alexieff, Professor Bigongiari, Profes-
sor Dobbie, Professor Haugen, Dr. Householder, Mr. Mesnard, and Dr.
Sebeok—bless them—read the proofs.
When such men are the consultants for a little dictionary, it is obvious
that any merits of the work are their due. Blame for faults is the due
of the editor, but he will pass it on to Mr. Roy Langham and Mr. James
Seward of the Columbia Broadcasting System, for they have abetted the
work since its small beginnings two years ago as a mimeographed bulletin.
So many languages are represented on these pages, it will do no harm
to add Old English of the time when the Danes were invading England.
To all who labor at meritorious works that cannot be perfected even in
a life time, the words of King Alfred, brilliant leader and noble scholar,
bring comfort, as he wrote in his preface to the Anglo-Saxon Transla-
tion of Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy: "King Alfred was the trans-
lator of this book, and he turned it from Latin into English, as it now is
done. Sometimes he translated word for word, sometimes meaning for
meaning, just
as he could tell it most clearly and distinctly, despite the
various and manifold worldly ills which troubled him either in mind or
in body. Our troubles are difficult to count that in his days came upon
the kingdom he had undertaken. Nevertheless he studied
this book and
translated it from Latin to English speech and published it again for
the nation, just as it is now done. He asks and, in God's name, he en-
treats each man who is pleased to read the book that he pray for him
and not blame him if he understands it more correctly than Alfred could;
for each man must, according to the measure of his understanding and
according to his leisure, speak what he
speaks, and do what he does."
iElfred Kuning wœs wealhstod thisse bee, and hie of boc-lsedene on
englisc wende, swa hio nu is gedon. Hwilum he sette word be worde,
hwilum andgit of andgite, swa swa he hit tha sweotolost and andgitfulli-
cast gereccan mihte for tham mistlicum and manigfealdum weoruld-
bisgum the hine oft aegther on mode ge on lichoman bisgodan. Tha bisgu
us sint swithe earfoth-rime the on his dagum on tha ricu becoman the he
underfangen hsefde, and
theah tha thas boc haefde geleornode and of
Isedene to engliscum spelle gewende, and geworhte hi eft to leothe, swa
swa heo nu gedon is; and bit and for Godes naman he halsath selene
thara the thas boc rsedan lyste, thset he for hine gebidde, and him ne

[ Viii ]
wite gif he hit rihtlicor ongite thonne he mihte; forthamthe aelc mon
sceal be his andgites msethe and be his aemettan sprecan thset he sprecth,
and don thaet thset he deth.
At the end of a section in his Anglo-Saxon Reader, George Philip
Krapp put this passage. It serves as a requiescat for him, for Lloyd
James, and for all good workers.
W. CABELL GREET
Columbia University
February, 1944

INTRODUCTION
ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION
Correct English
This pronouncing dictionary is designed to assist speakers of the
Columbia Broadcasting System. They have the problems of correct
usage that every American has, with this difference—that as radio
speakers they meet their problems in public while millions are listening
in. Naturally no group has greater desire to be right.
The recurring question "Which is correct?" is best met by the doctrine
of "levels of usage." Ask not only which is correct, but correct for what
purpose. To the styles appropriate for the pulpit,
the Supreme Court,
after-dinner speaking, conversation, familiar speech, and so on, we must
add the styles appropriate to radio. Radio is peculiar: though the subject
matter may be serious and formal, the radio audience hears it in the
familiar surroundings of home. The platform and pulpit styles become
incongruous; the listeners wish the broadcaster to be natural and
friendly, but well spoken and easily understood. And so he pays at-
tention to pronunciation, for agreeable pronunciation is one part of
an agreeable oral style. It is probably not the most important part, but it
is the most easily questioned and often the most difficult to maintain be-
fore a wide audience in a nation where there are regional types of speech.
Included here with the names that the War has made prominent are
certain common English words whose alternative pronunciations cause
domestic conflict of a different order. The debates as to which pro-
nunciation is "correct" can be settled only by future generations, for
in 1944 these words actually have two or more pronunciations and each
of them is held by millions of Americans to
be "correct." It is not the
province of CBS to regulate the English language, but it is desirable
to avoid the awkwardness that conflicting pronunciations on one pro-
gram may cause. A choice therefore has been made in the light, we hope,
of common sense, guided by the fact that CBS is a national American
network. Without seeking to impair any citizen's right to be his own
professor of English, we look for what is national, contemporary, and
reputable.
The English Pronunciation of Foreign Names
Just as the names of the older countries and the principal regions of
Europe have English variants—as Germany, Italy, and Spain for
Deutschland, Italia, and España—many European cities, provinces,

[2]
and rivers have, during the centuries, acquired English pronunciations
and even English spellings, which are commonly preferred in English
contexts. But of course for the most formal occasions and for musical
programs, and also in the case of foreign speakers, the nuance of foreign
pronunciations may be desirable. Broadcasters, particularly announcers,
should know both.
Although the English forms are stable, there is here, as in all other
aspects of language, the possibility of change. Nowadays the "French"
pronunciations of Marseille and Lyon are probably better American
usage than the Anglicized Marseilles and Lyons. We now pronounce
Prague in the French style, ignoring the time-honored English variant,
as well as the Czech and the German. One sign of the falling off of classi-
cal studies is a general ignorance of the English pronunciation of Greek
place names. The press reports usually give English spellings which
don't quite make sense if they are pronounced as modern Greek, as, for
example, Piraeus and Athens. If the
classical traditions grow even
weaker, such forms may be displaced. Piraeus, especially, gives trouble
now.
When faced with the necessity of choosing between English and
foreign pronunciations, broadcasters should of course use the pronuncia-
tions commonly employed in the comfortable English of educated
people acquainted with the place and the subject. Names that are not
Anglicized in English dictionaries probably have no English pronuncia-
tion, and they should be pronounced in foreign style. We cannot be so
conservative (or so radical?) as the English family who, according to
Ned Calmer, spoke of happy holidays in Brittany and pronounced Saint
Michel as if it were English Saint Mitchell.
Why Don't We Anglicize All Foreign Names f
The language of a strong and confident people usually has the power
to take over and "domesticate" foreign names. Why cannot we say
Saint Mitchell or Michael for French Saint Michel? In the past English
borrowed and domesticated thousands of foreign names. It was as easy
for English to absorb them as for French to Gallicize names today. But
the present generations of English speakers are remarkably curious about
the native pronunciations of foreign places. In the case of names that
are not already Anglicized they are inclined to prefer the foreign pro-
nunciations, especially on formal and semiformal occasions. English and
especially American reference books and maps give native pronuncia-
tions and spellings much more often than do similar French works.
Our public speakers and editors are rebuked by audiences if they freely
Anglicize foreign names. For one reason or another there is a new and
somewhat foreign standard of correctness or appropriateness of pro-
nunciation.

[3]
Perhaps today we are more aware of foreign cultures, but familiarity
alone has never preserved foreign names in English or in any European
language. There is a higher degree of literacy and education among
speakers of English than ever before. Yet educated Frenchmen do not
hesitate to pronounce all foreign names as French. Professor H. M.
Ayres suggests that when the schools gave up the "English" pronuncia-
tion of Latin and adopted the so-called "Roman" pronunciation,
English speakers lost their model and the necessary precedents for Angli-
cizing foreign names. Our spelling of English words is eccentric and there
are many exceptions to the rules. Perhaps because we don't know what
to do with foreign names we ask the "correct" or foreign pronunciation.
Uncertainty as to whether Cracow should be pronounced kra'-ko,
kr&k'-ou (ou as
in house), or kr&k'-o, has not yet driven us to Krakdw,
kra'-koof, but it may! Or, with the Great War to preserve democracy,
did a belief in the linguistic rights of small nations grow along with
world combines and rapid communication? In other centuries some
travelers and "foreign correspondents" liked to use foreign pronuncia-
tions. Nowadays radio offers an opportunity to parade such pronuncia-
tions before a public that, it may be said, cannot easily object. Radio
provides an ideal vehicle for popularizing new pronunciations, but the
audience can object if it wishes. Radio may have implemented, but it
did not inaugurate, the present movement to foreignisms.
Whatever the causes, there is established today a learned standard
of handling newly arrived foreign names. We may well call it a new
kind of Anglicizing: the rule, or the aspiration, is to adopt the foreign
pronunciation insofar as it can be rendered by customary English sounds
in the phrasing and rhythm of an English sentence. It is not good taste
to introduce sounds that are foreign to English. Often, as with strange
Chinese names, we succeed only in giving what seems to us a "foreign"
flavor that means nothing whatever to a Chinese. Nevertheless the
tendency is commendable as the opposite of a smug, indifferent attitude.
It may well lead to a growth of understanding and sympathy. So far
as radio is concerned, the tendency has to be taken as a fact, with
such
disturbing inconsistencies as the occasional preservation of native stress
in Tdrawd and an Englishing of Truk, "truck."
I have learned to respect the new rule for Anglicizing because of a
bad guess I made as to what the public would do with foreign names as
they became familiar. For centuries Russian kh as in Kharkov has been
Anglicized as k. In War Words I therefore transcribed Russian kh as k.
To my surprise when Kharkov became a daily headline, there was a
strong drift to "Harkof." Russian kh is neither English k nor English h,
but when Anglicized one would expect k as in the past on the analogy
of the spelling, h on the analogy of the sound. We are evidently an ear-
minded generation. Because Kharkov is an old name in English, I am

[4]
still inclined to prefer k, but I have found great difficulty in defending
any recommended pronunciation of a foreign name that is not as close
as may be convenient to the native. Our bright people are more interested
in the present international world than in the traditions of English.
But a
word of caution must be added. Absurd foreignisms will be
labeled pretentious and asinine, fine as the line is between what seems
absurd and what seems "correct." The pronunciations must conform
to the customs of idiomatic English. The "Parisian" r, for instance, is
not welcomed. As Fowler cogently put it: "To say a French word in
the middle of an English sentence exactly as it would be said by a
Frenchman in a French sentence is a feat demanding an acrobatic
mouth; the muscles have to be suddenly adjusted to a performance of a
different nature, and after it as suddenly recalled to the normal state;
it is a feat that should not be attempted; the greater its success as a
tour de force, the greater its failure as a step in the conversational prog-
ress; for your collocutor, aware that he could not have done it himself,
has his attention distracted, whether he admires or is humiliated."1 To
this Lloyd James added: "A technique that obtrudes, in speech as in
most other forms of human activity, is offensive; it should be the aim
of those who have to handle the spoken word to evoke neither admira-
tion nor humiliation."2
FOREIGN LANGUAGES
The principal element in our idea of a foreign pronunciation is that
the vowels a, e, i, o, u, are pronounced ah, eh, ee, oh, oo. In the following
notes on foreign languages this is taken for granted and comment is
made on the vowels when they do not follow this expectation. Only
the unusual consonants are treated, and they are equated with the
nearest English sounds. In most foreign languages r is a trill or rolled
sound made with the tip of the tongue; occurence of uvular or "Parisian"
r is mentioned. These notes are intended to inform the user of the book
of the premises underlying the pronunciations given in the list and to
enable him in some languages to construct pronunciations of names that,
unfortunately, will have been omitted. The notes are not designed for
consultants who know the languages. They are so simplified that they
may irritate the learned.
Sometimes, as in the case of German ch and the "Parisian" r, an
effort is made to describe the sounds, completely foreign to English,
because they serve as touchstones in phonetics. As they are famous
because we cannot pronounce them and the similar sounds, the descrip-
1H. W. Fowler, A Dictionary of Modem English Usage, p. 194.
2 A. Lloyd James, Broadcast English VI (BBC, 1937), P- If>.

[5]
tions are awkward and probably fruitless. "Go and hear them" is the
best advice for any one who is interested in foreign languages. Foreign
broadcasts and recordings, such as the Linguaphone Persian records, can
tell more of sounds than volumes of printed words.
On a world scale the problem of whether a foreign vowel is close or
open, tense or slack, is nigh insoluble. When you first use the lists of the
British Permanent Committee on Geographical Names, you may com-
plain that vowel values are not indicated in the International Phonetic
Alphabet or by English a and 8, o and 6, e and i, and so on. When you
try to solve the problem yourself, you may decide that the PCGN chose
the wise course in setting down merely e and o and i. Professor Bigon-
giari remarked, when I grumbled at the uncertainty of vowel-quality
in lesser-known Italian names, "Why should Americans complain if the
Italians are satisfied?" And he might have added—"particularly when
Americans tolerate several varieties of English and seldom speak
foreign languages well." I tried to use colorless symbols, but after hear-
ing in one evening six instances of Stalin pronounced sta-leen' (on other
networks of course) I felt obliged to bring back I for the unstressed i in
Slavic names such as Stalin and Mihailovich. The pronunciations -len
and -vech cannot be recommended as acceptable English. The object
of this book is to assist American speakers about to go before a micro-
phone—speakers moreover who are used to the symbols in old-fashioned
reference books. An effort has been made, however, to improve the
English pronunciation of foreign e and o by avoiding wherever possible
the symbols a and o. See the discussion of Italian and the note on page 34.
ALBANIAN
Albanian names have two forms, the indefinite and the definite; e.g.,
Tirane and Tirana. The indefinite forms seem better suited to the
habits of English speech. Unfortunately our atlases are inconsistent.
If Albanian names crowd the news, our best chance of avoiding con-
fusion is to follow the PCGN and adopt as standard the indefinite
forms of the Geg dialect.
Pronunciation
In words of more than one syllable the accent is usually on the next
to the last syllable.
Albanian Explanation
c is as in rats.
9 ch as in church.
dh th as in this. (Cf. th)
e a (schwa) or uh.

[6]
gj gy, like the g of legume or of "gyarden" (for garden).
j
y as in yet.
1 the "bright 1" of lit.
11 the "dark I" of wall.
nj ny as in Spanish cañón. (French gn). Cf. English canyon.
q ky, like the k-sound of cue or of "kyard" (for card).
th "th" as in thin. (Cf. dh.)
X dz as in adze.
xh j as in joy.
y ü as in French lune and German über.
zh zh, the medial consonant of leisure and pleasure.
ARABIC
The pronunciation of names on the African front was determined after
consultation with Mr. Ambrose Lansing of the Metropolitan Museum of
Art and Mr. Amin A. Dahab, Vice-Consul of Egypt, New York City. It
necessarily represents a compromise between various dialects of Arabic,
Italian, French, and the resources of American English. The diphthong
ei is subject to various renderings; the best general rule is to pronounce
it a (as in Beirut).
BULGARIAN. See Slavic Languages
BURMAN
The principal advisor on Burmese names was Mr. A. E. Gilliat of
the British Embassy, Washington, for many years Financial Com-
missioner
at Rangoon. All or almost all the pronunciations recommended
will pass current among English speakers in
Burma. It seemed wise at
this time and for the purposes of this list to attempt nothing more, but
here is an interesting field for investigation.
The Burman stress is often on the last syllable. As in other eastern
languages "short a" lies between schwa [3] (the a of about) and the a of
father and the a of rat. Any one of these symbols seems to be misleading.
In transcribing Burman names, I have employed the symbol that seemed
to recreate the most vivid pronunciation that I heard—not to correct
other pronunciations but to present at least one acceptable pronuncia-
tion. See also the note on the names of India.
th is pronounced as in English thin or this, contrary to the Indian
usage, q.v.
gy is pronounced practically j as in jill.
ky is pronounced ch as in chill.
See also the note on Indian names.

[7]
CHINESE
The phonetics of Chinese are so different from English phonetics that
we should gratefully accept the English pronunciation of all names that
have acquired an English pronunciation. Fantastic as some of these pro-
nunciations are, they are no stranger to the Chinese than some of our
unlearned attempts to give a "Chinese" pronunciation of their familiar
names. The modern ideal that in English the "correct" pronunciation of
a place name is that current in the place itself is never more severely
tested than in the case of China; here it is sometimes absurd.
English-speaking traders and travelers have
given English pronun-
ciations to seaports and river ports, to provinces and many large cities,
and radio speakers may wisely adopt them, just as we use
English pro-
nunciations or names of Paris, Rome, Florence, and Munich. The old
capital Peiping is an exception, for we pronounce it in Chinese fashion
ba-plng (bay-ping), probably because as a new name of political im-
portance it was described in the news a few years ago. These English
pronunciations are, or were, current in Chinese railroad and steamship
offices,
and we may expect to hear them from our correspondents in the
East. However, the wide choice of pronunciation that a Chinese name
affords—even in China, because of the variety of dialects—makes a fore-
cast uncertain.
As the most reasonable course under the circumstances the following
list gives English pronunciations wherever they are acceptable. The
Chinese names that have not acquired English pronunciations are tran-
scribed in the conventional Mandarin style of Western dictionaries.
English speakers should try to pronounce Chinese names with level
stress, giving to each syllable
a full share of force and time. The list
has been prepared in consultation with Professor L. Carrington Good-
rich, head of the Department of Chinese and Japanese, Columbia
University.
Unfortunately our periodicals and popular books omit the diacritical
marks necessary for the interpretation of the Roman spelling of Chinese.
The reader therefore cannot distinguish sounds almost as different as p
and b, t and d, and so on. The value of a scholarly work like Herrmann's
Atlas of China (Harvard University Press, 1936) is that the accents are
marked and
the place names located on maps. The index of the Atlas
can serve fairly well as a pronouncing dictionary of Chinese place
names, if the following rules are observed.
Rules for the Pronunciation of Non-Anglicized, Chinese Names
When Chinese is spelled in our alphabet, with appropriate accents, the
symbols have approximately these values:

[8]
VOWELS
Chinese Explanation
a
a as in father.
ao ou as in out.
e 6 as in let.
e u as in cut.
eh 6 (as in let) in some syllables; u (as in cut)
in
others.
ho, ko or
he, ke hii, ku (with the vowel of cut).
i e as in machine.
ih it as in urn.
o 6 as in more; but see ho, ko.
ou, ow o as in go.
u oo as in mood.
ii like Ger. u or Fr. u.
ti a (schwa) or u as in cut.
CONSONANTS
Aspirated Unaspirated
ch' ch as in chin. ch j as in jin.
k' k as in koko. k g as in go.
p' p as in pay. p b as in bay.
t' t as in too. t d as in do.
ts', tz' ts as in rats. ts, tz dz as in adz.
j is
a uvular sound like the "Parisian r" and the j of Spanish. English
r is a poor rendering but almost inevitable with English speakers.
hs is properly pronounced as though spelled hsh, but for convenience
it is equated to sh.
sh and the other consonants are pronounced much as in English.
STRESS
The syllables may be pronounced with level stress. Without special
training we cannot attempt the Chinese tones.
NOTE
The CBS Program Department has a limited number of copies of
"A Practical Romanized List of Words and
Syllable Sounds for Aid in
the Pronunciation of Chinese" by Harry S. Aldrich, U.S.A. It will be
useful to anyone who has access to publications in which the accents
are marked, and it will be sent to any station that requests it.
CROAT. See Slavic Languages

[9]
CZECH. See Slavic Languages
DANISH. See Scandinavian Languages
DUTCH AND FLEMISH
The accent is usually on the first syllable.
ei and ij are transcribed T (ai) rather than éí, which seemed beyond
our resources, or a (ay), which proved misleading.
g,
voiced or voiceless, is similar to the ch of Scottish loch and German
ach. It is here transcribed k(h). It may be Anglicized to g (voiced)
or k (voiceless).
n when final in word or syllable is often lost.
oe is pronounced oo as in boom. With lack of stress it tends to become
the oo of book,
oo
has the sound of English 5 as in go.
u when followed by a consonant in the same syllable is pronounced
between the ú or urn and the ü of but.
u when not
followed by a consonant in the same syllable, and uu are
pronounced ü (like Fr. u and Ger. v).
The dipthong in huis is here transcribed úl [cei], a sound reminiscent
of oi (as in oil) pronounced by some New Yorkers. Dutch ui is often
Anglicized to oi, but Professor Elliott V. K. Dobbie and Dutch friends
insisted that we should try a diphthong combining the vowel of urn and
the vowel of hit.
w (labio-dental stop) is here given the sound of English w, though in
many dictionaries rendered v.
y is a common variant of ij (see above).
Adjacent consonants influence one another. The rules are: (i) If a
stop and a continuant come together, one voiced and one voiceless, the
stop determines the amount of voice: Du. opvangen, op'-fang-a; afbrekcn,
áv'-brák-a. (2) If two stops come together, one voiced and one voiceless,
both are voiced: Du. zakdoek, zág'-dóók. (3) If two continuants come
together, one voiced and one voiceless, both are voiceless: Du. half
zeven, ha'-laf sa'-va.
ESTONIAN
Estonian is always stressed on the first syllable.
Vowel and consonant quantity is important in Estonian. A long
vowel is indicated by doubling the symbol, aa, ii, etc. Estonian, like
Finnish, q.v., has a number of diphthongs without English parallel.
5
is pronounced very like ú in urn.
á is pronounced á as in hat.

[10]
FINNISH
The Finnish accent is on the first syllable. Compound words also
have secondary accents. In this list the secondary accent is marked only
when it does not agree with the usual English pattern of 'x 'x, stressed,
unstressed, stressed, unstressed.
Vowel and consonant quantity is important in Finnish. A long vowel
and a long consonant are both indicated by doubling the symbol, aa,
ee, ii, pp, tt, etc. Finnish has a large number of diphthongs without
English parallel, such as uo and ie. In these diphthongs, the two vowels
have approximately equal importance, and it seemed better to transcribe
them, when stressed, do'-o' and e'-e' than wo' and ye'.
a is pronounced a as in hat.
j has the value of y as in yet.
The influence of Sweden is very strong in Finland and many places
have Swedish as well as Finnish names, especially where Swedish is
the language spoken by the majority. In a few instances the Swedish
names are better known than the Finnish.
FRENCH
It is the practice of American dictionaries to indicate the accent of a
French word; but we should remember that from the point of view of
English speakers, a French word has a level stress—i.e., each vowel
(except schwa) receives practically the same time and energy. The last
syllable in a phrase is uttered with a little more force and on a higher
tone, while the final syllable in a sentence is on a lower tone. However,
in the emphatic pronunciation of a single word, the first syllable may
be stressed. When a Frenchman is asked the pronunciation of a single
name or word, he will often give this emphatic form. But neither this
nor an English heavy stress on the last syllable is so generally appro-
priate as a level stressing. (See Webster's [1934], Sec. 272, p. lv for an
excellent account of the French "accent".)
An accent mark placed above a vowel in French spelling indicates
quality, not stress.
VOWELS
See also Nasalized Vowels.
French Explanation
k, a + s a as in father. Fr. Chdlons, sha-16N'.
a a sound lying between the a of father and the
& of fat. Fr. Laval, la-val' or lS-vSl'.
ai S as in bed. Fr. Calais, ka-16' or k&-lS'.
ai, aill-, -ail (final) 1 (practically) as in ice or a + y as in yes.
Fr. Versailles, vSr-sI' or ver-sa'(y).

[11]
au
e (stressed), é, ê, è
e (unstressed)
eau
eill-, eil (final), ey
eu
ey
i before a consonant
before a vowel
ill-, il (final)
6, o (final), o + s
otherwise
os, ceu
oi
ou
ue
ui
y
(final)
o
as in go. Fr. de Gaulle, da gol'; Giraud,
zhë-rô'.
ë as in bed. Fr. Angers, àN-zhë'; Pétain,
pë-tàN'; Angoulême, àN-gôô-lëm'; Sète,
set'.
a (schwa) like the e of moment, mô'-mant.
Silent when final (Fr. Curie, kii-rë') and
when, within a word, it is not needed for an
easy pronunciation of the adjacent con-
sonants. Fr. Abbeville, àb-vël'.
5
as in go. Fr. Clemenceau, klë-mâN-sô'. See
au.
ëï or ëy. Fr. Marseille, mâr-sëï' or màr-së'(y).
û
as in urn. Fr. Honfleur, ôN-flûr'.
See eill-.
ë as in machine. Fr. Lille, lël'.
y
as in yet. Fr. St. Pierre, sàN pyër'.
ë + y (as in yes). Fr. Billancourt, bë-yâN-
kôôr'. Exception: Fr. ville, vêl'.
o
as in go. Fr. Bône, bon'; St. Malo, sàN mà-
lô'; rose, rôz'; Rosny, rô-në'.
ô
as in more or ù as in but. Fr. Somme, sôm' or
sum'.
û
as in urn. Fr. Sacre Cœur, sà-krë' kûr'. See eu.
wâ as in waft. Fr. Oise, wâz'.
ôô as
in pool, (Fr. Cherbourg, shër-bôôr') ; but
before a vowel pronounced w. Fr. oui,
wë'.
û
(ë pronounced with the lips rounded as for
55). May be Anglicized as the front 05 of
Eng. toot. Fr. Debussy, da-bu-se'.
A variant of eu. Fr. Arcueil, àr-kûï' or âr-
kû'(y).
wë
A variant of i, pronounced ë. Fr. Puy, pwë'.
NASALIZED VOWELS
The French nasalized vowels are somewhat like a nasal American
pronunciation of long, sang, and urn (with r silent as in the South).
Nasalized e, a, o are pronounced like long; Nasalized i, ai, ei, y like sang.
Nasalized ie like yang, y&ng; nasalized oi and ui like wang, w&ng;
nasalized u, eu like urn. The symbol N indicates that the preceding
vowel is nasalized.
A single m and n not followed by a vowel, and ng nasalize the pre-
ceding vowel. French vingt, v&N'; Paimpol, p&N-pol'; Reims, r&Ns';

[12]
Amiens, a-my&N'; un, UN'; Meung, mUN'; Rouen, rw&N'; Caen, kaN';
Clermont-Ferrand, klSr-moN' f6-raN'. (The nasal aN is between a
nasalized a of father and a nasalized 6 of orb. The nasal oN is between a
nasalized 6 of orb and a nasalized o of go.)
CONSONANTS
The consonants c, f, I, and r are pronounced when final in mono-
syllables. Fr. Cher, shSr'. Otherwise consonants, singly or in groups,
when final are usually silent. (But I and r provide exceptions.) In some
family names
and some place names, final -s is pronounced. Fr. Nogues,
no-g6s'; Aix, Sks'.
c before e, i, y s as in see. Fr. Cette, sCt'.
otherwise k as in koko. Fr. Mdcon, ma-koN'.
s as in see. Fr. Monlugon, m6N-lu-s6N'.
sh as in shall. Fr. Chartres, shar'tr.
zh, the medial consonant of pleasure and
leisure. Fr. Angers, aN-zhe'.
g
as in go. Fr. Gounod, goo-no'.
9
ch
g
before e, i, y
otherwise (except
gn,
ng)
gn
gu before e, i, y
h
j
m, n, ng
q, qu
s initial and final,
and ss
between vowels
th
w
ny as in Sp. cañón, almost Eng. canyon. Fr.
Avignon, á-ve-nyóN'.
g
as in get. Fr. guerre, gSr'.
silent. Fr. Henri, aN-re'.
zh, the medial consonant of
pleasure and
leisure. Fr. Jean, zháN'.
I as in lip, except in -ill- and -il (which see).
Often pronounced when final. Fr. Toul,
tool'. Pronounced in Fr. ville, vél'.
nasalize a preceding vowel in the same
syllable. See Nasalized Vowels. Doubled,
mm, nn are pronounced as in English. Fr.
Rennes, rén'.
k as in key. Fr. Quimper, káN-pér'; cinq, sáNk'.
s as in
see. Fr. Sousse, soos'.
z as in zebra. Fr. Toulouse, too-looz'; maison,
mé-zóN'.
t as in Tom. Fr. Thierry, tyé-re'.
v as in very. Fr. Weygand, vé-gáN'.
For American radio it is usually desirable to use an American r.
The "Parisian" r has no parallels in American English. If the h in hole
is made further back so that the breath causes audible friction, or still

[13]
further back so that the breath causes the uvula to vibrate, the sounds
are voiceless correspondents to two types of Parisian r (customarily
voiced). In many parts of France, r is a tip-of-tongue trill.
GERMAN
Names are accented upon the first syllable or, after the prefixes be-, ent-
(emp-), er-, ge-, ver-, upon the second syllable.
VOWELS
Vowels are pronounced long when stressed before h and before one
consonant, short before two or more consonants and when unstressed.
However before ch and
ss, a vowel may be long or short (thus leading
to a recent disagreement on the pronunciation of Bochum—bo'-k(h)oom
or bok(h)'-d6m).
German Explanation
a, aa a as
in father.
a, ae 6 as in bed or &
as in care.
ai I as in aisle and ride. See ei.
au ou as in out.
au oi as in oil. See eu.
e stressed a as in late, when long; g as in let, when short.
unstressed a (schwa) or sometimes silent,
ei I as in ride and aisle. See ai.
eu oi as in oil. See au.
i e as in meet, when long; i as in sit, when short,
ie e as in eve, meet.
o,
oe il as in urn (or a as in may pronounced with
lips rounded).
u, ue e as in eve pronounced with lips rounded. May
be Anglicized as the front oo of Eng. toot.
y
a variant of i, pronounced e when long; i when
short.
CONSONANTS
Except for indicating the length of preceding vowels there is no dis-
tinction between doubled or single consonants.
b
when initial or followed by vowel, like Eng.
b; otherwise tends
to p.
c before e, i (y), a, e is as in rats.
before a, o, u, or cons, k as
in koko.
ch after a, o, u (but k(h) as in Scot, loch; like Eng, ck as in lock,
not au, eu) except that the sound continues. The back

[14]
otherwise
ck
d
dt
g initial
between vowels
final
h initial
after a vowel
j
ng
qu
s before a vowel and
initial
otherwise (and ss)
sp, st initial in
stressed syllable
(or root)
sch
t
th
tz
v
w
of the tongue approaches the velum but
does not cut off the breath,
like Eng. k in kit or Virginian kyard (for
card) but a continuant reminiscent of Eng.
h in hue or sh in shall. The diminutive
-chen
always has this front ch.
The pronounciation of ch varies in Ger-
many according to dialect areas. It is
Anglicized to k.
kk
when initial or followed by vowel, like
English d; otherwise tends to t.
t as in set.
g as in go and get.
as above in Austria and southern Germany;
in the north pronounced like Ger. ch,
which see, but voiced.
k in Austria and southern Germany; in the
north like Ger. ch, which see.
h as in hat.
silent but in stressed syllables indicates a
long vowel.
y as in yes.
ng as in singer, not as in finger,
kv
uvular r (like the "Parisian" r of French)
or a trilled or rolled r made with the tip of
the tongue.
2 as in zone.
s as in so.
shp and sht; otherwise sp and st. Strasse
shträs'-a, but Fürsten, für'-stan.
sh as in shall.
as in English, except before i it is pronounced
ts.
t as in tat.
ts as in rats,
f as in father.
v as in very. Final -ow is ö as in go.
variant of i.
ts as in rats.

[15]
GREEK
There is no simple rule for the accenting of Greek names.
Greek (Romanized)
a
ai
e (epsilon)
e (eta), i, y
o
ou
ei, oi, yi, ui
av (au), ev (eu) be-
fore b, g, d, z, 1, m,
n, r
before th, k, x, p,
s, t, f, h (kh), ps
VOWELS
Explanation
a as in father.
£ as in bet.
8 as in h.et.
e as in beet.
o as in on (rounded),
oo as in boot.
e as in beet.
av, Sv (v as in every).
af, Sf (/ as in off).
CONSONANTS
b(v)
kh (ch)
d (dh)
g(gh)
before vowels
otherwise
v as m very,
h as in he.
k(h) as in Scot, loch and Ger. ach.
th as in then. (Cf. th.)
y as in yes.
properly "gh" (voiced velar fricative), but
here transcribed g as in go.
y as in yes.
ngg as in stronger,
ngh as in bring' her'
When initial, h is sometimes silent.
mb or b
nd
or d
Final n after o, and final on after a vowel are frequently not pronounced.
before e and 6
before a, 6,
oo, and all
consonants
gi (ghi) before vowels
gg (ng), gk (nk)
gch (nch, nkh)
h
mb, mp
nd, nt
/ as in ferry,
ps as in leaps,
r trilled with tip of tongue.
z as in maze.
ph
ps
r (rh)
s before b, d, g, m,
n, r
otherwise s as in so and yes.
In the names of islands of the Aegean,
final s is frequently not pro-
nounced.
th "th" as in thin. (Cf. d.)

[16]
HUNGARIAN
In Hungarian or Magyar the accent is normally on the first syllable.
In compound words, the first syllable of each component after the first
receives secondary stress. Note that an acute accent placed above a
vowel in the spelling indicates a long vowel, not a stress.
Hungarian Explanation
a o as in odd (with some rounding).
k a as in father.
c, cz ts as in rats.
cs ch as in church.
gy d(y) or by assimilation to following voiceless
consonants, t{y). Compare duty and tune
pronounced dyoo'-ti and tyoon'.
h h as in hat, but silent after g and t.
j y as in yes. Sometimes this sound occurs after
a vowel. It seems odd to an English speaker
but it is similar to the vowel i as in it.
o, 6 6 as in urn, o being short and 8 long,
s sh as in shall.
sz s as in sit.
y "liquifies" a preceding g, I, n, t. Compare
the ny of English canyon with the n of can,
and the li of million with the I of mill. See
gy above. Otherwise y is i or e.
zs zh, the medial consonant of leisure.
In Hungarian as in English there is much assimilation of consonants,
as some of the names show. A voiceless consonant (p, t, k, s, f, etc.) will
cause a preceding voiced consonant (b, d, g, z, v, etc.) to become voice-
less. Likewise a voiced consonant voices a preceding voiceless consonant.
NAMES OF INDIA
The names of India are continually more and less Anglicized. It is
often difficult to tell which is the most suitable of the various pronun-
ciations a name has. For example, the "short a" is pronounced in the
neighborhood of u (the vowel of but) or schwa (the a of about and s of a)-.
When it is Anglicized, it is pronounced like the a of bat. Thus every
name with short a has at least two pronunciations of that vowel, u and
and sometimes a third, a. It is usually
safer to take a recognized
English pronunciation than to attempt to construct a native one from
the accepted spelling, for the spelling is often an English corruption,
misleading except for an English pronunciation.
The syllables of Indian names are accented almost evenly. The plac-

[17]
ing of an accent mark, therefore, is often an effort to prevent false
stressing, and sometimes it is unfortunate. But one cannot omit the
marks, as in the case of Chinese, because many of the names have been
spelled and pronounced as if they were English, or half-English. Many
Indians in the civil services have accepted the Anglicized forms.
In India th is an aspirated t. It is not th as in thin or as in this. Compare
the usage of Burman.
ITALIAN
Words of more than cine syllable are frequently accented on the next
to the last; there are, however, many exceptions. A mistaken accent is
made more painful by the American habit of overstressing foreign words.
It is always better to stress lightly.
As an authority on the accenting of place names, we have, on Pro-
fessor Dino Bigongiari's advice, followed the Indice Generale della Carta
d'Italia del T. C. I. (Touring Club Italiano).
VOWELS
Italian has two or three qualities of e and of o. The American English
sounds which most closely approach all of them are 8 as in bed and 6 as
in bawd, though these vowels are more "open" than Italian "close e"
and "close o". American a (as in ate) and o (as in go) are diphthongal—
ai and odo, and quite out of place in Italian words. A skilled speaker of
Italian will of course make subtle distinctions in vowels. An American,
not
very familiar with the language, had better stick to a, 8, e, 6, od.
There is no other error so bad as Enna pronounced a'-na, for this pro-
nunciation is not Italian and not English.
In vowel compounds, a, e, and o keep their own values; i and u, un-
stressed, become glide sounds, y and w. It. Gaeta, ga-8'-ta; Leone,
l8-6'-nS; Scuola, skw6'-la; Pistoia, pe-sto'-ya; but note Pavia, pa-ve'-a.
CONSONANTS
Italian consonants are not difficult to pronounce, but the spelling
may mislead Americans. An Italian makes doubled consonants long.
Italian Explanation
c, cc before a, o, u, k as in kit. It. Capri, ka'-pre; Croce, kro'-ch6.
or cons.
before e, i ch as in church. It. Cenci, chSn'-che. Followed
by a, o, and u, the i is practically silent.
It. Ciano, cha'-n6; Boccaccio, b6k-kat'-ch6.
ch, cch k as in kit. The k- sound is indicated by c be-
fore o, a, and u, and by ch before i and e.
It. bianco, byan'-k6; bianchi, byan'-ke (or

[18]
g, gg before a, o, u,
or cons,
before e, i
gh
gli
gn
gu
J
qu
sc before a, o, u,
or cons,
before e, i
sch
byà'-nkò, byà'-nke) ; vecchio, vék'-kyó. Note
also the pronunciation of i as a glide in
Chianti, kyán'-te (or kyá'-nte); Chiesa,
kyé'-zà; CMoggia, kyód'-jà ; Chiusa, kyóò'-sà.
g as in go. It. Gaeta, gà-é'-ta; Gr ancia, gràn'-
chá. See also gh, gli.
j as in judge. It. Genova, jè'-nò-va. Followed
by a, o, and u, the i is practically silent. It.
Giovanni, jó-vàn'-né; Perugia, pè-roo'-jà;
Foggia, fòd'-jà.
g as in go. This sound is indicated by g be-
fore o, a, and u, and by gh before i and e.
It. Ghigo, ge'-gó. Note also the pronuncia-
tion of i as a glide in Ghiaia, gyà'-yà.
ly as in Eng. hellion. It. Ventimiglia, vèn-te-
mé'-lyà; Gigli, je'-lyé.
ny as in Sp. cañón (French gn), almost Eng.
canyon. It. Foligno, fó-le'-nyó.
gw as in Gwendolyn. It. Guardia, gwar'-dyá;
Guido, gwe'-dó. (In French and Spanish,
to the contrary, gu before e and i is pro-
nounced simply g as in get, the u being
silent.)
e, when alone and with consonants; y in the
neighborhood of vowels. It. Pistoia, pe-
stò'-yà; Siena, syè'-na; Fiume, fyoo'-mé.
a variant spelling of i.
kw as in question. It. Quirinale, kwe-re-nà'-lé.
(In French and Spanish, to the contrary,
qu before e and i is pronounced simply k as
in kit, the u being silent.)
s as in sit, except it becomes z before voiced
consonants and, from Naples to the south,
between vowels. It. Sbarco, zbár'-kó; Cosen-
za, kò-zen'-tsà.
sk as in sky. It. Scuola, skwó'-lá.
sh as in shall. It. Bisceglie, be-shé'-lyé. Fol-
lowed by a, o, u, the i is practically silent.
It. Sciacca, shàk'-kà.
sk as in sky. The sk- sound is indicated by sc
before a, o, and u, and by sch before i and e.
It. Scalea, skà-lé'-a; scherzo, skér'-tsó. Note

[19]
also the pronunciation of i as a glide in
Ischia, e'-skya.
z, zz ts as in rats. It. Spezia, spS'-tsya; Arezzo,
a-r§t'-so.
dz, occasionally, as in beds. It. mezzo, mSd'-zo;
Gozzano, god-za'-no.
JAPANESE
In the "Roman" spelling of Japanese, the vowels have values similar
to those of Spanish and Italian. They may be approximately rendered in
English as follows: a as in father, e as in men, i as in machine, o as in more,
u like the vowel of pool.
There is no strong accent, and the best rule for speakers of English is
to pronounce the names with level stress, giving to each syllable a full
share of time and force. This may prove difficult if not impossible in an
English sentence, but for the sake of attaining something like uniformity
CBS speakers should not emphasize the stresses they add. Names of
four syllables like Yokohama will fall into the pattern of ' x ' x, stressed,
unstressed, stressed, unstressed.
There is dialectal variety, but j may be pronounced as in jam, g as in
go, ch as in cheap.
The combinations ae, ai, oi, ui are not true diphthongs but two sepa-
rate vowels with the second weaker than the first. However, it is not un-
reasonable for us to pronounce both ae and ai as "long I."
KOREAN
The names should be pronounced with level stress, each syllable re-
ceiving its full share of force and time.
LATVIAN
Lettish or Latvian is always stressed on the first syllable.
A long vowel is indicated by the macron, a, e, I, etc.
Diphthongs such as ie are transcribed, when
stressed, e'-S' rather than
yg, for the elements are of approximately equal importance. Compare the
Finnish diphthongs.
Latvian Explanation
c before e, i ts as in rats.
otherwise k as in koko.
j y as in yet.
9 ny as in Sp. cañón (Fr. gn), almost Eng.
canyon.

[20]
v final
otherwise
i
f as in off.
v as in very.
zh, the medial consonant in pleasure and
leisure.
LITHUANIAN
Lithuanian has both stress and pitch accents which can not be re-
duced to English rules.
In the pronunciation of the Lithuanian informants ai was nearer to
el than to 1, the transcription here used for convenience.
Lithuanian may employ i to indicate the palatal quality of a preceding
consonant. It is here transcribed y, although one may not be conscious
of its effect in listening to the speech of Lithuanians. Siauliai sounds like
a Virginian's shou'-ll or -l£i, quite as much as shyou'-lyl or -lySi. Simi-
larly one may hear palatal quality where the spelling does not indicate
it (as before high and mid front vowels). For example Panevezis, q.v.
Lithuanian e indicates an open vowel, 8 or S, while e indicates a close
vowel like the first part of English a [ay]. Both are here transcribed 8,
except that stressed e, like ei, is transcribed a [ay],
j is pronounced y.
& and 2 are pronounced, respectively, sh as in shall and zh like the
medial consonant of
-pleasure,
y is a vowel pronounced e as in English beet.
The Indonesian or Malayan languages are spoken in Madagascar, the
Malay Peninsula, the East Indies, Formosa, and the Philippines. The
place names that appear in the news are spelled and usually pronounced
according to the usage of European nations that controlled these terri-
tories—France, England, Holland, Portugal, China, and Spain. The
Indonesian languages and the Oceanic together form the Austronesian
family. See Languages of the Pacific.
It is important to remember that the accent usually falls on the next
to the last syllable in names of the East Indies and the myriad islands of
Oceania. This is the most comfortable accent for Americans, but in an
effort to be correct, we frequently are overcorrect and stress the last
syllable of names that are properly accented on the penult, as in Band-
MALAYAN
NORWEGIAN. See Scandinavian Languages
LANGUAGES OF THE PACIFIC

[21]
ung, Balik-Papan, Balabac, Denpasar. The vowels have the "contin-
ental" values of Spanish or Italian. The consonants we may pronounce
as in English, with g as in get and ng as in singer (seldom as in finger).
See Tahiti.
PERSIAN or IRANIAN
"Persian orthography is by no means fixed and consistent, and
especially is there uncertainty about the identity and length of many
vowels." PCGN.
In Persian the sound of "long a" may suggest English 6, or, in poetry,
6u, rather than English a, but the transcription a is here employed as
more suitable for American radio speakers.
The pronunciations were prepared in consultation with Mr. C. K.
Wilkinson of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
PHILIPPINES. See note appended io the section on Spanish
POLISH. See Slavic Languages
PORTUGUESE
Words ending in vowels, except a, or in m or s, are accented on the
next to the last syllable. Words ending in consonants, except m or s, or
in a, are accented on the last syllable. Words that do not conform to
these rules carry in Portuguese orthography a written accent (circum-
flex 6 or acute 6). See the last paragraph.
Unstressed vowels tend, like unstressed vowels in English, to become
"centralized." That is to say, they tend towards schwa (9 or uh) or
short i (I).
VOWELS
Portuguese Explanation
a stressed a (ah) as in father. Before I it becomes o as in
Eng. all. Port. Natal, na-tol'.
unstressed, expecial- tends to become a (uh) as in tellable and sofa.
ly if final In Brazil, often remains a.
a See Nasalized Vowels and Diphthongs.
e stressed 6 as in edify.
unstressed, especial- 8 (uh) in Portugal, 1 in the islands and in
ly if final Brazil. Practically silent or I when initial
in words like espirito (I)spe'-re-tdo [(i)spee'-
ree-tu].
ei a as in aid. However it may be reduced to 6
in unstressed syllables. Port. Figueiredo,
fe-gg-rg'-ddo.

[22]
stressed
unstressed, especial-
ly if final
01
ou
o
as in more.
oo as in full.
6i as in oil, but sometimes the o is "weak"
and oi is pronounced we. Port. Coimbra,
kwem'-bra.
o
as in go.
áe, ài
âo
-em (final)
NASALIZED VOWELS AND DIPHTHONGS
Vowels marked with a til, for example a, 5, and vowels before m +
cons., n + cons., or final m are strongly nasalized,
a uN. Like a Virginian's nasal pronunciation of
long. In Brazil, almost S as in nasal men.
a (as above) + i. Not far from a Virginian's
nasal pronunciation of mind; and (for
Brazil) Eng. aim (or ang).
a (as above) + u. Similar to Virginian nasal
pronunciations of the diphthong in house.
a (as above) + i. Similar to nasal American
mind; and (for Brazil) Eng. aim (or ang).
o
+ i. Similar to a nasal pronunciation of
Eng. -poem, po'-im (or-ing). (Port, poem is
another story.)
CONSONANTS
s as in so.
k as in koko.
s as in so.
sh as in shall,
zh, the medial
leisure.
oe
c before e, i
otherwise
9
ch
g
before e, i
otherwise
h
j (only before a, o, u)
lh
m
nh
qu before e, i
otherwise
s initial, following a
consonant, and
when doubled (ss)
consonant of pleasure and
g
as in go.
silent
zh, the medial consonant of pleasure and
leisure,
ly as in million. Cf. It. gli.
For -em see Nasalized Vowels above.
ny as in Sp. cañón. Almost Eng. canyon,
k (the u is silent)
kw
s as in so.

[23]
z as in zebra.
sh as in shall, but in Brazil usually s as in so.
zh, the
medial consonant of leisure and
pleasure, but in Brazil usually z as in zebra.
between vowels
before c, f, p, q, t,
and when final
before b, d, g (as in
go), or any voiced
cons.
Note: The pronunciation of final s and z will be affected by the initial
sound of the next word in the same phrase.
x sh or s or ks; there is no dependable rule,
z initial and between z as in zebra.
sh as in shall, but in Brazil usually s.
zh, the
medial consonant of leisure and
pleasure, but in Brazil usually z.
NOTE
initial and between
vowels
before c, f, p, q, t, s
before b, d, g (as in
go) or any voiced
cons.
No distinction is here made between close and open vowels. In
Portuguese orthography a circumflex accent indicates a stressed close
vowel. An acute accent indicates a stressed open vowel. A grave accent
is placed only on an unaccented vowel to indicate that it receives special
attention. For a much more detailed account
of the pronunciation of
Portuguese, see Joseph Dunn, Grammar of the Portuguese Language
(New York, Hispanic Society of America; London, D. Nutt, 1930);
Edwin B. Williams, Introductory Portuguese Grammar (New York, 1942).
RUMANIAN
There is no simple rule of accent in Rumanian.
With the following exceptions, Rumanian spelling has usual English
values.
Rumanian Explanation
& stressed u as in urn.
unstressed a (uh) as in about.
& il as in urn.
c before e, i ch as in church. Compare Italian.
otherwise k as in kit.
ch k as in kit. Compare Italian,
e sometimes, esp. when initial, pronounced ye
as in yes.
y as in you. After c (see above) and g (see the
following), it is practically silent,
g before e, i j as in judge. Compare Italian.
g as in go.
unstressed before
a vowel
before e, i
otherwise

[24]
gh g as in go. Compare Italian,
h h before vowels, otherwise k(h) as in Scottish
loch.
i unstressed before y as in yes. After c and g (see above), it is
a vowel practically silent. Compare Italian,
final I or
y pronounced so short that it practically
disappears. Rumanian Ploe§ti, plo-y&sht'.
i variant of a (see above),
j zh, the medial consonant in pleasure and
leisure.
o unstressed before a w as in wash.
ou o as in both.
9 sh as in shall.
X ts as in rats.
u unstressed before a w as in wash. Compare Italian,
vowel
final <56 (very short).
NOTE
In Rumanian the definite article is a suffix -I, -ul, -le (masculine) and
-a (feminine). It may or may not be added to the names of rivers and
mountains when they are referred to in the news. Compare the definite
and indefinite forms of Albanian names.
RUSSIAN. See Slavic Languages
SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES
Usually the first syllable bears the principal accent of the word.
VOWELS
In stressed syllables a vowel is long if it is final or followed by one
consonant; otherwise, and in unstressed syllables, a vowel is short.
Spelling Norwegian Swedish Danish
a long ä ä or ô ä or
ä
short ä or ü ä or ü ä or ü
aa, â ô or 5 5 or ô ô
se, ä ë or ä ë or à ë or ä
(long and short)
Sometimes e is written for x.
e long ä or ï ä or ï ä or ï
short ë (or ä) ë ë
or ï
unstressed a a a

[25]
i long
short
o
long
short
ö, 0, œ
ë
ê
5 or öö
06 or öö
e
ë
öö
öö
e
ë or ï
5
5
Sometimes o is pronounced o, as if it were aa or a.
6
(long and short)
u
long
short
y
oo or u
öö or ü
ü
u
w
oo
ü
00
ÖÖ
Ü
CONSONANTS
In Norwegian and Swedish all doubled consonants are pronounced
long.
Spelling
b
Danish
c
d
Norwegian Swedish
As in English. As in English. b or p
Before e, i, y, x,&, in all c
is pronounced s; otherwise in all pronounced k.
Silent after As in English.
I and n and
often when final
in word or
syllable.
As in English. As in English.
pronounced
as in go
before a, o, u, e
x, 0, &, and
cons.
before a, o, u,
â, and cons.
In all, g pronounced ng before
occasionally i in Danish and Norwegian).
Initially d or t.
After vowels, th
as in this. Silent
as in Norwegian.
As in English, but
silent in the
word af.
before all vowels
and consonants.
May suggest k
as in koko.
(but
g
pronounced before i, y, j.
y as in
yet
Silent in og,
-ig, fugl,
s0ndag, etc.
before e, i, y,
a,
o, j and
after I, r. Si-
lent in -ig,
-igt, morgon,
dag,
etc.
h
j
Silent before j, v. Silent before j.
In all, pronounced y as in yet.
pronounced
voiced k(h) or
velar y after
vowels and I, r.
Sometimes
silent. k{h) be-
fore t. gg is pro-
nounced kk.
Silent before j, v.

[26]
k as in koko before a, e, o, u, before a, o, u, d, . As in English but
as, </>, a and and conson- pronounced be-
consonants ants, including fore n.
including n. n.
before i, y, j, before e, i, y,
suggests ky or a, o, j, pro-
ch or h.
Be- nounced like the
fore these ch of church.
vowels sk is Before these
pronounced sh. vowels sk is pro-
nounced sh.
r trilled trilled uvular or
"Parisian" r.
rs
sh sh unvoiced uvular
r + s.
s In all three, pronounced s as in so except in rs, sj, which see. Never
pronounced z.
sj sh sh sh
skj sh sh sk(y)-
v Oc. silent when As in English. Oc. silent when
final. final,
w In all, pronounced v.
x In all, pronounced ks.
z In all, pronounced s as in so.
NOTE ON "EI, EJ" AND "ATJ, AV"
The diphthong ei,
ej is here transcribed a (ay) though it varies in
dialects from 1 (ai) to a (ay). The diphthong au, av is pronounced &u or,
as in Oslo, &v. The nearest English sound is the ou [au\ of house, and it is
so transcribed.
NOTE
This outline is based on materials provided by Prof. Einar Haugen.
While it is too complicated to follow easily, it will explain contradictory
transcriptions of Scandinavian place names. Convenient grammars in
English are Einar Haugen, Beginning
Norwegian (New York, 1937);
W. G. Johnson, Beginning Swedish (Rock Island, 1939); and Ingeborg
Stemann, A New
Danish Reader (Copenhagen, 1939).
SERBIAN. See Slavic Languages.
SLAVIC LANGUAGES
There is no simple rule for the accenting of Russian and Bulgarian.
Polish is accented on the syllable next to the last. Czech (Bohemian) and

[27]
Slovak are accented on the first syllable. Serb-Croat values of intona-
tion and quantity are foreign to English. However, in English contexts
an accent is given, usually to the first or the second syllable. Occasionally
in this list two accents are marked to prevent mispronunciation or to
reconcile contradictory authorities, each of which in its way is right.
In Czech and Slovak spelling an acute accent placed above a vowel
is a sign of length, not stress. An apostrophe indicates a liquid sound.
The accent of Polish o indicates quality not stress.
In the following table are explained symbols of the official roman
spelling of Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Yugoslavia (which also has an
official Cyrillic spelling). Added in parenthesis are comments on difficult
points in the customary American transliteration of the official Cyrillic
spelling of Russia and Bulgaria.
Czechosl. Polish Serb-Croai Explanation
q oN as in Fr. bon.
c c c is as in rats. In Polish before i or j +
vowel it tends to c.
6 c ch as in cheese (or tsy).
6 cz c ch as in choke.
ch or h ch h h (as in hat) before a vowel; other-
wise Russian and Bui- wise k(h), as in Scot. loch. Rus.
garian kh.) and Bulg. kh is Anglicized as k.
dz dz as in buds; when final, ts as in
rats; before i it is pronounced j
as in judge.
d£ dz di j as in judge.
d' di d, dj, nearly j as in jill (or dy).
gj
(Russian e is sometimes pronounced y6 as in English yawl. For ex-
ample, Orel, or-y61'.)
§ &N as in Fr. fin.
6 y§ as in yet.
h h (See ch above.)
j j j y (consonant) as in yes; but when
i + vowel after a vowel and followed by a
consonant, or final, it forms a
diphthong: ej = a (ay).
1 (Pronounce I and I, like English I.
See note on page 28 below.)
(For Russian and Bulgarian kh, see ch above.)
1 when a vowel, pronounced as in
English cradle.

[28]
ñ
A nj ny as in Sp. cañón (Fr. gn), almost
English canyon.
ou o as in go.
ó
óó as in pull (or do as in food).
r r r when a vowel, pronounced like Am.
Eng. err, úr. When a cons.,
pronounced as a trilled r.
f rzh (r + zh as below)
rz zh, the medial consonant of leisure
and pleasure. When final in word
or syllable it tends toward sh
as in show.
é sh as in sheen (or sy).
s + i + vowel
§
sz á sh as in show.
t' nearly ch as in chill (or ty).
ü
oo as in food.
w v as in very; when final / as in off.
(Russian v)
y,f y I as in it or e as in beet or we.
(Also Russian and Bulgarian y.)
z z as in zebra except after r. See rz.
í z í
zh, the medial consonant of leisure
and pleasure. When final in word
or syllable it may become sh as
in shall.
í zh, as described above (or zy).
Otherwise the letters have approximately the usual English values
except that the voiced consonants (b, d, dz, di, g, v, w, z, £) tend to
become the corresponding voiceless consonants (p, t, c, <5, k, f, s, é) if
followed by a voiceless consonant or if final. This tendency is not
marked in Serb-Croat.
NOTE ON POLISH "L"
In English usage Polish I and I
should both be pronounced I, not w
and I respectively. Polish speakers make a distinction between I and I,
something like the difference between the usual English I's in lip and old.
The question is whether this distinction is important enough for English
speakers to use w for I, as is the recommendation in many dictionaries.
Our consultants inform us that in the pronunciation of Polish cultivated
by Polish radio announcers, singers, and clergymen, I and I, though
different, will be heard by English listeners as I. Polish friends say that
w for I sounds as odd to them as to other Americans. So Luck should be

[29]
simply lootsk (lutsk), which isn't too simple after all. And the learned
can try to give this I the quality of the I in old.
NOTE ON ENGLISH, FRENCH, AND GERMAN SPELLINGS
Because of the peculiarities of the Roman alphabets of Czechoslovak,
Polish, and Serb-Croat, and in the absence of official Roman spellings
of Russian and Bulgarian, the sounds of these languages may be spelled
according to English, French, or German conventions. Accordingly we
find Drazha, Draja, and Drascha for Draza; Chetnik, Tchetnik, and
Tschetnik for Cetnik; Kiev or Kief, Kiev or
Kief, and Kijew; La-pats and
Lapatz for Lapac; and so on. Moscow, Moscou, ahd Moskau for Moskva
(Rus. transliterated) show older variations of sound as well as of spelling.
For English speakers the English spellings are comparatively simple,
though we need a better indication than e for the sound yo in Orel. The
French spellings sometimes mislead us, as for instance in Chaliapin, a
Russian name that we should spell Shalyapin. Even the official British
PCGN continues to use j with its French value in spelling Jitomir, which
is familiar to American readers as Zhitomir. In our press dispatches the
spelling of place names usually follows, within typographical limitations,
the examples of the National Geographic Society, Webster's Dictionary,
and other standard American reference works. Personal names, how-
ever, are often spelled as if they were French, because the French
cultural tradition is strong in Europe and these names have not been
respelled by the editors of our reference works.
NOTES ON RUSSIAN
Because of the gender of words understood but not expressed, the
names of small villages may end in a (or ay a), and the names of large
villages in o; the names of cities may lack a suffix.
As a community
grows, it may pass through all three stages: Gavrilova, Gavrilovo, and
Gavrilov. This and another picturesque habit—that of changing the
names to honor new heroes—cause maps and sometimes dispatches to
disagree. The forms preferred here
are those of the recent map of the
National Geographic Society.
The Russian a, stressed and unstressed, is here transcribed a, though
its quality may approach u, the vowel of but, especially as pronounced
by an Englishman. Whether the spelling o is to be rendered in phonetics
6, o, o, or ii is a problem that has confused makers of dictionaries. This
editor has tried to follow a consistent practice, stressed o being usually
rendered as o, unstressed o as 5. Many phoneticians would prefer the use
of
ii for the sounds of a and unstressed o, but for the purpose of this list
it seemed wise not to depart too far from present dictionary transcrip-
tion and from customary spelling. Most Russian unstressed vowels in
rapid
speech will sound to a foreign ear like schwa.

£30 J
Between a consonant and a following vowel, y is written to indicate
a soft sign in the Russian Cyrillic spelling. If a vowel does not follow, y
is written for the soft sign only with I, m, and n. A soft vowel is indicated
by prefixing y, as in Orel, 5r-y61'. Russian e is "softer" to American ears
than 6; hence the frequent spellings of ie and ye as in Dniepr for Dnepr;
Izvyestia for Izvestia; and Soviet. In this list, however, y is not used to
show this quality of e.
SPANISH
Words ending in a vowel, or in n or s, stress the next to the last
syllable. Words ending in a consonant, except n or s, stress the last
syllable. Words not following these rules bear an accent mark. The
Pequeño Larousse Ilustrado, in the second or encyclopedic half, shows
the exceptional accents of almost all Spanish names that will appear in
the news, e.g. Avila, Cárdenas, Nájera.
Spanish
b
c before e, i
otherwise
d
initial
medial
final and
in -ado
g
before e, i
otherwise
gu before e, i
before a, o
J
11
Explanation
See note on page 31.
s (Am. Sp.) as in so, or "th" (Castilian) as in
thin.
k
as in koko. Sp. cocer, kó-sér' or -thér'; acción,
ák-syón'. The fc-sound before e and i is indi-
cated by qu, which see.
very like English d.
th as in gather. Sp. dedo, dé'-thó.
th as in gather, or it may disappear, as is amiably
illustrated in the last phrases of the song La
Paloma.
h as in heat (or a voiceless uvular sound similar
to the voiced Parisian r.) Sp. gente, hén'-té.
For the h-sound before a, o, u, see j.
g
as in go. Sp. gato grande, gá'-tó grán'-dé. See gu.
g
as in go. Sp. guerra, gé'-rá. The u is silent.
gw or, esp. when intervocalic, w. Sp. agua,
a'-wa, Guadalajara (g)wá'-íM-lá-há'-rá.
silent. Sp. Chihuahua, ché-wá'-wá.
h as in hot (or a voiceless uvular sound
similar to
the voiced Parisian r). Sp. Jorge, hór'-hé.
y (Am. Sp.) as in yet, or ly (Castilian) like li in
Eng. million and like It. gli. In Argentina and
Uruguay often j as in just or zh, the medial
consonant of leisure and pleasure,
ny
as in Eng. canyon, ni as in Eng. onion. Fr. and
It. gn.

[31]
k as in kit. Sp. que, ké'. This convention of
silent u French shares, but not Italian. The
fc-sound before a and o is indicated by c,
which see.
s as in so.
See note below.
ks. Sp. éxito, ék'-sé-tó.
s. Sp. extranjero, és-trán-hé'-ró.
h, formerly sh. México or Méjico, mé'-he-kó.
Oaxaca, wá-há'-ká. Quixote or Quijote, ke-hó'-
té, formerly ké-shó'-té. Jerez, hé-réth', form-
erly Xeres, shé'-rés. But Xochimilco, só-ché-
mel'-kó or shó- or hó-.
y as in yes. In Argentina and Uruguay often j as
in judge or zh, the medial consonant of
leisure and -pleasure. Sp. yo, yó; Arg.,
Urug. jó or zhó.
VOWELS AND DIPHTHONGS
Weak vowels i (y) and u combine with strong vowels a, e, o and with
one another to form diphthongs. In these the strong vowel takes the
stress or, in the case of iu and ui, the second vowel. Sp. Teruel, té-rwél';
baile, bí'-lé; hay, í'; Ruiz, rwés' or rweth'. Exceptions are indicated by
an accent. Sp. Pía, pe'-á.
Strong vowels remain distinct from one another. Spanish creer,
cré-ér'; faena, fá-é'-ná; Saavedra, sá'-á-vé'-í/irá.
NOTE ON "B" AND "V"
b is usually a spirant sound like English v but made with both lips
instead of the lower lip and the upper teeth. It is like b (bb) in our
southern dialect pronunciation of
river, often spelled "ribber." In
Spanish, b and v are alternatives in spelling. They are usually Anglicized,
however, as English b and English v respectively, according to the
Spanish form most familiar in English; e.g., //avcma rather than Habana.
CASTILIAN AS A STANDARD
American Spanish is related to Castilian Spanish much as American
English is related to the "Received Standard" of England. In the new
world, the dialects of Spanish provinces, particularly in southern Spain,
and the Midland dialects of England formed the basis of the Spanish of
Latin American capitals and the American English of the great cities of
the United States. Thus what had been provincial speech in the home-
lands became metropolitan speech in America. Meanwhile in Spain the
dialect of Castile and in England the dialect of London literary and
qu before e, i
s
v
x between vowels
before consonants
for j
y (consonant)

[32]
political circles gained still more prestige at the expense of provincial
dialects. At home the provincial accents more or less lost the battle, in
the former colonies they
won it. However, Castilian Spanish still has a
prestige in the Spanish-speaking world that may seem curious to the
proud or satisfied speakers of American English. If you ask the correct
pronunciation of the Spanish name of a prominent leader, it will often
be given in the Castilian form without regard to the speech of his con-
stituents. Thus recently the female secretaries of both President Quezon
and Senator Chavez gave me a detailed description of the Castilian
quality of z in these names, although it is rare in the Rio Grande Valley
and in the Philippines. But this phenomenon is not exactly parallel to an
American's acquiring a broad a, for a remarkable number of non-
Castilian speakers of Spanish regard Castilian as the standard. If you
ask for a pronunciation, they wish to give you the best. Nevertheless
this courtesy complicates the making of dictionaries where what is
current in educated speech of the region is "standard" and "correct."
For American radio the Spanish American s for c and z is certainly
preferable for programs concerned with Spanish America. In pro-
nouncing the names of famous cities and persons in Spain the circum-
stances of the broadcast should determine the accent.
SPANISH IN THE PHILIPPINES
The popular languages of the Philippines are Indonesian or Aus-
tronesian. Tagalog is especially important. English and Spanish are
predominantly the languages of the schools, the government, and the
churches. Place names and family names are Hispanicized Indonesian
or Spanish. Spanish has controlled the spelling of the local languages,
which, in turn, have probably influenced the pronunciation of Spanish
in the Philippines.
a
in unaccented syllables tends to become schwa (the a of about and
of sofa).
c before e and i, and z are pronounced s rather than "th" as in thin.
d
has less tendency to become th.
SWEDISH. See Scandinavian Languages
THAI or SIAMESE
Like Chinese, Thai is a tonal language with at least five, and in some
dialects, seven tones.
As the tone changes, the meaning of a syllable is
changed. There is no accent in the English sense, but to our ear the tone
itself, especially the high-pitched tone, may give the impression of an
accent. Accent marks have here been used to assist pronunciation or at
least to prevent greater mispronunciation.

[33]
One characteristic that Thai shares with English is a number of
seemingly useless letters in its spelling. Some of the pronunciations here
set forth may arouse disbelief, but our consultant, the Rev. Paul A.
Eakin of Bangkok, said them so, and he was born there. Moreover I
have found no one to say him nay. Mr. Eakin writes, "Each tone is
indicated in the written language by combinations of different class
consonants with long and short vowels and by use of about three tonal
marks placed over the syllable. There are definite rules for tones, and
there are practically no exceptions. Difficulties arise mainly in connec-
tion with the 'silent' letters, which are retained in words originating in
the Pali or Sanskrit to indicate the origin of the word. The alphabet is
an adaptation of the Cambodian script existing in the middle of the
thirteenth century. It contains some 44 consonants and as many vowel
sounds. Since there are but 21 consonant sounds, this means that in
many cases one sound is represented by several letters. The Thai
Government is attempting to reduce the number of these consonants
and so simplify the alphabet." See also Thomas A. Sebeok, "The
Languages of Southeastern Asia," The Far Eastern Quarterly, August,
1943. There is no distinction between White Thai and Black Thai.
I, r, y, when final in a syllable, have the sound of n.
ch, chj, d, dt, s, st, when final in a syllable, have the sound of t.
b, bp, when final in a syllable, have the sound of p.
TURKISH
Turkish has no accent in the English sense of the word. The stresses
here marked will serve to prevent mis-stressing, if they are not over-
emphasized, but they may be ignored in favor of a level pronunciation—
so far as that is possible in an English sentence. The Turkish informants
did not recommend a slight accent upon final syllables.
The circumflex is a sign of length and in the case of a it may indicate
the sound yah.
Turkish Explanation
j as in just,
ch as in church.
after a, 1, o, u
("hard" vowels)
after e, i, o, ti
("soft" vowels)
i (with dot)
1 (without dot)
g as in go.
silent
forms a diphthong: e| = a [ay]; òg = ùl;
ug = ul; i| is practically e.
6 as in beet or I as in sit.
I as in bit. (The Turkish sound, called "hoarse,"
"guttural," and "retracted," has no equi-

[34]
valent in English. It lies between I and 6. It
may be transcribed schwa.)
j zh, the medial consonant of leisure and pleasure.
5
sh as in shall.
y
y introducing a diphthong, as in you, and y (or i)
completing a diphthong, as in joy, oil, day,
aid.
A NOTE ON THE TRANSCRIPTION OF "E" AND "0"
English e (eh) is usually preferable to English a (ay) to indicate the
pronunciation of French e and the close e of many other non-Germanic
languages. The diphthongal character of English a (ay), and its in-
evitable stress and length, is more painful than a failure to distinguish
close and open e's, at least in the pronunciation of occasional foreign
names in an English context. The use of e (eh) rather than a (ay) is a
departure from the practice of War Words (1st edition)—made at some
cost. It was necessary when one heard on the same program the French
learned in America and the French learned, by Americans, in France.
The use of e (eh) rather than a (ay) may also help to change the
notion that every Italian e should be pronounced a. The pronunciation
of Enna as a'-na (ay'-nah), was the most unforturfate episode of the
Sicilian verbal campaign. Insistence upon e (eh) as the value of Italian e
will extend to Grosseto and Velletri, where the vowel certainly is close,
but in a stressed open syllable the symbol e, interpreted by American
speakers with our usual linguistic habits, may be sounded not too far
from a close e. In any case this must be our reliance if we are to avoid a
greater error.
Likewise e (eh) has been preferred to a (ay) in the transcription of
Slavic languages. In the case of Russian, a (ay) for stressed e and 6 (eh)
for unstressed e, worked well enough, but when it was necessary to de-
vise a system for names in all the Slavic languages, it seemed better to
use one symbol for stressed and unstressed e. If one symbol is used, § (eh)
is better than a (ay).
The sound of o as in go in American English is diphthongal odo, in
British English triphthongal or more. The associations of 6 as it may
occur in orb, more, often, all are nearer than o to the sounds spelled o
in many foreign languages.
At any time, of course, one could have adopted or devised special
symbols for these foreign sounds. They would, however, have no special
meaning for the users of this handbook. To the contrary, elaboration of
symbols, a comfort to phoneticians, usually confuses and discourages
everybody who has not a technical interest in phonetic problems. One
man's meat is another man's person, as they say in New York.

[35]
USEFUL REFERENCE WORKS
The following reference books are all but indispensable for a study of
pronunciation :
British Broadcasting Corporation, Broadcast English (London, 1932-
1939). Seven pamphlets
prepared for the BBC by A. Lloyd James.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Handbook for Announcers (Ot-
tawa, 1942). For Canadian place names.
Columbia Encyclopedia, The (New York, 1935).
Fowler, H. W., A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (Oxford, 1926).
Funk, Charles E., What's the Name, Please? (New York, 1936).
Funk and Wagnails' New Standard Dictionary (New York, 1925).
Holt, Alfred H., American Place Names (New York, 1938).
Jones, Daniel, An English Pronouncing Dictionary (4th ed., New York,
1937)-
Kenyon, J. S., American Pronunciation (8th ed., Ann Arbor, Mich.,
1940).
Kenyon, J. S., and Knott, T. A., A Pronouncing Dictionary of American
English (Springfield, Mass., 1944). This excellent dictionary, employ-
ing the alphabet of the International Phonetic Association, was re-
ceived too late to be cited except in a few postscripts.
Krapp, G. P., The English Language in America (New York, 1925).
Mawson, C. O. Sylvester, International Book of Names (New York,
1933)-
Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use,
Lists (Royal Geographical Society, London).
Thorndike-Century Senior Dictionary (New York, 1941).
U. S. Board on Geographical Names, Reports (Washington, D. C.)
Webster's New International Dictionary (2d. ed., Springfield, Mass.,
1934), as interpreted by its prefatory "Guide to Pronunciation"
(pp. xxii-lxxviii). Section 277 (pp. lix ff) lists for about 1100 de-
batable words the pronunciations given in seven authoritative dic-
tionaries.
Webster's Biographical Dictionary (Springfield, Mass., 1943).
Consult also the files
of the journal American Speech.

INDEX TO ABBREVIATIONS
Afghan. Afghanistan Fr. Som. French Somaliland
Afr. Africa Ger. Germany
Ala. Alabama German
Alb. Albania Gr. Greece
Albanian Greek
Alg. Algeria Hung. Hungary
Am. American Hungarian
Arg. Argentina Icel. Iceland
Austral. Australia Indo. Indonesian
Baluch. Baluchistan Indo-Ch. Indo-China
Belg. Belgium Ind. Oc. Indian
Ocean
Braz. Brazilian isl. island
Brit. British It. Italy
Bulg. Bulgaria Italian
Bulgarian Jap. Japan
Calab. Calabria Japanese
Calif. California Liecht. Liechtenstein
Ch. China Lith. Lithuania
CO. county Lithuanian
Col. Colombia Madag. Madagascar
collab. collaborator with Manchu. Manchuria
the Axis powers Mass. Massachusetts
Conn. Connecticut Mex. Mexico
cons. consonant Mich. Michigan
Cz. Czechoslovakia Mo. Missouri
Del. Delaware Mon. Monaco
Den. Denmark Mor. Morocco
Danish mt. mountain
dist. district N. C. North
Carolina
Dodec. Dodecanese Isls. NEI Netherlands East
Du. Dutch Indies
Du. W. I. Dutch West Indies Neth. Netherlands
E. Afr. East Africa N. J. New Jersey
Eng. England N. Mex. New Mexico
English Nor. Norway
Est. Estonia Norwegian
Estonian N. Y. New York
Europ. European N. Z. New Zealand
Fil. Filipino Oc. Oceania
Fin. Finland oc. occasionally
Finnish Pa. Pennsylvania
Flem. Flemish PCGN Permanent Com-
for. foreign mittee on Geo-
Fr. France graphical Names
French for British Offic-
Fr. Eq.
Afr. French Equatorial ial Use
Africa pen. peninsula

[37]
Per. Persian
P. I. Philippine Islands
pi. plural
Pol. Poland
Polish
Port. Portugal
Portuguese
Pres. President
protec. protectorate
prov. province
repub. republic
Rh. Rhodes
riv. river
Rum. Rumania
Rumanian
Rus. Russia
Russian
S. A. South America
S. Afr. South Africa
Sard. Sardinia
S. C. South Carolina
S.-C. Serb-Croat
Scot. Scotland
Scottish
Sp. Spain
Spanish
Sp. Mor. Spanish Morocco
str. strait
Sw. Sweden
Swedish
Switz. Switzerland
Tenn. Tennessee
Tex. Texas
Tun. Tunisia
Turk. Turkey
Turkish
U. of S. A. Union of South
Africa
Urug. Uruguay
U. S. United States
Ven. Venezuela
Vt. Vermont
Wash. Washington
W. Asia West Asia
W. I. West Indies
Wis. Wisconsin
Yugosl. Yugoslavia

KEYS TO PRONUNCIATION
IN THE first column is the word to be pronounced. In the second column
the pronunciation is given by a simplified Websterian alphabet, and in
the third column by a phonetic respelling without special accents.
The symbols of the second column, except 9, should present no
difficulty to those who are familiar with American dictionaries. The
symbol a, which is named schwa, is used for unstressed vowels, however
spelled, which in speech are sounded "uh"—for example, about, taken,
pencil, lemon, circus.
The spelling of the third column should be self-evident. With only
two or three exceptions the letters have customary English values.
"Th" (italic) is the initial sound of then: "th" (roman) is the initial
sound of thin.
There is often no exact equivalent in English for
the sounds of foreign
languages. Therefore the symbols in the third group (Foreign Sounds)
are only desperate Teachings for a sign that will suggest to an American
a sound not too far removed from the foreignism. See also the dis-
cussions in the Introduction.
The accent mark is placed after the syllable to be stressed. Where it
is difficult to decide which syllable more often bears the principal stress
of a word, both syllables have been accented. No orthographic distinc-
tion is made between primary and secondary accents. In American
speech the distinction is idiomatic and will usually take care of itself. For
Chinese and Japanese, no accent is indicated unless the word has been
Anglicized. In foreign words the stress accent should not be emphasized
ENGLISH VOWELS
Key Word Key 1 Key 2
at, baton St', ba-ton' at', ba-ton'
ate at' ayt'
father fa'-i/ior fah'-i/iuhr
care k&r' kehr'
event I-vent' i-vent'
eve ev' eev'
there th 6r' the hr'
city sit'-I sit'-i
fear fir' fihr'
ice Is' ais'
odd 6d' od'
go So' goh'

[39]
Key Word Key 1 KeyS
awe Ô' o' or aw'
pull pôôl' pul'
pool pool' pool'
but bût' buht'
urn ûrn' or arn' uhm'
use us' yoos'
oil oil' oil'
out out' aut'
above, sofa, further,
taken, charity,
convey, until 9 (schwa) uh
ENGLISH CONSONANTS
c/iat chàt' chat'
get gët' get'
jet jët' jet'
singer sïng'-ar sing'-uhr
Unger fïng'-gar fing'-guhr
pleasure plëzh'-ar plezh'-uhr
fMn thïn' thin'
this this' this'
yet yët' yet'
The other consonant symbols have the usual English value.
FOREIGN SOUNDS
Key 1 Key 2 Often Anglicized
Fr. sud sud' sud' oo or u as in rude
Fr. peur pûr' pœr' ft as in purr
Fr. bon bôN' boN' 6n as in wrong
Fr. Hn fàN' faN' &n as in sang
Du. huis hûïs' hœis' oi as in hoist
Scot, loch lôk(h)' lok(h)' k (or ck) as in lock
Sp. canon kâ-nyôn' kah-nyon' ny as in canyon
It. gli lyë' lyee' ly (or li) as in
million
See the Introduction for descriptions of foreign sounds.

RECOMMENDED PRONUNCIATIONS
a a uh
The indefinite article a should be pronounced schwa [a], not a, in order
to give the effect of speech and not of awkward, even childish reading
aloud. There is of course a place for an emphatic a-pronunciation of
even an indefinite article, but this headline style is seldom safe from
abuse, and it is an awkward way of securing emphasis. Stressing the
article breaks up the characteristic pattern of spoken English, and
radio speakers do this at the risk of losing their audience.
The spelling aa in Danish represents the sound 6. The same spelling
was formerly common in Norway, but has now largely given way to
the Swedish spelling k, which is pronounced more like o. (There are
many Swedish place names in Finland.) In Dutch and German aa
is pronounced ah (as in father).
Aabenraa (Den.) o'-ban-ro' o'-buhn-ro'
Aabo (Fin.) See Abo.
Aachen (Ger.) ak(h)'-an ahk(h)'-uhn
French Aix la Chapelle, eks la sha-p81' [eks lah shah-pel'].
Aagtekerke (Neth.) ak(h)'-ta-k&r'-k9 ahk(h)'-tuh-kehr'-
kuh
Aahus (Sw.) See Ahus.
Aal (Nor.) 61' ol'
Aaland (Fin.) See Aland.
Aalborg (Den.) 61'-bör ol'-bor
Aalesund (Nor.) o'-la-sdon o'-luh-sun
Aalsmeer (Neth.) äls-mär' ahls-mayr'
Aalst (Belg.) älst' ahlst'
French Alost, ä-löst' [ah-lost'].
Aalten (Neth.) äl'-tan ahl'-tuhn
Aamli (Nor.) öm'-le om'-lee
Aamot (Nor.) ö'-mdot o'-mut
Aandalsnes (Nor.) on'-däls-nSs on'-dahls-nes
aan Zee än
zä' ahn zay'
An element, meaning by the sea, in Dutch place names.
Aardal (Nor.) or'-däl or'-dahl
Aarhus (Den.) 6r'-höös or'-hoos
Aasgaardsstrand (Nor.) ös'-görs-strän os'-gors-strahn
Aavasaksa (Fin.) ä'-vä-säk-sä ah'-vah-sahk-sah

[42]
Abadan (Iran)
Abagaituev (Rus.)
Abaiang (Oc.)
Abakan (Rus.)
Abau (New Guinea)
Abava (Latvia, riv.)
Abbeville
Abd el Krim (Mor. leader)
Abdul Hussein Aziz
(Afghan leader)
Abemama (Oc.)
Abemethy, Thomas G.
(U.S. representative)
Aberystwith (Wales)
Abganerovo (Rus.)
Also called Abganerova.
Abkoude (Neth.)
Abo (Fin.)
Finnish Turku, q.v.
Abrud (Rum.)
Per. à-bà-dàn'
Eng. àb-à-dàn'
à-bà-gi-tòó'-yèf
à-bl'-àng
à-bà-kan'
à'-bou
à'-bà-và
Eng. àb'-I-vil
Fr.
àb-vel'
ab dèi krem'
ab-dòol' hòos-san'
à-zèz'
à-bé-ma'-mà
àb'-ar-néth'-i
ah-bah-dahn'
ab-a-dan'
ah-bah-gai-too'-yef
ah-bai'-ahng
ah-bah-kahn'
ah'-bau
ah'-bah-vah
ab'-i-vil
ahb-veel'
ahb del kreem'
ahb-dul' hus-sayn'
ah-zeez'
ah-beh-mah'-mah
ab'-uhr-neth'-i
Eng. àb'-9-rist'-wìth ab'-uh-rist'-with
Welsh à-bar-ust'-with ah-buhr-uhst'-with
ab-gà-nè'-rò-vò
àp-kou'-do
Sw. o'-boo
à-bròod'
ahb-gah-neh'-ro-vo
ahp-kau'-duh
oh'-boo
ah-brud'
Hungarian Abrudbdnya, ób'-ròod-ba'-ny5 [ob'-rud-bah'-nyo].
absorb, -ing &b-s5rb',
The s should not be pronounced z.
•ing ab-sorb', -ing
Abu Hashaifa (Egypt)
Abukir (Egypt)
Accra (Gold Coast)
Achaia and Elis
(Gr.)
a'-boo ha-shi'-fa
a-bdo-ker'
a-kra'
Eng. 9-ka'-ya and
e'-lis
Also called in English Achaea, a-ke'-a [uh-kee'-uh], Greek Achaia kai
Elis, a-hl'-a ke e'-les [ah-hai'-ah keh ee'-lees].
Achaia kai Elis (Gr.) a-hi'-a kg e'-les ah-hai'-ah keh ee'-lees
Also called in English Achaea, a-ke'-8 [uh-kee'-uh].
ah'-boo hah-shai'-fah
ah-bu-keer'
uh-krah'
uh-kay'-yuh and
ee'-lis
Acheloos (Gr., riv.)
Achinsk (Rus.)
Achuev (Rus.)
Acireale (Sicily)
Acquapendente (It.)
à-hè-ló'-ós
à'-chinsk
à-choó'-yèf
à'-che-ré-à'-lé
àk-kwà-p Sn-d én'-t è
à'-krì
ah-heh-lo'-os
ah'-chinsk
ah-choo'-yef
ah'-chee-reh-ah'-leh
ahk-kwah-pen-den'-
teh
ah'-kri Acre (Brazil)
Acroceraunia (Alb., pen.) Eng. Sk'-ro-si-ro'-ni-a ak'-ro-si-ro'-ni-uh
Albanian Karaburun, q.v. See also Cape Glossa.
Acroma (Libya) a-kr6'-ma ah-kro'-mah

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especially astonished by the central entrance which was also
decorated with a profusion of mosaics, faience, and terra-cotta, and
surmounted by a freshly gilt allegorical group, which glittered in the
sun: Woman garmented and kissed by a flight of laughing cupids.
About two o'clock a special squad of police was obliged to make the
crowd move on, and to regulate the waiting carriages. The palace
was built, the temple raised to the extravagant folly of fashion. It
dominated everything, covering a whole district with its shadows.
The scar left on its flank by the demolition of Bourras's hovel had
already been so skilfully cicatrized that it would now have been
impossible to find the former place of that old wart.
In their superb isolation the four frontages now ran along the four
streets, without a break. Since Baudu's retirement into a home, The
Old Elbeuf, on the other side of the way, had been closed, walled up
like a tomb, behind the shutters that were never now taken down;
little by little cab-wheels had splashed them, while posters—a rising
tide of advertisements, which seemed like the last shovelful of earth
thrown over old-fashioned commerce—covered them up and pasted
them together; and, in the middle of this dead frontage, dirtied by
the mud from the street, and streaked with tatters of Parisian
puffery, a huge clean yellow poster, announcing in letters two feet
high the great sale at The Ladies' Paradise, was displayed like a flag
planted on a conquered empire.
It was as if the colossus, after each enlargement, full of shame and
repugnance for the dingy district in which it had modestly sprung up,
and which it had subsequently slaughtered, had just turned its back
to it, leaving the mud of the narrow streets behind, and presenting
its upstart face to the noisy, sunny thoroughfares of new Paris. As
now represented in the engravings of its advertisements, it had
grown bigger and bigger, like the ogre of the legend, whose
shoulders threatened to pierce the clouds. In the first place, in the
foreground of one engraving, were the Rue du Dix-Décembre, the
Rue de la Michodière, and the Rue Monsigny, filled with little black
figures, and endowed with wondrous breadth, as if to make room for

the customers of the whole world. Then came a bird's eye view of
the buildings themselves, of exaggerated immensity, with the roofs
of the covered galleries, the glazed courtyards in which the halls
could be divined, all the infinitude of that lake of glass and zinc
shining in the sun. Beyond, stretched Paris, but a Paris dwarfed,
eaten away by the monster: the houses, of cottage-like humbleness
in the immediate neighbourhood, faded into a cloud of indistinct
chimneys; the public buildings seemed to melt into nothingness, on
the left two dashes sufficed for Notre-Dame, to the right a
circumflex accent represented the Invalides, in the background the
Panthéon looked no larger than a lentil. The horizon crumbled into
powder, became no more than a contemptible frame-work extending
past the heights of Châtillon, out into the open country, whose
blurred expanses indicated how far extended the state of slavery.
Ever since the morning the crowd had been increasing. No
establishment had ever yet stirred up the city with such an
uproarious profusion of advertisements. The Ladies' Paradise now
spent nearly six hundred thousand francs a year in posters,
advertisements, and appeals of all sorts; four hundred thousand
catalogues were sent away, more than a hundred thousand francs'
worth of material was cut up for patterns. It was a complete
invasion of the newspapers, the walls, and the ears of the public, as
if some monstrous brass trumpet were being blown incessantly,
carrying the tumult of the great sales to the four corners of the
earth. And, for the future, this façade, before which people were
now crowding, became a living advertisement with its motley, gilded
magnificence, its windows large enough for the display of the entire
poem of woman's dress and its profusion of inscriptions painted,
engraved and cut in stone, from the marble slabs of the ground-floor
to the sheets of iron rounded off in semicircles above the roofs and
unfolding gilded streamers on which the name of the house could be
read in letters bright as the sun, against the azure blue of the sky.
Trophies and flags had been added in honour of the inauguration;
each storey was gay with banners and standards bearing the arms
of the principal towns of France; and right at the top, the flags of

foreign nations, run up on masts, fluttered in the breeze. Down
below the show of white goods in the windows flashed with blinding
intensity. There was nothing but white; on the left a complete
trousseau and a mountain of sheets, on the right some curtains
draped to imitate a chapel, and numerous pyramids of handkerchiefs
fatigued the eyes; while between the hung goods at the door—
pieces of cotton, calico, and muslin, falling and spreading out like
snow from a mountain summit—were placed some dressed prints,
sheets of bluish cardboard, on which a young bride and a lady in ball
costume, both life-size and attired in real lace and silk, smiled with
their coloured faces. A group of idlers was constantly forming there,
and desire arose from the admiration of the throng.
Moreover the curiosity around The Ladies' Paradise was increased by
a catastrophe of which all Paris was talking, the burning down of
The Four Seasons, the big establishment which Bouthemont had
opened near the Opera-house, hardly three weeks before. The
newspapers were full of details—the fire breaking out through an
explosion of gas during the night, the hurried flight of the frightened
saleswomen in their night-dresses, and the heroic conduct of
Bouthemont, who had carried five of them out on his shoulders. The
enormous losses were covered by insurances and people had already
begun to shrug their shoulders, saying what a splendid
advertisement it was. But for the time being attention again flowed
back to The Ladies' Paradise, excited by all the stories which were
flying about, occupied to a wonderful extent by these colossal
establishments which by their importance were taking up such a
large place in public life. How wonderfully lucky that Mouret was!
Paris saluted her star, and crowded to see him still standing erect
since the very flames now undertook to sweep all competition from
before him; and the profits of his season were already being
calculated, people had begun to estimate the increase of custom
which would be brought to his doors by the forced closing of the
rival house. For a moment he had been anxious, troubled at feeling
a jealous woman against him, that Madame Desforges to whom he
owed some part of his fortune. Baron Hartmann's financial

dilettantism in putting money into both concerns, annoyed him also.
Then he was above all exasperated at having missed a genial idea
which had occurred to Bouthemont, who had prevailed on the vicar
of the Madeleine to bless his establishment, followed by all his
clergy; an astonishing ceremony, a religious pomp paraded from the
silk department to the glove department, and so on throughout the
building. True, this ceremony had not prevented everything from
being destroyed, but it had done as much good as a million francs
worth of advertisements, so great an impression had it produced on
the fashionable world. From that day, Mouret dreamed of securing
the services of the archbishop.
The clock over the door was striking three, and the afternoon crush
had commenced, nearly a hundred thousand customers struggling in
the various galleries and halls. Outside, the vehicles were stationed
from one to the other end of the Rue du Dix-Décembre, and over
against the Opera-house another compact mass of conveyances
occupied the cul-de-sac where the future Avenue de l'Opéra was to
commence. Public cabs mixed with private broughams, the drivers
waiting about the wheels and the horses neighing and shaking their
curb-chains which sparkled in the sun. The lines were incessantly
reforming amidst the calls of the messengers and the pushing of the
animals, which closed in of their own accord, whilst fresh vehicles
kept on arriving and taking their places with the rest. The
pedestrians flew on to the refuges in frightened bands, the foot
pavements appeared black with people in the receding perspective
of the broad straight thoroughfare. And a clamour rose up between
the white houses, a mighty caressing breath swept along, as though
Paris were opening her soul.
Madame de Boves, accompanied by her daughter Blanche and
Madame Guibal, was standing at a window, looking at a display of
costumes composed of made-up skirts with the necessary material
for bodices.
"Oh! do look," said she, "at those print costumes at nineteen francs
fifteen sous!"

In their square pasteboard boxes lay the costumes, each tied round
with a favour, and folded so as to show the blue and red
embroidered trimmings; and, in a corner of each box, was an
engraving depicting the garment completed, as worn by a young
person resembling some princess.
"But they are not worth more," murmured Madame Guibal. "They fall
to pieces as soon as you handle them."
The two women had become quite intimate since Monsieur de Boves
had been confined to his arm-chair by an attack of gout. His wife put
up with the acquaintance, since in this way she picked up a little
pocket money, sums that the husband allowed himself to be robbed
of, being also in need of forbearance.
"Well! let's go in," resumed Madame Guibal. "We must see their
show. Hasn't your son-in-law made an appointment with you
inside?"
Madame de Boves did not reply, being absorbed in contemplation of
the string of carriages, whose doors one by one opened and gave
egress to more customers.
"Yes," said Blanche, at last, in her indolent voice. "Paul is to join us
at about four o'clock in the reading-room, on leaving the ministry."
They had been married about a month, and Vallagnosc, after a three
weeks' leave of absence spent in the South of France, had just
returned to his post. The young woman already had her mother's
portly appearance; her flesh seemed to be more puffy and coarse
since her marriage.
"But there's Madame Desforges over there!" exclaimed the countess,
looking at a brougham that had just pulled up.
"Do you think so?" murmured Madame Guibal. "After all those
stories! She must still be weeping over the fire at The Four
Seasons."
However, it was indeed Henriette. On perceiving her friends, she
came up with a gay, smiling air, concealing her defeat beneath the

fashionable ease of her manner.
"Dear me! yes, I wanted to have a look round. It's better to see for
one's self, isn't it? Oh! we are still good friends with Monsieur
Mouret, though he is said to be furious since I interested myself in
that rival establishment. Personally, there is only one thing I cannot
forgive him, and that is, to have urged on the marriage of my
protégée, Mademoiselle de Fontenailles, with that Joseph——"
"What! it's done?" interrupted Madame de Boves. "What a horror!"
"Yes, my dear, and solely to annoy us. I know him; he wished to
intimate that the daughters of our great families are only fit to marry
his shop messengers."
She was getting quite animated. They had all four remained on the
pavement, amidst the crush at the entrance. Little by little, however,
they were caught by the stream and only had to yield to the current
to pass the door without being conscious of it, talking louder the
while in order to make themselves heard. They were now asking
each other about Madame Marty; it was said that poor Monsieur
Marty, after some violent scenes at home, had gone quite mad,
believing himself endowed with unexhaustible wealth. He was ever
diving into the treasures of the earth, exhausting mines of gold and
loading tumbrils with diamonds and precious stones.
"Poor old fellow!" said Madame Guibal, "he who was always so
shabby, with his teacher's humility! And the wife?"
"She's ruining an uncle, now," replied Henriette, "a worthy old man
who has gone to live with her, since losing his wife. But she must be
here, we shall see her."
Surprise, however, made the ladies stop short. Before them
extended "the largest shops in the world," as the advertisements
said. The grand central gallery now ran from end to end, opening on
to both the Rue du Dix-Décembre and the Rue Neuve-Saint-
Augustin; whilst to the right and the left, similar to the aisles of a
church, the narrower Monsigny and Michodière Galleries, extended
along the two side streets without a break. Here and there the halls

formed open spaces amidst the metallic framework of the spiral
staircases and hanging bridges. The inside arrangements had been
all changed: the bargains were now placed on the Rue du Dix-
Décembre side, the silk department was in the centre, the glove
department occupied the Saint-Augustin Hall at the far end; and,
from the new grand vestibule, you beheld, on looking up, the
bedding department which had been moved from one to the other
end of the second floor. The number of departments now amounted
to the enormous total of fifty; several, quite fresh, were being
inaugurated that very day; others, which had become too important,
had simply been divided, in order to facilitate the sales; and, owing
to the continual increase of business, the staff had been increased to
three thousand and forty-five employees for the new season.
What caused the ladies to stop was the prodigious spectacle
presented by the grand exhibition of white goods. In the first place,
there was the vestibule, a hall with bright mirrors, and paved with
mosaics, where the low-priced goods detained the voracious crowd.
Then the galleries opened displaying a glittering blaze of white, a
borealistic vista, a country of snow, with endless steppes hung with
ermine, and an accumulation of glaciers shimmering in the sun. You
here again found the whiteness of the show windows, but vivified,
and burning from one end of the enormous building to the other
with the white flame of a fire in full swing. There was nothing but
white goods, all the white articles from each department, a riot of
white, a white constellation whose fixed radiance was at first
blinding, so that details could not be distinguished. However, the eye
soon became accustomed to this unique whiteness; to the left, in
the Monsigny Gallery, white promontories of cotton and calico jutted
out, with white rocks formed of sheets, napkins, and handkerchiefs;
whilst to the right, in the Michodière Gallery, occupied by the
mercery, the hosiery, and the woollen goods, were erections of
mother of pearl buttons, a grand decoration composed of white
socks and one whole room covered with white swanskin illumined by
a stream of light from the distance. But the greatest radiance of this
nucleus of light came from the central gallery, from amidst the

ribbons and the neckerchiefs, the gloves and the silks. The counters
disappeared beneath the whiteness of the silks, the ribbons, the
gloves and the neckerchiefs.
Round the iron columns climbed "puffings" of white muslin, secured
now and again with white silk handkerchiefs. The staircases were
decorated with white draperies, quiltings and dimities alternating
along the balustrades and encircling the halls as high as the second
storey; and all this ascending whiteness assumed wings, hurried off
and wandered away, like a flight of swans. And more white hung
from the arches, a fall of down, a sheet of large snowy flakes; white
counterpanes, white coverlets hovered in the air, like banners in a
church; long jets of guipure lace hung across, suggestive of swarms
of white motionless butterflies; other laces fluttered on all sides,
floating like gossamer in a summer sky, filling the air with their white
breath. And the marvel, the altar of this religion of white was a tent
formed of white curtains, which hung from the glazed roof above the
silk counter, in the great hall. The muslin, the gauze, the art-
guipures flowed in light ripples, whilst very richly embroidered tulles,
and pieces of oriental silver-worked silk served as a background to
this giant decoration, which partook both of the tabernacle and the
alcove. It was like a broad white bed, awaiting with its virginal
immensity, as in the legend, the coming of the white princess, she
who was to appear some day, all powerful in her white bridal veil.
"Oh! extraordinary!" repeated the ladies. "Wonderful!"
They did not weary of this song in praise of whiteness which the
goods of the entire establishment were singing. Mouret had never
conceived anything more vast; it was the master stroke of his genius
for display. Beneath the flow of all this whiteness, amidst the
seeming disorder of the tissues, fallen as if by chance from the open
drawers, there was so to say a harmonious phrase,—white followed
and developed in all its tones: springing into existence, growing, and
blossoming with the complicated orchestration of some master's
fugue, the continuous development of which carries the mind away
in an ever-soaring flight. Nothing but white, and yet never the same

white, each different tinge showing against the other, contrasting
with that next to it, or perfecting it, and attaining to the very
brilliancy of light itself. It all began with the dead white of calico and
linen, and the dull white of flannel and cloth; then came the velvets,
silks, and satins—quite an ascending gamut, the white gradually
lighting up and finally emitting little flashes at its folds; and then it
flew away in the transparencies of the curtains, became diffuse
brightness with the muslins, the guipures, the laces and especially
the tulles, so light and airy that they formed the extreme final note;
whilst the silver of the oriental silk sounded higher than all else in
the depths of the giant alcove.

Meanwhile the place was full of life. The lifts were besieged by
people; there was a crush at the refreshment-bar and in the reading-
room; quite a nation was moving about in these snowy regions. And
the crowd seemed to be black, like skaters on a Polish lake in
December. On the ground-floor there was a heavy swell, ruffled by a
reflux, in which nothing but the delicate enraptured faces of women
could be distinguished. In the gaps of the iron framework, up the
staircases, on the hanging bridges, there was an endless ascent of
small figures which looked as if lost amidst the snowy peaks of
mountains. A suffocating, hot-house heat surprised one at sight of
these frozen heights. The buzz of all the voices made a great noise
like that of a river carrying ice along. Up above, the profusion of
gilding, the glass work and the golden roses seemed like a burst of
sunshine, glittering over the Alps of this grand exhibition of white
goods.
"Come," said Madame de Boves, "we must go forward. It's
impossible to stay here."
Since she had entered, inspector Jouve, standing near the door, had
not taken his eyes off her; and when she turned round she
encountered his gaze. Then, as she resumed her walk, he let her
gain ground, but followed her at a distance, without, however,
appearing to take any further notice of her.
"Ah!" said Madame Guibal again stopping amidst all the jostling as
she came to the first pay-desk, "that's a pretty idea, those violets!"
She referred to the new present made by The Ladies' Paradise, one
of Mouret's ideas, which was making a great noise in the
newspapers: small bouquets of white violets, bought by the
thousand at Nice were distributed to every lady customer who made
the smallest purchase. Near each pay-desk messengers in uniform
stood delivering the bouquets under the supervision of an inspector.
And gradually all the customers were decorated in this way, the
building was filling with these white bridal flowers, every woman
diffusing as she passed a penetrating perfume of violets.

"Yes," murmured Madame Desforges, in a jealous voice, "it's a good
idea."
But, just as they were moving away, they heard two salesmen joking
about these violets. A tall, thin fellow was expressing his
astonishment: was the marriage between the governor and the first-
hand in the costume department coming off, then? whilst a short, fat
fellow replied that he didn't know, but that the flowers were bought
at any rate.
"What!" exclaimed Madame de Boves, "is Monsieur Mouret going to
marry?"
"That's the latest news," replied Madame Desforges, affecting the
greatest indifference. "However, one's bound to come to that."
The countess darted a quick glance at her new friend. They both
now understood why Madame Desforges had come to The Ladies'
Paradise notwithstanding the hostilities attending her rupture with
Mouret. No doubt she was yielding to an invincible desire to see and
suffer.
"I shall stay with you," said Madame Guibal, whose curiosity was
awakened. "We can meet Madame de Boves again in the reading-
room."
"Very good," replied the latter. "I want to go up to the first floor.
Come along, Blanche." And she went up followed by her daughter,
whilst inspector Jouve still on her track, ascended by another
staircase, in order not to attract her attention. The two other ladies
soon disappeared in the compact crowd on the ground-floor.
Amidst the press of business all the counters were again talking of
nothing but the governor's love matters. The affair which had for
months been occupying the employees, who were delighted at
Denise's long resistance, had all at once come to a crisis: since the
previous day it had been known that the girl intended to leave The
Ladies' Paradise, under the pretext of requiring rest, and this despite
all Mouret's entreaties. And opinions were divided. Would she leave?
Would she stay? Bets of five francs that she would leave on the

following Sunday circulated from department to department. The
knowing ones staked a lunch on it all ending in a marriage; yet, the
others, those who believed in her departure, did not risk their money
without good reasons. Certainly the girl had all the power of an
adored woman who refuses to yield; but the governor, on his side,
was strong in his wealth, his happy widowerhood, and his pride,
which a last exaction might exasperate. At all events they were all of
opinion that this little saleswoman had played her game with the
science of a expert woman of the world and was now venturing on
the supreme stroke by offering him this bargain: Marry me, or I go.
Denise, however, thought but little of these things. She had never
imposed any conditions or made any calculation. And the reason of
her departure was the very judgment which, to her continual
surprise, was passed upon her conduct. Had she wished for all this?
Had she shown herself artful, coquettish, ambitious? No, she had
simply presented herself and had been the first to feel astonished at
such a passion. And again, at the present time, why did they ascribe
her resolution to quit The Ladies' Paradise to craftiness? It was after
all so natural! She had begun to experience a nervous uneasiness,
an intolerable anguish, amidst the continual gossip which went on in
the house, and Mouret's feverish pursuit of her, and the combats she
was obliged to wage against herself; and she preferred to go away,
seized with fear lest she might some day yield and regret it for ever
afterwards. If in all this there were any learned tactics, she was
totally unaware of it, and she asked herself in despair what she
might do to avoid appearing like one who is running after a
husband. The idea of a marriage now irritated her, and she resolved
to say no, and still no should he push his folly to that extent. She
alone ought to suffer. The necessity for the separation caused her
tears to flow; but, with her great courage, she repeated that it was
necessary, that she would have no rest or happiness if she acted in
any other way.
When Mouret received her resignation, he remained mute and cold,
in the effort which he made to contain himself. Then he curtly
replied that he granted her a week's reflection, before allowing her

to commit such a stupid action. At the expiration of the week, when
she returned to the subject, and expressed a determination to go
away after the great sale, he did not lose his temper, but affected to
talk the language of reason to her: she was playing with fortune, she
would never find another position equal to that she was leaving. Had
she another situation in view? If so, he was quite prepared to offer
her the advantages she expected to obtain elsewhere. And when the
young woman replied that she had not looked for any other
situation, but intended first of all to take a rest at Valognes, thanks
to the money she had already saved, he asked her what would
prevent her from returning to The Ladies' Paradise if her health
alone were the reason of her departure. She remained silent,
tortured by this cross-examination. And thereupon he imagined that
she was about to join a sweetheart, a future husband perhaps. Had
she not confessed to him one evening that she loved somebody?
From that moment he had been carrying deep in his heart, like the
stab of a knife, the confession wrung from her. And, if this man was
to marry her, she must be giving up all to follow him: that explained
her obstinacy. It was all over; and so he simply added in an icy tone
that he would detain her no longer, since she could not tell him the
real cause of her departure. These harsh words, free from anger,
upset her far more than a violent scene such as she had feared.
Throughout the remaining week which Denise was obliged to spend
in the house, Mouret preserved his rigid pallor. When he crossed the
departments, he affected not to see her; never had he seemed more
indifferent, more absorbed in his work; and the bets began again,
only the brave ones dared to risk a luncheon on the wedding. Yet,
beneath this coldness, so unusual with him, Mouret hid a frightful
attack of indecision and suffering. Fits of anger brought the blood
seething to his head: he saw red, he dreamed of taking Denise in a
close embrace, keeping her, and stifling her cries. Then he tried to
reflect, to find some practical means of preventing her from going
away; but he constantly ran up against his powerlessness, the
uselessness of his power and money. An idea, however, was growing
amidst his wild projects, and gradually imposing itself on him

notwithstanding his revolt. After Madame Hédouin's death he had
sworn never to marry again; having derived from a woman his first
good fortune, he resolved in future to draw his fortune from all
women. It was with him, as with Bourdoncle, a superstition that the
head of a great drapery establishment ought to remain single, if he
wished to retain his masculine sovereignty over the growing desires
of his world of female customers; for the introduction of a woman to
the throne would change the atmosphere, drive away all the others.
Thus, he still resisted the invincible logic of facts, preferring to die
rather than yield, and inflamed by sudden bursts of fury against
Denise, feeling that she was Revenge and fearing he should fall
vanquished upon his millions, broken like a mere straw by the
Eternal Feminine on the day he should marry her. Then, however, he
would become cowardly again, and discuss his repugnance: why
should he tremble? she was so sweet-tempered, so prudent, that he
could abandon himself to her without fear. Twenty times an hour the
battle began afresh in his distracted mind. His pride tended to
irritate the wound, and he completely lost his reason when he
thought that, even after this last submission, she might yet say no,
ever no if she loved another. On the morning of the great sale, he
had still not decided on anything, and Denise was to leave on the
morrow.
When Bourdoncle, on the day in question, entered Mouret's private
room at about three o'clock, according to custom, he found him
sitting with his elbows on his desk, his hands over his eyes, so
greatly absorbed that he had to touch him on the shoulder. Then
Mouret glanced up, his face bathed in tears. They looked at each
other, held out their hands, and a hearty grip was exchanged by
these two men who had fought so many commercial battles side by
side. For the past month moreover Bourdoncle's manner had
completely changed; he now bent before Denise, and even secretly
urged the governor on to a marriage with her. No doubt he was thus
manœuvring to save himself from being swept away by a power
which he now recognised as superior. But beneath this change there
could also have been found the awakening of an old ambition, a

timid, gradually growing hope of in his turn swallowing up that
Mouret before whom he had so long bowed. This was in the
atmosphere of the house, in the struggle for existence whose
continued massacres helped on the sales around him. He was
carried away by the working of the machine, seized by the same
appetite as the others, that voracity which, from top to bottom,
urged the lean ones to the extermination of the fat ones. Only a sort
of religious fear, the religion of chance, had so far prevented him
from showing his own teeth. But now the governor was becoming
childish, drifting into a ridiculous marriage, ruining his luck,
destroying his charm over the customers. Why should he dissuade
him from it, when he might afterwards so easily pick up the business
of this weakling who fell at the feet of a woman? Thus it was with
the emotion of a farewell, the pity of an old friendship, that he shook
his chief's hand, saying:
"Come, come, courage! Marry her, and finish the matter."
But Mouret already felt ashamed of his momentary weakness, and
got up, protesting: "No, no, it's too stupid. Come, let's take a turn
round the place. Things are looking well, aren't they? I fancy we
shall have a magnificent day."
They went out and began their afternoon inspection of the crowded
departments. Bourdoncle meanwhile cast side glances at his
companion, feeling anxious at this last display of energy and
watching his lips to catch the least sign of suffering. The business
was now throwing forth its fire, with an infernal roar, which made
the building tremble like a big steamer going at full speed. At
Denise's counter was a crowd of mothers with bands of little girls
and boys, swamped beneath the garments they were trying on. The
department had brought out all its white articles, and there, as
everywhere else, was a riot of white fit for the garmenting of a troop
of shivering cupids: white cloth cloaks, white piqué, nainsook and
cashmere dresses, white sailor costumes, and even white Zouave
ones. In the centre, for the sake of effect, for the proper season had
not yet arrived, there was a display of confirmation costumes, white

muslin dresses and veils and white satin shoes, a light gushing
florescence like an enormous bouquet of innocence and candid
delight. Madame Bourdelais, with her three children, Madeleine,
Edmond and Lucien, seated according to their size, was getting
angry with the smallest because he continued struggling whilst
Denise tried to put a muslin-de-laine jacket on him.
"Do keep still! Don't you think it's rather tight, mademoiselle?" she
said; and with the sharp look of a woman difficult to deceive, she
examined the stuff, studied the cut, and scrutinized the seams. "No,
it fits well," she resumed. "It's no trifle to dress all these little ones.
Now I want a mantle for this young lady."
Denise had been obliged to assist in serving as the customers had
besieged her department in great force. She was looking for the
mantle required, when she set up a cry of surprise.
"What! It's you! what's the matter?"
Her brother Jean was standing before her, a parcel in his hand. He
had been married a week before, and on the Saturday his wife, a
dark little woman, with a provoking, charming face, had paid a long
visit to The Ladies' Paradise to make some purchases. The young
people were to accompany Denise to Valognes: it was to be a
regular honeymoon trip, a month's holiday which would remind them
of old times.
"Just fancy," he said, "Thérèse has forgotten a number of things.
There are some articles to be changed, and others to be bought. So,
as she was in a hurry, she sent me with this parcel. I'll explain——"
But she interrupted him on perceiving Pépé, "What! Pépé too! and
his school?"
"Well," said Jean, "after dinner on Sunday I had not the heart to
take him back. He will return this evening. The poor child is very
downhearted at the thought of being shut up in Paris whilst we shall
be enjoying ourselves."

Denise smiled at them, in spite of her suffering. She handed
Madame Bourdelais over to one of her saleswomen and came back
to her brothers in a corner of the department, which was,
fortunately, getting clearer. The youngsters, as she still called them,
had now grown to be big fellows. Pépé at twelve years old, was
already taller and stouter than herself but still taciturn and living on
caresses, looking, too, very gentle in his school-uniform; whilst
broad-shouldered Jean, quite a head taller than his sister, with
blonde hair blowing about in the wind, still retained his feminine
good looks. And she, always slim, no fatter than a skylark, as she
said, still retained her anxious motherly authority over them, treating
them as children in need of all her attention, buttoning up Jean's
frock coat so that he should not look like a rake, and seeing that
Pépé had got a clean handkerchief. When she perceived the latter's
swollen eyes, she gently chided him. "You must be reasonable, my
boy. Your studies cannot be interrupted," said she. "I'll take you
away at the holidays. Is there anything you want? But perhaps you
prefer to have the money." Then she turned towards the other. "And
you, youngster, it's your fault, you get making him believe that we
are going to have wonderful fun! Just try to be a little more
reasonable."
She had given Jean four thousand francs, half of her savings, to
enable him to set up housekeeping. The younger one cost her a
great deal for schooling, indeed all her money went for them, as in
former days. They alone linked her to life and work, for she had
again vowed that she would never marry.
"Well, here are the things," resumed Jean. "In the first place, there's
a light brown cloak in this parcel that Thérèse——"
But he stopped, and Denise, on turning round to see what had
frightened him, perceived Mouret standing behind them. For a
moment he had been watching her acting the mother towards the
two big boys, scolding and embracing them and turning them round
as mothers do babies when changing their clothes. Bourdoncle had

remained on one side, feigning to be interested in the sales; but he
did not lose sight of this little scene.
"They are your brothers, are they not?" asked Mouret, after a
silence.
He had the icy tone and rigid demeanour which he now assumed
with her. Denise herself made an effort to remain cold. Her smile
died away, and she replied: "Yes, sir. I've married off the eldest, and
his wife has sent him for some purchases."
Mouret continued looking at the three of them. At last he said: "The
youngest has grown very much. I recognise him, I remember having
seen him in the Tuileries Gardens one evening with you."
Then his voice, which was coming more slowly, slightly trembled.
She, much moved, bent down, pretending to arrange Pépé's belt.
Both brothers, who had turned scarlet, stood smiling at their sister's
employer.
"They're very much like you," said the latter.
"Oh!" she exclaimed, "they're much handsomer than I am!"
For a moment he seemed to be comparing their faces. But he could
endure it no longer. How she loved them! He walked on a step or
two; then returned and whispered in her ear: "Come to my office
after business. I want to speak to you before you go away."
This time, Mouret went off and continued his inspection. The battle
was once more raging within him, for the appointment he had just
given caused him a sort of irritation. To what idea had he yielded on
seeing her with her brothers? It was maddening to think that he
could no longer find the strength to assert his will. However, he
could settle it by saying a few words of farewell. Bourdoncle, who
had rejoined him, seemed less anxious, though he was still
examining him with stealthy glances.
Meanwhile, Denise had returned to Madame Bourdelais. "Does the
mantle suit you, madame?" she inquired.

"Oh yes, very well. That's quite enough for one day. These little ones
are ruining me!"
Denise, now being able to slip off, went to listen to Jean's
explanations, and then accompanied him to the various counters,
where he would certainly have lost his head without her. First came
the brown jacket, which Thérèse now wished to change for a white
cloth one of the same size and same shape. And the young woman,
having taken the parcel, went to the mantle department, followed by
her two brothers.
The department had laid out all its light coloured garments, summer
jackets and capes, of light silk and fancy woollens. But there was
little doing there, the customers were but few and far between.
Nearly all the saleswomen were new-comers. Clara had disappeared
a month before, and some said that she had altogether gone to the
bad. As for Marguerite, she was at last about to assume the
management of the little shop at Grenoble, where her cousin was
waiting for her. Madame Aurélie alone remained there immutable, in
the curved cuirass of her silk dress and with her imperial face
retaining the yellowish puffiness of an antique marble. However, her
son Albert's bad conduct was a source of great trouble to her, and
she would have retired into the country had it not been for the
inroads made on the family savings by this scapegrace, whose
terrible extravagance threatened to swallow up the Rigolles property
piece by piece. It was a sort of punishment on them, for breaking up
their home, for the mother had resumed her little excursions with
her lady friends, and the father on his side continued his musical
performances. Bourdoncle was already looking at Madame Aurélie
with a discontented air, surprised that she lacked the tact to resign:
too old for business, such was his opinion; the knell was about to
sound which would sweep away the Lhomme dynasty.
"Ah! it's you," said she to Denise, with exaggerated amiability. "You
want this cloak changed, eh? Certainly, at once. Ah! there are your
brothers; getting quite men, I declare!"

In spite of her pride, she would have gone on her knees to pay her
court to the young woman. In her department, as in the others,
nothing but Denise's departure was being talked of; and the first-
hand was quite ill over it, for she had been reckoning on the
protection of her former saleswoman. She lowered her voice to say:
"It's reported you're going to leave us. Really, it isn't possible?"
"But it is, though," replied Denise.
Marguerite was listening. Since her marriage had been decided on,
she had marched about with more disdainful airs than ever on her
putty-looking face. And she came up saying: "You are quite right.
Self-respect above everything, I say. Allow me to bid you adieu, my
dear."
Some customers arriving at that moment, Madame Aurélie requested
her, in a harsh voice, to attend to business. Then, as Denise was
taking the cloak to effect the "return" herself, she protested, and
called an auxiliary. This, again, was an innovation suggested to
Mouret by the young woman—the engagement of persons to carry
the articles about, thus relieving the saleswomen of much fatigue.
"Go with Mademoiselle," said the first-hand, giving the auxiliary the
cloak. Then, returning to Denise, she added: "Pray consider the
matter well. We are all heart-broken at your leaving."
Jean and Pépé, who were waiting, smiling amidst this overflowing
torrent of women, followed their sister. They now had to go to the
under-linen department, to get four chemises like the half-dozen
which Thérèse had bought on the Saturday. But there, where the
exhibition of white goods was snowing down from every shelf, they
were almost stifled, and found it very difficult to get along.
In the first place, at the corset counter a little scene was collecting
quite a crowd. Madame Boutarel, who had arrived in Paris from the
south, this time with her husband and daughter, had been
wandering all over the place since morning, collecting an outfit for
the young lady, who was about to be married. The father was
consulted at every turn so that it seemed they would never finish. At

last they had stranded here; and whilst the young lady was
absorbed in a profound study of some undergarments, the mother
had disappeared, having cast her eyes on some corsets she herself
fancied. When Monsieur Boutarel, a big, full-blooded man, quite
bewildered, left his daughter to search for his wife, he at last found
her in a sitting-room, at the door of which he was politely invited to
take a seat. These rooms were like narrow cells, glazed with ground
glass, and not even husbands were allowed to enter them.
Saleswomen came out and went in quickly, closing the doors behind
them, while men waited outside, seated in rows on arm-chairs, and
looking very weary. Monsieur Boutarel, when he understood matters,
got really angry, crying out that he wanted his wife, and insisting on
knowing what they had done with her. It was in vain that they tried
to calm him. Madame Boutarel was obliged to come out, to the
delight of the crowd, which was discussing and laughing over the
affair.
Denise and her brothers were at last able to get past. Every article
of ladies' underwear was here displayed in a suite of rooms classified
into various departments. The corsets and dress-improvers occupied
one counter, there were hand-sown corsets, Duchess, cuirass, and,
above all, white silk corsets, fan-pointed with divers colours, these
latter forming a special display, an army of dummies without heads
or legs, nothing indeed but busts; and close by were horse-hair and
other dress improvers, often of fantastic aspect. But afterwards
came articles of fine linen, white cuffs and cravats, white fichus and
collars, an infinite variety of light trifles, a white foam which escaped
from the boxes and was heaped up like so much snow. There were
loose jackets, little bodices, morning gowns and peignoirs in linen,
nainsook, and lace, long white roomy garments, which spoke of the
morning lounge. Then appeared white petticoats of every length, the
petticoat that clings to the knees, and the long petticoat which
sweeps the pavement, a rising sea of petticoats, in which one lost
oneself.
At the trousseau department there was a wonderful display of
pleating, embroidery, valenciennes, percale and Cambric; and then

followed another room devoted to baby-linen, where the voluptuous
whiteness of woman's clothing developed into the chaste whiteness
of infancy—an innocence, a joy, the young wife become a mother,
amidst flannel coifs, chemises and caps like dolls' things, christening
gowns, cashmere pelisses, indeed all the white down of birth, like a
fine shower of white feathers.
"They are chemises with running-strings," said Jean, who was
delighted with the rising tide of feminine attire about him.
However, Pauline ran up as soon as she perceived Denise; and
before even asking what she wanted, began to talk in a low tone,
stirred as she was by the rumours circulating in the building. In her
department, two saleswomen had even got to quarrelling over it,
one affirming and the other denying the favourite's departure.
"You'll stay with us, I'll stake my life. What would become of me?"
said Pauline; and as Denise replied that she intended to leave the
next day: "No, no," the other added, "you think so, but I know
better. You must appoint me second-hand, now that I've got my
baby. Baugé is reckoning on it, my dear."
Pauline smiled with an air of conviction. Then she gave the six
chemises; and, Jean having said that he must next go to the
handkerchief counter, she called an auxiliary to carry both the
chemises and the jacket left by the auxiliary from the mantle
department. The woman who happened to answer was
Mademoiselle de Fontenailles, recently married to Joseph. She had
just obtained this menial situation as a great favour, and she wore a
long black blouse, marked on the shoulder with a number in yellow
wool.
"Follow mademoiselle," said Pauline, and then returning to Denise
and again lowering her voice, she added: "It's understood that I am
to be appointed second-hand, eh?"
Denise promised, with a laugh, by way of joking in her turn. And she
went off, going down the stairs with Jean and Pépé, all three
followed by the auxiliary. On the ground-floor, they found themselves

in the woollen department, a gallery entirely hung with white
swanskin cloth and white flannel. Liénard, whom his father had
vainly recalled to Angers, was talking to the handsome Mignot who
was now a traveller, and had boldly reappeared at The Ladies'
Paradise. No doubt they were speaking of Denise, for they both
stopped talking to bow to her with a ceremonious air. In fact, as she
passed through the departments the salesmen appeared full of
emotion and bent their heads before her, uncertain as they were
what she might be the next day. They whispered and thought she
looked triumphant; and the betting was once more altered; they
again risked bottles of Argenteuil wine and fish dinners over the
event. She had entered the linen-gallery in order to get to the
handkerchief counter, which was at the further end. The show of
white goods continued: cottons, madapolams, dimities, quiltings,
calicoes, nainsooks, muslins, tarlatans; then came the linen, in
enormous piles, the pieces ranged alternately like blocks of stone:
stout linen, fine linen, of all widths, white and unbleached, some of
pure flax, whitened in the sun; next the same thing commenced
once more, there were departments for each sort of linen: house
linen, table linen, kitchen linen, a continual crush of white goods,
sheets, pillow-cases, innumerable styles of napkins, table-cloths,
aprons, and dusters. And the bowing continued, all made way for
Denise to pass, while Baugé rushed out to smile on her, as on the
good fairy of the house. At last, after crossing the counterpane
department, a room hung with white banners, she arrived at the
handkerchief counter, the ingenious decoration of which delighted
the throng; everything here was arranged in white columns, white
pyramids, white castles, an intricate architecture, solely composed of
handkerchiefs, some of lawn, others of cambric, Irish linen, or China
silk, some marked, some embroidered by hand, some trimmed with
lace, some hemstitched, and some woven with vignettes; the whole
forming a city of white bricks of infinite variety, standing out mirage-
like against an Eastern sky, warmed to a white heat.
"You say another dozen?" asked Denise of her brother. "Cholet
handkerchiefs, eh?"

"Yes, like this one," he replied, showing a handkerchief in his parcel.
Jean and Pépé had not quitted her side, but clung to her as they had
done formerly on arriving in Paris, knocked up by their journey. This
vast establishment, in which she was quite at home, ended by
troubling them; and they sheltered themselves in her shadow,
placing themselves again under the protection of this second mother
of theirs as in an instinctive re-awakening of their infancy. The
employees watching them as they passed, smiled at those two big
fellows following in the footsteps of that grave slim girl; Jean
frightened in spite of his beard, Pépé bewildered in his tunic, and all
three of the same fair complexion, a fairness which made a whisper
run from one end of the counters to the other: "They are her
brothers! They are her brothers!"
But, whilst Denise was looking for a salesman, there occurred
another meeting. Mouret and Bourdoncle had entered the gallery;
and as the former again stopped in front of the young woman,
without, however, speaking to her, Madame Desforges and Madame
Guibal passed by. Henriette suppressed the quiver which had
invaded her whole being; she looked at Mouret and then at Denise.
They also had looked at her, and it was a sort of mute dénouement,
the common end of many great dramas of the heart,—a glance
exchanged in the crush of a crowd. Mouret had already moved off,
whilst Denise strayed into the depths of the department,
accompanied by her brothers and still in search of a disengaged
salesman. But in the auxiliary following Denise, with a yellow
number on her shoulder, and a coarse, cadaverous, servant's-looking
face, Henriette had recognised Mademoiselle de Fontenailles, and
relieved herself by saying to Madame Guibal, in an angry voice:
"Just see what he's doing with that unfortunate girl. Isn't it
shameful? A marchioness! And he makes her follow like a dog the
creatures he has picked up in the street!" Then she tried to calm
herself, adding, with an affected air of indifference: "Let's go and see
their display of silks."

The silk department was like a great chamber of love, hung with
white by the caprice of some snowy maiden wishing to show off her
own spotless whiteness. Pieces of velvet hung from the columns,
forming a creamy white background against which silk and satin
draperies showed with a metallic and porcelain-like whiteness; and
there were also festoons of poult and gros grain silks, light foulards
and surahs, which varied from the dull white of a Norwegian blonde
to the transparent white, warmed by the sun, of a fair Italian or
Spanish beauty.
Favier was just then engaged in measuring some white silk for "the
pretty lady," that elegant blonde who was such a frequent customer
at the counter, and whom the salesmen never referred to except by
that name. She had dealt at the shop for years, and yet they knew
nothing about her—neither her condition of life, her address, nor
even her name. None of them, in fact, tried to find out, although
every time she made her appearance they all indulged in
suppositions just for something to talk about. She was getting
thinner, she was getting stouter, she had slept well, or she must
have been out late the previous evening; indeed every little incident
of her unknown life, outdoor events and domestic dramas alike,
found an echo at the Paradise, and was commented on. That day,
she seemed very gay; and so, on returning from the pay-desk
whither he had conducted her, Favier remarked to Hutin: "Perhaps
she's going to marry again."
"What! is she a widow?" asked the other.
"I don't know; but you must remember the time she was in
mourning. Perhaps she's made some money by speculating on the
Bourse." A silence ensued. At last he ended by saying: "However,
that's her business. It wouldn't do to take notice of all the women
we see here."
But Hutin was looking very thoughtful, for two days before, he had
had a warm discussion with the managers, and felt himself
condemned. After the great sale his dismissal was certain. For a long
time he had felt his position giving way. At the last stock-taking they

had complained that he had not even transacted the amount of
business fixed in advance; and moreover he was threatened by the
appetites of the others, now slowly devouring him in his turn—by all
the silent warfare which was waged in the department, amidst the
very motion of the machine. Favier's secret undermining could be
heard, like a muffled sound of jaw-bones at work underground. He
had already received the promise of the first-hand's place, but Hutin,
who was aware of it, instead of attacking his old comrade looked
upon him as a clever fellow. To think of it! A chap who had always
appeared so cold, so humble, whom he had made such use of to
turn out both Robineau and Bouthemont! He was full of mingled
surprise and respect.
"By the way," all at once resumed Favier, "she's going to stay, you
know. The governor has just been seen casting sheep's eyes at her. I
shall be let in for a bottle of champagne over it."
He referred to Denise. The gossip was going on more than ever,
passing from one counter to the other, through the constantly
increasing crowd of customers. The silk salesmen were especially
excited, for they had been indulging in heavy bets on the affair.
"By Jove!" exclaimed Hutin, waking up as if from a dream, "wasn't I
a flat not to pay court to her! I should be all right now!"
Then on seeing Favier laugh he blushed at this confession, and
pretended to laugh himself, adding, as though to recall his words,
that it was she who had ruined him with the management. Then a
desire for violence seizing hold of him, he finished by getting into a
rage with the salesmen whom the assault of the customers had
disbanded. But all at once he again smiled, having just perceived
Madame Desforges and Madame Guibal slowly crossing the
department.
"What can we serve you with to-day, madame?"
"Nothing, thanks," replied Henriette. "You see I'm merely walking
round; I've only come out of curiosity."

However, he succeeded in stopping her, and lowered his voice. Quite
a plan was springing up in his head. He began to flatter her and run
down the house; he had had enough of it, and preferred to go away
rather than remain a witness of such disorder. She listened,
delighted. It was she herself who, thinking to deprive The Ladies'
Paradise of his services offered to get him engaged by Bouthemont
as first-hand in the silk department when The Four Seasons should
start again. The matter was settled in whispers, whilst Madame
Guibal interested herself in the displays.
"May I offer you one of these bouquets of violets?" resumed Hutin,
aloud, pointing to a table where there were four or five bunches of
the flowers, which he had procured from a pay-desk for personal
presents.
"Ah, no, indeed!" exclaimed Henriette, recoiling. "I don't wish to take
any part in the wedding."
They understood each other, and separated with a laugh,
exchanging glances of intelligence. Then as Madame Desforges
began looking for Madame Guibal, she set up an exclamation of
surprise on seeing her with Madame Marty. The latter, followed by
her daughter Valentine, had for the last two hours been carried
through the place by one of those spending fits whence she always
emerged weary and bewildered. She had roamed about the furniture
department which a show of white lacquered good had changed into
a vast virginal chamber, the ribbon and neckerchief departments
which formed white colonnades, the mercery and trimming
departments with white fringes surrounding ingenious trophies
patiently built up of cards of buttons and packets of needles, and the
hosiery department in which there was a great crush that year to
see an immense piece of decoration—the resplendent name of "The
Ladies' Paradise" in letters three yards high, formed of white socks
on a groundwork of red ones. But Madame Marty was especially
excited by the new departments; they could indeed never open a
new department but she must inaugurate it, she was bound to
plunge in and buy something. And so at the millinery counter

installed in a new room on the first-floor she had spent an hour in
having the cupboards emptied, taking the bonnets off the stands
ranged on a couple of tables, and trying all of them, white hats,
white bonnets and white togues, on herself and her daughter. Then
she had gone down to the boot department, at the further end of a
gallery on the ground-floor, behind the cravats, a counter which had
been opened that day, and which she had turned topsy turvy, seized
with sickly desire in presence of the white silk slippers trimmed with
swansdown and the white satin boots and shoes with high Louis XV.
heels.
"Oh! my dear," she stammered, "you've no idea! They have a
wonderful assortment of bonnets. I've chosen one for myself and
one for my daughter. And the boots, eh? Valentine."
"They're marvellous!" added the latter, with the boldness of one who
is at last married. "There are some boots at twenty francs and a half
the pair which are delicious!"
A salesman was following them, dragging along the eternal chair, on
which a mountain of articles was already heaped.
"How is Monsieur Marty?" asked Madame Desforges.
"Very well, I believe," replied Madame Marty, scared by this abrupt
question, which fell ill-naturedly amidst her rage for spending. "He's
still shut up, you know; my uncle was to go to see him this
morning."
Then she paused and exclaimed: "Oh, look! isn't it lovely?"
The ladies, who had gone on a few steps, found themselves before
the new flowers and feathers department, installed in the central
gallery, between the silks and the gloves. Under the bright light from
the glass roof there appeared an enormous florescence, a white
sheaf, tall and broad as an oak. The base was formed of single
flowers, violets, lilies of the valley, hyacinths, daisies, all the delicate
white blossoms of the garden. Then came bouquets, white roses
softened by a fleshy tint, great white peonies slightly shaded with
carmine, white chrysanthemums with narrow petals and starred with

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