On Sun, 14 Nov 2004 12:20:25 -0000, "Philip Eden"
philipATweatherHYPHENukDOTcom wrote:


"Colin Youngs" wrote in message
...
John Hall wrote in message ...

: She slightly redeemed herself when explaining the 13 degC possible in
NE
: Scotland tomorrow can be attributed to a fohn effect.

:Except she calls it a "phone effect".
:
:How should it be pronounced? I confess that that is how I would have
ronounced it myself.

"Föhn" should be pronounced roughly like "fern".

Well, for a non-rhotic speaker, yes. Brian Blair might disagree!


As an erstwhile rhotic speaker coming from Gloucester I would also
disagree. As a German student at school it was quite funny to hear
Mozart's famous piece described as oiner kloiner knacked museek.

Martin


pe

Philip Eden wrote in message ...

:"Colin Youngs" wrote in message
...
: "Föhn" should be pronounced roughly like "fern".

:Well, for a non-rhotic speaker, yes. Brian Blair might disagree!

After looking up "rhotic" in the dictionary ... I have to admit that you are
right. I had in mind the way I pronounce "fern" myself.

Of course I am well aware of the danger of trying to describe the sounds of
one language by comparison with another - but my keyboard won't do the
phonetic alphabet either ...

As an aside, the word Fön - normally written without the H - is now the
modern German word for "hairdryer".

Colin Youngs
Brussels

"Colin Youngs" wrote in message
...

As an aside, the word Fön - normally written without the H - is now the
modern German word for "hairdryer".

That's interesting ... presumably derived from the wind name?
Did it become a registered Trade Mark that simply entered
the language through sheer weight of use, like hoover?

pe

Philip Eden wrote in message ...
:
:"Colin Youngs" wrote in message
...
:
: As an aside, the word Fön - normally written without the H - is now the
: modern German word for "hairdryer".
:
:That's interesting ... presumably derived from the wind name?
id it become a registered Trade Mark that simply entered
:the language through sheer weight of use, like hoover?

You are exactly right. The word is certainly derived from "Föhn". It
seems that "Fön" was registered as a trade mark in Germany as long ago as
1908 by a company called Sanitas. After the Second World War that company
was taken over by AEG. "Fön" is still a registered trade mark of AEG and
so other manufacturers of hairdryers may not use it. Even so, it has
entered into everyday use as a generic term for hairdryer, just like
"hoover" for a vacuum cleaner.

The origin of "Föhn" is the Latin "favonius" - west wind.

Sources - searches on Google and Duden Rechtschreibung (authoritative German
dictionary).

The word "föhn" is also used in Dutch to mean hairdryer - but with the same
spelling as the wind name.

Colin Youngs
Brussels