Quote:
Originally Posted by ree-Xi
Maybe it bugs me because people refer to Alpha Xi Delta as AZD (in writing, they use a Z, because the English pronunciation of the letter Xi is pronounced "zee" when following a vowel. In Greek it's pronounced "ksi" as the "x" is pronounced in "box").
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Sorry, but I have to say it -- I'm sure some at GC expect me to say it: It has nothing to do with following a vowel. That's a Greek urban legend.
The Greek pronunciation of the name of the letter
X (
Xi) is
ksee. (In Greek,
X =
ks and
i always =
ee.)
Because in English we don't typically start a word with an
x sound and instead substitute a
z sound (xylophone, Xavier, Xerox) the anglicized pronunciation of the name of the letter
X is
zee.
But because we also tend in English not to pronounce a single
i in a one syllable word as
ee, the Americanized pronunciation of the name of the letter
X is
zeye. (We do the same thing with
P,
F,
C and
Y.)
It has nothing to do with what letter comes before it. It's simply that Alpha Xi Delta chose to use the pronunciation of the name of the letter
X closer to the Greek (like Alpha Phi did with the pronunciation of the name of the letter
F). That's all.
That said, as a general rule, I'm with you on substituting Greek letters for English ones -- it looks like we don't know what the letters really are.
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