How is the word ‘litterateur’ pronounced?
(Joe Tse Teung, Chennai)
The ‘litt’ rhymes with ‘bit’, ‘hit’, and ‘kit, and the ‘e’ and ‘a’ that follow sound like the ‘a’ in ‘china’. The ‘eu’ in the final syllable is pronounced like the ‘ir’ in ‘bird’, ‘birth’, and ‘first’. The word is pronounced li-te-re-TIR with the stress on the final syllable. A ‘litterateur’ is a man of letters; he is a person who is engaged in literary work. This individual is very interested in and very knowledgeable about literature. The word comes from the Latin ‘litterator’ meaning ‘critic’. ‘Litter’ has nothing to do with garbage; in Latin, ‘littera’ means ‘letter’.
I tell you, only a great litterateur could have come up with those lines.
S. UPENDRAN
upendrankye@gmail.com
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