There is no grand point to this post, except to illustrate how one can wile away the time on a Friday lunch break by looking into word usage and pronunciation.
In our parish's mass script for this weekend, the penitential rite includes this line:
Lord Jesus, you were sent to heal the contrite of heart
... to which everyone would respond, "Lord have mercy".
Over the years, I've heard that phrase, "You were sent to heal the contrite" many, many times in penitential rites. The word "contrite" always has been pronounced, KAHN-trite, with stress on the first syllable, and that syllable rhyming with "don".
I checked a few online dictionaries. All of them state that the word is pronounced cuhn-TRITE, with the second syllable stressed, and the first syllable rhyming with "pun". Most of them also list KAHN-trite as another pronunciation option.
All of them also specify that the word is an adjective. But as used here, it seems to be used as noun. We do something similar when we refer to "the poor", as in "Blessed are the poor in spirit". A quick check of Wikipedia suggests that an adjective used as a noun is known as a nominalized adjective.
To the extent that "contrite" is in my active vocabulary, I don't think I would ever pronounce it in everyday discourse except as "cuhn-TRITE". I don't often see the word used outside of church contexts in its adjective form; I see it more often as an adverb, "contritely", or in a different noun form, "contrition".
This web page lists many rules for turning verbs and other types of words into nouns by appending "tion" or "sion" to them (and don't forget the two words which take "cion": "suspect" and "coerce"). As you can see, "contrite" falls into the 6th main rule (some of them have sub-branches as well).
Rule 6: Use “-tion” with words ending in “-it” or “-ite”
In this list, "contrite" and "erudite" are adjectives, while most of the rest are verbs. "Transit", according to the online dictionaries, is a noun, usually part of compound nouns like "mass transit" or "transit system". So a noun "transit" can be turned into a noun "transition". Merriam Webster notes "transit" also can be used as a verb; the example given is "once you transit that stretch of dense woods, the hiking should be much easier." I also frequently hear "transition" used as a verb in everyday discourse, as in, "the weather transitioned from sunny to cloudy."
Back to pronunciation: the way we pronounce words is one of those subtle little ways we distinguish ourselves from others, especially those of (ahem) inferior social classes - a practice which seems more acute as education continues to be one of the markers which distinguishes the haves from the have-nots in American society. I fear I can be as snobby as the next person, sneering at malaprops (as when "exasperate" is used when "exacerbate" is intended) and at marks of less than minimal literacy (when I worked in a factory during my college summers, I worked with an older gentleman who believed that the pronunciation of the state directly north of us is "West Sconsin"). Of course, pronunciation can be an affection by one one belongs to, or aspires to, the "haves" class, as when every letter is pronounced in "often".
As I mentioned above, if I were to use the word "contrite" in everyday discourse, I would pronounce it, "cuhn-TRITE". To my snobbish way of thinking, a person who would say "KAHN-trite" is a person who would be prone to claiming that Madison is the capital of West Sconsin. Or that Ellie Mae is out swimming in the "CE-ment pond".
But, as I envelop myself in richly-deserved contrition for this unworthy sneering, I also realize that I will have to say, or chant, "contrite" this weekend, not in everyday discourse, but in the context of ritual prayer. Until now, I would have pronounced it "KAHN-trite" because, well, that's how I've always heard it pronounced in the midst of ritual. Now that I've been thinking about it, I may run with "kuhn-TRITE". I'll be curious to see if anyone says anything about it.
Jim,
ReplyDeleteMy liturgy professor, Father Taft, like to remind everyone that liturgy is ritual, i.e. you do the same thing over and over.
Therefore, the people have a right to NOT be surprised or confused!
You may be treading on dangerous ground.
Oddly enough, now that I think of it, I use those two pronunciations the same way. Jim, I think if you use the everyday pronunciation in the liturgy, you will be reported to whomever deacons are reported. Heed Jack's warning.
ReplyDeleteIt may be one of those things like "insult". "Insult" is often a verb ("She insulted him"). In that case, the stress is on the second syllable, "in-SULT". When it's used as a noun ("She hurled insults at him"), the stress is on the first syllable, "IN-sult".
ReplyDeleteMaybe "kuhn-TRITE" (adjective) vs. "KAHN-trite" (noun) is the same sort of thing.
When deacons get in trouble...when they pronounce a Polish last name like Spanish. For instance, the name Sliva, you don't dare pronounce it Sleeva. Or the name Bialas as Bee-alas.
ReplyDeleteThe word "confessor", I have always heard it as for instance " Edward the ConFESSor. But some priests pronounce it as CONfessor, referring to someone who hears confessions.
About West Sconsin, it makes me think of people from my grandparents' generation who pronounced Iowa as Eye-o-way.
Katherine - you write that as though anyone knows how to pronounce Polish names!
DeleteIf you don't pronounce them right, the people who have them will be sure to clue you in!!
DeleteFunny. I expect my polish name to be mispronounced. Comes out Ko-pazz or Ko-packs, never the proper Kau-potch. The only time I would make a point of it would be if they made me pronounce their hispanic name or suchlike properly. I'd make them pronounce my baptismal first name, too. Stąnisław. Or else.
DeleteFWIW, I was the deacon at two masses this weekend, and I said "KAHN-trite" both times. I wasn't being thoughtful about it; the autopilot kicked in and that's what I came up with, and only realized it after the fact. Sometimes autopilot is a good thing.
ReplyDelete