Query, Posted by Annabelle Morison at June 22, 2005 11:22 PM: One of the most interesting place names that comes to my mind when it comes to confusion of pronunciation is that of the Thames River in London, England. So far, I've heard it pronounced in three ways. Half the time, I've heard it pronounced "Tems", while other times, it was pronounced more like "Tames". But most recently I read that the original pronunciation of the name of this river is "Thaymes". Many people have told me that "Tems" is the only way that it is correctly pronounced, but I can tell you, that's definitely debatable. If "Thaymes" was the original, and thus was the correct pronunciation, how in this world did it change from "Thaymes" to "Tems"? It seems this is an unsolved mystery. Was it a British thing? Was it an American Thing? What is the story behind this confusion of pronunciation?
Reply, Posted by language hat at June 23, 2005 07:29 AM: I read that the original pronunciation of the name of this river is "Thaymes".
Your source was wrong. There was never a /th/ sound in the word; the Roman name was Tamesis, from a Celtic name also preserved in the rivers Tame and Tamar. The h was added in a fit of Renaissance pseudo-etymologizing. In England it's always /temz/.
I believe the Thames River in Connecticut is pronounced /theymz/, but that of course is simple spelling pronunciation, like /menziyz/ for Menzies and /keytlin/ for Caitlin.
So basically, just another American mispronunciation based on spelling. And there are so many.
I have to admit, sometimes I have fits of Renaissance pseudo-etymologizing. Those are really fun, but can be unpleasant for the people around me.
(The Thames River, seen from the waterfront in New London, CT--from Wikipedia)
Americans may mispronounce the river in London, but since the river in Connecticut is ours, we have the right to pronounce it whatever way we want.
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