Jim Rosenberg

I alway READ it and SEE it, but I've never heard it SAID. So to SAY it, it's "Ploss-dai __________"? Thanks for your help! (Please, don't work too hard on the finer points of "Ploss-dai", okay?)

Wayne

the last word should be pronounced "Vozh" where the zh sounds like the s in leisure.

Jim Rosenberg

Thanks, Wayne! (It was not knowing the "g" part that was getting me)!

Eye Spy

Jim, it's a long "o" -- like the "o" in "toe." VOE-ZH. Wayne was right. There's a circonflex above the 'o' so whenever you see that accent above an 'o', the 'o' is always long.

Christina

I don't know the origin of that word, but it has kept its old spelling and in modern spelling would be "Vôge" which you would probably know how to pronounce. You do see it spelled with a circonflex rather with the original "s" in some geographic matters in its region around Alsace. You probably know a circonflex represents a lost "s"; a "g" is always pronounced that way before an "e". I don't think there is a circonflex with there is an "s", it's one or the other.

Bill

Circonflex? I don't think there's any corconflex in Vosges.<BR><BR>I agere with the pronunciation, but not the circonflex.<BR><BR>Rhymes with loge.<BR><BR>

kalena

Christina suggests that voge has a circomflex. <BR>Q; what happened to my earlier post in french? We have to allow for a little leeway when it comes to good fun.

xxx

Christina rocks.<BR>

jules

Christina added that &quot;it's one or the other&quot;, an 's' OR a circonflex.<BR>Vosges or V&ocirc;ges<BR>but the latter is hardly used.<BR>That is how f.ex. &quot;vostre&quot; became &quot;v&ocirc;tre&quot;, hostel h&ocirc;tel, hospital h&ocirc;pital, etc..

Ira

I am wondering: is that little hat above the 'o' a circonflex or a carat?<BR>I thought that a circonflex was a squiggly thing under a letter (usually c).

xxx

No onr has included the pronunciation of the &quot;Place de&quot; as well for novices. I'd do it, but not very good at phonetics.

Martine

Ira,<BR>The accent circonflexe is the little hat.It has nothing to do with the pronounciation of the vocal, but in fact it is an apostrophe you have to write on a vocal when the letter s is left out of the word (f.i.ethymologicly).<BR>example: &ecirc;tre (= to be) comes from the Latin word esse (the s is gone in the French word). <BR> Il est (with s), but vous &ecirc;tes (without s) <BR> frais (fresh)--&gt; fra&icirc;che<BR><BR>And the little sign you have under the letter e is a &quot;c&eacute;dille&quot;. You write it when the c is pronounced as an s and when it precedes an &quot;a&quot;, &quot;o&quot; or &quot;u&quot;, like in fran&ccedil;ais, gar&ccedil;on, re&ccedil;u.<BR><BR>You pronounce Vosges &quot;Vau&quot;je (with the French &quot;je&quot; and without the English &quot;w&quot; sound at the end of Vau)<BR>

tracy

hi . . . try:<BR><BR>plahss day VOHzh<BR><BR>hth! = )

norskie

I've been wondering how to pronounce Vosges and just ran a quick search. This gave me my answer and was an amusing read - deserving of a second round.

Neil_Oz

When I went to school it was spelt &quot;circumflex&quot;, but maybe something's changed. Jim, I think &quot;place&quot; should be pronounced more like &quot;plahss&quot; than &quot;ploss&quot; but I'm open to correction there.

sfowler

circonflex is the French spelling.

travelbunny

..as to the etiology of the name...it was the Place Royale..post revolution the &quot;county&quot; (departement) which was the first to pay its taxes was the Vosges and hence the name...or so ive been told..