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dougp01

Clematis pronunciation

5 years ago

I am interested to learn what is your way of pronouncing Clematis. I've heard three ways and it's entirely all are valid depending on where is your location.
1. KLEM-uh-tis
2. kle-MAT-is
3. kle-MAY-tis
I grew up hearing my mother use #3. And I looked up the latin derivation and find #1 is probably closest.
Be honest, and reply with yours, because you're not wrong.
Stay safe ya'll
Doug

Comments (29)

  • 5 years ago

    #2, because when I learned my botanical Latin, the emphasis was always on the second syllable.

    btw, there is very little that connects botanical Latin to classical Latin. The first is highly anglicized and the second follows some very rigid guidelines that generally only Latin scholars are aware of :-) So it really makes very little difference how one pronounces it as long as you are understood.

  • 5 years ago

    Strangely, about halfway between two and three, slightly favoring 2, but with a sub-stress on the first syllable. It's because of a peculiar regional language thing where the T goes on the downbeat.


    My father was once walking down the street in Okinawa and was approached by another serviceman in another branch who said, "You're from Lancaster, Pennsylvania!"

    "No," Dad replied, "But only about thirty miles north."

    The accent's faded over the decades and mine's more general Northeast American, but it still persists and we can all exaggerate it when we want to.

  • 5 years ago

    #2

  • 5 years ago

    Started #2 in Minnesota, now go with #1 because the English gardening books told me to.

  • 5 years ago

    #2. I recall someone I know saying #3... might have been a friend of mine from New Brunswick - not sure if that has anything to do with it (regional, etc.)

    :)
    Dee

  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    I say 1. Many people here say 3, including some TV gardeners. 2 is a pronunciation I have never heard.

  • 5 years ago

    I use 1.

  • 5 years ago

    Number 1

  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago
  • 5 years ago

    i tend toward 'that purple flowered vine over on the fence' .. avoids all the difficulties .... lol


    ken


    ps: never trust the brits on any pronunciation of english.. lol ... let alone latin ... e.g. aluminum ... where are all those other letters they throw in ... lol ...


    pps: #2



  • 5 years ago

    Wow, never expected many responses like this. Thanks all and keep going!

  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    I just looked at the pronunciation guide in the back of Fine Gardening magazine, and they dictate it is pronounced #1 - emphasis on KLEM. But yea - no, probably not going to happen 'round here, what with our Michigan accents and all (gimme some melk, while you're at it grab me that bayg of chips I got from Krogers).

  • 5 years ago

    Yes, the English do pronounce it as KLEM-uh-tis and such is what I heard when having attended a talk given by Raymond Evison way back years ago ... though, I prefer the sound of kle-MAT-is and how I generally hear it said by most others.

  • 5 years ago

    # 2 here also... although I’ve always wondered about after hearing it like # 1

  • 5 years ago

    My mother tongue is French so it sounds more like klay-mah-tis when I say it :)

  • 5 years ago

    I grew up in Maine, and pronounced it #1 until I moved to Illinois as an adult, where I eventually morphed to #2, which is how it is pronounced here. But my favorite pronunciation was the woman who came in to the garden center I worked at years ago, looking for clamidia!

  • 5 years ago

    "...the woman who came in to the garden center I worked at years ago, looking for clamidia!"

    LOL!

  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    The truth is, it really doesn't matter how you pronounce it, as long as the other person can comprehend which species you are talking about, so you can throw away all the worries about what other plant snobs might think if you pronounce something the wrong way, because there's no such thing as a wrong way.😁 You still need to spell it correctly though.😬

  • last year

    #2

    debra

  • last year

    3 for me (had to say it out loud to check).

  • last year

    1. KLEM-uh-tis

  • last year

    Number 1

  • last year

    Number 1.

  • last year

    I learned it as #1 and this always pops out first. If I get strange looks I'll pronounce it as #2 which is how most people say it around here. I have a friend who insists putting an n in it...kle-mant-is. Can't change her. :)