#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.

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.

#2

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

#2.

#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

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

I use 1.

Number 1

#1

Pronounce Clematis

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

I am a #1

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

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).

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.

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

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

#2

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!

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

LOL!

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.😬

#2

debra

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

1. KLEM-uh-tis

Number 1

Number 1.

2

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. :)