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Why do British people pronounce Lieutenant that way?
According to military customs, a lower ranking soldier walks on the left side of a senior officer. This courtesy developed when swords were still used on the battle field. The lower ranked soldier on the “left” protected the senior officers left side. Therefore, the term leftenant developed.
How do you pronounce Lieutenant in South Africa?
Thus: yes, some people in South Africa pronounce the word as ‘leftenant’. Some, often(not always, but often) those with close ties to Britain (but proudly South African nonetheless) pronounce it as Lieutenant. Others pronounce it something close to ‘leftenent’.
How is Lieutenant pronounced in Australia?
Australian military personnel pronounce ‘lieutenant’ as ‘lef-ten-ent’.
How do Irish people pronounce Lieutenant?
listen) loo-TEN-ənt, with the former generally associated with the armies of British Commonwealth countries and the Republic of Ireland; and the latter generally associated with the United States military.
Is lieutenant the same as leftenant?
Same rank, different pronunciation. In Canada, we still write the rank as lieutenant, but pronounce it leftenant. There is no difference except in how different English speaking people pronounce the word “Lieutenant”. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary shows both pronunciations.
How do the British say lieutenant?
A Lieutenant (a leader of a platoon) is pronounced ‘Left-tenant’ in the U.K. (as he/she is left the tenancy of command). In the US however, the word is pronounced as ‘Lew-tenant’, much to British distaste. Leftenant is the U.K. and Commonwealth pronunciation.
Is lieutenant a leftenant?
Wikitionary claims that leftenant is an archaic spelling of lieutenant. It’s an achaic spelling in English, but not in French. This spelling was to stick to the pronunciation, and not the opposite, as there is not “lefttenant” in old French.
Is lieutenant pronounced leftenant?
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary shows both pronunciations. A Lieutenant (a leader of a platoon) is pronounced ‘Left-tenant’ in the U.K. (as he/she is left the tenancy of command). In the US however, the word is pronounced as ‘Lew-tenant’, much to British distaste. Leftenant is the U.K. and Commonwealth pronunciation.
Why is a lieutenant called a left-tenant?
The rank “lieutenant” was originally called “lieutenant captain” and they were the person who was left with the tenancy of command whenever the captain was not around (or if the captain was Killed). As they were left with the tenancy of command their rank is pounced “left-tenant” despite it being spelled “lieutenant”.
How do you pronounce lieutenant in English?
In the case of lieutenant even the English themselves don’t agree. In the army it is pronounced as leftenant, but in navy they use lootenant.
Why are the letters of the English alphabet left-tenant?
In particular ‘k’ ‘v’ ‘u’ and ‘w’. Moreover, those letters were pronounced differently as modern English evolved. Thus letters like v and f were sometimes interchangeable. When the term lieutenant was first adopted in Britain the u was pronounced as v or f hence Left-tenant.
How do you pronounce “lootenant” in the military?
As it’s from the French, where “lieu” means “instead” it’s someone who acts as deputy in lieu of a higher rank, so the US pronunciation of “lootenant” is nearer to correct than the UK Army pronunciation “leftenant”. In the RN it’s pronounced “L’tenant” just to confuse the issue further!