Coadjutor curiosity

15 Comments

1. gallanosa says:

   23 May 2006 at 1:26 AM

   Well, Traupman’s New College Latin & English Dictionary lists adjūtor, -ōris. Since the penult is long by nature, the accent must fall on that syllable. So in Latin, it should be coadjútor.

   All that said, I have to admit that in English, I do say coádjutor. :)
2. Andrew says:

   23 May 2006 at 2:03 AM

   I don’t know about all these rules – the short and the long syllables – it’s kind of like which is first the egg or a chicken:

   how do you know if the syllable is accented?: because it is long.
   how do you know if it is long?: because it is accented.

   Excuuuse meeeeee! I never understood that. I know that some people draw little lines and hooks and dots all over the place, and it’s supposed to work very neatly, but it’s a mystery to me. I’ll go with the “coadjuuuutor” but if someone said “coaaaadjutor” I woudn’t be highly offended. I might just think that he’s from the west side of town.
3. Tim Ferguson says:

   23 May 2006 at 2:15 AM

   I say coADjutor. Or if he being particularly feisty co-agitator.

   And actually, I was raised on the west side of Saginaw.
4. Tim Ferguson says:

   23 May 2006 at 2:15 AM

   oops – that should have been “if he’s being…”

   I guess I’m letting my west side roots show too much :)
5. catholiclady says:

   23 May 2006 at 7:09 AM

   I say coADjutor also – and I was rasied east side of Saginaw (Pennsylvania)
6. animadversor says:

   23 May 2006 at 7:22 AM

   I always accent the antepenult; this seems in keeping with the tendency of English words to have recessive accents. I don’t think we should allow the rules of Latin pronunciation to over-influence how we pronounce English words, even if they are derived from Latin ones. That would be slavish.
7. Seamas O Dalaigh says:

   23 May 2006 at 10:37 AM

   Father,

   The former. Infact, I’ve not heard the latter.

   James Daly
8. Henry Edwards says:

   23 May 2006 at 3:20 PM

   I say “coádjutor” in English, “coadjútor” in Latin. Just as I say aa-men in English, Ah-men in Latin.
9. CaesarMagnus says:

   24 May 2006 at 6:48 AM

   We had a coadJUtor, but then the bishop decided he didn’t want to listen to
   Rome and retire early.
   The coadJUtor and the bishop did not like each other. The coadJUtor is now
   gone … thankfully. Wouldn’t have been a very good successor.
10. Jeff says:

    24 May 2006 at 5:44 PM

    I think it depends on whether he has the right of suk-SESSION or the right of SUX-ession.

    But these accents shift around over time. I mean, look at Uranus. Or not.
11. Jeff says:

    24 May 2006 at 5:48 PM

    Henry Edwards:

    You really say AY-men?

    Geez. Well, at least I think we should say AH-men when we sing that Gospel hymn at Catholic Mass. Just, you know, to tone things up a bit. ;-)
12. CaesarMagnus says:

    24 May 2006 at 6:29 PM

    I sometimes say AY-men in English, but I sing or say in Latin, Ah-men.
13. terry nelson says:

    4 June 2006 at 10:57 PM

    Isn’t it the real McCoy no matter how one pronounces it?
14. tj says:

    5 June 2006 at 2:26 PM

    This talk about Saginaw and the real mccoy is confusing, but my pate’s been bald
    for a long time, so I really don’t know what’s going on. One
    question I do have is whether a vicar can ever become a pastoral person.
15. clayton says:

    6 June 2006 at 7:56 AM

    So Tim, you’re talking Saginaw, as in… Saginaw near Detroit?

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