Why is it Don Quixote (key-HO-te) but ‘quixotic’ isn’t pronounced key-HO-tic???
This has bugged me for ages, I don’t get why words developed from names or places or events are pronounced differently than the original thing that came first.
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Don Quixote was a Spanish novel. “Key-HO-te” is the Spanish pronunciation. Quixotic is an English word that references the novel but uses an anglicized pronunciation. Lots of languages do this with borrowed foreign words. Much of English is just French with an Anglo-Saxon pronunciation: e.g. “boeuf” -> “beef”.
TLDR, English speakers used to say Quixote as quix ote before they knew better leading to quixotic being pronounced as it is today. They have since learned how to say it correctly but words stemming from it are still said as they were.
For those exact words, Quixote is pronounced Key ho te because the work is Spanish and languages will have different pronunciations.
It is pronounced Key Ho Te in English because we know it is a Spanish work and thus pronounce it as a Spanish speaker would.
Quixotic is a layover (a word still around) from when the work was popular before English and Spanish speakers regularly culturally mixed. They read Quixote as quix ote as that is how an English person with only English pronunciations would think it’s said.
I always wonder about names.
I’m supposed to say “Quixote” with the Spanish pronunciation, but if a British person is named Mark, I’m NOT supposed to say “Mahk” which is how he would pronounce it. There’s no consistency for when to adopt the accent or not.
Also, bruschetta.
It’s all about language evolution and changes over time. Similar words can have different pronunciations due to various reasons like influence from other languages, regional accents, and even personal preferences.
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