pronunciation - The mysterious, unenunciated "w" in the "-wich" of English place names


Doing some reading lately, I've been pondering the strange pronunciations of English place names — namely, that of the 'w' in the "–wich" suffix, which, as I understand it, is not enunciated. For example, listening and watching many British programmes has taught me that Norwich is pronounced NORR-ich, Warwick is pronounced WORR-ick, and many of us know that Greenwich is pronounced GREN-ich.


My question is pretty simple, I think: Are these pronunciations the historical pronunciations, and for etymological reasons (or some other reason perhaps) a superfluous 'w' was added? That seems especially likely with ancient place names; many English cities can boast of rich histories stretching back to pre-Roman times. Or, on the other hand, is this just a common corruption, promulgated by "Standard English" to elide this "-w" — perhaps there is some dialect in England that would properly pronounce it when speaking?



Answer



The "-wich" in Norwich and others comes from Old English wic (pronounced like witch):



wíc [] n (-es/-), f (-e/-a) dwelling-place, lodging, habitation, house, mansion; village, town; pl entrenchments, camp, castle, fortress; street, lane; bay, creek



Sometimes the "-wic" is shortened beyond even the "-ich" sound we're so familiar with. York, for example, was originally called Eoforwic (pron. eyovorwich).


Wic in Old English is also similar to vik in Old Norse, and there is some speculation that the word Viking itself referred to the penchant of those folk to go off a-viking, i.e. sacking towns.


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