Dennis, and Jurek
Perhaps Diana Poulton assumed this from the play on Dowland/Dolens,
""Semper Dowland Semper Dolens"" (and isn't that the vowel sound in
her own name?).
However, don't forget that the diphthongs at the time of Dowland were
undergoing the process often called the Great Vowel Shift, and that
the degree to which this process effected vowels varied according to
dialect.
Thus, even if Dowland had pronounced his name like "know", it would
certainly not be the value it has in modern standard BBC English
(although even that is varying), and unless we know what dialect he
spoke, we wouldn't have much idea about the value he gave that vowel.
Furthermore, names can vary in very wild fashion, where "Mountjoy",
for example, can rhyme with "bungee".
Anthony
Le 2 oct. 08 à 21:21, Jerzy Zak a écrit :
Diana Poulton, at whose house in London I leved for almost two
years, instructed me Dowland should be prnunced like Poland. How
she's got that knowledge I don't know.
Jurek
_______
On 2008-10-02, at 14:53, dc wrote:
I suppose this question has already been asked umpteen times, but
here goes
again: do we know how the ow in Dowland's name was pronounced? As
in know
or as in how?
Thanks,
Dennis
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