He may be a linguist, but those of us born and raised right in the
territory of Chief Powhatan [and in many cases descended from the
Powhatan Indians, as my husband and I are] pronounce it POW-a-tan.
Might this be something like telling someone the 'right' way to
pronounce their last name?

Nancy

-------
I was never lost, but I was bewildered once for three days.

--Daniel Boone



On Jan 7, 2007, at 4:58 AM, John Frederick Fausz wrote:

> For a couple of years, I worked closely with Philip Barbour, editor of
> The Complete Works of Captain John Smith and The Jamestown
> Voyages, and author of Smith and Pochontas biographies.  He was
> quite a linguist and a dogged researcher, and he always insisted that
> "Powhatan" should be pronounced
>
>                                 PO hat an
>
> (long O and emphasis on 1st syllable, ignoring the W).
>
> With that drilled into my head, I have always thought that Powhite
> should be pronounced  PO WHITE--with implications left to others!
>
> Fred Fausz
> St. Louis
>
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the
> instructions
> at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html

To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html