Ernest Mason Satow

The Right Honourable Sir Ernest Mason Satow GCMG, (June 30, 1843 - August 26, 1929) was a British scholar-diplomat born to an ethnically German father (Hans David Christoph Satow, born in Wismar, then under Swedish rule, naturalised British in 1846) and an English mother (Margaret, nee Mason) in Clapton, North London. He was educated at Mill Hill School and University College London (UCL).

Pronunciation of 'Satow': long a or short a?

The 'a' in Satow is long, thus the name rhymes with the British pronunciation of 'tomato'. Many people pronounce it as a short 'a,' which sounds similar to the Japanese surname 'Sat?' and thus causes confusion. Indeed the Japanese almost universally pronounce the name with the short 'a' and this pronunciation has cemented over time in the Japanese language.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It is probable that Japanese friends or language teachers encouraged Satow to use kanji characters for his name in the 1860s, as is quite common among foreigners resident in Japan even today. This would have ensured the short 'a' pronunciation, there being no native words with a long 'a' in Japanese. The two obvious combinations were ?? and ??, both read 'Satoh' with a short 'a'. Of these the former uses the ? (Sa) of Satsuma, and Satow himself may have preferred this one, as the Satsuma clan was allied with Britain after 1865. The Japanese wikipedia states that Satow's Japanese name was ????? (Sat? Ainosuke).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~