Guillotine

:This article is about the execution machine. See paper guillotine for the office equipment. See Guillotine (metalwork) for the metal-working tool, and cloture for the parliamentary motion.

Pronunciation note

There is some conflict as to how the word guillotine should be pronounced. The word entered English from French in 1793, and since then authorities on pronunciation have debated, not whether guillotine should be pronounced GIL-uh-TEEN or GEE-yuh-TEEN, but whether it should be pronounced with a stress on the third syllable (GIL-uh-TEEN) or on the first.

Related Topics:
Pronounced - 1793 - Syllable

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Since, for several decades, stressing of the word's first syllable has held sway over stressing of the third, one question remains: is it the long-established GIL-uh-TEEN or the recently popular GEE-yuh-TEEN which should be said? Pronunciation pronunciator Charles Harrington Elster, in his Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations, calls GEE-yuh-TEEN "a pseudo-French affectation." He continues: "Careful speakers are expected to help hold the line on this one—on pain of beheading!"

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Of course, Elster's prescription is not universally accepted. See also list of words of disputed pronunciation.

Related Topics:
Prescription - List of words of disputed pronunciation

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