I always thought it was cla-MAT-us, but it's pronounced CLEM-a-tus on the videos.
CLEM-uh-tus or cla-MAT-us?
CLEM-a-tis is correct.
I've been incorrectly corrected at a couple of nurseries. A manager of a large nursery said in a snarky tone, "you mean cle-MAN-tis", and a woman said to me this year " you mean cle-MAH-tis" as if she was British.
I first learned/heard it pronounced CLEM-a-tis, which I was saying incorrectly for a while. It was a hard habit to break, but I kept saying it out loud until it sounded right to my ears.
pronunciation is a fun topic.
Yes, especially when one is married to a Brit! LOL You should have heard what he did to Achille's (as in heel) this morning. I bit my tongue like a good wife. :-)
My hubbie is a Brit too
but he stays clear of Clem talk!
In the South, we put the accent on the second syllable. When I call a nursery anywhere else in the country, I try to do it the other way rather than saying "Do ya'll have any clemATis." We get enough flack about our accents without dealing the the word "clematis."
Here is an audible pronunciation of clematis :)
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clematis
I've been saying it wrong all my life - I'd never heard it any other way until I listened to an audio about clematis. This is going to take some time to change. Thanks, JuliaJayne!
Somewhat related to this pronunciation...my son was using my computer and thought "clematis" sounded like some kind of disease!
It is a disease, sort of, Bananna.... lol
Dathen, I think most people pronounce clematis the wrong way. I actually prefer saying it the wrong way... I think it rolls off the tongue easier.
I don't know how official this is, but listen to this one. Scroll down a little.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/clematis
I'm a Brit (sorry) but I've always pronounced it as in the sound file above. Pronunciation is very much about
where your from, I realy don't think there's a right or wrong way. My wife say's crem a ti su. LOL!
pajonica
I didn't mean to imply that the British pronounce clematis wrong. The woman added the fake British accent when she pronounced Clematis.
either pronunciation is considered correct. even among the real experts, authors and growers there are differences in which pronunciation is preferred. so no one should change their pronunciation, not necessary!
Raymond Evison also says both ways are correct.
Julia, I certainly wasn't trying to prove you wrong. It's just that before you posted this thread, a good friend of mine told me that it could be pronounced either way, so I asked her how she knew this. She led me to the website that I included here. It really doesn't matter to me how people pronouce it. You would be able to get a lot of laughs if you could hear how we in the South pronounce a LOT of things. We may sound funny at times, but it's a wonderful place to live. (if you can take the heat) Have a great day!
now that we have all piped in on pronunciation of the word clematis, there are more interesting pronunciation variances to think about.
i recently discovered that there are many names of clems, and even groups that i have been mispronouncing.
atragene
jackmani
odoriba
tangutica
just three off the top of my head. cotw is testing adding a pronunciation audio to the site.
is anyone aware of a resource that gives audio pronunciation of the cultivars? i was very interested in the things i was pronouncing wrong and would love to explore this area.
The other day when I was talking with guy at Joy Creek, I had to keep asking him to repeat the names of the clems he recommended for my climate. I had to keep saying, "we call it 'so and so' down here. I didn't even understand him when he said "Galore." Do you pronouce Jackmani with the "ah" sound?
I'll be looking for a site where we can get some help with that.
well i was in the habit of saying jackman e i
and i think it is just jackman i
if i remember correctly.
atragene was my biggee.
no one pronounces clem name in my area, so i am on my own and love this topic.
how did he pronounce galore?
I can't remember, but it sounded like a foreign language to me.
i will see i i can find out
No one where I live, except tabasco, even knows what "that purple flower is", let alone realize there are different kinds with different names. We are on our own here :) , so relying on your guys.
so funny punkysmawma......same in my area... the purple one, white one and i want a pink one is it. even at the nurseries that sometimes good good offerings.
or my hubbie is the worst, saying , "they all look pretty much the same don't they?" as his famous quote when touring thru the garden. i don't think he has ever even thought of saying clematis let alone pronouncing it correctly.
No worries, Sharkey, I didn't take it that way.
I too have seen multiple sources that state both pronunciations are acceptable. However, the first pronunciation in your link is the correct way to pronounce clematis based on it's Greek origins, and the Oxford English Dictionary. So, how nerdy am I now. What can I say, I was at the library getting books on vines and clematis, so I looked it up. lol
The second pronunciation is being added to dictionaries because it has become an acceptable pronunciation as so many people pronounce it that way, and could become the more accepted form in the future.
Names like Jackmanii and Henryi had the letter I or II put on at the end to Latinize the names. A practice that probably doesn't happen much anymore.
While pronouncing Jackmanii as Jackmanee is easy enough, trying to pronounce Henryi with the Latin addition would be awkward.
Here are a few pronunciations of the species names.
I've been pronouncing most of them wrong.
http://www.finegardening.com/pguide/pronunciation-guide-to-botanical-latin.aspx
JJ, did you find any good books? I was just recently going through my gardening books and found that I had Linda Beutler's Gardening with Clematis (Design & Cultivation), I think CG may have mentioned that one at some point in time. Also found that I had The Rose and the Clematis as Good Companions by John Howells. I have really enjoyed reading through them both. The Rose and the Clematis has some really beautiful pictures of combinations and I know DGers are often asking each others' opinions on what roses may go together with what clematis. Also, and CG you may have mentioned this also in earlier threads, the Gardening with Clematis book lists good clem combos as well as perennials/clem combos. Beautiful pictures in both books. Seems that at some time in my gardening past I must have had a little bit of a spark for clems and the good sense to purchase these books. So glad I did as it was a pleasant surprise to take a break from all the home and garden remodeling and sit and fantasize over these gorgeous pictures!
Some of the clematis books were checked out. The ones remaining were:
Companions to Clematis, Clematis, Queen of the Climbers, and The Gardeners Guide to Growing Clematis, and Clematis for Small Spaces. I've read all of them except for the last one
The vine books: Climbers and Wall Plants, Climbing Gardens, Creative Climbers, Clematis and Climbers, and Clever Ways with Climbers.
I'm am about to rearrange a bunch of stuff in my garden, so I'm looking for inspiration before I start. You know what I'll be doing tonight. funfunfun
I really like Linda Beutler's book. I don't own it, but I've read it, and plan on purchasing it one of these days. I think it's one of the best clematis books.
Hope nobody thinks my comment about my DH's pronunciation was a dig - I love his British-isms and often use them if they are more expressive than my own terms!
Language is a fun topic.
of course not. "we", meaning us clemmers, have more language quirks than the brits ....and this forum is an
equal opportunity spot for any of us to take a "dig" at the hubbies........one big happy family as we have said before.
married to a brit for 29 years i can relate for sure......
Thanks, Clem, I didn't want to be misunderstood. We joke about it, but I do know when to give it a pass. I try to keep some of the Yorkshire-talk going, too, because his brothers tease him about sounding like a Yank. :-)
We have a lot of local dialects in the UK and often take the mick" no offence to mick.I love some of the US
accents. Mine is a UK west country accent, My favorite is Irish.
Jon
Jon, we visited N. Ireland to see where my grandparents lived. One day we were stopped by the Garda and I ended up translating for my DH and stepson because they couldn't understand the accent. Love the accents in the UK - I had ancestors from Somerset and Brecon as well, so I like to think of how they spoke when they arrived in America.
Julia, that pronunciation guide is a real eye-opener, but some of the pronunciations just threw me completely. I've been gardening for decades, and my gardening has always included lots of trips to nurseries and lots of discussions with other gardeners, but I can honestly say that I have never heard anyone use the "correct" pronunciations (according to that guide) for cyclamen, fuchsia, and helleborus. It's hard to believe they're pronounced SICK-la-men, FEWK-see-a, and hel-LEB-or-us. In all these years, I've only heard the third syllable accented in Helleborus, and the other two are always SYKE-la-men and FEW-sha.
My grandma lived in Canada for 40 years and still spoke with her original UK accent, I believe accents are acquired at a very Young age. Living in Japan I have learned a reasonable amount of the language, and of course I speak it with my UK accent, luckily the Japanese find it quite endearing.
Jon
I've always heard cyclamen and fuchsia pronouced correctly, I've never heard helleborus pronounced correctly, and my experience with attempting to say clematis correctly has always resulted in some nursery personnel correcting me to the incorrect pronunciation. I wonder if it's a regional thing...
It must be a regional thing. Everyone I know in California pronounces Cyclamen incorrectly -- by analogy with cycles, I guess. If the correct pronunciation of fuchsia is FEWK-see-a, I have to wonder why so many people misspell it as "fuschia." The pronunciation should give them the key to the correct spelling.
I just spoke to my Aussie friend and he pronounces Clematis as Clem ADE dis.
And the plot thickens! If I or you were in Australia, I doubt we would be understood in the local garden shop. lol.
Jon
Great thread here
clems are so misundestood we just have to be glad that people are interested in them, not how to pronounce. But on my recent trip west I was amazed at how many I was mispronouncing.
Tangutica( tan git eh ca vs tang u tica) atragene (a tra gen eh vs atra gene)
vitacella ( vitasella vs vitachella)I sure hope cotw adds pronounciation audio to all listings!
Another one to consider Tulips, tyu lips or two lips, How do you pronounce it?
Jon