Why Magdalen has always been ‘Maudlin’
SIR – Professor James Tooley (Letters, June 15) complains about the pronunciation of our college’s name.
As one of my colleagues – an expert in this matter – has pointed out, it is not the pronunciation that has changed but the spelling. The Foundation Charter uses Maudeleyn – and, as with many other words from the 15th century, the spelling has evolved over time.
Our sister college in Cambridge, Magdalene, uses the same pronunciation we do.
Mark Blandford-baker
Home Bursar
Magdalen College, Oxford
SIR – What about a nice balled egg for breakfast?
Patsie Goulding
Reigate, Surrey
SIR – It is difficult to wean English people off pronouncing the ch sound as they do in the word church – so chiropodist (Letters, June 15) did not stand a chance.
I don’t understand how we get the word Chianti right, with a hard c, but bruschetta always comes out with sh. Italian grammar is consistent: an h after the letter c makes the c hard.
Jeremy Burton
Wokingham, Berkshire