His name seems to be pronounced by English speaking physicists, who probably do not speak German, as ‘Kronnecker’. What is the correct pronunciation?
1 Answer
Leopold Kronecker was a German mathematician and his brother Hugo Kronecker was a German physiologist. Both were born in Liegnitz which belonged to Prussia when they were born, but now belongs to Poland and is spelled Legnica now.
Both were born and grew up in a German speaking society and both of them lived in a region that became Germany later. So, if you want to pronounce their last name correctly, you have to pronounce it according to the German rules of pronunciation.
The name is a compound word, built from
- Kron
- Ecker
The first part is the stem of the word Krone (engl: crown). The pronunciation of Krone is [ˈkʁoːnə], so Kron has to be prnonouced [ˈkʁoːn].
American people who pronounce this syllable often add an [u] after the [o] and create a diphthong this way, but the correct German pronunciation of Kron doesn't contain an [u] sound or a diphthong. It's just a strait long [o].
The second part "Ecker" is the German name for beech nut, this is the fruit of beech trees. More often you will hear Buchecker instead of Ecker (because the German name of beech is Buche), but both words are valid names for this nut.
- "Ecker" is pronounced [ˈɛkɐ]
Join it together and you get Kronecker, the main stress is on the first syllable, so all in all you get:
"Kronecker" [ˈkʁoːnɛkɐ]
answered Sep 13, 2020 at 7:49
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1It may be a variety, but the vocalized <er> in Germany usually becomes an [ə]. Commented Sep 13, 2020 at 9:05
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4@amadeusamadeus So bitte and bitter are homophonous? That strikes me as unusual. – I would add the glottal stop in front of the second part to the transcription, otherwise people may pronounce the name as [ˈkʁoː.nɛkɐ]. (Not that that pronunciation wouldn't occur, but people should be aware of the more explicit form.) Commented Sep 13, 2020 at 9:29
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1+1. Especially for warning about a typical mistake. I lost count how often I heard German scientists' names butchered to the Oblivion. Commented Sep 13, 2020 at 10:27
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3Looks plausible but also like folk etymology? What's your evidence for the etymology? Why is it Kron-Ecker and not Kro-Necker? Is Kroneck/Cronegg explained in the same way? Is it comparable to Honecker? Or is that 'someone from Kroneck'? (A quick search gave me a link saying the origin/meaning of 'Kronecker' was 'not known') Commented Sep 13, 2020 at 11:55
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1@LangLangC: Kro-Necker doesn't make any sense because "Kro" is neither a German word nor stem of a German word. Kroneck/Kronegg/Cronegg is built from "Kron" (stem of "Krone" and "Eck" (very common variation of "Ecke") (outdated also "Egg") which means "corner" but (in Names) also "ridge". Commented Sep 13, 2020 at 20:09
r-sound, which is in German always guttural (inkr) or omitted (iner), but never an alveolar/postalveolar approximant (except in some dialects).