Ebola

Questions of pronunciation in all languages.
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Slava
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Ebola

Postby Slava » Sat Nov 08, 2014 2:19 pm

Does anyone out there know how this is pronounced in the area it was first discovered? I've seen it printed with an accent over the e, which makes me think it's actually a French term and should be pronounced something like "ay-bowl-AH". Thoughts?
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Perry Lassiter
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Re: Ebola

Postby Perry Lassiter » Sat Nov 08, 2014 8:27 pm

Only heard it with accent on long O.
And repeatedly, I have pointed out in the US it is a tempest in a tea pot. No Ebola epidemic here, but a certain flu epidemic thag kills thousands every year. Get your flu shot.
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Slava
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Re: Ebola

Postby Slava » Sat Nov 08, 2014 8:51 pm

Trust me, I most sincerely do not wish to bring in the insane panic surrounding this issue. I am merely asking if anyone knows how it pronuncified.
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Re: Ebola

Postby bnjtokyo » Mon Nov 10, 2014 8:30 pm

According to an article I read a few weeks ago in the NYTimes, the virus is named after a river in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_River),
Ebola is a French corruption of Legbala, the name of the river in the local language. Therefore, I think it should be pronounced in accordance with French phonology, with an accent aigu (IPA [e]).

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Slava
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Re: Ebola

Postby Slava » Mon Nov 10, 2014 9:04 pm

Excellent, now I know how to spell accent aigu. And, now that I've looked up that part I know it is called an acute accent.

As the é is a corruption of the local term, should I be thinking of ébolA, or éBOLa. Ze French would put ze stress on ze ultima, but as it may not be real French, perhaps it's on the o?
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Re: Ebola

Postby misterdoe » Mon Feb 02, 2015 3:31 pm

In news stories about Africans in the NYC area being discriminated against because of Ebola hysteria (awhile back), the Africans being interviewed uniformly pronounced it AY-bo-la.

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Slava
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Re: Ebola

Postby Slava » Mon Feb 02, 2015 3:51 pm

Thanks misterdoe. Let's hope the good news continues and they don't have to say it all that much anymore.
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