hellog〜英語史ブログ / 2026-02

■ #6138. Rome の母音の歴史的変化 [latin][french][italian][pronunciation][vowel][mond]

　「#6128. 1月の mond で10件の問いに回答しました」 ([2026-02-05-1]) のリストで触れたが，先月，知識共有プラットフォーム mond にて次の質問をいただいた．

英語の Rome の o は二重母音 [ou] を持っていますが，古英語の長母音oは現代語で [u:] になるはずなので，この語は古英語からロームと発音されたのではない，中英語以降の再度の借用語なのでしょうか？

　回答をお読みいただければ分かるとおり，なかなか込み入った事情がある．この回答を作成するために周辺を調べ，メモを残しておいたので，それをこちらに残しておきたい．
　まず，現代の Rome の発音は /rəʊm || roʊm/ だが，LPD3 では "Formerly also /ruːm/" とあった．また，OED によると，次のようにあった．

This pronunciation [= /ruːm/] survived in regional speech into the 20th cent. (compare quots. 1873, 1909 at sense 2a; Sc. National Dict. (at Room) records the pronunciation /rum/ as still in use in Banffshire in 1968). It shows the regular reflex of Middle English long close ō, in turn reflecting Old English ō. By contrast, the modern standard pronunciation was influenced by the pronunciation of the Latin and Italian forms of the place name.

　さて，現代ではほぼ聞かれない /ruːm/ は，いつから用いられていたのだろうか．Walker の辞書の1827年版では，この語の発音を /ruːm/ として示しつつ，次の記述を与えている．

The o in this word is irrevocably fixed in the English sound of that letter in move, prove, &c. Pope, indeed, rhymes it with dome,
"Thus when we view some well-proprition'd dome,
"The word's just wonder, and ev'n thine, O Rome!"
But, as Mr. Nares observes, it is most probable that he pronounced this word as if written doom, as he rhymes Rome with doom afterwards in the same poem.
"From the same foes at last both felt their doom;
"And the same age saw learning fall and Rome."
                              Essay on Criticism, v. 685.
The truth is, nothing certain can be concluded from the rhyming of poets. It may serve to confirm an established usage, but can never direct us where usage is various and uncertain. But the pun which Shakespeare puts into the mouth of Cassius in Julius Cæsar decidedly shows what was the pronunciation of this word in his time:
  "Now it is Rome, indeed, and rom enough,
  "When there is in it but one only man."
And the Grammar in Queen Anne's time, recommended by Steele, says the city Rome is pronounced like Room; and Dr. Jones, in his Spelling Dictionary, 1704, gives it the same sound.

　一方，Dobson の示している証拠と，それに基づく解釈は精妙だ (Vol. 2, §154) ．

A special case of this variation is Rome, from OE Rōm reinforced by OF Rome. In this word [u:] is normal in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as in Bullokar, Robinson (see further below), Willis, Price (contrast his 'homophone' list; see below), Poole, Lye (following Price), WSC-RS, Brown's 'phonetically spelt' list, and the 'homophone' lists from Butler's onwards, including those of Hodges, Coles's Schoolmaster, and Cooper (which are the best), but with two exceptions (see below). The word has [o:] only in Hart, Price's 'homophone' list (paired with roam; contrast his text, which gives [u:]), and Coles's least selective list, that of the Engl.-Lati. Dict. Cooper in 'editing' the material of earlier 'homophone' lists removes the pairing of Rome with roam to a list of words which are pronounced 'differently' (and not even 'near alike'). Robinson, though he gives [u:] in transcribing Rome in an English text, gives [o:] in Romam in his Latin poem; this important evidence shows that the usual view, that the [o] pronunciation (whence PresE [ou]) in Rome is due to French or Italian influence, is inexact; it is more immediately derived from the English pronunciation of Latin, in which [o] in Roma may show ME substitution of ǭ for ō even in the neighbourhood of a labial, but is more likely to be due to the 'reformed pronunciation', which was based to some extent on foreign models.

　mond の回答でも述べたとおり，Dobson のいう 'reformed pronunciation' （改良発音）が何を指すのかは私には分からないので，この説を適切に評価することができない．ただ，著名な都市名をめぐる発音の問題について，このように熱い議論が交わされていることは知ることができた．

　・ Wells, J C. ed. Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. 3rd ed. Harlow: Pearson Education, 2008.
　・ Walker, John. Critical Pronouncing Dictionary and Expositor of the English Language. London: 1827.
　・ Dobson, E. J. English Pronunciation 1500--1700. 2nd ed. 2 vols. Oxford: OUP, 1968.

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