• lugal@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    It’s the same in German: /mɛʁˈt͡seːdəs/

    Despite what other commentators say who are evil and eager to spread lies about the German language

    • Ultraviolet@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      However, in Spanish, which is the name’s language of origin despite being a German car, they’re the same. All e as in red. Mercedes.

      • lugal@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        True, it’s a common female name, or was idk. Iirc the car is named after the daughter of the inventor. The German pronunciation is the butchered version of the Spanish first name so I’m on no moral high ground

        • Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de
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          2 months ago

          Iirc the car is named after the daughter of the inventor.

          Not the inventor and it’s a bit more complicated. Emil Jellinek was selling Daimler cars, and had them participate in races for publicity. His daughter was called Mercédès Adrienne Ramona Jellinek. The historical record is a bit unclear, either he used her name as a pseudonym for a racer, or he christened one of the cars after her. In any case they won that race, gaining the name some notority which he and the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft used for further marketing later on.

    • Ephera@lemmy.ml
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      2 months ago

      On a phonetic level, some specialist will be able to discern the different E-sounds, but they’re still very similar. It’s definitely not like the English pronunciation where it’s completely different sounds.

      • lugal@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        It’s basically the three E sounds we have in German (short, long and “unstressed”) but I see that to the untrained ear, this isn’t obvious

    • pumpkinseedoil@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      The difference is so narrow that I wouldn’t notice any difference apart from the length, the first and last e are very slightly shorter than the middle e. And of course you have the usual going-down-with-your-voice-at-the-end-of-the-word

      • lugal@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Yes, we often call them “long” and “short” E but the short E is actually halfway to A. It’s a different vowel even though it’s written the same. The last E is the vowel we often have in unstressed syllables like gekommen, same in English upon, about. We write it as E but it’s basically the most relaxed vowel possible.

        Look at this vowel chart to see and hear the differences.

          • lugal@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            Yesn’t.

            E and Ä are basically the same sounds but you use the letter Ä to indicate that the root word has an A. Fähre is derived from fahren so it has Ä but it’s the same sound as the first E in Mercedes.

            • pumpkinseedoil@sh.itjust.works
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              2 months ago

              At least in Austria the first e in Mercedes is much closer to e than to ä.

              On the other hand many actual ä are also much closer to e than to ä in Austria so ig it might be different in Germany.

    • Wilzax@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      The first E in Mercedes sounds slightly different from the other two in German, mostly because the rhotic sound [r] modifies the tongue placement for the preceding E, forcing you to say it as either an open-mid front unrounded vowel [ɛ], or a mid near-front unrounded [ɛ̽]. The [r] prevents the vowel from being a Close-mid front unrounded vowel [e] like the 2nd and 3rd occurrences of E.

      Or more simply, the first e sounds more like “bed” while the second and third sound more like “may”, assuming you’re reading this with a standard American dialect.

  • HerbSolo@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Me as a kid, having just learned english, listening to Janis Joplin: “What the fuck is a mercy dispense!?”

    • RQG@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      When you pray for the lord to have mercy, they have to dispense it somehow. That part made sense to me as a kid.

      However why would God have to buy one? And from whom? Who manufactures these mercy dispensers for God? Why wouldn’t God just make them into existence?

      When I learned that it was Mercedes Benz I came to understand that even God needs to abide by trademark law.

  • Ephera@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    What the hell, it’s originally Spanish where all the Es sound the same, then it got popularized by a German brand, where all the Es sound the same, how did it become Merceydees in English?

  • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    But only in English. In the original German, all three e’s are actually the same.

  • 🐋 Color 🍁 ♀@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    In Spanish the e’s are pronounced the same way, and the same applies for German! It’s only in English that the e’s are all pronounced differently! English is such a weird language, I love it but it’s things like this which are hilarious to me.