Date: Mon, 9 Jan 1995 12:11:53 EST

From: Vicki Rosenzweig murphy!acmcr!vr[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UUNET.UU.NET

Subject: Re: that military rank



Purely speculation, but I see "lieutenant" derived from lieu meaning

place (as in, "in lieu of") and tenant meaning holder, so (a) a

lieutenant is a placeholder, someone acting for a higher official

(with the military rank a derived term) and the pronunciation may

have been put together from the pronunciation of the parts. Alternatively,

the US pronunciation may come from the spelling. Either way, I wonder

what the British "leftenant" pronunciation comes from.



Vicki Rosenzweig

vr%acmcr.uucp[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]murphy.com

New York, NY