
Why Leicester is pronounced “Lester” - bookofjoe
https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/why-is-leicester-pronounced-lester-722275
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mytailorisrich
Leicester is good but my my favourite is 'Southwark':
[https://pronunciationstudio.com/how-to-pronounce-
southwark-b...](https://pronunciationstudio.com/how-to-pronounce-southwark-
borough-london/)

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bookofjoe
Wow. I had NO idea. Sign me, "born and raised in Milwaukee"

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jaclaz
I learned that Worcester (yes the same a the sauce) is (should be)
indistinguishable from Wooster, reading P.G. Wodehouse, in his "Jeeves"
stories there is one in which the main character Bertie Wooster says somethign
to that effect.

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simonblack
Then there's 'Cholmondeley' and 'Featherstonehaugh', as well.

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Hackbraten
Clickbait. The article never bothers to talk about the “why.”

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bookofjoe
>So if you're ready for an English lesson here's where the pronunciation comes
from.

The abbreviated way of pronouncing the places name ending in “-cester” can be
seen in the Shakespearean era.

This word, spelled ceaster in the Old English language, comes from the Latin
castra (camp), originally meant a Roman encampment in ancient Britain.

So why does “-cester” has a “-ster” pronunciation?

It is believed that the “-ster” pronunciation developed in the early 18th
century.

William Johnston’s ‘A Pronouncing and Spelling Dictionary’ (1764) notes that
‘c’ is not pronounced in words such as Leicester, Gloucester and Worcester,
which makes them two syllable words.

However the English remember ‘ceaster’ as a toponymic suffix which is adapted
variously as -cester (Leicester), -caster (Lancaster), -chester (Manchester).

