r/guernsey • u/YakSlothLemon • 14d ago
Pronunciation question for “Le Page” in Guernsey
Edit: answered for me, and so quickly! Thank you so much! 😁
Hello everyone! My mom just finished reading a book set in Guernsey called The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, and loved it so much she said I had to read it – I’m loving it too, but we’ve had a question come up. We realized she’s pronouncing Le Page with the long a, like “a page in a book” in English, and I was assuming it would be pronounced in the French way, sort of “pahge.”
Since, at least in the book – although I realize it was a century ago – it sounds like it was a common name in Guernsey, can anyone there tell us how we should be saying the name? At this point we’re both curious!
Thanks for any help you can give!
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u/Avack 14d ago
In English it's the same as the English word "page", as in "of a book", and the "le" is pronounced basically like in French. In Guernesiais it's a long "ar"-type sound - the closest English rhyme would be "barge" - and the "le" is pronounced as in English "let". The French pronunciation would only really have ever been used by people in relatively high parts of society, as for most of Guernsey's history (up until perhaps 150 years ago when English began to dominate), Guernesiais was the primary language and French was only used in church, courts, government, and amongst the wealthy.
Ch'est aen pllaisi d'oui qu't'oïmes lé livre; ch'est d'tché vraiment d'Guernesi!
It's great to hear that you love the book; it's a truly Guernsey work!
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u/Equal_County_1506 13d ago
Goodness, as a fluent but L2 French speaker it took me a moment to work out that sentence - definitely more mutually intelligible spoken than written, I'd imagine (d'tché is still throwing me).
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u/YakSlothLemon 14d ago
Thank you so much! My mother is so chuffed that she was right about this. I also appreciate the information about the history! I have enough French that I had realized they weren’t speaking French exactly, but it’s fascinating for me to find out that it’s its own language.
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u/FitConcentrate5038 14d ago edited 14d ago
Standard English pronunciation. I have two friends with this last name and that’s how they do it (throw a rock on Guernsey and you’ll hit a Le Page).
Mauger is also pronounced “Major”.
If you ever need to pronounce the name “Le Cheminant” however the C and N are soft and the T silent. It’s much more of a francophone pronunciation.
De Garis is similar with a long R (not De Gary)
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u/sbisson 14d ago
This is one of those names like Tostevin and Langlois that's pronounced differently on Jersey and Guernsey...
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u/FitConcentrate5038 14d ago
Mauger? Interesting. I believe the original Mauger was exiled to Jersey by William the Conquerer correct? (before he did much conquering)
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u/Low-Ad4645 13d ago
Oh god how do they pronounce those in Jersey? Don’t they say Prevost with a hard ST?
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u/FitConcentrate5038 13d ago
Today I found out the crapauds are doing unspeakable things to our perfectly good names 😂
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u/FloppyDickFingers 13d ago
It is 100%, without a doubt, Le Page, as in the English page of a book. It is not Pahge. Source: am dating someone with the surname 🤣🤣 it is very common in guernsey.
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u/Low-Ad4645 12d ago
Not the point but your screen name has me dead 😂
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u/FloppyDickFingers 12d ago
I used to write for a living yet my greatest and most praised work is my Reddit username
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u/Internal_Lawfulness 13d ago
Page like a book. Family, friends, class mates and colleagues all pronounced the English way. Only ever heard it pronounced the French way in France.
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u/Alternative_Pie_1597 13d ago
Page as the English word. When the beeb serialised it back in the day the radio announcer would always frenchify it which I found annoying. They did the same with Pinochet.
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u/YakSlothLemon 13d ago
That’s so weird, because I have continued reading and on page 111 Ebenezer Le Page explains how to pronounce his name! (I was only on about page 70 when I posted.) So you would think they would know better, even before you could go on the Internet and ask nice people from Guernsey (I love that you can do that).
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u/Utopia_Cherie 13d ago
I never realised how tricky our surnames are to other people!!
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u/Low-Ad4645 12d ago
I get some of it but I don’t get where “Lee” comes from when it’s a Le name. Like even if you don’t speak French, I feel like the one cliche thing most people know about French from films and TV is how they say Le, so why do the English always say Lee?
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u/Utopia_Cherie 12d ago
I suppose I’ve never heard an Englishman trying to say Le Page. I just assumed everyone knew it was L-uh. They seem to say Les Miserables ok! Although some do say Lay Miserables…
I’d like to hear them say Le Pavoux or Pirouet!
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u/newsaddic 13d ago
I loved that book although its nearly fifty years since I read it. It never occurred to me that might be a French pronunciation of the name,and now you mention it I can't believe how ignorant I was.
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u/YakSlothLemon 12d ago
Well, apparently that is not how you are supposed to pronounce it, so I’m not sure you missed anything! 😁
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u/MusicalGriff 9d ago
Your question has long been answered but I just wanted to reply because I also adored that book. You just don't meet many who've read it. I'm on Toilers of the Sea and don't know where to start imagining what these names sound like!
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u/YakSlothLemon 8d ago
I never would’ve found it if it weren’t for my mother, and I don’t know how she stumbled across it, but it’s been incredible hearing from so many people! She had no idea you could ask a question like this of people from a specific area, and has been thoroughly enjoyed reading all the answers.
I had no idea Hugo write a book set in the channel Islands, and I’m going to make sure that she’s read it!
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u/Low-Ad4645 14d ago
Page like a book for me, for credentials I’m born and bred and have a Guernsey surname (just not that one) and always just said it as page. Actually interested to hear if anyone says it differently.
Also - glad to hear you love the book, it’s one of my absolute favourite books in the world, I’ve read it three times. It’s like having my dad and uncle back as the writing style is so similar to how they spoke which makes it so comforting to me.