The Pronunctiation of " E U S T A C E "

By S.S.Eustace, Spring Issue 1981, Eustace Families Post.

Note - This article uses a phonetic alphabet, in diagonals, to denote speech sounds
unambiguously.  It is very like that of the International Phonetic Association but is adapted 
for the typewriter.  In the following table, each symbol represents the sound of the underlined
letter in the key word following:

"/A/ cat" means /A/ has the sound of A in cat.

/A/ cat as generally sounded				/I/ Pisa

/A/ cat as sounded in Lancs.				/IU/ ie /I/ plus /U/ of Welsh iw

/Ah/ spa						/I/ fit

/E/ date as sounded in Scotland				/J/ Jugoslavia i.e. as Y
      French E acute.		

/EU/ is /E/ plus /U/, much as				/U/ as /Uh/ but short
     in Italian. Not /JUh/ as in			/U/ too in Yorkshire. The Southern
     English /NJUhT3/ neuter.				    sound is more like /UW/
               						/U/ book

/E/ bed 						/3/ ago

/h/ means that the preceding				/'/ goes before the stressed
    vowel sound is prolonged				syllable, as /'JUhST3S/ Eustace
    (Not an alphabetic letter -
    but an accent mark)				        /-/ a syllable

(Phonetic spelling of some keywords is sometimes theoretical not factual e.g. neuter is in fact
sounded more like /'NJUT3/ than /-Uh-/.)

Eustace is from the French, whence it came perhaps in the 11th century in the clerical
pronunciation of the day.  This was greatly influenced by the contemporary pronunciation of
Latin and was /EU'STAS3/ or /EUS-/ as the modern spelling suggests.  It was this that was
learnt, by ear, by the English from the French.  The modern pronunciation is /'JUhST3S/ or
less often /-TIS/.

I, myself, usually say /-T3S/ but /-TIS/ when thinking about the written word.  I  associate 
/-TIS/ in particular with two old men, one b.ca.1870 (He rhymed my name with ...deduced is)
The other born 1901.  My late mother .b, 1888 said /-T3S/.  There seems to have been
another form /-TES/ in America and doubtless elsewhere in 1894.  The medieval French
pronunciation had a stress /-'T-/ and three syllables.   Let us consider each of these features.
Stress  -  Evidence for the stressing /-'-/ or / ‘/is provided by the surnames Stace and
Stac(e)y, originally pet names.  Stace is evidenced in 1147, Staci in 1270.   Both of those
who bore them may have been baptised Eustace.

When the stress changed to /'-/ or /'--/ is harder to say.  Chaucer (ca. 1400 -1450) hesitates
with French-derived words, stressing e.g. Arcite both /'-/ and /-'/.     Honour stressed /-'/ 
is found in 1462.     The form with the modern stressing had perhaps coexisted with it for a
century or more.  Perhaps the stress history of Eustace is similar.   Evidence is scarce.

Now we shall jump to the last syllable, spelt -e.  When did this cease to be sounded?   The
spelling Eustas occurs in 1275 but it seems to have been uncommon.  Of course the -e was
still
sounded in the time of Chaucer, and let us say that the disappearance took place in the next
century.  Such a change takes that long.

Eustace Families Post Editors' note -  Sinclair Eustace of the Irish Robertstown line disclaims
being an expert on phonetics and pronunciation but is certainly a very knowledgable student
to whom we are indebted.