Meharg

Question

My daughter is about to marry into a family with the name Meharg.  Some members pronounce it M'Harge (with a French sound at the end) and others M'Harj with short ending.  They tell me their family relates back to Ireland, which to me sounds like neither the two used.  I see it as simply as it sounds with a hard 'g' at the end.  They also omit the 'e'  Anyone know of this name who can help?.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Sorry, I don't know that name.

Consider this.
My surname is rather unusual, and I do not pronounce it the way most strangers do when they see it.
My experience is that people are happy to pronounce my name the way I tell them I like it to be pronounced. Perhaps you could apply the same principle to the different members of this family?

Clive

Raindoctor · Answer

Words over the time loose the characteristics of the source language. That's how natural languages evolve and have evolved. So, forget about the original Irish pronunciation. Just look it from English sound system, and its history.

Whenever you see < h > between vowel graphemes, English treats it in two different ways: it deletes /h/ when the vowel following /h/ is not stressed; /h/ is pronounced when the vowel following it is stressed. Compare VE-(h)i-cle vs ve-HIC-ular, GRA-(h)am.

The other aspect of < h > in Germanic languages is length: in German, whenever you see a < h > followed by a vowel, you treat that vowel as lengthened. In English, phonemic length disappeared; thanks to the great vowel shift, those lengthened vowels became diphthongs in some cases. For instance, look at how VE-(h)i-cle and a-NNI- (h)i-late are pronounced, how old English long vowels were transformed in these two words.

In the case of Meharg, same thing happened: the second syllable is stressed, thats why /h/ is pronounced; as a consequence, the first syllable is not stressed, thats why the first vowel < e > is omitted.

The other issue is how < g > should be pronounced. English has a tendency of fake foreignisms. That's why when they see < a > in foreign words, they use a vowel heard in words like "LOT, COT"; in native words, when they see close syllables with < a > , they use a vowel heard in words like TRAP. They also shift the stress to keep the fake foreignism: ber-'LIN, se-'VILLE. They don't use the same stress pattern in native words. Same thing with < g >: they just use a foreignism with that french /zh/ for sound. In fact, English /zh/ came from French, anyway.

So, stop worrying about how Meharg was pronounced in Irish. Just pronounce the way you do when you encounter a foreign word.

Anonymous · Answer

Meharg is originally from a Scottish descent but went into Ireland in the late 1500's to 1600's! The most common pronunciation in all countries that the Meharg's are in seems to be more like "Muherg"! (Mu as in mud not Mu as in music) Hopefully this helps!

Anonymous · Answer

Have just come across this posting which seems to be quite few years old, so may not be picked up by the originator. Anyway, I'm a Meharg and it originates from Northern Ireland/Ulster, where my father was brought up. It's pronounced with a hard G at the end and it's not Meeharg as many seem keen to pronounce it, it's nearer to M'harg or Maharg. All the best.

Meharg

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