How is the name "Silone" in "Joshepine Silone Yates" pronounced?

December 10, 2020 4:14 AM

I've heard two different pronunciations of the family name, "Silone", as in Josephine Silone Yates. One is sih-LOAN, and the other SILL-on (I found the latter here). Which one would Josephine Silone Yates most likely have used herself?
posted by Kattullus to Writing & Language (5 answers total)

Response by poster: Forgot the link to the Wikipedia page on her.
posted by Kattullus at 4:16 AM on December 10, 2020 [1 favorite]

The surname is Italian in origin, which is pronounced something like "see-LOAN-eh." Americanized it would likely be given as "sih-LOAN-ee" or would turn into something like "sih-LOAN" which I would rate as most likely. But it certainly could have been "SIH-loan." There is really no way of knowing for sure which one she preferred unless the particular pronunciation her family used is documented somewhere. For example, if you have several American people with the surname Montefiglione, some would pronounce it the Italian way as "mawn-teh-fee-ʎʎO-neh" and some would pronounce it... well, a not-Italian way as "mawn-teh-fig-lee-OWN."
posted by slkinsey at 7:16 AM on December 10, 2020

Response by poster: I don’t think this is the same name as the identically spelled Italian surname. Here’s a bit about the family history.
posted by Kattullus at 8:48 AM on December 10, 2020

I see the title name Josh-e-pine instead of Jo-se-phine so is that in anyway relevant or a typo? If her first name is Josephine (like Josephine Baker) the middle name could very well be pronounced Slone with an unheard soft first syllable. If its Josh-epine it may sound like Jo-SEPH-a -nee Sa-LO-nee
posted by The_imp_inimpossible at 2:42 AM on December 11, 2020

Best answer: I thought of writing the library of Lincoln University, where she was a professor, and the scholar who has researched her the most pronounces it “sih-LOAN”. That’s good enough for me.
posted by Kattullus at 7:04 AM on December 11, 2020 [1 favorite]