Pronunciation of Cabot (the mountain near Kilkenny, not the one near Shelburne)

To settle a discussion between a friend and I. Is it pronounced (pardon the bad approximations)- ka-but or ka-bow? Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for answers.

cyohman said:

To settle a discussion between a friend and I. Is it pronounced (pardon the bad approximations)- ka-but or ka-bow? Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for answers.

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I would assume that the pronunciation is the English version ("ka-but") rather than the French version ("ka-bow"). According to Steve Smith's 4,000 Footer book, this mountain was named in honor of Sebastian Cabot who was an English sea captain who explored along the coast of New England in the sixteenth century.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_Cabot_(explorer)

Cabot was Italian, but explored for the English. Still, I agree with you John. Then again, if anyone else out there has a different opinion with a good reason I'd love to read it.

While researching this topic, I found what seems to be a free book on the White Mountains from the early 20th century. Only the .epub format appears to be available. EPUB software here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPUB#Reading_systems

The .pdf link is broken.

http://books.google.com/books?id=DK...es Foster Sweetser&pg=PR3#v=onepage&q&f=false

Unlike Moosilauke, Kancamagus and Tripoli, I have never heard a second pronunciation for KA-but.

See this thread on pronunciation


Tim

Cabot

There's plenty of "rabbit" on CABB-it......

We (the English and us) beat the French and threw them out. (Then we beat the English and threw them out, thereby saving us all from a lifetime of milk and tea.)

If you go around pronouncing it "ka-bow", someone's liable to whup you upside the head with a block of Vermont cheddar, produced by a certain group of post-colonial cheesemongers.

Blessed are the cheesemakers!

Nevermind the cheese, the Cabots were one of the "first families of Boston" that gave rise to the terms blue-blooded and Boston Brahmin.

MichaelJ said:

Nevermind the cheese, the Cabots were one of the "first families of Boston" that gave rise to the terms blue-blooded and Boston Brahmin.

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"Here's to dear old Boston, The home of the bean and the cod, Where Lowells speak only to Cabots, And Cabots speak only to God."

bcskier said:

"Here's to dear old Boston, The home of the bean and the cod, Where Lowells speak only to Cabots, And Cabots speak only to God."

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Or, the alternative:

And this is good old Boston,
The home of the bean and the cod,
Where the Lowells have no one to talk to
Since the Cabots speak Yiddish, by God.

http://harvardmagazine.com/1997/03/browse.book.html

bcskier said:

"Here's to dear old Boston, The home of the bean and the cod, Where Lowells speak only to Cabots, And Cabots speak only to God."

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If you shall permit me going off on a tangent a little tidbit is that Percival Lowell was from the famed "Lowell" family from said quote. Percival was the astronomer who claimed he saw canals on Mars that clearly looked to be wrought by alien hands. And to keep this all hiking related Mars is home to Olympus Mons, the tallest known volcano in the solar system, and is three times taller than Everest......but I think you will need more than a few sherpas and supplemental oxygen to get yourself up this peak.

Brian

P.S. I too pronounce it Ka but.....but thats just me.

Thanks to everyone for the great info. I never knew there was controversy about the pronunciation of Tripoli Road.

cyohman said:

I never knew there was controversy about the pronunciation of Tripoli Road.

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I was just thinking the exact same thing myself...

Try-po-lee? Not feeling it.

NewHampshire said:

And to keep this all hiking related Mars is home to Olympus Mons, the tallest known volcano in the solar system, and is three times taller than Everest......but I think you will need more than a few sherpas and supplemental oxygen to get yourself up this peak.

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Kim Stanley Robinson's The Martians has an account of a climb of Olympus Mons. KSR has a climbing background but I don't know how recent; I find it hard to believe a Red would be using pitons instead of clean pro.

Click Clack said:

Try-po-lee? Not feeling it.

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Actually, it's Tri-po-lie, but only a few folks still call it that.

previous pronunciation thread, including many comments on Tripoli:

http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=15554&highlight=tripoli+pronunciation

Tripoli Rd. is named from the Tripolite (diatomaceous earth - shells from diatoms) that used to be mined there, and not the place the Marines go to the shore of.
http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/white_mountain/recreation/hiking/east_pond.html

posted my previous response after reading Dave M's note on the pronunciation of Tripoli, and did not see Nartreb's response.