How do you pronounce the "ur-" in urtext?

[barnowl]

Someone I know asumed it was like the "ur-" in "burden" (and pronounced it that way until a second ago).

But it's more like the oor in Coor's Beer - according to the pronunication offered by the Merriam Webster folks at m-w.com.

Shame on you for mispronouncing this word until now.

A note is going home to your mother.

[henrah]

Shame on you for mispronouncing this word until now.

How did you know???


Now I'm really paranoid...

[counterpoint]

But it's more like the oor in Coor's Beer - according to the pronunication offered by the Merriam Webster folks at m-w.com.

I don't know, how Coor's Beer is pronounced,

but it's simple: just say "suretext" and then omit the "sh" at the beginning 

[pianowolfi]

  ok, maybe with a little swiss accent.

[zheer]

ok, maybe with a little swiss accent.

   Hahahahaha, you sound young.

[pianowolfi]

hehehe!

[ksnmohan]

As in Coor (barnowl) or sure with the "sh" sound left (counterpoint) are the right suggestions.

The pre-fix "UR" means "old" or hence "original" (German).  Comes after the oldest township mentioned in the Bible - UR. In recent times this name has been coming up in the Iraq conflict news - e.g. US Troops capturing Ur etc.

The expression "Ur-Alt" (as old as Ur) is a daily usage in Germany when describing anything out of date.

So Ur-Text is nothing but the oldest or the first text/score.

Prof K S (Mohan) Narayanan
Musicologist, Composer, Teacher
Chennai, India

[leucippus]

I always pronounce it as your-text.

You know, as opposed to my-text. 

[pianohenry]

the important thing is, whether you pronounce it ER-text or OR-test or somewhere in between, i cant think of another publisher that sounds even similar! so most people would know which one you mean!

i pronounce it... errr text.

[arbisley]

to pianohenry: That isn't actually the right pronunciation, because in neither case do you have the diphtongue on the "ur" bit. If you want to pronounce it like "sure" without the sh sound, it should be a very british, Oxford accent, sounding like "shoohaah". If you try to pronounce the "r" in an american way, you might as well not bother (no offence meant)!

[jakev2.0]

Pronounce it "You are text"

[arbisley]

well, in the end it's all more of a matter of understanding each other than necessarily saying it exactly the way it should be said. Of course, being Austrian, I still prefer it to be said properly.

[pianowolfi]

I think I'll repost this because all these posts who claim something with "your" are definitely wrong

[arbisley]

Quite correct, there is no "y" sound at the beginning of the word.