From: Hans Aberg (haberg@math.su.se)
Date: Thu Jun 18 2009 - 10:01:16 CDT
I think it does not have anything with the age of the word to do, but
how familiar it is and how hard it is to pronounce in the original
language, and how well it fits into the patterns of the local
language. At least in Swedish, there is an ongoing transformation,
with new forms popping up all the time, with different degrees of
acceptance in different contexts.
Hans
On 18 Jun 2009, at 14:49, André Szabolcs Szelp wrote:
> That's not a "recent transfer" but an old borrowing. In any language
> old geographical borrowings may have special rules. You do write (and
> do pronounce according to the different English spelling) Moscow and
> Cracow for Moskva and Kraków in English...
>
> Of course, there is Bécs for Vienna, Párizs for Paris, Róma for Rome,
> Hága for The Hague, etc.
> However there's no **Vasington, **Loszendzselesz, **Csikágó, **Saó
> Pauló, **Sziudád de Mexikó/Mexikó Sziti, etc.
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