Link. This should settle it once and for all.

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/arch-?q=arch-

And here is another.

http://www.howjsay.com/index.php?word=arch&submit=Submit

Pronunciation really does come down to where you're from.

Otherwise, Americans just flat can't speak (this is a joke for all the non-funny bones.)

That does settle the meaning and background of the prefix, but it doesn't settle the discrepancies in the pronunciation (which is kind of the point).

The word "arch" comes from Latin. It's added to any kind of noun to show it's superiority towards it. (Bishop, archbishop, rival, archrival) It is used in a many languages. In my mothertongue (Dutch) it is "archi". An example would be "archislecht". Slecht means bad, so the word archislecht would roughly translate to very, very bad.

Seeing as the word is spoken in many languages (in most languages pronounced as arch, some as ark) one must use the word as it is ment to be used in ones motherlanguage. In English that would be arch.


EDIT: before anyone says: "well, if you say as it is ment to be used, then how do you explain archangel, which is pronounced ark." Awnser: the word archangel is derived from an other language in its entirety. Not just as a prefix, then mounted to the word angel. Hence the pronounciation of the word traveled with it to English. It is not even an exception on the rule.

To enforce my point:

http://www.howjsay.com/index.php?word=archangel&submit=Submit

Archangel in pronouced that way because there is a vowel behind arch. As m in mage is a consonant, it's pronouced like Archbishop.

I always imagined it came from the Greek "Archon" meaning ruler.
Yes but surely the Imga was just mispronouncing it?

How does one say "English is a complicated language in which many words contain the same letter combinations but are pronounced differently in different situations" in Dutch?

In this sense, when does a word structure or pronunciation become correct?

In Australia, we structure sentences and pronounce words differently to people in America, and likewise England.
Are we doing it wrong, is America wrong?

Or are we all right?

Has our common language been transformed to the point where it could be considered a different language? (Dialect?)
I know expat Americans living in Australia often have a hard time adjusting to our use of language and making sense of what they hear. Allot of this comes down to our pronunciation and structure.

This thread should have ended at SerStiefel's comment. It's clearly the correct one: the word is pronounced with an "arch".

Yes, but as I stated in my opening post, "archenemy" is pronounced "arch" rather than "ark" even though a vowel follows the "e," proving that there are exceptions to the rule and that there is nothing to refute archmage being such an exception.

Edit: vowel follows the "arch"

Yet the French can write the same word and pronounce it differently?

Why are other nationalities not allowed to same grace?


Everyone I know says "Arkenemy" or "Arkbishop". We Spell it Arch though.

I think pronunciation is purely dependent on your locale.

E.g: Melbourne, Americans say Mell-borne. Australians say Mellben.

Which is correct?

First, English is not that complicated.
Second, I see what you did there, yet you might want to read my edit of the post that covers somewhat the point you are trying to make.
third, I'm still going to oblige you with a translation, even if your comment is ment as a sneer. "Engels is een ingewikkelde taal, waar vele woorden dezelfde letter combinatie hebben, maar op een andere manier uitgesproken worden, afhangende van de situatie."

We can indeed get into a philisophical debate over whether any one dialect is correct, but for the purposes of this conversation shall we say that the "correct" pronunciation is that written in an American dictionary? I know it isn't entirely fair, but that's just my point of reference. If you actually have some sort of solid eviidence of how it is pronounced in Australia though, I'd love to hear it.

Also, had no idea that was how Melbourne was pronounced, that's kinda cool.

But it's arch enemy not archenemy. There no such word as archenemy.

I too would dearly love an elaboration.
From http://www.imperial-library.info/content/fireside-chats :
" I'm just saying that in this version [Tamriel] there was an ape and he didn't want to know the name of the world, but this angel, she kept wrestling him, holding him down. He's not even a [censored] monkey but it’s - he's an ape being wrestled by an angel. "

It's as though the word, with that pronunciation, was forced into his head.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/archenemy

You can find the same thing in Merriam Webster's

I suppose that's possible but I believe the meaning of Archbishop, Archduke and other similar titles are as I've described. I could be wrong though. It's not as if I bothered to look it up, it's just how I've always perceived it.

Notice how they pronouce it like archangel.

My point is though, that's how WE say it. Its our accent. Which is why allot of us say Arkbishop too (though it does vary depending on location, a bit like Castle and Carstle).

If we look at some American Language, Color for example. When I read Color, I say Col-or in my head. But reading Colour is more like saying flour.

Now to me, Col-or sounds like an American accent. Where as Colour does not. The later rolls of my tongue much easier.

Ah, yes. I kind of have to take your word for it then, but I can accept "archangel" being from a different language group. Also


Thank you. Though it was a sneer, I am kind of a linguistics nut and love stuff like this

Well, if you are in the process of speaking "proper" oxford English, then yes, you are wrong when pronouncing words with an Australlian accent. But if you are speaking your own dialect, well, you can never really be "wrong". A dialect is a variation on a language, not a totally different one. If you make a mistake concerning the language that you profess to speak, then you are wrong. You can not make a mistake based on what a different dialect would perceive as correct. In French the word will be pronounced differently, yet you are not wrong when you pronounce it otherwise when speaking for instance Belgian-French.

????????????????

http://www.howjsay.com/index.php?word=archangel

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/archenemy
Try comparing them again. If you still can't hear the difference, hook me up with whatever it is you're smoking.

Thank you.
This is exactly my point. We're discussing Archmage as if we're from a common linguistic background. Which we aren't really.

So, none of us are really wrong.
Its very interesting none the less.