Lachenal

[GEDI]

I am very much a newcomer here.   In fact my first concertina is still in the post.   It will be a Barnett Samuel when it arrives during next week.  I understand that they didn't manufacture themselves and it is probably a Lachenal.    My question is:   What is the consensus on the pronunciation of Lachenal.   I have heard it as "Lash-n-al"   or "Lack-n-all"?

I'm sure I will be back seeking more info on this instrument in the next few weeks.    Cheers and thanks for all the invaluable info on these pages, Gerry Dunlop

[Mikefule]

I've always said Lashenarl.  A bit of searching shows that the question has been asked i these forums before.  It's a Swiss name, so anyone with a bit of knowledge of Swiss would be able to give a definitive answer.  Unhelpfully, Wikipedia does not give phonetics for any of the various famous Lachenals, or the plants called Lachenalia!

[David Barnert]

7 hours ago, GEDI said:

What is the consensus on the pronunciation of Lachenal.

 

I’ve always heard either LASH’n’l or LASH’n AL.

 

4 hours ago, Mikefule said:

It's a Swiss name, so anyone with a bit of knowledge of Swiss would be able to give a definitive answer.

 

Swiss, of course, isn’t a language. In different parts of Switzerland they speak French, German and Italian.

[Wolf Molkentin]

in fact - and in Germany it would rather be pronounced like a Spanish word spelled Lajenal ?

[Takayuki YAGI]

I've heard Lackenal, Latsenal, or Lashenal.

[Wolf Molkentin]

consensus in an English-speaking context appeared to be Lashenal as yet - at least when concertina folk are gathering

[David Barnert]

44 minutes ago, David Barnert said:

Swiss, of course, isn’t a language. In different parts of Switzerland they speak French, German and Italian.

 

39 minutes ago, Wolf Molkentin said:

in fact - and in Germany it would rather be pronounced like a Spanish word spelled Lajenal

 

It’s probably French in origin (although I’m not sure why it wouldn’t be Le Chenal, the channel) and in French it would be pronounced lah sh’ nahl. Louis Lachanel emigrated from Switzerland to England as a teenager, and it’s not clear to what extent he anglicized the pronunciation of his name.

[Anglo-Irishman]

I just googled "lachenal", and most of the hits that came up were in French, with Swiss connections. There was even a Louis Lachenal among them, apparently a French-Swiss alpinist of the 1950s. So the circumstantial evidence would tend to suggest French pronunciation: "lash-NAL". However, the Schwyzer often stress German words strangely - so perhaps the French Swiss do the same with French words. I wouldn't know.

 

I just pronounce it as it's written: "LACH-en-al" (the CH being the guttural CH used in Gaelic). But then I'm an Irishman who speaks German almost all of the time?

 

Cheers,

John

[Ken_Coles]

There is at least one article with the early history of the company and the man which goes into all this - I'm sure someone who remembers where it is will remind us where to read it (I don't have time to check right now). IIRC a French-Swiss name.

 

Ken

[GEDI]

Thank you for these replies. I did check some of the older threads and with those & these more recent opinions I think I have the gist of it now.   Once again thanks for helping a newbody. G.