Hello Tweeters

Guillemot is the diminutive of the French for William which is Guillaume
according to Edward Gruson. This is pronounced gee yome in French. ( the G
is hard as in Gannet). "mot" in French is pronounced "mo" (rhymes with mow
your grass) As there is no "e" at the end to give the "t" a sound, it
remains silent.

So one would expect that if you were following the French origins, the word
would be closer to gee mow, or perhaps a bit of a short Y as in "yacht
should be in there due to the spelling of guille with the "ll" consonants,
resulting in more of a sound like gee ya mow. The "ya" sound would be a
short sound, not long as in "yah man" Like trying to say yacht but stopping
before you say the "a"

Thus "gee y mow"

But I and most birders I have met use the Anglicized version and say gilla
mott.

Heck, why not use the old French Canadian name which translates into English
as "sea pigeon ?"

Now would that be "see pee jone" to be correct to the French origins?


Rick Howie
Kamloops, BC
rick.howie at shaw.ca