Etymology of 'Accio' and more

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 160840

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboyminn at ...> wrote:

bboyminn: 
> Upon looking in my dictionary, I find that nearly all 
> words starting with 'ACC...' are neither 'Ah-See...' nor 
> 'ACK-ee..'. In the example you gave 'accelerate', it is a
> combination of the two, as in 'ACK-see-oh'. So, I suspect
> that true to common English pronunciation, indeed, 
> 'ACK-see-oh' is probably correct. However, I admit to
> mentally saying 'Ah-see-oh' when I read it.

Geoff:
But, as you say, "nearly all" which covers a multitude of sins. 
What about the "Ack" words such as:
acclaim, acclimatise, accolade, accommodate, accompany, 
accomplice, accord, accost, account, accoutrement, accredit, 
accretion, accumulate, accurate, accuse, accustom plus all 
the variations on the above list?

Not to mention accio. :-)

> bboyminn:
 > Sirius - the pronunciation guide in my dictionary doesn't
> make a distinction between 'Sirius' and 'Serious', but I
> think there is a very subtle difference. Sirius is
> 'SEAR-ee-us' or 'SEAR-ee-ihs', where as Serious is 
> 'sear-ee-OUS'. Just a slightly different accent and 
> inflection at the end.

Geoff:
Most UK english speakers would say "SI-ri-us" for the name 
and "SEER-i-ous" for the adjective and they are easy to 
distinguish. There is no difference in the stress at the end, 
it is the length of the initial vowel which is the main factor.