"Ed Huntress" wrote in message news:...

"John Hall" wrote in message
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"Ed Huntress" wrote in message
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"Joe Pfeiffer" wrote in message
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"Ed Huntress" writes:

That's not something I'm going to chase down, but it sounds like a
coinage
with an intentional antiquarian twist, or an allusional or double
meaning,
like "Myst."

Or just about any word ending in a consonant followed by 'y', like
'fairy' or 'fairly'.

The original "pyx" was some kind of wooden box with religious
significance.

Not necessarily wooden (in fact, I've never seen a wooden one), used
to carry a consecrated host (on sick calls, for instance).

I'm trying to think of an example of 'w' as a vowel...

Cow. The "ow" is a diphthong, which could also be "ou."

--
Ed Huntress



So then too there would be 'fowl', 'owl' 'rowell' 'dowell'.

Unfortunately, no. g Because of the following sounds, those w's are hard
consonants. You have to do it by ear, but note that the diphthong (the ou
sound) runs into a harder sound ("wu" or "we," short "e") which provides
the separation for the following sound. Those consonant sounds are
provided by the w's.

When the ou stands alone, as in cow or how, it's easier to call the sound
a vowel sound, because the w is substituting for a legitimate vowel in a
diphthong.

This is where it gets flakey around the edges, and it's why y and w are
sometimes called "semivowels."

Sorry, I wasn't paying close enough attention to the examples. The "w's" in
"fowl" and "owl" are vowels. In "rowell" and "dowell," they're consonants.
Try "foul, oul." They work -- in owl, it more-or-less works. g But they
don't work in "rouell" or "douell." That "e" sound following the "w"
requires a harder sound from the "w" -- actually, a combination of two
sounds -- to separate the "e."

It's probably time to quit this before we meet ourselves coming around the
circle. d8-)

--
Ed Huntress