From: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org (JMDL Digest) To: joni-digest@smoe.org Subject: JMDL Digest V2013 #876 Reply-To: joni@smoe.org Sender: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk Unsubscribe:mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe Website:http://jonimitchell.com JMDL Digest Thursday, June 27 2013 Volume 2013 : Number 876 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- Re: Hejira pronunciation ["Gary Z." ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 27 Jun 2013 11:12:09 -0400 From: "Gary Z." Subject: Re: Hejira pronunciation Hi Sue, Here's a video where Joni talks about Hejira (from "Painting with Words and Music"). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA6HGN1crNU Best, Gary Z. Detroit Susan E. McNamara wrote: > Wow, Bob, this brings me on a quest to find a video interview where she > pronounces it. It must be in Woman of Heart and Mind at least. Not sure. I > was also reminded of the word Haj - another word describing the holy > pilgrimage to Mecca. > > Susan Tierney McNamara > email: sem8@cornell.edu > > From: Robert Sartorius [mailto:bobsart48@aol.com] > Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 9:49 PM > To: joni@smoe.org; onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org > Cc: Susan E. McNamara > Subject: RE: Hejira pronunciation > > > Sue stated: > > > > "I've always pronounced it Heh-jeer-a ... and I think that's the way Joni > pronounces it. I've heard many variations so I go with the way she says it." > > > > I think that's how Joni pronounces it, too, but I cannot pinpoint where I came > to that conclusion. Can anyone else confirm? As "widely known" here on the > list, the word does not appear in the song's lyrics - just the title. > > > > My "bible" (er, dictionary) has been the Random House Unabridged. I own the > second Edition, which is copyrighted in 1987, and so is now 26 years > out-of-date. Still, it is a magnificent tome, with exquisite dissertations on > nuances of related words, to answer essentially every question that has ever > come up in my conversations. > > > > Said "bible", inexplicably, does not list as one of its definitions (u.c., > natch) "a masterpiece album and song by Joni Mitchell". > > > > They define(d) it as "hegira - def. 2", with a preferred pronunciation of " hi > JEYE ruh" (i.e., short i in first syllable, long I in second syllable, > accented). This is the pronunciation that I have used since I first "looked > it up".The alternate pronunciation is "HEJ uhr uh", short e in first syllable, > accent on first syllable. The pronunciation of Hegira is the same. > > > > The primary definition under Hegira (also, hejira) is "Islam. Hijra". The > second definition is "any flight or journey to a more desirable or congenial > place". > > > > Hijra (HIJ ruh) short i in first syllable, accent on first syllable, in turn, > is 1. The flight of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina to escape persecution A.D. > 622, regarded as the beginning of the Muslim Era. 2. The Muslim Era itself. > Also, Hegira, Hijrah (the latter of which is suggested as the Arabic source > word). > > > > The Muslim Era is defined as the period since the flight of Muhammad from > Mecca in AD 622 - also known as Hijra. > > > > Of course, similar loops could be constructed from any other dictionary, with > numerous variations, no doubt. And, with the increase in the frequency of > usage of Islamic terms in written and spoken English over the past 26 years, > there has no doubt been some evolution since then. > > > > If this were Joni's name, I would argue that she gets to make the call. [For > example, my wife's maiden name is Rosenbaum, and she pronounces the last > syllable as "bomb" - which, it has been decreed, is her prerogative ;-)] But > Joni admits she stole her title from her dictionary, so it seems to me that > her dictionary's pronunciation should control, no? All Joni needs to do is to > produce the one she consulted in 1975, and I will be happy to change the way I > pronounce Hejira ;-) > > > > Bobsart ------------------------------ End of JMDL Digest V2013 #876 ***************************** ------- To post messages to the list, sendtojoni@smoe.org. Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe -------