People say "Chicago" as Sh.ca.go, Not Chi.ca.go?

[EngFan]

Hi All,

Please let me know why the pronunciation of Chicago is "Sh.ca.go", not "Chi.ca.go", is this word origin not from English Speaking Countries?

EngFan

[DontBanMe]

Hi All,

Please let me know why the pronunciation of Chicago is "Sh.ca.go", not "Chi.ca.go", is this word origin not from English Speaking Countries?

EngFan

Chicago | Define Chicago at Dictionary.com
Well, I think sometimes the pronunciation of the English word cannot be explained. Eg. there's neither the letter k nor the letter i appears in the word 'quay', but it is prononounced /ki:/.

[5jj]

There is no single letter for the sounds we hear in 'shoe' (/ʃ/) or 'chew' (/ʧ/). Although the former is often represented by the letters sh, and the latter by the letters ch, there are other ways, for example :

/ʃ/: shoe, machine, passion, delicious, caution, sugar, conscience, schedule (some speakers)
/ʧ/: chew, cello, hatch, nature, Tuesday (some speakers)

[5jj]

. Eg. the word 'Quay' there's neither k or i alphabet, but it's pronounced as /ki:

Neither the letter k nor the letter i appears in the word 'quay', but it is prononounced /ki:/.

[Raymott]

Hi All,

Please let me know why the pronunciation of Chicago is "Sh.ca.go", not "Chi.ca.go", is this word origin not from English Speaking Countries?

EngFan

" The name "Chicago" is derived from a French rendering of the Native American word shikaakwa, translated as "wild onion" or "wild garlic," from the Miami-Illinois language.[21][22][23][24] The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as "Checagou" was by Robert de LaSalle around 1679 in a memoir written about the time.[25] "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago

So, firstly, the right question is why it's spelt "Ch" when the pronunciation of "shikaakwa" is "Sh" (not vice versa). And secondly, the answer is that 'Sh' is transliterated as "Ch" in French, as in "champagne and chalet"

[konungursvia]

Yes, that is what I was going to say. Almost all of North America was once "New France" and a huge number of French place names and French transciptions of native names survive in American place names, e.g. Baton Rouge, Des Moines, Detroit, ad hoc genus omne.

[DontBanMe]

Neither the letter k nor the letter i appears in the word 'quay', but it is prononounced /ki:/.

Whoops! I typed the word wrong. I should have typed 'nor' instead.
By the way, Thank you for correcting me.