Oneonta pronunciation?

[Arioto]

Just curious.

[AlexanderSupertramp]

"Oh-nee-AHN-tah" or "Ah-nee-AHN-tah". I have usually heard it pronounced as Oh-nee-AHN-tah here in the Northwest.

[BCJ]

I've always pronounced it "ah-nee-on-ta".

[-Q-]

oh-knee-ON-tah

just like the town in upstate NY

[Splintercat]

I second that emotion. That's how I've always pronounced it.

BTW, I've noticed a number of people saying "el-OH-wah" instead of "EL-oh-wah" of late... have I been pronouncing this one wrong for all these years..?

Tom

[pyles_94]

tom, i always called it ee-LOH-wah but i never heard that from someone, i made it up when i saw the name the first time...

i call oneonta oh-nee-on-tah

[Sore Feet]

My observation is that the placenames that are rooted in Chinook or Sahaptin dialects seem to place the emphasis on the first syllable, ergo "EL-oh-wah" and not "el-OH-wah". There are, of course, many that don't follow this rule, but off the top of my head it seems to be more common than not that the first syllable is the stressed syllable.

[hm11338]

FYI,
According to Bert Webbers book Oregon's Names and How to Say them. Elowah is pronounced e-LOW-ah, and Oneonta is oh-nee-ANH-tuh. This is great guide for all those strange names in Oregon. I hope this clears things up.

Arne

[dalylab]

The photographer Carleton Emmons Watkins (1829-1916) photographed the falls and named them after his hometown of Oneonta, NY (oh-nee-ON-ta)

A stereoscope photograph of just one of his pictures of the Oneonta Gorge:

[anna in boots]

FYI,
According to Bert Webbers book Oregon's Names and How to Say them. Elowah is pronounced e-LOW-ah, and Oneonta is oh-nee-ANH-tuh. This is great guide for all those strange names in Oregon. I hope this clears things up.

Arne

Yay! I'm glad I got it right all these years. Now if I could just get my dad to stop saying Ore-Reh-GONE when he visits....

anna in boots