o-GUS-ten or AugustTEEN?

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Cherub

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How do you pronounce Saint Augustine’s name? I have recently heard many people say o-GUS-ten, completely neglecting the “e” at the end of his name, which I think would make the “i” a long vowel sound, yes? Should it not be Au-gus-TEEN instead?

Ever curious,
Cherub 😃
 
It depends on your nationality. If you speak a Romanitic based language, like Spanish it is AugusTEEN. If it is a Germanic based language, like ours, it’s o-GUS-ten. Both are right pronunciations. Just like there’s Ay-men and Ah-men; it’s what you prefer to say.
 
I’ve also noticed that English-speaking Catholics almost invariably refer to “a-GUS-ten”, while many English-speaking Protestents typically refer to “AugustTEEN”.
 
Another variation: I say aw-GUS-tin for the person and augustEEN for the city in Florida. Makes no sense.

Betsy
 
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baltobetsy:
Another variation: I say aw-GUS-tin for the person and augustEEN for the city in Florida. Makes no sense.

Betsy
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Actually, I think the city is AW-ges-teen
 
And why is there so much variation between Catholic and Protestant pronunciation anyway? Most Protestants I know say “Augus-TEEN” while most Catholics I know prefer “Au-GUS-ten.” The same goes for “amen.” The Protestants tend to say, “ah-men,” while the Catholics usually say, “ay-men.” I’d think that the Catholics would say “ah-men” since that is the closer to the originally intended pronunciation, yet it seems that it’s the other way around. Anyone know why?
 
I realized I say “Augustine” both ways, just like I alternate between saying “egg” as “ayg” and “ehg” (my dad’s from Minnesota, and I picked up the former pronunciation from him) In Italian his name is “Agostino” which is pronounced “aw-gus-teen-o” There’s a lovely little church dedicated to Sant’Agostino in Rome, right by Piazza Navona, and his saintly mother is buried there.
 
i pronounced it au-gus-STEEN all of my life, but i had an extremely intelligent (and pretentious) professor in college who said ‘au-GUS-ten’ and so i figured that was right. i’ve heard it said both ways by the most erudite, so i think it’s a matter of preference.

i grew up baptist, and i’ve heard plenty of ay-mens in that church. i’ve heard it both ways in both traditions (prot and cath), but i do hear alot more aymens in catholic churches than ah-mens.

i think the original way of saying it, incidentally, was actually ah-meen. i’ve heard middle eastern people say it that way, and someone told me it was the original pronunciation. don’t know for sure.

i DO know, though, that austin is a shorthand way of saying augustine. i learned that from my priest on friday. like mike is short for michael, austin is short for augustine. i found that fascinating for some reason. 🙂
 
I remember my high school Latin teacher mentioning something about Latin words having the second syllable stressed, which would imply “aw-GUS-tin”.
 
I pronounce it the same way the lawn grass is pronounced: aw-gus-TEEN.
 
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