Pronunciation of "Amen" during Liturgy of the Hours

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Angela77 said:
I’ve been praying Compline with a group this week, and I’ve observed that most people pronounce Amen as Ah-men during this time. Are you not supposed to say Amen with a long A during the Liturgy of the Hours?
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Whether it is the Mass, the Liturgy of the Hours, or any other liturgy, there is no standard *spoken *English pronunciation for “Amen”.

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=6973580&highlight=This+was+called+the+Great+Vowel+Shift.+But%2C+the+change+was+incomplete.#post6973580
 
CB_Catholic said:
I rally am not trying to be sarcastic here, please don’t misinterpret this-but why does it matter?
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It doesn’t. I have a preference for how I say it, but I don’t even really notice how other people say it, except that most of the congregation here says Ay-men. I’m not so loud that anyone is going to be bothered by my saying it differently. 🙂

–Jen
 
SMHW said:
I too am perplexed by those who think it matters when speaking. (I understand why it matters when singing; that vowel pronunciation has no business in ANY song!) I learned to say Ay-men from my Catholic parents (Dad is in his 80s) and from the Sisters of Notre Dame (many of whom were from Ohio.) Catholics have been saying Ay-men for years so I don’t understand those who want to associate it with Protestantism.

I think the real reason people don’t like Ay-men is because they see it as the lower class pronunciation.

For those who can’t be bothered to follow links or search previous threads, Ay-men did NOT originate in the United States. It is apparently of Irish origin.

I have met Catholics from the UK who told me that Ay-men was how they pronounced the word when speaking in English.
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You are right to say that it does not matter, but on the latter point I have never ever heard a Catholic from the UK - priest or congregant - use the Ay-men pronounciation and that includes 15 years spent in a predominantly Irish parish. It is noticeable at Westminster Cathedral (when I am on duty) that Americans generally use the Ay-men pronounciation and it stands out so much that people comment about it, but out of curiosity rather than disdain.
 
I sometimes wonder if the reason Ay-men versus Ah-men is so dramatic in America is actually because so many Americans draw out their vowels. We tend to put a vowel diphthong into accented syllables but I hear most British and Irish people use pure vowel sounds. We Americans don’t even realize we are doing it.

When an American says Ay-men he is really saying something more like Ay-eee-men. If an American says ah-men, the sound typically stays pure. (That extra “eee” sound is why Ay-men is harder to sing.) My guess is that many Americans would have trouble noticing the difference between Ah-men and Ay-men when it is spoken by someone who is either Irish or British.

Obviously there are local differences in the various countries mentioned where my observations would not apply.
 
In Alberta, AFAICT, and likely all of English Canada, it’s been Ah-men throughout. I kinda welcomed it from the Ay-men we were also used to in the Philippines (which learned it English from the Americans). But using Ah-men consistently made it easier to recite some of the LOTH Psalms that had the double-Amen, such as:

Blessed be the Lord, God of Israel who alone works wonders
Ever blessed his glorious name.
Let his glory fill the earth. Amen, amen.

That last “amen, amen” just sounds weird to me when recited as “ay-men, ay-men”. “Ah-men, ah-men” sounds more natural.
 
I use ah-men in the Western Church. I say ah-meen in the Eastern Churches. Arabic, Greek, Coptic, Slavonic, etc pronounce it ah-meen. 🙂
 
SMHW said:
I have met Catholics from the UK who told me that Ay-men was how they pronounced the word when speaking in English.
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I come from the U.K. and I still think of AY-men as street talk more than liturgy.
 
DaveBj said:
If you want to be American, say “Ay-men.”

If you want to be correct (from the Hebrew, the Greek, and the Latin), say “Ah-men.”
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Make that a “Southerner” not an “American.” Growing up in Boston we said “Ah-men” as kids…not “Ay-men.”

Of course, it does remind me of the movie “The Lilies of the Field.”
 
I say “ay-men,” but that’s probably a result from my Southern Baptist background.
 
Topaz1128 said:
I say “ay-men,” but that’s probably a result from my Southern Baptist background.
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I have southern Catholics in my family who are cradle Catholics. They say “Ay-men” It isn’t a protestant thing, it is a dialect/accent thing.
 
I was born in California in the late 1950s.

All Catholics I knew said Ay-men. All my relatives from Minnesota said Ay-men. All the priests (many from Ireland and most attended seminary in California) and the Sisters of Notre Dame (some native Californians, some from Ohio) said Ay-men.

The only time I heard Ah-men was at a Latin Mass or on television. Or from Protestants.

Yes. I grew up thinking Ah-men sounded protestant. 🤷
 
I never really paid attention to how I, or anyone else, pronounced the word AMEN, until I read this thread.

I am from Western New York. Just about everyone I know, Catholic & Protestant, says “ay-men”.
 
johnnykins said:
Make that a “Southerner” not an “American.” Growing up in Boston we said “Ah-men” as kids…not “Ay-men.”

Of course, it does remind me of the movie “The Lilies of the Field.”
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I learned my original ay-men in northern Indiana, hardly south of the Mason-Dixon line.
 
johnnykins said:
Make that a “Southerner” not an “American.” Growing up in Boston we said “Ah-men” as kids…not “Ay-men.”
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CB_Catholic said:
People keep saying this, but I’m NE Ohio Italian Catholic…and have always said Aymen.
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Oneofthewomen said:
I am from Western New York. Just about everyone I know, Catholic & Protestant, says “ay-men”.
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SMHW said:
I was born in California in the late 1950s.

All Catholics I knew said Ay-men. All my relatives from Minnesota said Ay-men. All the priests (many from Ireland and most attended seminary in California) and the Sisters of Notre Dame (some native Californians, some from Ohio) said Ay-men.
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DaveBj said:
I learned my original ay-men in northern Indiana, hardly south of the Mason-Dixon line.
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And here’s another Californian checking in. The parishioners in all of the Catholic parishes I’ve visited here say “ay-men” when speaking (although as someone pointed out earlier, we tend to say “ah-men” when singing). The only parish where I’ve heard “ah-men” when speaking, was an Anglican parish … go figure. 😉

So, I think we can officially put the “southern” theory to rest. 🙂
 
DaveBj said:
Ay-men. 😃
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Not so sure…the hand raising at the Our Father and Praise music all have come out of the Southern Evangelical movement. Likewise, “Ay-men” is a pronunciation introduced in the post-VII world. It only looks northern because y’all are too young. 😃

67 is a mere babe in arms
 
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