When did Greenwich begin to be pronounced as "Gren-ich"?
I just read an interesting question here on Greenwich Mean Time.
I'm interested to know when Greenwich received its peculiar pronunciation. Has it always been pronounced as "GREN-ich" (/ˈɡrɛnɪtʃ/), and is it just a simple contraction or something more?
I'm from Northern England and would say that GREN-ich is used nationally and globally, but I agree with Wikipedia that I've heard it pronounced GRIN-ich in London.
Greenwich was originally Grenevic in Old English, and so has probably never been “Green-witch”.
Similarly, Norwich in Norfolk is pronounced “nor-itch”, and was originally spelt Northwic.
Two processes at work: pre-cluster shortening followed by wyn-dropping.
pre-cluster shortening:
break ~ breakfast
green ~ Greenwich
goose ~ gosling
waist ~ waistcoat
wyn-dropping:
historical one > an
husband > hussy
inwards > innards
always > allus
will > 'll
-wich, -wick > -ich, -ick
In his Historical Wyn Dropping, Jack Windsor Lewis says
Placenames abound throughout Britain ending -wich and -wick most of which retain their spellings with w but have long dropped their wyns eg Alnwick, Berwick, Bromwich, Chiswick, Greenwich, Harwich, Keswick, Norwich, Smethwick, Warwick, Woolwich. Some have restored their wyns if they ever lost them eg Droitwich, Hardwick, Ipswich, Nantwich, Sandwich and Lerwick. Surnames are more likely to have been re-spelt more phonetically as in the cases of Garrick and Crummle(s) the latter of which also exists as Cromwell.
Check his note on Current Wyn Dropping.
I guess I was taught wrong in school, what a shame. Green, as in the color two EE together (long Es) as sounded out in the color Green> wich should be sounded out just as it is spelled out,and should sound like the word witch(who can fly on a broom.) Thus you have the word (Greenwich) a woman colored green who can fly a broom ), and I thought they were all burned at the stake.Come to Greenwich , NY,12834 and they will gladly tell you how to pronounce this word .They even have a school insignia of a Green colored woman flying on a broom,(a witch) Green-witch
Greenwich in South London was originally (locally) pronounced "Grin idge" or "Grin itch". The pronunciation "Gren idge" is a recent pollution from (middle-class) newcomers to the area and one that also reflects a US inflection, e.g. Grenidge Village. Older local people do not like the new inflection imposed from 'without'.