Menzies

Menzies

Menzies

Surname list


Menzies is a Scottish surname, with Gaelic forms being Méinnearach and Méinn, and other variant forms being Menigees, Mennes, Mengzes, Menzeys, Mengies, and Minges.[citation needed]

Derivation and history

The name and its Gaelic form are probably derived from the Norman name Mesnières, from the town of Mesnières-en-Bray in Normandy.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

The traditional Scottish pronunciation of the name is /ˈmɪŋɪs/ MING-iss, reflecting the spelling of the name as Menȝies, using the letter ȝ (yogh). The current spelling arose when yogh fell out of use in the Scots language and was replaced with the similar-looking tailed variant (𝔷) of the letter z.[4]

However, outside Scotland the name is often given the pronunciation /ˈmɛnzz/ MEN-zeez, reflecting the current spelling.

A Scottish limerick plays on the traditional pronunciation:

There wis a young lassie named Menzies,
That askit her aunt whit this thenzies.
Said her aunt wi a gasp,
"Ma dear, it's a wasp,
An you're haudin the end whaur the stenzies!"[lower-alpha 1]

The second and fifth lines are pronounced as though the <z> were a <ȝ>, making "thing is" and "sting is", to rhyme with "Menzies". "Wasp" rhymes with "gasp" in Scots.

As a surname

As a given name

  • Iain Menzies Banks (1954–2013), Scottish writer, pen name used for his science fiction works
  • Walter Menzies Campbell (born 1941), former leader of the Liberal Democrats in the United Kingdom

See also

Footnotes

  1. Translation: There was a young girl named Menzies ["Mingiss"], / That asked her aunt what this thing is. / Said her aunt with a gasp, / "My dear, it's a wasp, / And you're holding the end where the sting is!"

References

  1. Bernd Kappenberg (2014). Setting Signs for Europe. Columbia University Press. p. 30. ISBN 978-3-8382-6703-6.

Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Menzies, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.