Pronouncing Leghorn

[Evadig]

I pronounce it “Laeg-orn”. But I guess that’s not correct…

 

[The Moonshiner]

Leggern

Leg-horn...

 

[HorseGirlAbby]

I've always pronounced it Leg-horn. My brown leghorn doesn't care in the slightest what I call her

 

[MKetter]

I'm voting for Leg-horn -- because I grew up watching cartoons featuring Foghorn Leghorn, the big white rooster!

Same.

 

[MKetter]

My introduction to the leghorn was the Foghorn Leghorn cartoon. Like him, I’m not too fond of chicken hawks. When I got the chickens, my neighbor was telling me his family had brown leggerns when he was young. I knew he was saying leghorn, but he has a much more country accent than I do. I’ve heard other people pronounce it that way since, and I was curious enough to ask here. I’ll stick with leg-horn, even to the disdain of Clint Eastwood.

I didn’t know the bird was Italiano. Thanks, @saysfaa for the lesson. I asked Siri to say “leghorn chicken” in Italian. Sounded like a combination of leg-horn and leggern: leggorn. With the gh pronounced Italian style, like a breathy g, and no real separation between leg and horn as when pronounced in English as two words. So I can see (or hear) how it came to be pronounced either way in English.

 

[MamaPoult]

Definitely Leg-horn

 

[notabitail]

Leghorn.

 

[Luckyhen006]

Leg-horn is how I've always pronounced it.

 

[cavemanrich]

I don't consider myself a redneck by any stretch of the imagination, thank you, @cavemanrich.

That's because your BEAUTIFUL LONG HAIR, Always protected you from those harmful UV rays

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

'Leg-orn' really is the proper pronunciation. 'Leggern' is closer to proper than 'leg-horn,' though.

The breed is named after the Italian port city Livorno. Way back when, Livorno was called 'Legorno' in English, from which we dropped the -o ending and ended up with Legorn. Somewhere along the way, a silent h was added in the middle. From that traditional English name of the city, we got the name for the chicken breed as well, Leghorn. The h should be silent in the proper pronunciation of Leghorn, much in the same way that we don't pronounce the h in spaghetti. And no red-necking was necessary to come up with that explanation.

I believe the pronunciation difference is less geographical and more a matter of how you've heard it said. A whole slew of people, Americans especially, have grown up with an awareness of the character Foghorn Leghorn, whose name was mispronounced intentionally for the reference to Senator Claghorn (the character that Foghorn parodied), and somewhat as well for the implication that he isn't exactly the sharpest tack in the box. Unfortunately, more people know of Foghorn than they know of the chicken breed, or have heard the name Foghorn Leghorn before they learn of the chicken breed, so the breed largely gets mispronounced as a result. At least, that's the conclusion I've drawn from the varied responses that come from this question being asked over the years.