PRONOUNCING "FREVISSE"
The question of how to pronounce Frevisse's name comes up rather often, and you might think the answer should be simple and straight-forward. But, alas, it is not. The trouble is that her name is actually French -- the French version of St. Frideswide, a saint with churches dedicated to her only in the English Midlands, except for a single one in France, which is where our Frevisse's parents were when she was born.
BUT she is in England, and the English have a long history of not pronouncing French names correctly. So while she would be "fray-VEES" in France, she is "FRAY-viss" in the stories.
BUT the final "e" was pronounced, rather than silent, in Middle English (as we may well know from our high school encounter with Chaucer), so she could actually be called "FRAY-visseh" in England OR, since the 1400s were when "the great vowel shift" took place (I'm not making this up) and final "e's" slid out of pronunciation, the final "e" might NOT be pronounced, depending on who was saying her name and where they were on "the great vowel shift" curve.
I usually say "FRAY-viss", but am perfectly content to have readers say it whichever way sounds best to them. After all, given the possibilities, it would be totally unreasonable for me to feel otherwise!
- Margaret
