Is it true that the pronunciation of Spanish changed because a king had a lisp? So Barcelona became

Is it true that the pronunciation of Spanish changed because a king had a lisp? So Barcelona became "Barthelona". If so, which king was it?

Robert Smith, Zilina, Slovakia

• The story about the lisping king is widely told, but cannot be genuine, because if it were, 's' would be lisped as well, but only 'c' and 'z' are.

  Colin Fine, Bradford, UK

• Castilian Spanish of the Middle Ages had originally two distinct sounds for what we now think of as the "lisp": the cedilla, and the z as in "dezir".

  The cedilla made a "ts" sound and the "z" a "dz" sound. Both in time were simplified into the "lisp", or what Spaniards call the "ceceo".

  Incidentally, this case replicates the two sounds represented by "zz" in Tuscan Italian - "ts" in "pizza", "dz" in "azzuro" - which, in the Modenese dialect, are both pronounced like English "th".

  John Bennett, Glasgow, Scotland

• The reason why people in Barcelona pronounce it "Barselona" is that they speak Catalan, not Castillian. Catalan does not have the "c" pronounced as "th". Amazing.

  Lau, Brussels, Belgium

• A friend of mine is from Barcelona and he speaks Catalan but he pronounces it with a 'th' sound not 's'. Maybe his Spanish teacher at school was from another part of Spain!

  Corrie, London, England

• How is it that the Latin American countries do not use the "th" sound when they can only have been taught the Spanish language by Cortez and his friends? This would imply that Cortez himself did not use the "th" sound nor probably those of his aquaintance even in fact those at the Spanish court.

  Michael Baines, Cardiff, Wales, UK

• Here in the US, we've seen radical pronunciations of countries, continents--even some of Earth's well-established peoples by US Presidents -- then universally imitated by the entire North American population. Obvious examples would be Ronald Reagans Granada to "grah-nay-dah"; George W. Bush's Iraq to "eye-rack" and Muslimphobia rants about the "eye-ranians" We here immediately follow our leader's pronunciations, quickly and unapologetically repeating these "official" pronunciations en masse - from mass media to Mass at church. It wasn't Americans who invented the lisping leadership business, as somebody earlier suggested, because 98% of us here couldn't find Spain on a map if our lives depended on it.

  Cary Harrison, West Hollywood, California, USA

• "If that were so, wouldn't we be off to Thpain?" Actually, recalling the specific pronunciation of a Spanish friend of mine--we'd be off to Ethpain.

  Greg, Slough UK

• why would we be "off to thpain"?? there's no c in spain. the pronounciation of c before i or e confused me for years. having been taught to lisp the c in gracias, for example, i travelled to different parts of spain on 4 occassions and never heard a "lisp" once. its like any language, if you tried to explain local/regional dialects in britain to foreign speakers with rules it would be almost impossible! im off to thpain. i mean spain

  ryan, belfast n ireland

• Ryan, he meant that if it was a true lisp then all s sounds would be pronounced th. I.e.: the lisp is not selective based non letter arrangement but sound. Thee ya.

  jordi, bangor uk

• To Andres Greenwich why would you be such a pompous ass to say that it's ignorant Southern Americans that propagate that rumor when I've heard it from people as far as Canada? Not very nice Andres

  Brad, New Orleans USA

• Canadian Comedian Russll peters has the same king story in his show, its awesome and incredibly funny here is the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1isS8irYrew

  Edgar, Toronto, Canada

• Visca Barcelona

  Bob, Manchester Chorkor

• You guys need to stop spreading urban legend and just look in Wikipedia (Spanish phonology) which has well documented linguistic sources. C was pronounced ts and a was pronounced dz; these became th in Madrid but s in Andalusia (southern Spain). Most settlers in The Americas came from Southern Spain so in the Americas c z and s are all pronounced s.

  Brian, Atlanta USA

• John Bennett is right, just think of how you pronounce pizza in English. However, not all of Spain uses that pronunciation, particularly north central Andalucía as well as the Canary Islands. Most immigrants to the Americas (although not all) came from those two areas. Also, "th" was only becoming standard in Spain at the time Spanish immigration to the Americas first began. The end of the story being, it just didn't catch on here.

  Sam Smith, New York, US

• My 10th grade Spanish teacher studied Spanish at the University of Madrid. Since that university was her place of study, she taught us to speak Castillian Spanish (using the lisp with C's, and Z's). My dad was in the Air Force, and when I was 18, received his orders to PCS to Torrejon AFB, Madrid. I know from living there that they do speak with a lisp because of a former king. It is only this form of Spanish that uses this lisp (the Madrid area). Other parts of Spain don't use the lisp when pronouncing C's, and Z's.

  Kris, Anchorage USA

• "Cary Harrison's logic is precise... because people in north america... invent new pronunciations just to show off how arrogant and stupid Americans are. ...these dumb american ways." Coutesy of: Jaroslav Hasek, Prague Czech, Republic Interesting Jarolsav. If such comments were made about Israelis or Kenyans one might think you were xenophobic, spouting hate speech. Perhaps it's worth consideration that some of the top universities in the world reside in the States and world leaders in technology, science, art and many other fields just happen to be citizens of a country that makes up a mere 5% of world population. Perhaps Jarolsav has been watching too much television, which seems to have a fairly one-way lens, focusing and judging the US abroad. How convenient and timely. Mainstream media spreads the worst of US culture like manure across the continents for the gullible like Jarolsav to consume. Traveling 20 years ago, a fair number of Europeans were unfortunately ignorant enough to think the US was some form of the television show Dallas. You are what you eat Jarolsav. What is your experience? -Hollywood movies, a trip to New York, better yet... Miami! If you think you know someone Jarolsav, or someplace, or say a people based on experiences that are not your own, you are likely sadly misinformed. Or it may be a matter of, "the company you keep." I'm wondering if this is the case for you? By the way, it's a true fact, King Pedro I de Castilla had a lisp. But, by good fortune for the King, the natural progression of the "th's" linguistic evolution preceded the King by a mere generation. Voila! So there, perhaps now everyone can be content. Except Jaroslav of course... Poor Jarolsav, I'm sure he is quite upset that an arrogant and dumb American solved the issue for him.

  Betty, Podunk USA