Lesbos or Lesvos? (1 Viewer)

[John Cantelo]

Not quite sure where to put this, but I'm currently editing a text on this island and wonder which of the two alternative spellings is most recognisable/familiar to or preferred by Anglophone birders .....

 

[nartreb]

Well, it might be convenient to search for "lesvian chicks" without drawing unwanted attention from Human Resources, but the "b" spelling is far more common. Google maps [in the US, anyway] finds it under either spelling but displays it with a "b" (with the Greek alphabet underneath].

 

[Mike Crawley]

One of the few Greek islands I haven't yet visited but my holidaying and birding mates unanimously use Lesbos.
I suspect that isn't a huge help but .....

 

[halftwo]

Bs and Vs are alternatives in many words and languages - and with Lesb/vos a transliteration (do I mean that?!) from the greek gives either possibles.

 

[Nutcracker]

Just put Λέσβος in the text, problem solved :t:

 

[John Cantelo]

Thanks. Having asked around most birders and my local travel agents call it LesBos, but the 4-5 guide books I looked at use LeVos!

 

[Richard Klim]

Fwiw, the Times Atlas – widely followed as a standard reference for English renditions of geographical names (eg, by the Howard & Moore Checklist) – uses Lesvos.

 

[ApusApus]

FWIW I don't think it matters ............ have a similar problem here in Cyprus with "p" & "b"!


Shane

 

[MJB]

FWIW I don't think it matters ............ have a similar problem here in Cyprus with "p" & "b"! Shane

...and with'g' and 'y'....
MJB

 

[Richard Klim]

FWIW I don't think it matters ............ have a similar problem here in Cyprus with "p" & "b"!

Plus the sensitive matter of whether to use Turkish or Greek geographical names in Northern Cyprus, reflecting facts on the ground or the UN Security Council...

 

[Xenospiza]

The pronunciation in classical Greek was Lesbos, in modern Greek it's Lesvos (the β which was once pronounced as a B is now a V: in modern Greek, a B is rendered as µπ).
I think it is less pretentious to say Lesbos.

 

[Pinewood]

The pronunciation in classical Greek was Lesbos, in modern Greek it's Lesvos (the β which was once pronounced as a B is now a V: in modern Greek, a B is rendered as µπ).
I think it is less pretentious to say Lesbos.

:t:

 

[John Cantelo]

The pronunciation in classical Greek was Lesbos, in modern Greek it's Lesvos (the β which was once pronounced as a B is now a V: in modern Greek, a B is rendered as µπ).
I think it is less pretentious to say Lesbos.

Thanks for your helpfully erudite response. Both my birding friends and local travel agents all go for Lesbos, but recent travel guides opt for Lesvos. I suspect you're right to suggest the former is less pretentious, but that leaves me no closer to resolving the dilemma of which to use (esp. in the title)

 

[foresttwitcher]

You may need to speak to a native of the island to get the correct pronunciation & then choose the English spelling that most closely matches that phonetically.

 

[Sandra (Taylor)]

You may need to speak to a native of the island to get the correct pronunciation & then choose the English spelling that most closely matches that phonetically.

When we asked residents of the island, they said the word was spelt as LESVOS . But of course this was only a minute proportion. Each to his own, I guess. Mine is definitely Lesvos.

 

[Richard Klim]

362 BirdForum posts refer to Lesbos, whilst more than 1000 posts (1000 is apparently the maximum search result) refer to Lesvos. QED.

 

[kkokkolis]

We call it Lesvos and never otherwise. In Greek all b, d, g words are foreign.
In Classical times it was Lesvos also. Lesbos might be in the local Aeolian dialect. S was pronounced like sh but now it tends to z (Lezvos). Greeks called people who pronounced b instead of β (v) "barbarians", from the b sounds they made.
Wikipedia has it as Lesbos though.

 

[Sandra (Taylor)]

We call it Lesvos and never otherwise. In Greek all b, d, g words are foreign.
In Classical times it was Lesvos also. Lesbos might be in the local Aeolian dialect. S was pronounced like sh but now it tends to z (Lezvos). Greeks called people who pronounced b instead of β (v) "barbarians", from the b sounds they made.
Wikipedia has it as Lesbos though.

Thanks for that local explanation, KKKK.

Sandra

 

[John Cantelo]

Thanks to all. Interestingly a Google search under Lesvos throws up 759,000 entries whereas that for Lesbos comes in with a much more impressive 14,800,000 entries. Whatever the linguistic niceties, it seems Lesbos is the more familiar version .......

 

[Gladiator96]

Lesbos comes in with a much more impressive 14,800,000 entries.

I wonder why :smoke: