Posted by John on June 27, 2006 at 09:45:35 from 24.250.149.61 user Mcneacail.
In Reply to: Re: Kanchenjunga or Kangchenjunga posted by John on June 27, 2006 at 09:33:35:
Last Point:
I recently read on Wikipedia a theory (since removed from the Kangchenjunga article as unsupported) that Ransome originated the spelling without the first G which spelling was then propagated as a result of the popularity of his books. As Kanchenjunga is the most common spelling found when searching with Google, it would mean that Ransome had a fantastic influence on English usage. However much I would like to believe that, I doubt this very much. It would be interesting (to me at least), if we could find any evidence one way or the other.
A web search using both variants turned up
1. the mountaineering web related and travel sites appear to use Kangchenjunga.
2. The newspaper and reporting sites appear to use AR's variant.
My points are:
1. The mountaineers and travellers visit the mountain and speak to people who come from the area who have a good command of English. The mountaineer variant has stuck in this group for the last 80 years.
2. Newpapers and other reporting groups - who do not generally visit the area but talk about it in general terms use the AR variant.
3. The official variant from 1929 is apparently Kangchenjunga and this point was agreed with the King by the Senior British Representative around AR's time.
4. Which is correct as far as other people use is concerned is a matter of personal choice. However, I would think that the contact group ie mountaineers choice should provide a strong influence and the local decision on the preferred or first choice for culturally sensitive folks.
Did AR affect the use? I do not think that this can be proven one way the other, but newpaper use appears to have stuck to this day to their variant.
Personally if I was writing to someone in Sikkim I would use the Kangchenjunga variant after learning all this, so I as to seem to understand the local tradition in English, otherwise I would expect the local to consider me an uneducated Australian who only reads the newspapers.
If I have again missed your point I am sorry.
JMN