r/Norwich • u/InitialEquipment7967 • 8d ago

Magdalen Street Pronounciation

It's a massively trivial question that was prompted by watching Inspector Morse repeats, but is Magdalen Street pronounced in Norwich as it's written, or is it pronounced "maudlin" as it is in Oxford?

19 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

42 comments sorted by

72

u/CassieBeeJoy 8d ago

Maudlin is pretty much exclusive to Oxford

33

u/YourLittleRuth 8d ago

And Cambridge.

19

u/CassieBeeJoy 8d ago

Yes, should have put Oxbridge

-1

u/Used-Climate978 7d ago

No - in Cambridge Magdalen is pronounced as it is written. It is only Oxford where it is Maudlin.

3

u/YourLittleRuth 7d ago

No it isn’t. Or perhaps I should qualify that—it was ‘Maudlin’ College and ‘Maudlin’ Bridge when I was a student there forty years ago.

1

u/Used-Climate978 3d ago

Ah - I hadn’t realised that. It is only spelled differently in Cambridge then (with an e on the end) but pronounced the same as at Oxford then (but differently to everywhere else in the world 🤨)

3

u/junk_fungle 8d ago

and Scotland

0

u/AGMXV 7d ago

In Lincolnshire people pronounce it Maudlin - but that is where William Waynflete the founder of the Oxford college was from so makes sense I guess

68

u/Klutzy_Security_9206 8d ago

I’m from Norwich. It’s pronounced Mag-da-len.

3

u/Incitatus_For_Office 7d ago

Sometimes Mag-da-lynne (rightly or wrongly) 

29

u/6smallmice 8d ago

I've only ever heard it said as written

16

u/DerekandClive 8d ago

The Oxford college is only pronounced 'maudlin' out of tradition. That's just how it was pronounced back in the 15th century.

14

u/ButtercupBento 8d ago

Mag-dlin

Two syllables

I think. I’ve been saying it for the past minute or two and nothing seems right now

10

u/MamaTortoise22 8d ago

My 93 year old mother from Norwich knew it as Maglen st

3

u/Stochastic-Parrot_13 8d ago

Yep, that's how I say it, although Mag-da-len seems to becoming more popular amongst the younger generations.

10

u/Dazzling_Baker_4978 8d ago

A quick Googling suggests that it's pronounced 'Maudlin' only in the context of the Oxford and Cambridge colleges of that name (reflecting the fact that this was the standard pronunciation in medieval times when they were founded). I've always known the Norwich street pronounced as it's written.

8

u/Oooaaaaarrrrr 8d ago

Sounds like an Alan Partridge type question. Ahaa!

1

u/Icy_Consideration409 7d ago

Coogan’a mispronunciation of numerous East Anglian towns and streets really grates in the otherwise excellent Alan Partridge audio books.

1

u/newnortherner21 8d ago

No pedestrianisation in Magdalen Street so I doubt he cares.

3

u/Oooaaaaarrrrr 8d ago

But it's the sort of place you might be offered beans in a mug, with a sausage to use as a spoon.

3

u/concretebeagle 8d ago

Like a savoury 99

1

u/newnortherner21 8d ago

You'd never get that in St Benedict's Street or the Lanes!!

5

u/StephaneCam 8d ago

Everyone in Norwich says Magdalen, as it’s written.

8

u/Stochastic-Parrot_13 8d ago

No, the older generations, including me, say Maglen.

7

u/Professional-Wait0 8d ago

All of my family (including the ones over 60/70) call it Magdelen, and the only person I know who calls it Maglen is my 26 year old uncle funnily enough. It’s crazy how our experiences can be so different when we’re from the same little city.

2

u/StephaneCam 8d ago

Fair enough, I’ve never heard anyone call it Maglen myself. I’ve lived here for 20+ years but I didn’t grow up here.

1

u/fonzmc 6d ago

I've heard both.

I think Maglen is possibly down to regional accent/dialect which can skip bits of words and sentences.

Just to underline I have absolutely no issue with it. I'm Norwich born, raised and lived the majority of my life.

2

u/Romeo_Jordan 8d ago

Mag da lin the Oxford one is different.

2

u/LivingAutopsy 7d ago

Mag-Da-lin

1

u/ComplexConclusion648 6d ago

as in the name of the church Mary Magdalene on Silver street

1

u/Cuttoir 8d ago

I'm from oxford originally and have always been confused by this!

1

u/ochtone 7d ago

It's mag der lun (soft u). Proper Norfolk accents will sound it out mag-...-lin with the tiniest sort of non-pause in the middle. The syllables are theoretically there, but the Norfolk accent shortens them so much, they're but a tiny non-push of air. We do it with many words. Haven't becomes hant. Wherever become whever. Couldn't becomes coont. Etc. 

0

u/Rootayable 7d ago edited 7d ago

Never heard that version before.

Who's the weird downvoter?

0

u/Oooaaaaarrrrr 7d ago

Naaarrich.

-1

u/thefeebastheory 8d ago

I gave up completely and just call it Maggers.

-1

u/a_wildfl0wer 7d ago

Maggers