Talk:Warspite/@comment-26843989-20160813132006/@comment-29621306-20160813225138

thank you to devoting time to this subject, and i think Johnson's dictionary is not telling people to pronounce administrative and admire in the same way, We are probably dealing with two types of “i” with different diacritics, as the dictionary itself mentioned, two types of "i" meaning the "i" in title or tittle, so at that time the pronunciation of administrative and admire could be what they are today. But the resolution of this scan is just too low for us to tell one type from another. I will search for a better scan. (just realized how much pain the english learners in 19th century had endured.... IPA was indeed a great invention )



about etymology, admiral was borrowed from old french "amirail", which is from arabian "amīr al-baḥr", the first "i" in both words are pronounced as [ɪ].