Why does English spelling agree with the native spelling of French and Spanish cities, but few Italian, German or Portuguese cities?
by 
pzjohn
ANSWERS: 3
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English spelling of French cities is often the same because of the French heritage of the noble class of England. I am not aware that Spanish cities all have the same spelling in English as in Spanish. Seville in Spanish is Sevilla, for eg, although Madrid and Barcelona are the same. Italian cities have long had their names anglicised. Some of our English spellings come from the Latin forms of the city's name eg Florence ("Firenze" in Italian) was Florentia in Latin.
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Well Lyon in English is Lyons. And Marseille in English is Marseilles, I believe. Funny but true.
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I suggest that it is simple in English to take the French spelling pronounce all of the letters, some of which are silent in French (e.g. Paris = Par-ee). Itlatian often adds on letters at the end and German pronounciation requires a different spelling. But French can be taken and Anlicized as is because of the silent letters at the end.
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