What is the correct pronunciation of Lerwick ?

Elegran, I love etymology too for the same reason "They map the influence of colonisation and trade - history embedded in speech". I especially love toponymy which holds clues to the most basic names such as rivers , which link to social history by way of who used rivers for navigation and so forth.

For instance the main sort of navigable rivers that connect with the North Sea have names such as Tay, and Thames, all have the same Sanscrit root.

Grumppa- I stand corrected over Magdalene college - Im more familiar with Oxford than Cambridge!
Alexa - very interesting about the pronunciation of Dalziel - makes sense!

pollyperkins, in the dim and distant past I played rugby for Magdalen against Magdalene, and both colleges called themselves Maudlin. We actually were maudlin, we lost.

Marmight, when I was a child, we drove over to Fife every summer and it wasn't until I was a student, travelling by train around the Fife coast, that I realised that Burntisland wasn't 'Burntis land', but actually Burnt island!

The place name ‘Burgh’ is pronounced differently. Sometimes as Burr, sometimes as Bruff, and sometimes as Burrow.

Indeed, timetogo2016, but it is also annoying when someone is believes that something is right (or OK) when you do know they are talking rubbish. We had visitors once from the States. When we drove them over the Carter Bar ( a high point on the English -Scottish border which has had its name for centuries), they really did think that it had been named after President Carter. That is how misconceptions turn into myths and mistakes become normal usage.

No, it is not my keyboard. I copied and pasted from the internet, but it is surprising what foreign letters and symbols there are in the fonts on a perfectly ordinary keyboard.

Alexa I'm no expert, but Old and Middle English and a little bit of the old Scandinavian languages were a part of my English language course long-ago. I found the links between languages facinating. They map the influence of colonisation and trade - history embedded in speech. The main influence at the moment is from across the Atlantic!

As long as we all understand what we mean i don`t think it matters too much.
I really get annoyed when people correct others when really they can`t be 100% sure.

Kingussie anyone?!
or Burntisland...

Actually I have theory the yogh was pronounced with the uvula like Geordies do for r. So the yogh might have been not quite like a y more like a vocal ch as in loch but voiced. I bet Geordie pronunciation is quite ancient.

Are you a specialist in the speaking of ancient languages such as Anglo Saxon?

Thanks Elegran. Some keyboard you have there that uses runes!

This is a yogh - Ȝ ȝ (capital and small letters)

And The Y in things like "Ye Olde Shoppe" is an interpretation of a letter for "th", called "thorn"which looked like this - Þ, þ

It was in the Old English, Gothic, Old Norse, Old Swedish, and modern Icelandic alphabets, as well as some dialects of Middle English.

Re Dalziel pronunciation:

The z is a printer's misprint of an old letter called a yogh which was pronounced like we pronounce y. The yogh looked like an elongated 3.

I got Uttoxeter wrong it should be Ucheter not Utecher! Im confusing myself now!
Dalziel is also a surname pronounced Diel as in Dalziel & Pascoe .
Reminds me of Captain Mainwaring (in Dads Army ) pronounced Mannering.

My son's friend lives in Cowbit, pronounced Cubbit.

I watched the first episode of Raven Black yesterday and they pronounced it as Lerrick .

Friockheim (upthread) is Freekum!

Daddima Milngavie is a brilliant one. Years ago I had to deal with some customers from Milngavie who were always very impressed that I could pronounce it.

And Rocester, near Uttoxeter, is pronounced Roaster

In our area, Lanarkshire, we have Dalziel Estate, the historic Dalziel House, Dalziel High School..
Local pronunciation is DL, dee ell, like the names of the capital letters.

Uttoxeter used to be called Uttucher, Towcester is probounced Toaster (similar to Worcester and Gloucester) but is often mispronounced. Magdalen College is pronounced Maudlin in Oxford but Magdalene college in Cambridge is pronounced as it looks.

And Happisburgh....pronounced Haze bruh

Morning, what about Wymondham. - Windam. (near Norwich)

We have Costessy
Pronounced Cossy