SEMANTIC ENIGMAS

Why do almost all sports commentators pronounce Barcelona's football ground as either "the New camp" or "the Noo camp" when it should be "Camp No"?

Neil Walker, Barrow in Furness, Cumbria

  • "Nou Camp" is mostly given as the Spanish version of the name, although that would be "Campo Nuevo". Indeed, "Nou Camp" was how the stadium was called on its inauguration in 1957, and it continued to be the official name throughout the Franco years, until Catalan was accepted as official language. On its website, Barca tends to make use of both versions: Camp Nou for the Catalan sections, and (at least occasionally) Nou Camp for the Spanish and English parts of it.

    Claus, Cologne, Germany

  • Because they're not that good at pronouncing foreign words. Hence they also refer to Real Madrid's stadium as the "Bernerbow" when it's actually the "Bernabayoo" and their Spanish counterparts refer to the England captain as Davi Bake Ham.

    Richard, New York, USA

  • Why do they pronounce Ronaldinho as it looks when he's Honaljinyo? Why is poor Sami called Herpia? Even if you can't say it right, at least he could be Heepia.

    What hopes for Robert Huth, Roberto Carlos and Vaz Te? Its' a good old sporting tradition.

    John Orford, Balingasag, Philippines

  • I thought it was "Camp Nou", "nou" being Catalan for "new". They're just anglicising the Catalan term I presume.

    Anna, Caerphilly, UK

  • Actually, it's known as Camp Nou, which is Catalan for 'new field'.

    Keith, Mason, UK

  • "Camp Nou" ("the new field") is the Catalan version of the name. Normally, in Spanish (i.e. Castilian) this would have to be "Campo Nuevo", but for some reason most Castilian speakers have taken to call it "Nou Camp". This is probably because it sounds a bit more fluent to Castilian ears than the Catalan version, which has a word ending with a plosive hitting on a word starting with another consonant, a rare occurence in Castilian.

    Thus, Nou Camp was the name most frequently used during the Franco era when use of Catalan was disencouraged. From there it slipped into most other European languages. Indeed, the FC Barcelona website occasionally makes use of both versions of the name, using Camp Nou mostly for the Catalan sections and Nou Camp for the Castilian and English ones.

    Claus Moser, Cologne, Germany

  • Camp Nou is what it's called in Catalan, so both the pronunciation ('camp noo') and the translation 'New Camp' are correct.

    Keith Mason, London, UK

  • Both Camp Nou and Nou Camp are gramatically correct ways of saying New Field in catalan. Nou Camp has been used and is still used by catalan and spanish speakers alike. It is most certainly not a relic of anti-catalan sentiment during the Franco regime. If that were so, spanish speakers wold call it Nuevo Campo or Campo Nuevo, not Nou Camp.

    Gonzalo, London UK

  • You're rather off beam yourself old chap. The correct name of Barça's home is the Camp Nou. In Catalan, as in Spanish and all other latin-based languages, the noun comes before the adjective. A correct translation into English would be the 'New Field', or even 'New Pitch'; the British calling it the 'Nou Camp' is tantamount to them referring to Man United's ground as 'Trafford Old'. Baffling.

    Jim, Lancaster England

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