On 14/12/06, Stavros Macrakis <macrakis at alum.mit.edu> wrote:
> I see no reason to pronounce Maxima with the accent on the second
> syllable. Where did you hear it should be?
A while ago, while discussing the Spanish translation of Maxima in
this mailing list, there was some discussion as to whether or not
Maxima should carry a stress mark in Spanish writing or not. If it
doesn't, then it should be read as paroxytone (a word with the accent
on the next to last syllable). According to Spanish spelling, if we
want to read it as proparoxytone (a word with an accent before the
next to last syllable), we should put an accent on it, unless the
spelling of the word is distinctly foreign ("m?xima" is a common
Spanish word, in case that matters).
There has been at least one Spanish speaker who thought that "Maxima"
was a paroxytone. Whether this is related or not because he read
"Maxima" and not "M?xima", who knows.
This, of course, is probably largely unrelated to why someone from .it
might think it's also a paroxytone instead of a proparoxytone. :-)
- Jordi G. H.