Old English speaker/reader needed

[King_of_Spain]

I'm keen to get advice from anyone who perhaps did an English degree that involved Old English pronunciation, or who is relatively grounded in it. My question is this: how does one pronounce the name Hwicce?

So far, I've heard or seen (phonetically): "wicker", "huh-wiss-uh", "weecher", "huh-wich-uh", "wisser" and every other combination in between, even "ge-wiss-uh".

Would kindly appreciate anyone who can help.

 

[Geriander]

We don’t know for sure how words were pronounced a few centuries ago and our best sources for those are how people spelled the words. The Hwicce appear to lack contemporary records so at best you will get a guess of how Bede would have pronounced it a couple of centuries later. As the Wiki article you quoted points out (with sources) there is a great deal of debate about the etymology so we can't even deduce pronunciation from other words.

 

[Warial]

The initial h- in OE was always pronounced, so this part is handled I believe.

The problem is doubled c. In OE "c" could be either represent /k/ like in can, or /t͡ʃ/ like in change. The only way for us to know which pronounciation is correct, is based on either Modern English pronounciation (so we know that cuman had initial /k/ because of ME come). Hwicce could be pronounced then:
1. with geminate /kk/ like OE cocc - ME cock
2. with geminate /tt͡ʃ/ like OE reccen - ME (to) reach
If the theory of Brythonic etymology, as in the article linked on the wiki page, is to be accepted, then the first option is the correct one. However, if the modern toponyms like Wychwood, Whichford, Wychbury Hills are connected to Hwicce as it is thought, then the second option is the correct one.

 

[Hazbot]

The Wikipedia article suggests /ʍi:kt͡ʃe/, where:

ʍ is similar to an "h" sound, but you purse your lips so as to restrict airflow and slightly raise the back of your tongue.
i: is like "ee" in leek.
k makes a normal "k" sound.
t͡ʃ makes a "ch" sound, as in "check" but not "loch".
e is like "i" in tin, but short.

Of course, Wikipedia could be wrong.

 

[Warial]

e is like "i" in tin, but short.

Tin? First, it has a short vowel already. Second, didn't you mean ten?

 

[Hazbot]

Tin? First, it has short vowel already. Second, didn't you mean ten?

Surely the "e" in ten is /ɛ/, not /e/? In English I tend to find that the letter "i" sounds more like /e/ to me.

 

[Warial]

Surely the "e" in ten is /ɛ/, not /e/? In English I tend to find that the letter "i" sounds more like /e/ to me.

Well, I guess it depends on the dialect or maybe even convention. For RP I was taught to always transcribe short "e" as /e/, never as /ɛ/.