Carnegie

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The proper noun Carnegie, the name of Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919), is pronounced 'car-NAY-gi', with a hard 'g' (IPA: /kɑr ˈne gɪ/). In his native Scotland, the '-r-' is realized: in RP, it is nor usually heard. In the US, where he made his fortune, the pronunciations 'CAR-ne-gi' (/ˈkɑr nə gɪ/) and Car-KNEE-gee' (/kɑr ˈniː gɪ/) are commonly heard.

LPD records no fewer than four pronunciations of Carnegie, all with the hard 'g':

  • 'car-NEGG-i', /kɑr ˈnɛg ɪ/;
  • 'car-NAY-gi', with a hard 'g' (/kɑr ˈne gɪ/, which it gives as Andrew's name;
  • 'car-NEE-GGi' /kɑr ˈniː gɪ/;
  • 'CAR-neg-i', /ˈkɑr nə gɪ/. This is the 'proper' way to say the name of the Carnegie Hall, Andrew Carnegie's gift of a concert hall to New York, which bills itself "the world's most famous musical institution" on its website. (According to wikipedia, it is also frequently /kɑr ˈneɪ ɡi/ [as in his name), citing Pollack, Michael (20 June 2004). "F.Y.I.: Tomato, Tomahto". The New York Times. Retrieved 2014-11-14] or /kɑr ˈnɛg ɪ/ ['car-NEGG-i'].)


Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919), the great philanthropist, was born in Dunfermline, in the county of Fife, in Scotland. His family emigrated to the USA in his childhood, to escape poverty. He rose by hard work in a telegraph company, and then in railroads, where he invested well; he then put $250,000 into iron and steel, using the new Bessemer process to manufacture rails. He then bought iron ore and coal fields, integrating his business vertically; at his retirement, in 1901, he sold his interests in what became the United States Steel Corporation for $447 million. He returned to Scotland, living at Skibo in the Scots county of Sutherland. He believed that "The man who dies thus rich, dies disgraced" (The Gospel of Wealth, 1900, cited ODNB), and gave away over 90% of his fortune, leaving a mere $30,000,000. The trusts that he set up to spend the money endowed 2811 free public libraries, of which 1946 were in the USA and 660 in Britain, the rest largely in the British Empire. He also supported universities, endowing amongst others the University of Birmingham; the Carnegie Institute of Technology (CIT), now part of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and the Carnegie Institution for Science (Washington, DC); and serving as Rector at the Scottish universities of St Andrews, Edinburgh, and Aberdeen. He campaigned for peace, founding 'palaces of peace', notably at The Hague, and proposed a league of peace. In 1910 he created the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He died shortly after the end of the Great War, which had considerably disillusioned him.