I was having a discussion with a friend about this word, and she is inclined to pronounce the [ch] as [ck] especially because of this word’s connection to the Roman god of wine and merriment Bacchus. I, on the other hand, contended that when this word came into English, the Latin pronunciation of [ch] gave way to the English pronunciation of [ch]. Is this correct? And, can anyone either confirm or deny my assumption about the etymological path that this word has taken to English? Thanks!

Hello Mezer!

The Etymology Dictionary Online is a great resource for such inquiries!

debauch - 1595, from M.Fr. debaucher "entice from work or duty," from O.Fr. desbaucher "to lead astray," supposedly lit. "to trim (wood) to make a beam" (from bauch "beam," from Frank. balk). A sense of "shaving" something away, perhaps, but the root is also said to be a word meaning "workshop," which gets toward the notion of "to lure someone off the job;" either way the sense evolution is unclear.

"Debauchee, n. One who has so earnestly pursued pleasure that he has had the misfortune to overtake it." [Ambrose Bierce, "Devil’s Dictionary," 1911]

SO… It appears clearly to have come from the French, most recently, into English; thus, the soft ‘sh’ is correct, rather than the hard ‘ck’.

And interesting to me, that it had nothing whatsoever to do with Bacchus...!

-Tim

[quote author=Tim Ward link=board=etymology;num=1068485950;start=0#1 date=11/10/03 at 18:44:03]SO… It appears clearly to have come from the French, most recently, into English; thus, the soft ‘sh’ is correct, rather than the hard ‘ck’.

Certainly, a hard ‘ck’ is not justified. Whether to adopt a ‘sh’ could depend on how the rest of the word is treated. If the rest of the pronunciation is consistent with gauche, then certainly the ‘sh’ applies.

However, I have heard the word used with a much rougher (British) English treatment so that ‘debauch’ rhymes with ‘scorch’ and ‘debauchery’ follows this same line. But, as so often happens, perhaps this is an issue of left- and right-pondianism?

The Japanese kanji character for "debauchery" is made up from the character for "woman" shown three times.

Do you think that says something about Japanese men?

If you have Japanese language support loaded you can see the character (which also stands for "mistress" and "noisy") here.

Coemgenus

I myself would pronounce ‘debauchery’ with a distinct ‘ch’ sound, rather than a smooth ‘sh’ sound.

~Silver

I myself would pronounce ‘debauchery’ with a distinct ‘ch’ sound

Indeed, I’ve never heard any other variation.

- PW