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Why is the name 五右衛門 read as ごえもん?  
How can the three kanji 五右衛 be read with only two syllables?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-06-25T10:06:12.897
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2011-06-25T10:48:07.143
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question
etymology readings
Why is 五右衛門 read "goemon"?
[Some](http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q143434759)
[people](http://twitter.com/#!/_ryu9/status/11886981072) say that _goemon_
(五右衛門) and _iemon_ (伊右衛門) are pronounced like that since it's hard to
pronounce 2 or 3 continuous vowel sounds, as are supposed to be read as _g
**oue** mon_ (ごうゑもん) / **_iue** mon_ (いうゑもん) per syllable.
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2011-06-25T10:57:52.770
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answer
Originally, these kanji were thought to be pronounced as:

> 右衛門: _u we mon_

But since Japanese _u_ and consonant _w_ have little difference, the actual
pronunciation was like:

> 右衛門: _wwe~we mon_

Later, undergone the phonological change that merged _wi, we, wo_ into _i, e,
o_ :

> 右衛門: _e mon_

So the truth is 右 and 衛 share a single syllable, but the fact has been
obscured by the sound change.
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2016-04-23T17:33:32.970
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answer