Here is a word association piece involving the words nonet and nonnet.
I was reading a flyer from the Music Haven in Central Park, Schenectady and it was promoting a group called the Slavic Soul Party! (The exclamation point is part of the name.) It describes them as “A nonet of fiery Balkan brass, throbbing funk grooves, Roma Gypsy accordion wizardry, and virtuoso jazz representing the vast cultural expanse of Southeastern Europe promises to engage house and hill in a raucous dance party. It’s taking place on Sunday, July 21st at 7 pm.
I was taken first by the word gypsy. I thought was no longer considered appropriate. The Merriam-Webster definition: “Though still frequently encountered in English, use of the term Gypsy to refer to Roma people or their language is increasingly regarded as offensive because of negative stereotypes associated with that term. Although Gypsy is sometimes used as a neutral or positive self-descriptor, it is recommended that those for whom it is not a self-descriptor use Roma or Romani/Romany instead.” So perhaps the description came from the Slavic Soul Party.
Next, I was curious about the pronunciation of nonet. I figured it would be similar to quartet, quintet, sextet, septet, and octet and it’d be Na-net. But, no. It’s pronounced like no net.
Poetry
But there is a word nonnet, which IS pronounced Na-net. Or I think there is. My spellcheck doesn’t like it, and neither does M-W. It is a nine-line poem with 9 syllables in the first line, 8 syllables in the second line, et cetera until it gets down to 1 syllable in the ninth line.
However, I find more references to this poetic device as nonet, such as here.
BTW, there’s also non-net, a UK adjective: “(of an amount) including tax and other sums in addition to the net amount.”
Nonet reminded me of the musical No, No, Nanette. My wife played clarinet in a pit band in high school for the musical, but I don’t even know the storyline. It is the source for the song Tea For Two.
Nanette reminds me of the actress Nanette Fabray (1920-2018) who was very popular when I was growing up, notably on Hollywood Squares and One Day at A Time. Her niece Shelley Fabares was in the Donna Reed Show, Coach, and many other programs.
