*** Disclaimer: This is best received when the first paragraph is read aloud or in front of a mirror. ***

Cellar door. Sell a door. Selladore. It almost “produces an enchanting proper name,” C. S. Lewis wrote in 1963; doesn’t it? Pure euphony. Forget the semantics and listen to it. Cellar door. The lightness of the fricative soft “c” bounces distinctly off the alveolar consonant of “d.” It’s amazing to examine the same sibilance of the postalveolar tongue movement which creates a harmonious coating of brief, calming yet strong sounding articulation. It’s a sound that relies on rounded vowels rather than soft consonants. Something about the smooth elision of vowel sounds, complete with the omission draws you lower, while your jaw moves down as you speak, creating a beautiful sound which makes “cellar door” the most beautiful combination of words in the English language.

This probably seems crazy. “Cellar door” literally refers to an underground storage area at the back or side of a house. This makes no sense, and many people cannot grapple with this idea, including myself and some of my teachers. There is no scientific backing for the theory about “cellar door,” but famous linguists, historians, authors, and lexicographers, notably J. R. R. Tolkien, Edgar Allan Poe, C. S. Lewis, and, most recently, Grant Barrett, have been commenting on this enchanting phenomenon for decades now.

Brought to my attention through the cult classic Donnie Darko, this theory is very abstract yet supported by, arguably, some of the greatest minds in literature. This brought me to the start of my research. “Cellar door” continues to top “Most Beautiful Words” lists without nostalgia or defining reasons, like “mother” or “love,” but merely because of euphony.

Lewis and Tolkien agree. In his prominent lecture, “English and Welsh,” Tolkien notes that “Most English-speaking people, for instance, will admit that cellar door is ‘beautiful,’ especially if dissociated from its sense…more beautiful than, say, sky, and far more beautiful than beautiful.” Rearranging or changing the spelling, say to “selladore,” focuses attention on simple auditory senses, ultimately enhancing its euphony. Tolkien then closes his statement on this speculation reiterating the idea that this occurrence is conditional to an individual but ironically occurs to many people without science: “The nature of this pleasure is difficult, perhaps impossible, to analyze. It cannot, of course, be discovered by structural analysis. No review will make one either like or dislike a language.”

A French historian, Jacques Barzun, in 1991, also examined the idea that people of other nationalities speaking other languages find the sound pleasing as well, specifically the Japanese. Physical cellar doors pertain to the United States, Ireland, England, and Canada so this idea that people of different backgrounds possessing no inclination to an actual cellar door would perceive the euphony clearly and without a barrier in the sense of definition is viable. This linguistic phenomenon does not end with a language barrier. Edgar Allen Poe, after studying the beautiful relationship between language and sound, claimed that “nevermore” was his favorite word. Fittingly, it rhymes with “cellar door.” It seems too close to be coincidental because of its similar vowel sounds, the pairing of “n” and “m” similar to “c” and “d,” and its elision.

However abstract or crazy this theory and phenomenon seem to be, the help of beloved writers and linguists give it verisimilitude. It’s an odd argument that stumped me and still does, but the euphony will forever awe and please many.