Pronunciations?

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

I think there was a topic like this a while ago, but I figured since there are new people, and since we're all doing the read aloud thing, it might be fun to bring up again.

So, how do you pronounce certain words and names in the books? And maybe you could tell where you live as well, because accents might play into it. It think it would be interesting to see all the different ways that people pronounce things.

Eugenides: yoo-jen-EYE-dees
Magus: MAY-jus
Attolia: ah-TOLL-ee-ah
Eddis: EE-dis
Sounis: SOO-nis
Nahuseresh: na-HOO-ser-esh

And more that I can't think of, I'm sure.

Comments

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

Eugenides: yoo-JEN-id-eez. It's a Greek name. That's the appropriate pronunciation for that spelling as a Greek name.

Magus: MAG-us.... Well, the Oxford English Dictionary Online and Merriam-Webster Online say it should be MAY-gus.

Attolia: at-TOE-lee-uh

Eddis: ED-dis. First syllable as in "Eddie", not "eat".

Sounis: SOO-nis. Like Eugenides, based on the usual pronunciation of English spellings of Greek names.

Nahuseresh: na-hoo-SER-esh. I don't know anything special about pronouncing Mesopotamian names.

-- Dr. Whom, Consulting Linguist, Grammarian,
Orthoepist, and Philological Busybody
[This text prepared with Dragon NaturallySpeaking, mostly.]

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

You know, I used to pronounce it 'MAY-gus', but then I heard people saying 'MAY-jus', and I liked it better so I started saying it that way too. :P Seems like I'm in the minority with 'yoo-jen-EYE-deez'. Although now that I've seen so many people saying 'yoo-JEN-id-eez' I'll probably start saying it like that too... but I like my pronunciation better! XD Oh well.

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

Eh, the letter "g" is never hard (as in "got") before "a", "o", or "u", with I believe the sole exception of "margarine". English has very few sound/spelling rules you can count on, but that's one of them.

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

there's a hard "g" in margarine? I'm confused ...

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

Oh, nutz, the groggies done got me. That should be, the letter "g" is ALWAYS hard (as in "got") before "a", "o", or "u", with I believe the sole exception of "margarine".

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

"mar-hard g- arine (like margaret, only "-in" instead of "et") is starting to grow on me though :)

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

And that's what it comes from, kind of. "Margaret" and "margarine" can be both be traced back to the Greek "margaron" or "margarites" (MAR-ga-rohn, mar-gah-REE-teyss), meaning 'pearl'. So does French "marguerite" 'daisy', I suppose from the white "pearl" in the center.

I've sometimes thought about writing a pseudo-Appalachian version of "Hansel and Gretel" called "Jack and Daisy". "Hansel / Hänsel" is a diminutive for "John", as "Gretel" is for "Margarethe".

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

You could submit it for the Terri Windling (sp?) Fairy Tale series :)

I didn't know Gretel was from Margaret... very interesting!