Pronunciation

[m-chant.livejournal.com]

Soo...how does everyone pronounce the names?

Sounis: I say SO-NISS, though my mind tells me SUE-NISS.
Sounisian: I say SON-EE-ZHINZ, though my mind tells me SUE-NISS-EE-INZ.

Eddis: ED-DISS, or EE-DISS?
Eddisians: My mind says ED-DEE-ZHINZ, though my logic says ED-DISS-EE-INZ.

Attolia: AT-ALL-EE-AH, or AT-OH-LEE-AH?

Pol: POLE?

Sophos: My knowledge of Ancient Greek tells me SAW-FOSS, but might it be SO-FOESS?

Seperchia: SE-PEAR-KEY-AH?

Mede: MEAD? MEE-DEE? And Medes: MEADS? Or MEE-DEEZ?

Nahuseresh: Nah-HUH-Se-Resh?

Teleus: TEE-LEE-USS or TELL-EE-USS?

Erondites: My Ancient Greek-ness tells me AIR-ON-DIT-ACE (accent on DI), but I want to say AIR-ON-DITE-EASE.
Dite: DIT-AY? Or DIE-TEE?

Aristogiton: @_@. I'll leave this one open.

Comments

[finding-further.livejournal.com]

My 2 cents...

Sounis: SUE-niss
Sounisian: sue-NEE-sian
Eddis: ED-diss (though the Eddisians pronounce it EEE-diss)
Eddisians: ed-DISS-sians (again, ee-DISS-sians for the locals)
Attolia: at-TOH-lee-ah
Pol: POLE (long o, silent e of course)
Sophos: SO-fose (long o for both syllables)
Seperchia: suh-PER-key-ah
Mede: MEH-DEE
Medes: MEH-DEEZ
Nahuseresh: nah-HOO-suh-resh
Teleus: TEL-ee-us
Erondite: air-RON-dee-tay
Dite: DEE-TAY
Aristogiton: air-iss-TOG-ee-ton

No rhyme or reason for my pronunciation. Just what hit me when I first read it.

[finding-further.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think I pronounce Erondite: air-ron-DEE-tay.

[katyhasclogs.livejournal.com]

Well, this is what I say (though I don't profess to be 'right' necessarily, and bear in mind that I'm English so that will probably make a difference):

SOO-NISS
SOO-NIZ-EE-ANS

ED-ISS
ED-ISS-EE-ANS

AT-TOLL-EE-A

POL

SO-FOSS

SEP-ER-CHEE-A

MEAD

NA-HOOZ-A-RESH

TEE-LEE-USS

AIR-ON-DIE-TEEZ

DIE-TEE

A-RIST-OH-GUY-TON

[katyhasclogs.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think I might alternate between AIR-ON-DIE-TEEZ and AIR-ON-DIT-EEZ. Consistency, I have it. ;)

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

I pronounce everything like you're told to pronounce Latin when you're singing, pretty much. There are exceptions. So the vowels go

A = ah
E = ay/eh
I = ee
O = oh
U = oo

ch = k

Exceptions: Sounis is SOO-niss, not soh-OO-nees, and Sounizians is so-NEE-see-ans. Eddis is EH-dees, and Eddisians is eh-DEE-zee-ans.

Attolia: ah-TOHL-ya
Attolis: ah-TOHL-ees
Attolians: ah-TOHL-yuns

Pol: pohl/pole

Sophos: SOH-fohs

Seperchia: seh-PEHR-kee-ah

Mede: MEH-deh
Medes: MEH-dehs

Nahuseresh: nah-HOO-seh-rehsh

Teleus: teh-LEH-oos

Erondites: EH-rohn-DEE-tehs

Aristogiton: EH-reest-OH-ghee-tohn (hard g, like in "go")

Irene is ee-REH-neh, of course. Eye-reen, no way. Eye-reen belongs in a Van Morrison song. :P

[bookishbabe.livejournal.com]

Ah! Someone who pronounces Aris' name the way I do!

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

I honestly can't think of any other way to pronounce it! UH-reest-oh-GUY-ton would never have occurred to me.

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Megan commented on pronunciation in her Iive PodCast interview - part 1 (http://sounis.livejournal.com/296807.html) & part 2 (http://community.livejournal.com/sounis/299787.html), but basically she says you can pronounce them anyway you like!

[m-chant.livejournal.com]

Haven't listened to the links yet, but argh, I hate it when authors give their readers free rein to the pronunciation of made-up names!

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Well... Megan gives suggested pronunciations, but she says she doesn't want to interfere with what her readers imagine her world to be with RL influences. After all, that kinda ruins the story, which is something I really respect about her.

[ejmam.livejournal.com]

I pronounce 'em like they were modern Greek (except for the Mede's, and then I just wing it). Things makes Gen's name odd -- "ev-gen-i-des". But all the "o"s are long. "A-Toh-lee-ah.

[lylassandra.livejournal.com]

The reason I've never signed up for a read-aloud chapter is that I *know* I don't say the names anywhere near correctly; I just make up whatever sounds best to me. =)

However, when reading Thief aloud to my husband on car trips, I was very careful to say Ee-dis when Gen was speaking and Ed-dis when the magus was, at least until the end when the magus had to (presumably) bow on the question of who was saying the country's name right. =) Thereafter I just used Ee-dis.

[heiros-acumen.livejournal.com]

Has anyone listened to the books on story tape? That's how I first found them and I especially love the way the actor does The Thief, so I say everything the way he does.
ED-DIS (Even though Gen tells the Magus that the natives say EE-DIS)
And while I don't understand this Pol is like Paul

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Yup, I listened to all of Jeff Woodman's sound-recordings. I pronounce QT vocabulary like he does.

Of course, my sister asked me why on earth I was listening to a sound-recording of a book I've already read! I offered, "It's Megan Whalen Turner. Duh..." XD

[sgwordy.livejournal.com]

Perfect response!

[crazededdisian.livejournal.com]

For Eddis, I say Aed-dis (like long A plus a "yeh" sound in one syllable) and think Aed-dees. It comes out like Aed-dez but the "ez" somehow half-morphs into a "is" as the word leaves my mouth. Does that even make sense? Which syllable is supposed to be accented?

I say Aed-DEEZ'-E-en for Eddisian. Again, the "ez" slips into that mutilated "is". (Third syllable long E, fourth short.)

Medo-Persian is my current favorite word.

[crazededdisian.livejournal.com]

Correction: "yeh" is actually "yEE".

I think my mind is going. The fever/cold/sore throat thing is BAAAD. (Pronounced baaaaah)

[kaeyko.livejournal.com]

Drat being a linguistics major. Not that I will use linguistics for this (unless people want to see some IPA symbols all over the place). As far as I'm concerned, as long as you have some sort of reasoning behind why you pronounce it that way and it makes sense, you're good. I love this sort of thing.

Sounis: SO-'NISS
Sounisian: SO-'NEE-SEE-AN
(I'm guessing I must have missed out on something, since there's a lot of people here saying SUE-NISS)

Eddis: EE-'DISS (Though I admit I used to say "ED-DISS" until I read that little argument between the Magus and Gen in The Thief)
Eddisian: EE-'DEE-SEE-AN

Attolia: AH-'TOLL-EE-AAH. And also, for some reason, EH-TOLL-EE-AH. Still scratching my head on the latter.

Sophos: SO-FOESS (Though Sophocles, the poet, is SAW-FOE-KLEESE.)

Seperchia: SE-PERK-EE-AH

Pol: POLE

Mede: MEE-DAY
(I don't think I've ever said "Medes," the plural for "Mede" has always been "Mede," like "those Mede jerks" and "those Mede." I guess "Medes" would be "MEE-DAYZ")

Nahuseresh: 'NAH-WHO-SE-"RESH

Teleus: TEL-EH-US

Erondites: AIR-'ON-"DEE-TES (The "r" might be ambisyllabic, so AIR-RON-DEE-TAYZ)
Dite: DEE-TAY (Though I'm thinking it should be "DIGHT-TEE" like Aphrodite)

Aristogiton: AIR-'ISS-TOH-"GI-TON (Ambisyllabic "r" again, so more like AIR-RISS-TOH-GI-TON. Also, I'm inconsistent here, because I've got Erondites' "E" pronounced the same way as the "A" in "Aris." Drat!)

[m-chant.livejournal.com]

Lol, Ditto the Sounis pronunciation! And I pronounce Aristogiton the same way. So I'm not so crazy.

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

(I'm guessing I must have missed out on something, since there's a lot of people here saying SUE-NISS)

French influence on English pronunciation! Think about the way "soup" is pronounced, or "route". Or "roux", but that's a cognate.

[m-chant.livejournal.com]

I think my mind tells me it should be SUE-NISS because I was taught that 'ou' (omikron + upsilon) is pronounced 'oo'. I have no idea why I automatically thought SO-NISS, though. Maybe because 'ou' in Japanese is 'oh'? Imposing jap pronunciation onto english/greek....sad.

[kaeyko.livejournal.com]

Interesting... very interesting. ^^

See, I thought it was mentioned in the books somewhere (in the form of some overt pronunciation argument between Gen and the Magus or something similar), or that it was some Greek pronunciation of the orthographic "OU" that I missed out on.

Or that it was a diphthong - still trying to figure out the diphthong explanation, though, because the only thing I've got is the "OU" from "LOUD" and that gets me "SOW-NISS". And that just sounds awful. I really doubt this though. My research that is, looking through linguistics articles on wikipedia says that "OU" in Greek is approximately a long "U" in English, so like "BOOT."

I think I might be influenced by Japanese vowels, I guess, given "OU" in Japanese is an orthographic representation of a long "O" sound.

[kaeyko.livejournal.com]

Wait, I got it. I got the "OU" like "OH" sound from... "SOUL."

Shuts up now for not being able to drop the subject.

[m-chant.livejournal.com]

Btw, that's not the queen from Black Adder, is it?

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

It totally is. :)

[tiegirl.livejournal.com]

I say Nahuseresh: NAH-WHO-SER-FISH

[tiegirl.livejournal.com]

Except when I say it: NAH-WHO-SER-SQUISH

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

"One man's Mede is another man's Persian." -- Ferdinand Feghoot. "Mede" in English rhymes with "speed" (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mede).

[m-chant.livejournal.com]

Er, who is Ferdinand Feghoot?

[m-chant.livejournal.com]

Interesting!
Another pronunciation for Mede crossed my mind. Has anyone said it like MAY-DAY?
I'm actually kinda surprised at how many people say the -dite(s) of Erondites with a short I and long A. That's how I say it, but I can't help but think it should be pronounced analogously with Aphrodite, you know, DIE-TEE.

The Lurker Says:

[ladyadeone.livejournal.com]

Sounis: SUE-NISS
Sounisian: SUE-NEES-EE-INZ

Edis: EE-DISS
Eddisians: EE-DEE-SEE-INZ

Attolia: AT-OH-LEE-AH

Pol: PAL

Sophos: varies! : P

Mede: MEAD
Medes: MEADS

Nahuseresh: NAH-HUH-SAH-RESH

Teleus: TELL-EE-USS

Aristogiton: AHRIS-TOE-GITE-ON

[ladyelysia.livejournal.com]

For the longest time, I pronounced Eugendies Eu-gen-dies, until I heard a read-aloud chapter, then I switched to Eu-gen-i-dees.
Warning: I frequently pronounce stuff incorrectly. English is my dominant language, but if I can't pronounce it, I fall back to a more Korean/Japanese type pronounciation.

Sounis: SUE-NISS

Sounisian: SUE-NISS-SI-UN

Eddis: I imagine the Eddisians pronounce it AE-DISS while everyone else says EH-DISS.

Eddisian: AE-DISS-SI-UN/EH-DISS-SI-UN

Attolia: UH-TOLL-LI-A

Pol: POLE

Sophos: SO-PHUS

Seperchia: SEH-PERK-E-AH

Mede: MEAD

Medes: MEADS

Nahuseresh: NA-WHO-SHER-RESH

Erondites: ERON-DITES

Teleus: TEH-LAY-US

Aristogiton: ARIS-TOG-GI-TON

[diadactic.livejournal.com]

I don't worry about being right, I'm just reading some books.

So:

Soo niss, soo nee jans

I go back and forth between ed diss and ee diss, but mostly ee diss.

ed dee jans

uh toll ee uh (or uh toll ee yuh)

pole

so foess

seh perch ee yuh

mead, meads

na chu (like the Hebrew letter chet with an oo sound) seresh (like the hebrew vowel)

tell eh (like the canadian eh?) us

aaron dite eez

die tee

BTW, I'm from Chicago, where Devon is pronounced d'von.

Eugenides?

[(Anonymous)]

I've been saying, 'U-JEN-IDES'

Whats your take?

[puppeteergirl.livejournal.com]

I pronounce the names like the audiobook. If I didn't, then every time I listened to them I'd be super annoyed. And I'm the number 1 fan of the audiobooks.



Sounis: SUE-niss.
Sounisian: I say SUE-niss-ee-an

Eddis: ED-ISS
Eddisians: ED-iss-ee-an

Attolia: AT-OH-Lee-an

Pol: Paul

Sophos: So-fohs (look up how MWT says it in recorded interviews, and that's how I pronounce it)

Seperchia: Sa-per-kee-ah

Mede: Mead

Nahuseresh: Nah-Hoo-Ser-esh

Teleus: Tell-ee-us

Erondites: Yer-ond-it-eez

Dite: Die-tee

Aristogiton: Air-ist-oh-j-eye-ton

And Eugenides is like: Yew-gen-ih-deez

Lol that was fun!

[m-chant.livejournal.com]

Oh, I forgot Sejanus! How does everyone pronounce that? I say SE-YAWN-UHSS, going by, for some strange reason, Classical Latin pronunciation.

[kaeyko.livejournal.com]

The funny thing about Sejanus is that I'm taking a course on Shakespeare and Rome right now and the professor pronounces it "SUH-JANE-US."

Before that, I always thought it was "SAY-YAWN-US," since the Roman god "Janus" was pronounced "YAWN-US" (as far as I know).

To be honest, I like saying "SUH-JANE-US" mostly because it reminds me of how my professor told us how the historical Sejanus was a backstabbing Machiavellian sycophant whose stealthy attempts to succeed in his ambitions took an epic fail and I thought: "That is Sejanus exactly!"