the "How the hell do you pronounce THAT??!" thread

Post by **Rocksister** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 12:36 pm

LFBM, there's an MP3 with SRD's pronunciations?? Where can I download or just listen to that?

Elemesnedene: ell-uh-MEZ-nuh-deen
Elohim: EE-low-him
Ranyhyn: RAN-ee-hin
Triock: TREE-ahk
Soranal: SORE-uh-nahl
Llaura: LAH-ruh
Mhoram: MORE-um
Sarangrave: SAIR-uhn-grave
Coercri: co-UHR-cree
Atiaran: ay-tee-AIR-uhn
Yeurquin: YUR-quinn
dukkha: DUCK-uh
Santonin: SAN-tuh-nin
chiaroscuro: chee-ah-roh-SCURE-oh
deliquese: deh-li-QUESS
puissance: PWEE-suhns
coloquoy: COH-luh-quee
adamantine: ad-uh-MAN-teen

Post by **Avery** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 2:17 pm

Rhadhamaerl - I think Lisa Gerrard pronounces it perfectly in Dead Can Dance's song The Writing on My Father's Hand.

I read Lord Foul's Bane for the first time as I was discovering Dead Can Dance's music, and it was a perfect fit.

It's @ 1m38s into the song if anyone's interested

And the song The Writing on My Father's Hand can be found on the Dead Can Dance album The Serpent's Egg.

YouTube · Post by **Menolly** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 2:21 pm

Excellent.
I'll have to check that out.

I look forward to your input on other matters musically over in Vespers.

Post by **High Lord Tolkien** » Tue Jul 13, 2010 8:23 pm

How does everyone pronounce: Forestal

Fore-stall
or
Forest-all

Both work for me.

"Fore stall" protect against the end of the Forests
"Forest all" The entirety of the Forests

I've always pronounced it Forest-all myself

Post by **wayfriend** » Tue Jul 13, 2010 8:28 pm

FOR est ul

Same syllable stess as 'magical'.

[edit] forestal is a real word, an adjective form of forest. Miriam-Webster says it's pronounced 'for-əst-əl. You can hear it here. That's the way I pronounce it.

Post by **pkfridley** » Fri Jan 18, 2013 5:00 pm

caamora = ka-a-MOR-a, at least in my mind. I know there's no apostrophe between the "aa", but it just sounds more solemn and religious this way.

I was watching Fantasy Bedtime Hour, and one of the guests pronounced "Illearth" as ILL-ee-arth. ??? Isn't it clearly ill + earth ?

Website · Post by **Iolanthe** » Fri Jan 18, 2013 5:10 pm

Must admit, I've always thought of it as Illy - earth for some reason.

Post by **Stevo** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 5:19 am

pkfridley wrote:caamora = ka-a-MOR-a, at least in my mind. I know there's no apostrophe between the "aa", but it just sounds more solemn and religious this way.

I've always pronounced it ka-mor-a, but like High Lord Tolkien said early in this discussion, I make them all up to fit my purpose and in many cases I don't even try: I simply recognized the strange letter combinations.

Today I tried to pronounce 2 of the ravers names and gave up quickly. I just know that the first word in the name is italics and begins with a lower case.

Here are some that are way off, but worked for me:

Ranyhyn - ren-hen
Mhoram - MO-rum
Atiaran - A-tree-an

Post by **Fnortner** » Thu Mar 07, 2013 8:44 am

How about Caer-Caveral? And Caerroil as in Caerroil Wildwood?

Post by **wayfriend** » Thu Mar 07, 2013 3:13 pm

I pronounce Caer as sort of half-way between Care and Cayer. So, Care-CAV-ural and Care-ROIL.

Post by **Stevo** » Thu Mar 07, 2013 4:11 pm

Fnortner wrote:How about Caer-Caveral? And Caerroil as in Caerroil Wildwood?

I have never tried to pronounce Caer-Caveral. Another one of those times where I just recognize the letters.

For Caerroil, don't laugh but I always pronounced like the breakfast food, cereal. It's not even close, but it worked for me.

Post by **Rodrigo** » Tue May 06, 2014 11:37 pm

Am I right in assuming "Illearth" is pronounced "ill earth"?

Post by **Orlion** » Wed May 07, 2014 3:56 am

Rodrigo wrote:Am I right in assuming "Illearth" is pronounced "ill earth"?

Yes, that is correct. When I first read the books I had a weird pronunciation for them until a friend pointed out that it is was 'ill' and 'earth' combined into one word

Post by **DrPaul** » Fri May 09, 2014 9:27 am

I've always pronounced Elemesnedene as "el-ee-main-dean".

Post by **DrPaul** » Fri May 09, 2014 9:32 am

Also, why not pronounce the "dh" in "rhadhamaerl" as a soft "th" (as in "rather")?

Post by **wayfriend** » Fri May 09, 2014 1:48 pm

DrPaul wrote:I've always pronounced Elemesnedene as "el-ee-main-dean".

That's actually pretty much the way Donaldson imagined it pronounced.

In the Gradual Interview, Stephen R Donaldson wrote:And the second worst name, from my perspective, is "Elemesnedene," for the simple reason that the spelling encourages a grating mispronunciation. Who would guess from that spelling that I meant "ele-main-DEAN"?

(01/11/2010)

I get that the pronounciation indicates that "Elemesnedene" must be based on "demesne". But who says "demesne"?

Post by **Zarathustra** » Fri May 09, 2014 2:07 pm

Each book has a glossary. Why not a pronunciation guide as well? These problems would be so easy to avoid.

Post by **DrPaul** » Fri May 09, 2014 8:30 pm

Another word with a "dh" that I've always pronounced as a soft "th" is "Grimmerdhore". Just imagine pronouncing it as "Grimmerd-whore" and you'll see why.

Post by **Vraith** » Fri May 09, 2014 9:32 pm

Zarathustra wrote:Each book has a glossary. Why not a pronunciation guide as well? These problems would be so easy to avoid.

Possibly...but have you ever actually tried to agree with people even WITH a pronunciation guide, based on supposedly "common" sounds? [there's a whole thread or two around here with peeps arguing about that...it doesn't work]

Even worse...I'm sure you've seen this in your fantasy readings at some point...a chapter/amendment/annotation/glossary explaining things like:

THGLLRdddHH is the original "skormblisg" spelling, pronounced equivalent to the modern xfaldotzverskag consonant "@#"

It just doesn't help...
It mostly creates armies that do battle
[usually verbally in mutually incomprehensible artificial languages cuz
they're out of shape and their weapons are imaginary, plastic, or both]
at SF/F conventions.

Post by **wayfriend** » Fri May 09, 2014 9:51 pm

DrPaul wrote:Another word with a "dh" that I've always pronounced as a soft "th" is "Grimmerdhore". Just imagine pronouncing it as "Grimmerd-whore" and you'll see why.

I always thought that the "-hore" here is an allusion to "hoary", as in old and bearded, which is how Donaldson describes the forests. And so grimmerd-hore is how I actually pronounce it. But maybe dhore is allusional as well.

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the "How the hell do you pronounce THAT??!" thread