Kevin's Watch

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

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.

Excellent.
I'll have to check that out.

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

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

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.

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 ?

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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"?

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

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.

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.

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.