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

[Blackhawk]

speaking of puissance... the first definition says its a competitive test of a horses ability to jump large obstacles in show jumping.

the second says archaic or poetic/literary great power, influence or prowess.

he loves this word because im halfway through the second chronicles and have heard it 5 times so far.

i pronounced it Puzzyence.

[Ur Dead]

From the GI..

Really, I believe that the "correct" pronunciation is the one that works for the particular reader. After all, story-telling in print is an interactive process, and the reader's contributions are both necessary and valid. But I personally say:
ha-ROO-chai (where "ai" is pronounced "eye").

(02/29/2004)

So it's ha-ROO-ch(I)

[transient]

I recall from High school days (circa 1963)reading Shakespeare that the word puissant came up. ."..most puissant Caesar...". My trusty Shorter Oxford on Historical Principles has it as Power,strength, force, might, influence. One pronunciation is along lines of pwi-sans

With all SRD words as with Tolkien, Herbert and the like I always tend to prefer my own pronunciation than the dictionary. If we own the pictures in our head, I guess we own the sound of the word regardless of some obscure philological rule book.

We here in Oz probably defy most of the general English speaking world rules on pronunciation in any case. My preference is to utilise neo-melanesian vowels such as:

ai = eye
a = u as in up
au = ow as in owl
i = ee
o = or
u = oo

when confronted by words that have a less than english look about them. Works for me.


haruchai = haroocheye

[Audio Covenant]

What about

• "Melenkurion abatha! Duroc minas mill khabaal!"

That would be an interesting one to hear Mr. Brick pronounce. I say

MELL-en-KOOR-ee-un A-ba-tha! DURE-ock MINN-us MILL ka-BAHL!

Ask and you shall receive.

When I asked him how to pronounce it, this is what Donaldson said, including his little joke at the beginning:

Spoiler

"Watching out for sudden thunder and appearances of mystical events: mel-en-KOO-ree-yun uh-BAH-thuh. DOO-rok MIE-nus MIL. huh-RAHD kuh-BAHL."

Best,

Scott Brick

[Blackhawk]

Spoiler

is the huh rahd the missing seventh word that i have never heard or had seen??? hehe I always tried to count them out.... 1 Melen 2 Kurion 3 Abatha 4 Duroc 5 Minos 6 Mill 7 Kabaal

so its really

1 Melenkurion 2 Abatha 3 Duroc 4 Minos 5 Mill 6 Huhrad 7 Kabaal?

how could i have overlooked that so often.....Huhrad

[amanibhavam]

actually it was a massive FR spoiler...

Spoiler

the word is Harad afaik

[I'm Murrin]

Calling it a "massive spoiler" is overstating it just a little.

[Spiral Jacobs]

The first time I read the Gap series I didn't know Thermopyle was (probably) pronounced like Thermopylae, so when Nick makes his 'thermo-pile' joke I thought oh.

[Cameraman Jenn]

I did the SAME thing SJ.

[Audio Covenant]

What about

• "Melenkurion abatha! Duroc minas mill khabaal!"

That would be an interesting one to hear Mr. Brick pronounce. I say

MELL-en-KOOR-ee-un A-ba-tha! DURE-ock MINN-us MILL ka-BAHL!

Sorry everyone, didn't realize I'd given a pronunciation from FATAL REVENANT, hope I didn't ruin anything for anyone. My apologies.

Regarding the above pronunciation, here's how SRD pronounces it:

mel-en-KOO-ree-yun uh-BAH-thuh. DOO-rok MIE-nus MIL kuh-BAHL.

Best,

Scott

[Blackhawk]

sorry . I havent read Fatal Revenant so i thought i missed something in the first two.

[drew]

I always prounanced the 'H' in Haruchai..until one time while reading the second chrons...I noticed at one point, an 'An' before the word...making me beleive, that the 'H' is pretty much silent.

A Haruchai

or

An Haruchai

[stonemaybe]

Having a smattering of Irish (Gaelic) really messes up SRD pronunciations.... h after a consonant in gaelic completely changes the sound, and the pronunciation of said consonant+h also depends on the vowel after it. Which is really messed up when you're a 12yo with a teacher who insists on talking instead of writing! Especially as the h goes in or doesn't depending on the case of the noun. (originally there weren't hs at all, there was a dot over the consonant called a shavu or something like that)
eg b=b
bha=wa
bhe=ve
d=d
dh=silent

[drew]

doesn't

LL=an 'f' sound too?

I heard that's where the name Floyd comes from..origionally Lloyd.

[Cameraman Jenn]

so that would make Llaura sound like flaura?

[IrrationalSanity]

Actually, I think Fauna make much more sound than flaura...

[wayfriend]

Sometimes people use "an" rather than "a" before a word that begins with H. This doesn't mean the H is silent. It's a variation on a grammatical rule. I think it's more British than US English.

The theory behind using an in such a context, however, is that the h- is very weak when the accent is on the second rather than the first syllable (giving rise, by analogy, to an habitual offender, an humanitarian, an hallucinatory image, and an harassed schoolteacher). Thus no authority countenances an history[emphasis added], though a few older ones prefer an historian and an historical.

So if it's ha-ROO-chie, then "an" can be appropriate.

"LL" does not make an F sound, as far as I know, ever.

[drew]

Not really a teeth-on-the-lower-lip 'F'...more of a throaty
'gh'-y sound.

Anyways...as this thread is titled "How the hell do YOU pronounce that" ..I'm just saying, that I used to call them

'Ha-Roo-Chi'

after reading that one 'an'

I started pronouncing them

'Ar-Oo-Kai'

[Ranyhyn Ruby]

What a great thread - i was too chicken to start it myself but was wondering the same thing after reading FR - just what is the proper way to pronounce all these words that I've been reading for years? Its funny how you pronounce things in your head isn't it? - its nothing like the real thing inside my head as it turns out....

I "read"
RAD-HAM-EARL
ATE-AIR-E-ON
HA-ROO-SHAY
RAN-E-HYN
RAY-MAN
ELO-HIM
KO-ER-CRY

The one I stumble on is ELEMESNEDENE. What do others suggest for that? I think I tend to skip over it when I read it - it ends up something like ELEM-SNEDE or such like.

Or what about BRATHAIRREALM. what a mouthful - BRAYTH-AIR-REALM?

I new PUISSANCE (I think) being a horsey person - PEW-SONSE I think it is.


Ruby

[wayfriend]

Welcome to the Watch, Ranyhyn Ruby of the Horsey People!

For me, I say EL-eh-MEZ-neh-DEEN (5 sylables, in meter, sort of like "elementary") and BRA-THAYR-RELM (almost the same stress on all three syllables, like when you say "overwhelmed").