Pronunciation

[Twitchy]

Always curious to hear how other people pronounce names and objects in the world of Randland.

 

A few of my favorites that I refuse to pronounce like the glossary says, first is mine, second glossary:

 

Amys (AIMS), (a-MEES)

Birgitte (Burr-GEET), (Burr-GEET-ey)

Cairhien (Care-in), (KEYE-ree-EHN)

Ogier (Oh-gear) <-- Also how it was in glossary in tEotW (Oh-gerr)

Morgase (More-gahs), (More-GAYZ)

ta'veren (Tah-veh-ren), (Ta-veer-en

Rhuidean (Rue-eh-din), (RHUY-dee-ann)

Taim (Tame), (Tah-EEM)

Logain (Logan) (Lo-gain)

Elaida (Ee-lay-dah), (Eh-lie-dah)

Demandred (Deh-man-dread) (DEE-mahn-dread)

Saidar, Saidin (Say-dahr)/(Say-din), (sah-ih-DAHR)/(sah-ih-DEEN)

 

And finally, my biggest pet peeve, (I really hate the way this one is pronounced properly)

 

Aiel (ALE), (Eye-EEL)

 

 

 

I have a lot of pronunciations that I'm trying to correct as well. I began this series 10 years ago, and reeaaaalll early (4th grade) so I read too fast and couldn't pronounce things properly... After years of saying it that way it's hard to change. In the process of changing...

 

Aes Sedai (Ey-Sed-ay)

Amyrlin (Am-rill-in)

Myrddraal (My-droll)

Trollocs (Trow-locks)

 

Yeah, I would just skip letters and work it around to however I felt like it. Damn kids. Also used to pronounce Aviendha as (Ah-vehn-dah)

 

So, that's me, how about you?

Edited January 4, 2011 by Twitchy

[AuldGoldBeard]

Mazrim Tame [/end thread]

Edited January 4, 2011 by AuldGoldBeard

[username13]

The 4th Age Podcast covered a few of these with their interview with team Jordan. The 4th Age: Podcast 79....ish

 

Definitely Tah-eem mate lol

[moratcorlm]

I think I'm more in line with the glossary – though less so with the audiobooks, from what I've heard. I'm pretty sure this is proper IPA.

 

Amys /'ʌmiːs/

Birgitte /bɜr'gɪtɨ/

Cairhien /kaɪriːjɪn/

Ogier /oʊ'gɪər/

Morgase /'mɔərgɑːz/

ta'veren /tə'vɪrin/

Rhuidean /'ruːɪdiːɛn/

Taim /teɪm/ – there's no way I'm pronouncing this "Taɪjiːm"

Logain /'loʊgeɪn/

Elaida /'ʌlaɪdə/

Demandred /də'mændrɨd/

saidar /saɪ'dɑr/

saidin /saɪ'diːn/

Aiel /aɪ'iːjəl/

Aes Sedai /aɪz sɨ'daɪ/

Amyrlin /'ɑːmɜrlɪn/

Myrddraal /'mɜrdrɔːl/

Trollocs /'trɒlɨkz/

 

There are some others that I'm really out of line with the audiobooks, like Semirhage /sɛ'mɪərɑːʒ/ rather than what sounds like /'sɛmiː'rɑːg/ . I'll update this later.

Edited January 4, 2011 by moratcorlm

[alligator]

I remember discovering the pronunciation of Semirhage and having my mind blown. Same with Rhuidean and Asmodean.

Don't remember what the term is, but in a previous thread someone pointed out that RJ just refused to let two vowel sounds slide together (Taim being a prime example).

[Twitchy]

I just listened to that 4th age podcast you linked and now I've got a ton more names that I pronounce differently. Jeeze RJ, couldn't you have settled for something simple?

 

Egwene (Egg-win) (Eh-gween)

Nynaeve (Nigh-naive) (... I don't even know how they pronounced it)

Shaido (Shay-doh) (Shah-ee-doh)

Leane (Leen) (Lee-ah-nah)

 

 

...

How many countless others?

[moratcorlm]

Do people pronounce Tear /tɪər/, like crying, or /tɛər/, like ripping? I seem to vacillate. I know the glossary uses the first form, but then there's the derivative "Tairen", which is presumably /tɛərɨn/. I know irregular forms are quite common in real life (Wales, Welsh; etc.), but they're not so common in fiction. So I guess good worldbuilding clashes with the impulse to regularize things.

[rsahae]

I use to mispronounce a LOT...now I try to pronounce as RJ (may he rule forever) intended. So I say Aiel the right way, even though for years I called them "Ale." Some others I used to butcher:

 

Nynaeve was nin-yave

aes sedai was a's sedigh

I still call elaida elayda

egwene was ej-ween

moiraine was moy-rain

cairhien was care-hien

I definitely called the Amyrlin "Ammarillin"

 

I guess I will draw the line at mazrim taim. I refuse to call him anything but "tame." Sorry, RJ.

 

A bunch of those are those double vowel (diphthongs, I believe) words. However, Nynaeve is an example of a diphthong that doesn't sound both vowels.

[Finnssss22]

Taim is definitely Tah-EEM.

 

There was one interview I remember where RJ actually got a little pissy about it, correcting the questioners 2 or 3 times to make the point.

[Xader]

I do a few the same as you, and a few with my own particular flavor

 

Amys (AH-miss),

Birgitte (Burr-GEET) (same)

Ogier (OH-gee-ehr)

Rhuidean (Rue-IH-dee-in)

Taim (Tame) (same)

Elaida (Ih-lay-duh)

Demandred (Deh-MAN-dread)

Edited February 18, 2011 by Xader

[Hillfood]

I've not listened to any of the audiobooks yet (though I intend to at some point in my life), but I've been reading the books since the mid-90's so I'm pretty set in my way of pronunciation. I figure that since it's a book, it was sort of left to the minds of the readers, such as the general view of the characters and the world go (for example, Egwene is described as a short brunette, I always picture an average-height dirty-blonde, for some reason). That said, alot of the names have real-world likenesses. Aes Sedai, for example, looks quite a bit like Aes Sidhe, which is an Old Irish way of referring to the Aos Si, who are the fairies or elves in Irish mythology (it means "people of the mounds"). Whether RJ intended the similarity or not, some people may pronounce things differently from the author's intentions based on real-world things. It can't really be helped, that's just the way it goes sometimes.

 

I know for a fact that I say some of the names wrong, like Nynaeve. I say nih-neh-veh (best approximation I can spell out without special characters, which I don't care to make at the moment), where I read in the glossary that I'm not even close. I met a girl once whose name was Nynaeve (the way I pronounce it is the way she said it, though I never saw the name written so the spelling could be vastly different) so I base my pronunciation off of that. One day I may change my pronunciations to be closer to the way RJ wanted them said, but for now I'm content with saying the stuff the way I've been saying it for the past 15 years, haha. I mean no disrespect to the man, I simply have my own way of saying the names and words in the books that helps the story flow in my mind as I read.

 

Also I've always said Taim as in "time". Not really sure why, it just felt right to me. At least most of yours are close to the right pronunciation, mine's off by a good bit. :P

[Xader]

One thing I've noticed, which does make perfect sense, is that the book-readers tend to mis-pronounce, while audiobook listeners can't spell the names to save their lives.

Edited January 5, 2011 by Xader

[Medo123]

I had quite a bit of trouble trying to pronounce the names when I first started, as I like to pronounce things properly. After I finished reading the first book I looked at the back of the book and I was disheartened to find out nearly all my pronunciations were wrong, (lol apart from the easy names: Mat, Rand, Min, etc. ). In the following books I made a conscious effort to pronounce them like they should be, believe me it took a long time. There's still loads of words that I can't pronounce properly, and I fear I never will. Cairhien for instance gave me the most trouble. With such words I would first pronounce them phonetically, i.e. CAH-eer-hee-EN, I suppose KEYE-ree-EHN is not so hard but it seems wrong somehow after getting used to my way.

 

I also failed at pronouncing Faile, it's Fah'EEL not Fale. Similar to the Tah-EEM and Sha-EE-do.

Also I didn't like the fact that Siuan is pronounced like swan (my way: see-you-AHN) and Seanchan is swan-chan (my way: SAY-AHN-chan).

 

Well, once you accept the way things are meant to be pronounced the books become easier to read I find.

Edited January 4, 2011 by Medo Farstrider

[A. Pseudonym]

Aiel = Ale (Always and forever)

Seanchan = San-Chan

Taim = Tame (Always and forever)

Cairhien = Care-Heen

Rhuidean = Roo-Iddy-An

Semirhage = Semmir-Hayg

Shaido = Shy-Doh

[Feral]

The big one for me is Nynaeve. I pronounce it Nyn-ah-eve, but apparently that's wrong.

 

Oh also Seanchan. Glossary says Shawn-chan or something whereas I say See-an-chan.

Edited January 5, 2011 by Feral

[Kathleen]

Mine are so embarrassing I don't even want to post them. I have this thing where if I'm reading quickly and into the plot I don't pay much attention to people/place names so I read the first little bit then just kinda wing the end, sometimes without actually reading them. Add to that my tenancy to recognize/refer to things as I first heard them, and you get a lot of mispronunciations.

 

Some are common and some are just way out there and I don't know how they started, but now I can't think of it as anything else

 

Aiel=ale

aes sedai= A's Saydee

Taim= Tame

Egween= Egg We an

Nynaeve = nin 'A' v(just the v sound)

Semirhage= semi hair age (like I said some are just 'where did that come from?')

Cairhien= Carry heen (yup added and ee sound between the r and h...)

Rhuidean= roo day in (no i..its just swallowed up by the rhu into a roo sound somehow..)

 

I think I'll stop there since most of this is just not even close lol. I think I did enough damage to most of the words that I could not listen to the books and know who was who.

[Twitchy]

Glad to see a whole bunch of other people are pronouncing them similar to my mess ups haha.

 

Especially surprised to see other people saying Ammrillin!

 

All in all, that may be one of my biggest pet peeves of this entire series, and in fact many fantasy/old age novels. There is no need to make fanciful weird names that are hard to pronounce in order to turn it into a fantasy novel. Mat, Thom, Bili and Luc are perfectly fine names that work.

I tried introducing this series to my friend who does not normally read fantasy and after reading the synopsis on the back, he immediately said,"What's with all the weird names?"

 

/2cents

[Medo123]

I, on the other hand, find it off putting when I come across a real world name in a fantasy novel. *cough* Gareth Byrne *cough*.

[Exy]

I think I'm more in line with the glossary – though less so with the audiobooks, from what I've heard. I'm pretty sure this is proper IPA.

Go back and look where you placed the stress symbols -- do you really pronounce Elaida's name that way? What you wrote out would be pronounced UH-lie-duh. And do you really pronounce Morgase as MOR-gahz?

 

Anyway, I tend to try to pronounce them "right", per the glossary. However, I'm not always sure what Jordan meant -- the spelling is totally inconsistent and his pronunciations in the glossary are not always helpful. Like for instance the pronunciation of Semirhage's name ended in "GH". Uh, what's "GH" supposed to sound like? Because there's about five different ways it's used in English.

 

Oh, and for me, Mazrim Tame has always been, and will always remain Mazrim Tame.

[GaseousAnomaly]

One thing I've noticed, which does make perfect sense, is that the book-readers tend to mis-pronounce, while audiobook listeners can't spell the names to save their lives.

Absolutely. It's the one difficulty I've had.

 

"Oh gosh I should check this out on the internet. Maybe I'll find that missing bit on information."

Input search in Google: "Teleyeronreeyode"

Google-> Did you mean: Telenor

"Ok....."

Input search in Google: "World of dreams wot"

 

 

 

But I'm glad I heard all the names in the audio books because some of them I would probably never have bothered to pronounce right.

[moratcorlm]

Go back and look where you placed the stress symbols -- do you really pronounce Elaida's name that way? What you wrote out would be pronounced UH-lie-duh. And do you really pronounce Morgase as MOR-gahz?

Maybe and yes; I guess the stress of the second syllable of Elaida is about as strong as the first. Edited January 6, 2011 by moratcorlm

[Fains nose]

i say - Seanchan- Sen-chaan

Mydraal- Mid-dri-all

Moiraine - More-rain

Cairhien- Care-he-en

Nynaeve- Ny-neev

 

theres heaps i probably pronounce everything wrong but ive been reading these books for nearly 10 years so im not changing now. i like my ways better anyway and i found it really jarring listening to the audiobooks

[Moments]

I've sort of trained myself to pronounce things according to how they're explained in the glossary. However, my first read-through of the series had plenty of mispronunciations.

 

Aiel - Ay-eel (refuse to switch it to a mangled 'isle'.)

 

Cairhien - Began with Care-heyen (eye sound) because I'm good at reading and failed to take into account the 'i' before the 'e'.

 

Nynaeve - I'm fine with it now, but the name initially bugged the hell out of me. I thought it was pronounced Nin-ah-eve, which was cumbersome and stupid to sound out.

 

Taim - Sorry, RJ. I'm sticking with Tame.

 

Seanchan - I've actually seen a couple others who pronounced it See-an-chan to begin with. For me, it makes more sense than Shawn-chan. Stupid English language.

 

Damane - Da-main. And I was greatly pleased to find out that wasn't how it was said.

[ranjitb]

I tried to listen to a 4th Age Podcast for the first time ever yesterday and nearly clawed my eyes out after the first fifteen minutes over the overdone and labored "Yea, these be fantasy names and thar must be difficult to say" enunciation.

Every time the podcasters drew out one more hard to say "So, how do we think Caddswooannay will aid Laaaaaahn..." I died a little bit inside.

 

It's bad enough that Randland names and terms are overloaded with "exotic sounding" names with 17 vowels in a row, but to stamp down "official" ways is just too much.

I really feel that more fantasy authors should follow GRRMs footsteps and just say "Dudes, chill, and say the names as you want to".

[Jblaylock]

I can't even remember how I pronounced most of them. Started listening to the audio books about half way through the series, so I'm so used to hearing it the "right" way that I've forgotten my "wrong" way.

 

 

I do remember that I thought it was "Ays-Suh-Die" and not "Eyes-seh-die"

And I also thought it was "Ayl" and not "ah-eel"

and "EEgwen" instead of "EE-gwayne"

 

other than that I don't remember.