Wheel of Time Word Mangling

[HoopyFrood]

It's been discussed that some of the words in the Wheel of Time series can result in...interesting pronunciations. I'm especially bad at this, as I read very quickly so my eyes barely register letters, just an impression of the word -- added with the fact that once I say a word a certain way, it's stuck.

So here are some of mine.

Egwene - Eg-ween
Nynaeve - Ny-eve
Aviendha - Yeah, I don't even try and say this one.
Demandred - I think I tend to just say Drammed
Moghedien - Mogden
Semirhage - Smer-ige
Birgette - Bridget or Ber-jet
Siuan - Sharn (or sometimes su-an)

Most of the Aes Sedai names just bypass me completely. There's probably only a handful that I actually say, like Alanna or Verin.

Cairhein - Car-ren
Tear - Tair (I know, how do I get this one wrong?)
Caemlyn - Cam-rlym
And similarly: Amyrlin Seat - Am-rlym Seat

There are many more, I'm just forgetting them at the moment. I'll add them as I come across them!

 

[Erin99]

Ooh, fun! I'm off the PC in a mo, but I'll have a quick play with the ones I can think of:

Tel'aran'rhiod = Teranleroid
Moghedien = Mow-higden
Egwene = Eg-ween
Nynaeve = Ny-aveeve
Aviendha = Av-e-enda (Seph says it the same way)
Demandred = Demandred (ha! I got one right!)
Semirhage = Smear-idge
Birgette = Bridgette (Seph says "Bir-geet")
Siuan = syu-an
Cairhein = Car-hein (I think this is right)
Caemlyn = Caym-lin
Amyrlin Seat = Am-er-lin Seat
Emond's Feild = Edmond's Feild
Androl = And-ree-ol
Rhuarc = Ru-arc
Avendesora = A-ven-sid-ora

 

[HoopyFrood]

Hah, yes, I forgot about Edmond's field.

 

[Erin99]

Every night I dream only WoT dreams! Blimey! Last night Demandred and Mohigden were doing something secretive in a caravan. Uh, wait. That could sound wrong...

Anyway, since I have more time, I properly looked at yours, Hoopy. I LOVE that you just ignore half the letters in Demandred and then twist the remaining around! And do you say SMEARidge, or just SMEHridge?


I'm... lucky(?) in that Seph and I talk about the series so much, so I've learned which way the names are supposed to be pronounced. Yet, my brain also remembers how it first read it on the page, so if I think hard I can come up with two pronunciations for each word - the real one and mine.

Perhaps I should write another post, about how the pronunciations REALLY should sound!

 

[HoopyFrood]

Heh, well that's about the closest I can get to how I say Demandred.

And Semirhage...sometimes it's se-mer-ige, others it's smuher-ige.

And yeah, if I actually looked at the word I'd probably be able to same it probably, but that would take up precious reading time

 

[HoopyFrood]

Oops, that last sentence failed. "Say it properly"!

A few more:

Padan Fain - I instead say PadaR Fain
Gawyn - Gwayne, although I'm starting to say Gay-wyn more now.
Berelain - er, probably something like bear-lin, bear-lain.
Ogier - said this one before, but still ooh-gee(hard g)-er

 

[Erin99]

*sniggers* I love Gay-win. That's just so wrong. Like you, I say "Ga-wayne", though I know it's supposed to be Ga-win.

But noooo! You can't mangle "ogier"! Ooh-gier just sounds.. like something icky.


Strangely, I've never had a problem with Ber-e-layne or Padan. As for smeridge, it's supposed to be sem-ear-aaage (the end kind of sounds like "aaah").

 

[HoopyFrood]

Just thought of something due to conversation elsewhere

Is Loial supposed to be said as 'loyal'? Because I say Lo-i-al!

 

[Erin99]

So, hmmm. Seph says "Loy-al", I say "Loyal", without the emphasis. I can't imagine it having three syllables!

 

[HoopyFrood]

Damnit, I thought I was actually right with that one!

 

[Erin99]

We should check the pronunciation thingy. Maybe you ARE right? (I hope not. He's not cute with three syllables.)

 

[ratsy]

I have put zero thought into how to pronounce them all...I don't really pronounce them in my head as I read, more so I just see their name and move on...its hard to explain but it's almost as if I see a picture when I see a name sometimes and I know what and who it is but I don't "read" it in my head...if that makes any sense.

 

[HoopyFrood]

I'm exactly the same. I couldn't even tell you how I say the Dream World place, I just see it and move on. But when I stop to think about the names I realise I'm coming up with some weird ones!

 

[ratsy]

yeah I do too, then I realize why I never try to say them...good thing I have never discussed these books person to person (since I know no one who has read them)

 

[Ursa major]

And Semirhage...

People can be really annoyed by so many things.

 

[Jonathan C]

Ooh, fun! I'm off the PC in a mo, but I'll have a quick play with the ones I can think of:

Tel'aran'rhiod = Teranleroid
Moghedien = Mow-higden
Egwene = Eg-ween
Nynaeve = Ny-aveeve
Aviendha = Av-e-enda (Seph says it the same way)
Demandred = Demandred (ha! I got one right!)
Semirhage = Smear-idge
Birgette = Bridgette (Seph says "Bir-geet")
Siuan = syu-an
Cairhein = Car-hein (I think this is right)
Caemlyn = Caym-lin
Amyrlin Seat = Am-er-lin Seat
Emond's Feild = Edmond's Feild
Androl = And-ree-ol
Rhuarc = Ru-arc
Avendesora = A-ven-sid-ora

Hm...

Tel'aran'rhiod = Te-la-ran-ree-od
Moghedien = Maw-ged-ee-en
Egwene = Eg-ween
Nynaeve = Ny--na-eeve(?)
Aviendha = Av-ee-en-da
Demandred = De-man-dread
Semirhage = Se-mir-ha-geh
Birgette = Bir-jett
Siuan = syu-an
Cairhein = Car-hein
Caemlyn = Caym-lin
Amyrlin Seat = Am-y-rilin Seat
Emond's Feild = Edmond's Feild
Androl = An-drol
Rhuarc = Ru-arc
Avendesora = A-ven-de-sora


Loial- Lo-ee-al (yes, I do three syllables)

Clearly Robert Jordan wasn't thinking of audiobooks when he wrote this series.

 

[HoopyFrood]

Yay, another three syllable Loial!

And hah, I love that people read it as Edmond's field.

Also, Ursa, trying hard to get that one but I think it's whistling as it goes over my head...

 

[ratsy]

I said -Lo-ee-al as well!

One i think might be funny

Cairhein - I said Karen

 

[HoopyFrood]

LOL, Karen. I might start doing that.

 

[Erin99]

Wow, but Jonathan gets quite a few right, I think! (He must be the winner?)

But no!!! No three-syllable Loial!!!

As for Ursa's, I got that it was "Semirhage" could look like "...rage" if you don't really read it right... Could be wrong, too, though!