Pronouncing "BPAL" and scent names!

[hkhm]

i've got one.

does "kebechet" rhyme approximately with "trebuchet"? that's how it sounds in my head. heh!

 

 

you and me both. i'm always certain i'm pronouncing it incorrectly but that's precisely how i think of it too!

[girasol]

Kebechet is actually already a transliteration - stemming from 'Qeb-hwt'. I think it's meant to be pronounced more like keb-uh-het, but the ancient Egyptians generally did not record vowel sounds - so most likely nobody will ever know exactly how it was intended to be said.

 

Also... BUY-PAL

[veronicafranco]

kewl. thanks, girasol.

[prisca]

Scheherazade is a female name of Persian origin (not Arabic, Persian is an indo-european language, Arabic is a semitic one) and Its right pronunciation must be: SHE-HE-RA-ZA-DEH'.

[KissleMeNow]

How would one say Ü's name out loud? I've tried pronouncing it the way a ü in a word would be pronounced, but I feel that sounds a bit silly on its own. (Also, I think BPAL is pronounced "bee-pal," emphasis on the first syllable).

[Eliyetres]

How would one say Ü's name out loud? I've tried pronouncing it the way a ü in a word would be pronounced, but I feel that sounds a bit silly on its own. (Also, I think BPAL is pronounced "bee-pal," emphasis on the first syllable).

 

I would say it's a german Ü, pronounced like a very short Y but maybe I'm wrong! HERE

[KatharinaNordh]

Agreed on the "Bee-pal" May be cause I am Swe, but that's how I say it

[sharkdiver]

How is <b>Ladon</b> pronounced? I've been saying, variously: LAY-don, LAH-don, La-DON. But I'd love to know the proper way to say it ...

 

<img src="http://www.bpal.org/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="icon_smile.gif" />

 

 

LOL, this just reminded me that I absolutely cannot wear this perfume oil without thinking of Stewie's Babysitter he had a crush on in Family Guy - Her name was "La Don"

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTaCH5kDWAU

 

 

It also never occured to me that I was probably pronouncing half of these names completely wrong! I always thought:

 

Baobahn Sith was pronounced - Bay-o-bon sith (as in Revenge of the sith...lol)

 

I also had NO CLUE that samhain wasn't pronounced "Sam-Hayn" I'm one of those uncultured Americans...

[Numanoid]

How would one say Ü's name out loud? I've tried pronouncing it the way a ü in a word would be pronounced, but I feel that sounds a bit silly on its own. (Also, I think BPAL is pronounced "bee-pal," emphasis on the first syllable).

 

 

The best way to pronounce the German U (I don't know how to type it with the umlauts) is to round your lips in an "O" and say long EEEEEEE.

[wickedgoddess]

How would one say Ü's name out loud? I've tried pronouncing it the way a ü in a word would be pronounced, but I feel that sounds a bit silly on its own. (Also, I think BPAL is pronounced "bee-pal," emphasis on the first syllable).

Umlaut

[bheansidhe]

Miskatonic Philharwhatsis??

 

A QUICK GUIDE FOR THE AMERICAN WHO WISHES TO NOT HORRIBLY MANGLE THE GERMANIC IN THOUGHT, WORD, OR DEED

(Italian or French, you're on your own.)

 

A QUICK NOTE REGARDING "UND"

 

"Und" is German for "and." It begins with an "oo" sound. If you say the English word "went" with your lips pursed to make an oo instead of the w, you have successfully approximated "und."

 

A QUICK NOTE REGARDING THE TRANSCRIPTIONS HEREIN

 

They are intended for, as it were, the common reader. They are not the "correct" phonemes.

 

 

Schlaflos! Frage und Antwort

 

SHLAHFF-lohs! FRAH-guh oont AHNT-vohrt

 

(Sleepless! Questions and answers, or, Call and response)

 

Unstern! Sinistre, Disastro

 

OOHN-shtairn! (Unlucky!)

(I'm going to guess the rest is pronounced "SEEN-istruh, DEE-zahs'troh")

 

Trauervorspiel und Trauermarsch

(Funeral Prelude and Funeral March)

 

German "r" sounds are uvular, which kind of sounds like an engine in reverse.

 

(using the same vowels as in "vowel") TROWURR-FOR-shpeel oont TROWURR-marsh ("a" as in "father")

 

 

Und wir dachten der Toten

(And we thought of the dead)

 

OONT veer DAHCH-tun dare TOET-ehn

 

There's that back-of-throat "ch" sound as in loch. If you can't manage it, go with a hard K.

 

(Every German I know swallows that second T in Toten to make a D, or makes it a glottal stop depending on dialect, so I actually hear it as "TOE!ehnn." Sort of like a Brit swallows that double T in Butter.)

 

 

Totentanz

Dance of death

 

TOE-ten-TAHNTS

(hear it pronounced by a real speaker here)

 

That terminal "z" is pronounced with a sharp "ts!"

Edited December 8, 2013 by bheansidhe

[bellumed]

Unstern! Sinistre, Disastro

 

OOHN-shtairn! (Unlucky!)

(I'm going to guess the Spanish is pronounced "SEEN-istruh, DEE-zahs'troh")

 

I'm pretty sure that "sinistre" is French and "disastro" is Italian. In Spanish it would be "Siniestro, Desastre."

 

Thank you for helping with all that German! That's extremely useful.

[bheansidhe]

Unstern! Sinistre, Disastro

 

OOHN-shtairn! (Unlucky!)

(I'm going to guess the Spanish is pronounced "SEEN-istruh, DEE-zahs'troh")

 

I'm pretty sure that "sinistre" is French and "disastro" is Italian. In Spanish it would be "Siniestro, Desastre."

 

Thank you for helping with all that German! That's extremely useful.

 

I tell you what, these indistinguishable Romance languages need to GET OFF MY LAWN.

 

 

Sadly, my French predates 1800 and my Spanish and Italian are non-existent.

[tinyvulture]

Unstern! Sinistre, Disastro

 

OOHN-shtairn! (Unlucky!)

(I'm going to guess the Spanish is pronounced "SEEN-istruh, DEE-zahs'troh")

 

I'm pretty sure that "sinistre" is French and "disastro" is Italian. In Spanish it would be "Siniestro, Desastre."

 

Thank you for helping with all that German! That's extremely useful.

 

I tell you what, these indistinguishable Romance languages need to GET OFF MY LAWN.

 

 

Sadly, my French predates 1800 and my Spanish and Italian are non-existent.

 

Not a pronunciation question, but...does anyone know why Liszt used several different languages to name his compositions?

[hiddentwilight]

Not a pronunciation question, but...does anyone know why Liszt used several different languages to name his compositions?

 

I would suggest two reasons

 

1). Liszt was fluent in German, French and Italian (and lived in all three countries at various points in his life in addition to being born in Hungary and traveling to England. Perhaps where he was living at the time influenced which language he chose)

 

2). They were based on/inspired by a preexisting work (for example, his symphonic poem Hunnenschlacht references a painting called Die Hunnenschlacht by Wilhelm von Kaulbach)

 

Liszt was rockstar in his lifetime in addition to a famous teacher. In fact, there was actually a term for this: Lisztomania. Think the way girls act at Justin Beiber concerts, but for his piano concerts

 

Finally, these comics by Katie Beaton are the best

Edited February 18, 2014 by hiddentwilight

[aiobhan]

Xmvltzencab is "shmwul-TSAYN-cah", to the best of my recollection.Cnoc I'Chosgair... and my Irish Gaelic is quite rusty, but I know the original poem the name is from, and in the original Gaelic it's "Chnuic Í Chosgair". So, you'd be correct saying it either "kuh-NOHK ee CHOHS-gah-eer" (ch would be the aspirated ch like in loch), or "chuh-NWIHK ee CHOHS-gah-eer".Why yes, I am a repository of obscure linguistic knowledge. ::pats stack of language books proudly::(That said, I am more certain of correctness on Xmvltzencab than I am on Cnoc I'Chosgair, simply because I can't recall how to pronounce the dipthong ai, so I'm assuming it's like most of the ones involving two short vowels where the first vowel is pronounced short and the second long. It could very well also be "gah-ihr", with both short... but the one I gave above sounds better to me and is easier to pronounce.)

Firstly, "ch" sounds like "chutzpah" or the end of "loch". Almost a hard "k" but swallowed a little to soften it.

 

K-noh-k (slur these sounds together) ee-chohs-ga-ihr (slur that end bit too).

Edited September 4, 2014 by Aiobhan

[blu°]

Can someone with English as their first language clarify the syntactic relations within "Yucca Giant-Skipper" alongside the resulting stress pattern?

 

Am I right to assume that the placement of the hyphen means that the moth is a 'skipper' of a plant called 'Yucca Giant' with primary stress on the first syllable of yucca?

 

--> [Yucca Giant]-[skipper] --> /'yuccagiantskipper/

 

Or is it rather a 'giant-skipper' that is further named/specified as 'Yucca' with primary stress on the gi- of giant?

 

--> [Yucca] [Giant-Skipper] --> /yucca'giantskipper/

 

I really like the perfume, I thought I should be able to tell people what it's called without making an ass of myself.

 

Thank you so much for your help!!

[Silvertree]

Looks like the butterfly's scientific name is Megathymus yuccae and it's found "in deserts, foothills, and woodlands where yucca plants occur," so it's a [Yucca] [Giant-Skipper], not a [Yucca Giant]-[skipper]. I'm no lepidopterist, but I'd say Yucca GI-ant Skipper.

 

Then again, I suspect you wouldn't make an ass of yourself unless you happened to be chatting about perfume with a very judgmental lepidopterist.

[bheansidhe]

Looks like the butterfly's scientific name is Megathymus yuccae and it's found "in deserts, foothills, and woodlands where yucca plants occur," so it's a [Yucca] [Giant-Skipper], not a [Yucca Giant]-[skipper]. I'm no lepidopterist, but I'd say Yucca GI-ant Skipper.

 

Then again, I suspect you wouldn't make an ass of yourself unless you happened to be chatting about perfume with a very judgmental lepidopterist.

 

100% agree with Silvertree on, well, all counts.

[lothien]

Also, "yucca" is of Spanish origin - I grew up in Southern California, where some yucca lives, and we pronounce it "YUCK-uh" - I don't know what its actual Spanish pronunciation is.

Edited January 23, 2015 by dragonsidhe

[sprout]

Help me pronounce Gacela (of the Dark Death)?

[keileya]

It's Spanish (from a Federico Garcia Lorca poem), so it's "ga-CELL-uh", with the 'a' like the vowel in 'father', the 'cell' like a prison cell, and the 'uh' like the vowel in 'un'.

[Balame]

Ookay, in honor of the nigh-unpronounceable Yule lads... anyone familiar with Nordic languages want to help out?

 

Askasleikir
Bjúgnakrækir
Gáttaþefur
Giljagaur
Gluggagægir
Hurðaskellir
Kertasníkir
Ketkrókur
Skyrgámur
Stekkjarstaur
Stúfur
Þvörusleikir
Pottaskefill

I know "Þ" is pronounced like "th" thanks to Þórunn from Vikings (the show) but that's about it. Would someone please enlighten me? Especially Gluggagægir which seems like it would sound like someone simultaneously choking and gargling.

[d0gbones]

Try Forvo! You can hear native pronunciations of letters and words by searching. I found Thvorusleikir on there yesterday so the others are probably up too ☺

[Balame]

Try Forvo! You can hear native pronunciations of letters and words by searching. I found Thvorusleikir on there yesterday so the others are probably up too ☺

 

Thanks for the tip, you're right! Really fun to hear them. Good ol' Glug is a little gargly, but the "gah-eer" at the end makes it pretty cool actually.

I also like Hurðaskellir a lot. It has a tongue roll and ends with an "ish" whaaa? But so neat! This site is amazing, it really does have a huge set of recordings.

 

*edit* LMAO all these badass names and then... Stúfur. :F Durdur. Hahaaa I swear it is actually pronounced like that and the guy saying it even has a dopey deep voice, I'm dying...

Edited December 5, 2015 by Balame