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Pronunciation (for fun)


veterannoob

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I'd love to hear Roboute Guilliman pronounced by native Francophone. It looks like a French name and could sound rather sexy in a proper French accent!

 

Quite oddly, I pronounce "Roboute" in French, but can't get myself to make that "an" sound at the end of Guilliman, though I do for "Sanguinius" (whether I pronounce that last U 'ü' or 'ou' really depends mood, the former sounding more medieval-gothic while the other isjust latin).

 

Generally speaking, I tend to pronounce 40k stuff "Frenchly", I think it fits the gothic atmosphere. For 30k, I usually go with the phonology of whatever culture inspired the legion/organisation, defaulting to English or Latin when unclear.

Can I just say, the English language is an absolute mess and I love it. Dictionaries from the United States and the UK can disagree and yet both be right, since there's no universal authority that would be able to say a certain spelling or pronunciation is correct.

That said, people definitely misuse the word 'decimate' and saying Minotaur as Mine-a-tor or lasgun as laze-gun is heresy. biggrin.png

The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.

-James Nicoll

@Icarus1138 - Very well put. That quote made my day! I may stick it in my signaturebiggrin.png

Decimate - Kill 1 person in every 10.

The Waagh used by Xenos is pronounced in English as a Warg or a Waa that goes on and on with a silent 'ish R on the end,

Gaming in the Netherlands they say it as Wa Ha!

Mine o Tor.

LazGun.

As for Abba Don's first name I say it like the Pulp Fiction Bible Quote.

I guess what it comes down to is that there is no official pronunciation on any of these words. Given that they are all fictional even whoever penned the word can't really give an answer. The deviation of pronunciation in the English language today is huge and we're all on the same planet. This setting is galaxy-wide. I can see someone from Terra talking to someone from the arse-end of Ultramar and not understanding them, even though they use the same language.

I guess what it comes down to is that there is no official pronunciation on any of these words. Given that they are all fictional even whoever penned the word can't really give an answer. The deviation of pronunciation in the English language today is huge and we're all on the same planet. This setting is galaxy-wide. I can see someone from Terra talking to someone from the arse-end of Ultramar and not understanding them, even though they use the same language.

This is often how I like to think of it as well. Any and all versions of Guilliman, for example, are valid in-universe pronunciations, which I'm sure has even more variations than one world's fandom could produce.

 

At any moment, some backwater priest is invoking the spiritual wisdom of the Keyman, son of the God-Emperor and brother to the even more revered St. Gwenous and the Adorned.

Can I just say, the English language is an absolute mess and I love it. Dictionaries from the United States and the UK can disagree and yet both be right, since there's no universal authority that would be able to say a certain spelling or pronunciation is correct.

 

That said, people definitely misuse the word 'decimate' and saying Minotaur as Mine-a-tor or lasgun as laze-gun is heresy. :D

 

The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.

-James Nicoll

This might be my new favorite quote ever. But yeah, that's the fun I have with this topic, and no right answer really, but it seems to have sparked some creative discussions:)

Out of interest, how do people pronounce Leman Russ? Leeman, Lemman, Layman? It doesn't have a particularly Norse look to it, so not sure where it comes from. Russ though echoes the Swedish Vikings who established themselves in and lent their name to Russia.

 

By the way, I once stumbled across "Dorn" in a Cornish dictionary online: it means "hand" or "fist". Which makes me imagine the Emperor's Praetorian with a West Country accent.

Out of interest, how do people pronounce Leman Russ? Leeman, Lemman, Layman? It doesn't have a particularly Norse look to it, so not sure where it comes from. Russ though echoes the Swedish Vikings who established themselves in and lent their name to Russia.

 

By the way, I once stumbled across "Dorn" in a Cornish dictionary online: it means "hand" or "fist". Which makes me imagine the Emperor's Praetorian with a West Country accent.

@Plasmablasts - I say it like Lemon but with a instead of o.

 

West Country accent you mean like David Prowse the Green Cross Code Man that played Darth Vader?

I've causally never heard another pronunciation for Leee-mun Russ, now that I think about it.

Same here, I've only ever heard it said as Lee-mun.

 

I've heard somebody pronounce Callidus as "Collide-us", where as I always thought of is as Cal-ee-dus.

I do cringe a little whenever I hear Horace for Horus, but I also say things in a way that I know is not the intended. e.g.

 

Abaddon - I always say A-Bad -Un - he's a bad 'un after all

 

Mon-keigh - I always say Mon-kí when I know it's mon-ki

 

Note sure on the correct pronunciations of the following but this is what I say:

 

Roboute Guilliman - Row-boot-ay Gilli-man

 

Jaghatai - Yag-a-tae

 

Leman - Lee-man

 

Dantioch - Danti-Ock

 

Primarch - Pry-Mark

 

Minotaur - Mine-o-tor

 

Perturabo - Purr-chew-raab-o

 

Lasgun - Lazz-gun

 

Ravenor - I hear it on audiobooks as Rave-e-nor but I say Ravv-e-nor

 

Vox- Vox - controversial I know!

Vox: depends whether you're going with Church Latin ("vox") or Classical Latin ("wox")! (I say "vox").

 

Perturabo: "pear-too-raa-boe" (because it looks Latin-like)

 

Ravenor: I'm with you on "Ravv-en-or" (like "ravenous").

 

I agree with the previous poster that, given a million worlds and ten thousand years, almost any possible (and probably a few impossible) pronunciations would be locally "correct". The one example I can think of an in -universe character stating their preferred pronunciation is Cyrene in The First Heretic.

Yes, glad someone mentioned Mon-kee, which IMO works for the joke, as in Butcher's Nails was the first time I heard this spoken (besides, Butcher's Nails is the best audio drama of them) but I've heard in a few audio books after they say Monk-i which is less fun. Not sure if every narrator got the joke.

 

P.S. Butcher's Nails was my first and still fav audio drama. It's in its own weight class. But I caution you to listen as you drive, for I found myself driving from Baltimore to Philadelphia suddenly at 95mph as I was unconsciously driving to the rhythm of chain axes gunning:)

I do cringe a little whenever I hear Horace for Horus, but I also say things in a way that I know is not the intended. e.g.

 

 

This is the American in me speaking, but we say Horace and Horus the same here, whore-us. Well, to be fair with my specific American accent it comes out more as whore-iss. Always trust a Californian to slightly alter a word if it means less tongue movement or if we can avoid opening our mouth too much. Glass of Waagh-dur, anyone? Sanna bring you inny giffs this Chrissmiss? Wow, typing that out was somewhat embarrassing. And just think, mine is one of the most well-known American accents.

 

Perturabo is per-tur-a-bo, similar to how we'd say perturbed. 

Did we do Fabius yet ? Fab -ee- us is what I hear until Tobey Longworth read the initial HH trilogy and says Fay-bius, which Gareth Armstrong has said as well. :)

 

There's always more names. The Imperial Truth latest episode on the HH 2016 Weekender has some interesting info in the beginning on "proper pronunciations" you may enjoy. Good info on Latin vs. High Gothic, and finally, a stance on Abbaddon's name:)

Did we do Fabius yet ? Fab -ee- us is what I hear until Tobey Longworth read the initial HH trilogy and says Fay-bius, which Gareth Armstrong has said as well. smile.png

I've always said "Fay-bee-us" myself, although "Fab-ee-us" does seem like it would be more sensible.

How about Marneus Calgar, is that "Mar-nee-us", or "Mar-nay-us"?

As a French speaker, Guilliman is a real pain to say. When you have "-ill-" in a word, you pronounce it "y" (as in York). As an example, Guillaume (French for William) is pronounced "Gi-yohm" (very approximate. Also, hard "g"). So Guilliman in French would be "Gi-i-muhn" or something like that. Ugh.

Oh, and Roboute pronounced the French way is rather un-sexy if you ask me: "Roh-boo-tuh" (rolled "r"). sick.gif

As for the rest:

Ezekiel -> Eh-zeh-kih-el (though I could understand people pronouncing it "Eh-zeh-keel")

Tyranids -> Tih-ruh-nidz

Primarch -> Pry-mark

Decals -> Dee-kals

Horus -> Hore-us

Sanguinius -> San-gwi-nih-us

Minotaurs -> Mih-noh-torz

Lasgun -> Lass-gun or laz-gun

Abaddon -> Uh-bad-un

Roboute -> Row-boot

Guilliman -> Ghillie-mun

Perturabo -> Pur-too-rah-bow

Sigismund -> Sih-gihs-moond

Sigilite -> Sih-jih-light

Fabius -> Fab-ee-uh-ss

Jokaero -> Joe-kye-row (Joe Cairo)

Ahriman -> Arry-mun

Leman -> Lee-mun

Mon-keigh -> Monk-ay

Cyrene -> Sigh-reen

Marneus -> Mar-nee-uh-ss

I've always done a weird bastardization of a French pronunciation of the XIII Primarch, based off of my complete ignorance on French pronunciation rules.

 

Row-byu Gee-yuh-mihn.

 

Roboute is hard to get across. It's like "robe you" but the 'b' sound is attached to the "you."

 

I've tried others, like "gwill" or "boot," but I always come back to the above.

I've always done a weird bastardization of a French pronunciation of the XIII Primarch, based off of my complete ignorance on French pronunciation rules.

 

Row-byu Gee-yuh-mihn.

 

Roboute is hard to get across. It's like "robe you" but the 'b' sound is attached to the "you."

 

I've tried others, like "gwill" or "boot," but I always come back to the above.

 

Deep down, I always knew you were a weirdo. :lol:

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