Sammael, how do you pronounce it?

[Helias_Tancred]

It's always a little struggle among my 40k friends, how to pronounce his name? I haven't heard it spoken in an audio book yet.

 

I pronounce it "Sam-male". Others in my group pronounce it "Sam-aye-el"

 

Thoughts? Verdict? Any professional linguists around? lol.

 

 

[CyberC1]

I've pronounced it "Sam-aye-el" but there's no rhyme or reason as to why.

 

Normally I just say Sam, as in "Sam's gonna bust a cap in your ass with these twin-linked assault cannons."

[Gederas]

The name is derived from Hebrew, סַמָּאֵל Sammāʾēl, meaning "Venom of God", "Poison of God", or "Blindness of God". It's pronounced Sam-eye-el

 

If you want an audio pronunciation, Darksiders has the 'actual' Fallen Angel/Demon Sammael is named after, and it's said by War at 16 seconds in:
 

 

I've pronounced it "Sam-aye-el" but there's no rhyme or reason as to why.

 

Normally I just say Sam, as in "Sam's gonna bust a cap in your ass with these twin-linked assault cannons."

You're actually pronouncing it completely correctly :lol:

[Helias_Tancred]

Thank you sir ^

[Gederas]

Thank you sir ^

No problem. A vast majority of the Dark Angels are named after Judeo/Christian angels (Ezekiel being the odd duck out, despite having the same name origin as the others), and their names are Hebrew-derived.

 

The names ending in "iel" "ael" and "el" basically all are pronounced as ee-el, eye-el/ay-el or el, respectively, for their final syllable. So, Sammael is Sam-eye-el, Ezekiel is E-zee-Key-el, Azrael is the odd one here as has two proper pronunciations with either Az-Ray-El or Az-Ree-el (I suppose it's the Tomato/Potato thing).

[jbaeza94]

i do more of a sah mah el than a sam aye el, but this must be more from my language background

[Bryan Blaire]

Sam-mae-el

 

Az-rae-el

 

Ee-zee-key-el

 

Bell-lee-al

 

Az-mo-die

 

That's how I say them at least.

[Skorp]

I pronounced it how i'd heard it in the hellboy movie, which sounds right :)

[Helias_Tancred]

off topic, I'm painting Sammael now, the old resin on Corvex model .... worst Dark Angel model I've painted. A huge PITA!

 

Tempted to say F it, and buy a speeder box and kit-bash Sammael on Sableclaw instead ;)

[ShadowCore67]

Officially I pronounce it Sam-aye-el.

 

But usually in a game I just refer to him as Sammy.

[HighMarshalAmp]

It's tricky since where those names come from - just like Gederas pointed out - an a is pronounced more like the a in dark, just longer sometimes, and the rest would be regional coloring just like you get anywhere else.

 

So Sammael would officially be S-(a like in dark, but short)-mm-(a like in dark, but short)-el (like in El Paso etc.) with the emphasis on the el.

Others might out the emphasis on the first a and others might almost pronounce the 'A's like you would pronounce the e in get.

And that might happen two hours of travel apart.

 

In the end, you're in your own country and nations have a way of assimilating foreign languages. So while a very ah-heavy Samuel might be the norm in Northern Africa and beyond, it might be smarter to stick with Sam (as in Ranger Sam)-aye/ eye-el according to your own regional habits.

 

Just look at poor ol' Latin and what England, the USA and some others have made it into. How the British pronounce Latin is about as far away as you can get from how it actually has been pronounced back in the day and into the 15th century, but if you show up at Oxford and start speaking what is believed to be true Latin, you'll get booted from Campus ere you can say veni, vidi 'cause compared to what's the academic norm, it just sounds ridiculous.

 

Correct thus is a matter of perception and in this particular case, just go with what people around you say to avoid confusion and funny looks.

Or, if nobody else plays the guy, stick with what's close to Hebrew, which would be sonorous, dark-style 'A's with a slight emphasis on the first a and a long, emphatic el.

 

Edit: And Az('A' like in dark)-Rah (again that a from dark, also emphasis on this)-El accordingly. That almost guttural a is honestly something you don't get in English very often.

Italian otoh, with pasta and amore, German with just about any A in any word, those languages use it a lot.

[HandsWithLegs]

I usually just go with Sammy 

[ValourousHeart]

off topic, I'm painting Sammael now, the old resin on Corvex model .... worst Dark Angel model I've painted. A huge PITA!

 

Tempted to say F it, and buy a speeder box and kit-bash Sammael on Sableclaw instead

 

I have the metal one, trust me it is no better.  I'm surprised the sword hasn't broken off yet.  The only way I have found to store the model without bending the sword is to leave it in my display case.

 

You won't be disapointed with Sableclaw.

 

And just think you could always by a second speeder and make a speeder version of Corvex.  The Land Speeder's Heavy Flamer should make a good starting point for the Plasma Cannon, and modeling up a twin storm bolter shouldn't be too hard.

[Akhazriel]

Since this is an actual name that exists in German, I pronounce it like the real world name in German: Sam-mah-el

[Guest]

Sam-eye-el is the way I have always thought it was. But mostly Sammy :)