pronunciation guide

[Steve Vander Ark]

No: HPFGUIDX 11440

Greetings & felicitations:


> So how do we know that the Scholastic guide is right? We don't. Or 
do we put
> this down to the American editions being not only having words 
changed in
> the written format, but also in the audio format?

It seems to me that different people in both the Wizarding and Muggle 
worlds would just pronounce Draco differently, depending on their 
background. That's the way it is with a lot of words, obviously. With 
that logic, we CAN'T know for sure, even with the Scholastic guide, 
the audio tapes, etc. The only way to be sure would be to hear Draco 
or his family actually say it, which can't happen because, well, 
they're book characters. The next best thing would be to hear JKR say 
it. I know that Jim Dale consults with her on things like this, so 
one could argue that his pronunciations are as correct as we're 
likely to get. Unless, of course, he never ASKED her about that one, 
then we're stuck (and we have no way of knowing). So basically, what 
I need to do is to put a note on my Pronunciations page noting that 
I'm giving the pronunciations from the Jim Dale tapes, but that there 
are plenty of variations out there which are just as "correct" as the 
ones I have.

And I took years and years of Latin, so I pronounce "draco" 
and "draconis" in a Latin phrase as DRAH-ko and drah-KO-nis. 

Steve Vander Ark
The Harry Potter Lexicon
which has lots of other things besides pronunciations
http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon