Lupin - How to pronounce it?

[lucky_kari]

No: HPFGUIDX 35808

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "GulPlum" <plumeski at y...> wrote:

> The only French literary antecedent for "Lupin" I know is Arsène 
> Lupin, Gentleman Burglar (have they made animated films about his 
> exploits?),

Yes, there is. It was a Cinar production with laughable animation, not 
bad, but laughable. :-)

> pronounced to rhyme with the French for rabbit, "lapin", 
> which is not the way I'd pronounce Remus's name (Arsène being a 
> French character, Remus being an English  - well, maybe not English, 
> but British - one).

Ah, but being a Canadian, lots of English Canadians have French names 
and pronounce them in the French way, despite the fact that they 
couldn't tell French from German. My mother's maiden name was Lavoie. 
I think her great-great-grandfather came from Quebec. No-one in the 
family spoke French. Yet, she stubbornly insisted on pronouncing it 
the French way rather than the English way, until she went and lived 
in Quebec, actually, after which she switched to an English 
pronunciation. This is typical of a lot of Canadians with French 
surnames, though many do go for the English pronunciation. Being from 
this "lost French" background myself, I immediately pronounced the 
French-like names in HP as I would if I met the bearers in Canada. 
People can laugh, and say, "Oh no. I don't pronounce it as French,
 but they get awfully snicketty if you pronounce their French surname 
as English against their inclination. 

Now, that I think of it, of course, this would not be the same in 
Britain, since French names there have a very different history than 
French names in Canada. 

> > Then again, for me Voldemort ends with a hard t.
> 
> Me too. In that case, I'm at a loss to understand why Malfoy should 
> continue to follow French pronunciation... ;-)

In Canada, Malfoy would be a surname, and therefore, I'd automatically 
pronounce it as French. However, Voldemort is an English nom de 
guerre, and I'd pronounce it how it looks, unless corrected, if for 
example someone used that as their nickname. The first is hereditary, 
the second isn't. (Though I would freak out if someone I knew was 
using it as their nickname.)

Eileen