Pronunciation of Voldemort

[lostris37]

No: HPFGUIDX 75311

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "hp_lexicon" <steve at h...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Danger Mouse" 
> <dangermousehq at h...> wrote:
> > Buttercup:
> > Is the "t" in Voldemort silent?
> > 
> > Dan:
> > Yep! It's pronounced VOL-duh-more if you want to be all French 
> about it. Seems that in the films it's said all Englishy (ooo! an 
> adjective!)-- VOL-duh-mort, with a hard "t." Either, I think, is 
> perfectly valid.
> 
> Rowling does not pronounce the T, I know. In several audio 
> interviews, notably the Diane Rehm Show, Rowling pronounced it VOL-
> duh-more. On top of that, the Scholastic website's pronunciation 
> guide says VOL-duh-more. 
> 
> In an interview, Rowling said that she pronounces it VOL-duh-more, 
> but that she thought she was the only one who did. I would contend 
> that she's the only one whose pronunciation matters.
> 
> So why did they say it differently in the film? Even Jim Dale, who 
> said VOL-duh-more in the audio versions of books 1-4, started 
> pronouncing the T for book 5. Why oh why?
> 
> Steve

Here's a small but maybe valid theory. "Voldemort" LOOKS french, and 
as we all know "mort" = dead in french. JK pronounces it the French 
way, but then she went to a muggle school where french would have 
been part of the curriculum. As far as I know, you don't get french 
at Hogwarts so it would stand to reason that in the wizarding world 
people would pronounce the name as they see it (or even as they THINK 
it should be, I refer of course to Ron Weasley's use of the 
word "feelytone"
Aileen