[HPforGrownups] Re: Pronunciation

GulPlum hp at plum.cream.org
Thu Feb 20 10:06:23 UTC 2003


No: HPFGUIDX 52581

Steve wrote:

>If I read your last post correctly, you are not searching for the so
>called 'correct' pronunciation, but are taking a poll to find out how
>different HP fans pronounce it?
>
>Am I right?

Indeed. Now you mention it, perhaps a Poll would have been the best way to 
have dealt with this. How's about it, Mods?

>it seems that the difference stems from whether you think the word is
>formed from the root 'animal' or the root 'magic'. Well, obviously
>it's from both, but the question is, which is the dominant root. The
>concensus of the pronunciation guides is the root 'magic'.

I was wondering who in this august assembly would rationalise the issue and 
raise *exactly* the point which I've always thought was the root of the 
difference of opinion. I must say that even as I wrote the original 
message, I had my (virtual) money on you, Steve. :-)

(That said, I was a little unfair in posting the message at gone 3am 
European time, when most sane people on this side of the Atlantic would be 
in bed.)

>Magi - may_j_eye - many sorcerers or magicians (among other things)
>Magus - may_j_us - a sorcerer or magician
>
>Obviously, from my previous post, I took the root to be the word
>'animal', and still prefer that method.

Hence a further difference of opinion: according to the dictionaries I've 
consulted (and the way I was brought up, especially the way I was taught to 
pronounce Latin), it's may-gus (hard "g"). We're agreed on the plural, though.

Thus, the rationale for my own pronunciation is ani + magus, which imposes 
an obvious (to me) :-) pronunciation of ani-may-gus, with a plural of 
ani-may-j-eye. Someone has posted a link to the way JKR says it, and I'm 
quite glad that she and I agree. :-)

As for other words which have been mentioned along the way,

I say Azkaban the way Hagrid does in TMTSNBN2 and again can't really see 
another way of doing it.

As for Sirius, again as a result of my school Latin, and other education, 
the first "i" is short (like "inn") . I never imagined any other way of 
saying it (and have never heard anyone else say it differently). That 
Americans seem mainly to pronounce it SEE-rius comes as an err... serious 
... shock. :-)

I always pronounce the "k" in knuts (I admit that a silent "k" is more 
reasonable; I just think that the word sounds better with the k).

"Boggart" I can rationalise only with short vowels (the double g pretty 
much imposes a short "o", the rest flows naturally).

"Patronus" is another one which depends on whether or not one has ever 
studied Latin, and in which pronunciation tradition. For me, pa-TRONE-iss 
is really the only option that JKR would have intended.

--
GulPlum AKA Richard, who is now wondering how TMTSNBN will deal with these 
and suspects that this discussion will be repeated on the Movie list next 
year. :-)





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