Etymology of 'Accio' and more

[dungrollin]

No: HPFGUIDX 160857

> Carol responds:
> I've already given my view that "c" was hard in Latin (except 
possibly before "i"). The hard "c" followed by a soft "c" is a 
possible pronunciation if JKR is thinking of English rather than 
Latin and the "ch" pronunciation is possible if she's thinking of 
Church Latin. 

Dung:
I've always said ACH-ee-oh. But I don't know anyone else who does.

> > > SSSusan:
> > > ... I now know I was mispronouncing Felix Felicis [which
> > > I said as "FEH-lih-kuhs" instead of as "Feh-LEASE-us"] 
> > > and Knuts [which I said as "k'nuts" instead of as 
> > > "k'noots"]. :-> )  
> 
> Carol:
> Funny. I think that "Felix Felicis" *ought* to be pronounced more 
or less as you pronounced it (with a hard "c"), but in my head it's 
Felix "Feh-LISS-us." 

Dung:
I've always said FEE-licks Feh-LEE-kiss; though now I come to think 
about it I alternate between FAY-liks and FEE-liks (I think because 
of the way I was taught to pronounce Latin at school).

> > bboyminn:
> <snip>
> > Knuts - as you [SSS] point out, they write "k'nut" but they 
> > say 'ka-noot'. I say 'ka-nut'. 

Dung:
I say nut. But anyway...

> Carol:
<snip>... the initial vowel, which Brits say is different from the 
long "es" sound in "serious." Can anyone give me a word with a 
short "i" sound *followed by r* rather than some other consonant 
that represents the "i" in "serious"? I think maybe the problem is 
with "serious" itself being pronounced rather differently by Brits 
and Americans. 

Dung:
You're right, in English English the first syllable of serious 
rhymes with sear or beer, whereas Sirius is more like the short 'i' 
sound in sin or irridescent. What also confuses things a little (or 
confuses my explanation a bit) is that Americans make more of a meal 
out of their 'r' sound too. So getting an American to say SEAR-ee-us 
still won't make 'serious' come out like an English accent.

Carol:
My gut feeling (probably wrong) is that Americans pronounce
> both "serious" and "Sirius" the way that Brits pronounce "Sirius," 
and the Brits pronounce "serious" with a stronger, longer "ee" 
sound. I'm thinking that the first syllable of "cirrus" (as in 
cirrus cloud) illustrates the sound I hear in both "serious" 
and "Sirius." Is that what anybody else hears?
> 
Dung:
Not at all wrong, absolutely right.

> bboy:
> > Madame Maxime - is completely mispronunced and misspelled.
> > They say and write 'MaxiNe'; note the 'N' instead of the
> > 'M'. I say 'MAX-seaM'. The real problem is with her first
> > name which I believe is 'Olympe'. Having no experience 
> > with the French Language beyond French Toast and French 
> > Fries, I've never been sure about this one. I generally 
> > say 'OH-limp-ee' as if I were mispronuncing 'Olympia' but
> > without the 'A' at the end. I suppose if I tried to put 
> > some fancy sounding inflection on the end, it would be 
> > 'OH-limp-ay'.
 
Dung:
If you want it in a French accent, the 'O' is as in Ollivander, or 
orange (at least in an English accent - American's pronounce 'o' [to 
my ear] as across between 'uh' and 'ah' ... actually, I'm not sure 
that there's any comparable 'o' in the American pallette of vowels,) 
but it's 'o' as in orange, rather than as in 'ok'. The 'limp' in a 
French accent would be across between 'limp' and 'leemp', and 
although the 'e' on the end isn't pronounced as an extra syllable, a 
French speaker would make a meal of the 'p' on the end, so it 
became 'puh', but not if it were followed by a word beginning with a 
vowel. I think.

What fun, eh?

Dungrollin