As no one has put a question this week I will take over! (First this community then the world!)

How do you pronounce it?

I often face unusual names in LNs so sometimes I make up strange pronunciations. Are there any you would like to share or get the communities opinion on?

  • ludrol@bookwyr.meEnglish
    3·
    2 days ago

    I am a bit dislexic about the names. I usually read the first letter, guess the rest and be surprised later that the name is totally different than I have read for the whole book/series.

    I think I only remember that I used to spell Hirschur from bookworm totally different than it’s spelled but it was couple of years ago. I am reading it like this /xirʃt͡ʂur/, almost like “szczur” in polish

  • I2jgwh0hYtxrCZQ@lemmy.sdf.orgOPMEnglish
    3·
    3 days ago

    I will start.

    Average Abilities / Survive on Potions / Saving 80000 Gold

    FUNA (the author)

    1. FU (Kong-Fu) - NA (Nah)

    2. FUN (Fun) - A (hay)

    I read it as 1 in my mind

    Ascendance of a bookworm

    Grutrissheit (the bible)

    I don’t have a clue how to read it. I just skip it every time.

    Ascendance of a bookworm

    Ordonnanz (Communication Bird)

    I know it’s wrong but I always read it as ordnance. Like the name of the ordnance survey maps.

    • NineSwords@ani.socialMEnglish
      3·
      2 days ago

      Thanks for posting a question. I’m all out of questions and on vacation (at home) so I lost track of time.

      Most names in Bookworm are either outright German words ore ones that got mangled a bit, so it’s easy for me to pronounce them. For example the God’s names Leidenschaft, Verbergen and Angriff are just regular German words (passion, hide, attack). Other Names are often compound words that don’t really fit together to make a real word. For example “Ehrenfest” is made up of “Ehre” (honor) and “fest” (firm/hard or feast/party). So it would be either “Honorhard” or “Honorfeast” in English. Most of the time there is a wrong letter thrown in there to make it sound exotic I guess. The God “Liebeskilfe” should be “Liebeshilfe” (made up compound of “love” and “help”. I assume calling the Goddess of romance and marriage “Lovehelp” would be too on th nose, but make it "Lovekelp and you get a proper fantasy name ;)

      If there is some interest for it I could go through the Gods names and do a translation of them.

      ps.: since Japanese and German pronounce sounds mostly the same, I automatically pronounce them in that way as well. Like #1 in your FUNA example.

      • I2jgwh0hYtxrCZQ@lemmy.sdf.orgOPMEnglish
        2·
        2 days ago

        Most names in Bookworm are either outright German words ore ones that got mangled a bit,

        I never realised they were German. But now you mention they do seem to sound pretty German.

        If there is some interest for it I could go through the Gods names and do a translation of them.

        Yeah, I would be interested. I guess the names are linked to their title as well?

        E.g. Angriff = god of war = attack

        • NineSwords@ani.socialMEnglish
          1·
          2 days ago

          I guess the names are linked to their title as well?

          Yes, absolutely. The God’s names are pretty straight forward. But the same goes for many of the regular characters. For someone understanding German their name is basically a spoiler for their condensed-down-to-1-word personality. Imagine getting introduced to a character and the he’s simply named “Cruel” and he later turns out to be an evil antagonist. I could have told Rozemyne that, but that cheeky brat never listens!!

          I’ll do a post next week with translations. I should have plenty of time then.