Pagan pronunciation

Sep 26 13:47 UTC 1995

An article in the current Yankee magazine about a wiccan temple in
Providence, R.I., mentions in passing that Samhain is pronounced
"SAH-win."  I had no idea.  Could someone please enter a list of
commonly used pagan words and their correct pronunciations?

response 2 of 56:

Sep 26 16:19 UTC 1995

i heard it pronounced "sah- WAIN"... but that was in hicksville indiana.
probably the local accent.

asatru is said "AAH-sah-true" or like OW-sah-true, with the first part
sounding like 'house' with a silent 'h'.
i've heard others say "ASS-a-true" and "a-SAHT-rue", but it could be
a regional dialect. most people's voices out here are flat and whistley.

response 4 of 56:

Sep 26 16:24 UTC 1995

h is always silent, Iggy.  :)  But I know what you meant.  (Never do 
pronunciations around a linguist unless you expect ribbing.  :)

Germanic stress rules would confirm AH-sah-true.
English stress rules would suggest ah-SAH-true, accounting for that 
pronunciation.

response 6 of 56:

Sep 26 21:06 UTC 1995

Also, the word "Celtic" is pronounced with a hard "c" at the beginning, as
opposed to the soft "c" that has been used for the name of Boston's pro
basketball team.

response 8 of 56:

Sep 27 04:28 UTC 1995

Does it have an accent mark over the first A?  That would explain that...

response 10 of 56:

Sep 28 02:58 UTC 1995

Once around the wheel (isn't that a chant tape? <g>), as best I can;
Samhain- SAwen.  Brighn explained it well.  Refers, believe it or not, to
the end of summer.

Yule is an A/S word, I think.  In Scots I think it's Alban Ghievre [Yeevra],
refering to the winter season.

Imbolc- IMulookh or IMbolk (like bowl with a k) or IMbolg; either means
great belly or ewe's milk or something like that- refers to the pregnant/
lactating sheep and general burgeoning of life unseen (oh, can also mean
"in the belly")

I pronounce Brigit as most would expect, but her Irish name is Brid,which
is pronounced [breej].

Spring Equinox, from Scots (I think I remember this right) is Alban Eiler.

The correct pronounciation for May day, which hardly anyone uses, is
BELL-chinna.  Refers to Bel's fire.  It's easier to deal with, for modern
English speakers, if Samhain and Beltain (drop the final e) more-or-less
rhyme, even though the names don't actually parallel one another.

I would think midsummer would be Alban Samhre (pronounced [sour-uh]), but
I seem to recall something like Mean Samhre (pronounce man, not meen), so
I may be misremembering some stuff.  OK- mid winter would be Mean Ghievre,
too, and "mean" seems to mean something like "high".

Aug. 1 is Lughnasadh, pronounced [loonasah].  People always thing it's the
birthday of Lugh (pronounced Lew), but I gather it actually means wedding
of Lugh or something like that.  In addition to being the first of harvest,
it came from the funeral games decreed by the god Lugh Lamfada in honor
of his foster-mother's death, but the resultant fair became known as a
time to declare 1-year handfastings and so associated with marriage, I don't
know if there's a further story there.  It's also known as Lammas. (lah-mahss)

I don't remember the name for Fall Equinox.  Anyone compulsive enough to
care, ask and I'll go look it up.  Sorry.  Oh- I think it's Alban Heifir.
Don't know the meaning.

Which brings us back to Samhain.  
Anyone want to guess if the antlered god is CERnunon or cerNUnos?

And I've heard A-thu-may, AH-thu-may, u-THAH-may, and ah-THAM.  Pick 
favorites?  Common wisdom says it just means "knife", in ritual practice
it refers specifically to the black handled knife which is used only for
ritual/non-physical work (the white handled work-knife which will actually
cut is a "boleen"), but I gather that it originally came from an old wood
cut or print reproduction which had it on the handle of an alchamist's knife,
and that in the picture it was a repro of, the word is Adonai, a hebrew
name of god.  Go figure...  Me, I figure if it cuts, it's a knife. <g>

What else?

response 12 of 56:

Sep 28 21:40 UTC 1995

yule is also norse.
many modern christmas traditions came along with the word too. :-)

response 14 of 56:

Sep 30 02:03 UTC 1995

Don't grumble, Brighn, speak up; with what do you disagree?  Alternate 
versions are most welcome.
Thanks, Bjorn.How do you pronounce such important terms as 
the homes of gods, men and giants, etc.?
Gee, wonder what happened to Phaedrus- I'd like his versions of some
of the Yoruba names.

response 16 of 56:

Sep 30 15:42 UTC 1995

the main grumble was with the word "correct"", Kami
There is no "correct" pronunciation.
There is a standardly accepted pronunciation.
There is a historically reconstructed pronunciation.

And I'll grumble and voice that I disagree without providing specifics as much 
as I please. 

response 18 of 56:

Oct 1 00:53 UTC 1995

Er, sorry Brighn, I actually should have said; modern Irish pronounciation.
I can't stop you grumbling, but it's non productive if we don't know what
it's about.  If it's non productive, it derails or weakens the thread of
the item.  Up to you, deary.

response 20 of 56:

Oct 1 19:56 UTC 1995

Fine, then next time I won't bother to say that I disagree.
I felt like the issue of "correct" is something I've discussed before with
you, Kami, and therefore felt that anything more than an "I disagree" 
disclaimer was unnecessary.
Now instead I've been made to look like a curmudgeon.
Please don't call me deary, by the way.  I know you don't mean it poorly,
but I find the word excessively condescending.

And bjorn, if standard pronunciation is the litmus for "correct", then
"BELL-tain" is "correct"... I was trying to avoid an argument about the
meaning of the word "correct", because THAT's unproductive and is throwing
this entire DISCUSSION off-track.

I hardly see how a post of "I disagree, but I don't wish to detail why"
is derailing the conversation.  Condescending, perhaps, but it wasn't 
mean that way.

But I shall refrain from doing it again in the future.

response 22 of 56:

Oct 2 02:30 UTC 1995

ok, lets put it to a vote:
how many people think the 'majority' are idiots?

"aye" <hand shoots upward>

response 24 of 56:

Oct 3 00:23 UTC 1995

 "aye"