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An Irish jig and an intro to Edmund Burke’s Moral Imagination – is there a better combo deal?
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{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the pubcast, Travis. Very helpful stuff. Would recommend your article over at The Rabbit Room to people as well. Just went over there & reread it again. The Irish jig was nice, too, although I think my Irish blood is outweighed by my German heritage. That is to say, I prefer German beer over Irish beer.
Told my wife that I’m committed to attending Azkatraz now as you mentioned on the pubcast that I’ll be there.
Travis, so glad you pubcasted again (if I’m allowed to make the noun into a verb).
Small suggestion: could you please pronounce the final “T” on the end of the word “Voldemort.” I haven’t ever noticed it’s absence before, so perhaps this was a fluke. Or maybe I’m just hearing things.
Nitpicking fans notwithstanding, I was so glad to see the pubcast back in my iTunes library line-up!
Enoch, thanks for your kind comments!
I don’t pronounce the “t” on the end of Voldemort, because Rowling never intended for it to be pronounced. It just got picked up as people read it. In fact, this is one of those things Jim Dale got right very early on in the first couple audiobooks, and for some reason changed it later.
Apart from its being Rowling’s pronunciation, there’s also an important name parallel. If you say Voldemort’s name properly (with the “t” silent), you get the Dumbledore/Voldemort name parallel – 3 syllables with a rhyme – which is a nice reflection of their being alternate father-figures for Harry – one good, one evil. So I’m going to stick with the silent T, even though I know there are very few others who say it like that.
The name Voldemort comes from the French vol de mort which means, variously: flight of death; flight from death; theft of death; theft from death. I personally prefer the translation flight from death, although death stealer is an intriguing translation. Whichever way you choose to translate it, however, the origin of the name in French is clear. And in French, you would not pronounce the letter t at the end of a word. Thus vert meaning green is pronounced ver and not vert, or nuit, meaning night is pronounced nui and not nuit.
Having said which, one could make a case that since no French connection is implied in the text, the Anglicized version in which you pronounce the final t would be the correct one. This would be like arguing that it’s acceptable to pronounce Geneva as Jeneeva rather than Jenev, or Cannes as canns rather than kan. The only people who care would be the ones who know different.
I see. Well I’m very glad to know all that. This is the first I’ve heard of a Rowling’s preference for such a pronunciation. Although, I can see Red Rocker’s point as well. The Anglicization of foreign words is certainly not unusual.
There really ought to be a pronunciation guide at the end of each book. I remember pondering over the pronunciation of “knut” before I found out. And I still hear multiple pronunciations of “accio.”
Consider my request rescinded. =)
Yes, “accio” is another one! How does everyone here pronounce it? I’ve always said, “aksio.” I also hear “assio” and “akkio.”
I’ve never heard Rowling herself pronounce that one.
I’ve said preferred “atchio” (or perhaps “aktchio”) since Medieval Latin is the basis for the word.
Gesundheit.
I generally pronounce it, akkio, but then I learned ecclesiastical Latin pronunciation.
I was listening to the OOTP audio book on the way to work this morning and for what it’s worth, Jim Dale pronounces it “assio”. I was listening to the scene in which Fred and George summon their brooms from Umbridge’s office when they quit Hogwarts…..
Hmmm.. I just viewed the movie scene in GOF where Harry pronounces it “akkio” when summoning his Firebolt during the first Tri-Wizard task. I guess we will have to wait for JKR to clarify?
I’d always assumed it was pronounced “akkio”, extrapolating from French, where “acceuil” is pronounced “akkeuy”, although “accident” is pronounced “akseedan”. And in English, “accomodate” has the “k” sound. But I decided to look it up:
This, from the Lexicon:
NOTE: The pronunciation of this spell has been debated by fans. The “official” pronunciation from Scholastic is “A-see-oh.” This is the pronunciation used in the audio version of the books. The word is Latin, however, and in Latin the letter C is always pronounced ‘hard,’ the same as the letter K. Some languages which are descended from Latin, such as Italian, pronounce ‘cc’ as ‘ch,’ but this is almost certainly not correct.
And from a site called Latin Pronounciations:
c “k” as in cat, never as in receive
Stephen Fry’s audiobooks pronounce it “akseeo,” though I do know that Fry pronounces “inferi” differently that Rowling herself does. It’d be interesting to know whether Scholastic checked with Rowling herself about the official pronunciation of every single one of those words, or whether the “how Jim Dale read it” constituted the “official” pronunciation guide. Dale suggested that for a few words, they recorded a couple different versions and waited to hear from JKR about the correct pronunciation.
Many thanks to Red Rocker for looking that up. I think it’s worthy to point out that classical Latin pronunciation interprets “C” with the same sound as “K.” However, in Medieval Latin, i.e. ecclesiastical Latin, “C” followed by “e,” “i,” “oe” or “ae” is pronounced “CH” as in “caelum” and “cithara.” I think that it is a valid interpretation (partly because I favor my own) because the Latin-based spells, like so much of the mythos Rowling has created, is steeped in the Medieval history, legend, and alchemy.
Does this return to the question of the validity of an author’s non-canonical preference. Does Rowling’s pronunciation have to be my own?
Pardon my grammar:
“are steeped in Medieval history . . . ” etc.
Hmm. I always pronounced accio as acchio.” I’m thinking, though, that if Radcliffe pronounced it akkio” in GoF, that’s probably Rowling’s take, as she advises on the films. Whether it’s correct or not is another thing. And “akkio” is faster to say in a summoning spell, isn’t it? (Sounds like the name of a Japanese car.)
Accio pronunciation guide!