Skip to main content

Pronunciations

Submitted by Smitehammer on

I'm starting this thread for people to post questions about the pronunciation of words which may not be immediately obvious. For instance, 'Dreugh' is pronounced as 'Dreg', according to the developer who first created them. I'll update this first post with an alphabetized list as more words and agreed pronunciations are added, for the sake of consistency.

Here's where you can find a pronunciation key.

Ahemmusa: ä hĕm o̅o̅ sä

CHIM: hchkĭm (don't worry about it - you probably won't have to say it)

Chimer: Kī mər

Daedra: Dā drä (Dunmeri),  Dî drə (Redguards and Khajiit), Dā drə (All other races)

Dagoth Ur: Dā gŏth ûr (acceptable for Humans); Dä gôth o̅o̅ r (Dunmer and other elves - rolling R optional)

Dreugh: Drĕg

Dunmer: Dŭn mər (acceptable for Humans); Do̅o̅ n mər (Dunmer and other elves - rolling R optional)

Flin: Flĭn

Greef: Grĕf (hold longer on the short e)

Hlaalu: Aspirated 'L'  Hlä lo̅o̅  (accent and hold slightly longer on the first syllable - this word should only be two syllables)

Matze: Mäz tĕ

Shein: Shān

Sheogorad: Shĕ ō gōr äd

Sheogorath: Shĕ ō gōr

Sujamma: So̅o̅  jäm mä

Vehk: vĕk

Vivec: Vĭ vĕk (accent on the 'vek' part)

Vvardenfell: Vär dĕn fĕl (not so much a Dunmeri word as a Dwemer one)

 

Karma: 2 (2 votes)
Last edited by Smitehammer on 25 Oct 2015 - 10:22.

Redoran:

Red-or-AN  or  Red-ORE-an?

Karma: 0 (0 votes)

Most people put the accent on the 'Red', though some put the accent on the 'o'. Either is fine, I think. Just avoid putying the accent on the 'an' ;)

Karma: 0 (0 votes)

Here are a few names I'm not sure about. Are these pronunciations correct? My characters are Argonian.

Redguard:
Sterdecan - stər-dĕ-căn

Imperial:
Procyon - prō-sē-ŏn
Trebonius - trĕ-bōn-ē-ŭs or trĕ-bŏn-ē-ŭs? (bone vs. bon)

Altmer:
Tenyeminwe - tĕn-yĕ-mĭn-wĕ
Iniel - ĭn-ē-ĕl (last two syllables blended together)

Dunmer/Ashlander:
Minabibi - mĭn-ä-bĭ-bĭ
Athrys - ä-thrēs
Galur Rithari - gä-lo̅o̅r rĭ-thä-rĭ
Zainab - zī-näb
Urshilaku - o̅o̅r-shĭ-lä-ko̅o̅

Dwemer - dwĕ-mər or dwē-mər? (dweh vs. dwee)

I know that for Dunmer names, an i should usually be pronounced as ĭ. Does that still apply if the i is at the end of the word, or should it be pronounced as ē in those cases?

Karma: 0 (0 votes)

Some stuff I'm not sure about:

Sethan (surname)

Maar Gan

Ald'ruhn: correct stress?

Foyada (Bani-Dad)

Karma: 0 (0 votes)

Hey Robo - can't go wrong with an Argonian, really. For Dunmer words though, always use the same vowel sounds even at the end of words.

Sophia, for native Dunmer words spoken as a Dunmer you don't need to stress any syllables at all. We're going with sort of a Japanese style where all parts are equally stressed. Makes it easy for standardization.

Vowels are always as listed above - 'a' as 'father', 'e' as 'egg', 'i' as 'finish', 'o' as 'home', 'u' as 'doom', 'y' as any word ending in 'ly' (swimmingly', hardly, barely, etc.)

Vowels pronounced discretely unless two of the same without apostrophe - then Japanese rules. Hold the sound out longer only.

I can go over this with you in Skype if needed.

Karma: 1 (1 votes)

I have several terms I don't quite know how to pronounce. All of these are names save one. Here's how I have them recorded right now, but I plan to rerecord if there are any issues with them:

Varian - vâ-rē-ăn

Agning - ăg-nîng

Chitin - kī-tĭn  (kai-tin)

Rufinus Alleius - ro̅o̅-fĭn-ŭs  ä-lī-əs

Vedam - Vĕ-dăm

Llerar Mandas -  lĕ-rûr  Măn-dăs

Ruccia Conician -  ro̅o̅-chî-ə  cŏ-nē-shî-ăn

I'm not the best at deciphering pronunciations so I hope I can get some feedback. My characters are all Redguards.

Karma: 0 (0 votes)

I've been having a bit of trouble with some place names and people names and such, can people help me out with some of these words?:

Guar
Arrille's
Gnisis
Socucius Ergalla
Almsivi's

any help with these would be much appreciated ^_^ 

 

Karma: 0 (0 votes)

Gwar
Arreel

Niesis or Neesis, not sure which
Soe cucheeus Ergalla
Almsivee (probably a soft A)

 

Karma: 0 (0 votes)

Awesome! thank you!

Karma: 0 (0 votes)

Hows 'Llethri' pronounced? 

Karma: 0 (0 votes)

"Culumaire" - Cooloomayer or Cooloomeeair or Cooloomaree? i have no idea...

Karma: 0 (0 votes)

Hmm. Altmer name. Closer to British pronunciation, then. I'm guessing Culu (as rhymes with zulu) Maire (as mare - the female horse). You've already got a British accent, so your R will be fine :)

Karma: 0 (0 votes)

Here's a fun one - Y'ffre.

yiff-ray? ih-fruh? I'm just not sure.

Karma: 0 (0 votes)

It's a Nord name. Like Yggdrasil (http://howjsay.com/pronunciation-of-yggdrasil). So say it like Jeffrey, but with out the 'J' - and also an 'i' instead of an 'e' at the beginning. Iffrey.

Karma: 0 (0 votes)

No

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOi1RNy2PpE

3:07

Karma: 0 (0 votes)

Looking for help on names this time around.

Caryarel - I haven't the foggiest (High Elf)

Iulus - Yo̅o̅-lŭs    (Linus Iulus)

And one item name

Saltrice : Salt-Rice or Säl-trēce ?

Karma: 0 (0 votes)

Car-Ya-Rell sounds fine.

I would put three syllables in Iulus; short 'i' sound discrete. So something like 'ee-you-lus'.

Saltrice is a good one, actually. This is supposedly a plant that grows all over, not just in Morrowind. The imperials call it saltrice, too. So I would pronounce it like salt-rice. There may be a native Dunmeri name for it, but the imperial name seems to have taken precedence even in Vvardenfell. It's similar to 'corn' vs 'maize', I suppose.

Karma: 0 (0 votes)

Pelagiad:

Pronounced Pe-LAY-gi-ad or Pe-LA-gi-ad or pe-la-GI-ad with the accent on the 'GI'?

 

Karma: 0 (0 votes)

Second one. Pe-LA-gi-ad

Karma: 0 (0 votes)