Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Shouldn't it be pronounced *modem static*?

Sterling191 wrote:

Not Online!!! wrote:

Also re latin lessons, it's a dead language, how do you know that you got pronunciation right?

Just because a particular language isnt spoken everyday anymore doesnt mean it isnt preserved, recorded or otherwise known. There's a great deal of information out there, especially where Roman influence blended with other cultures and language families, with regards to how the language behaves. There's also the Catholic Church, which uses a specific dialectic evolution of classical Latin in its day to day operations.

All of this would be extremely relevant and interesting if Games Workshop used Latin rather than Dog Latin, but here we are.

Unless the ancient Romans used High Gothic/Low Gothic, I doubt the rules for Latin really apply here.

I'm pretty sure how I say it in speech and how I read it in my head are actually different. I assumed the eee eye version was correct as that's how I was taught to say radii. I read it that way on my head but I'm fairly certain that I default to skitaree if I'm speaking.

nataliereed1984 wrote:

Sterling191 wrote:

Not Online!!! wrote:

Also re latin lessons, it's a dead language, how do you know that you got pronunciation right?

Just because a particular language isnt spoken everyday anymore doesnt mean it isnt preserved, recorded or otherwise known. There's a great deal of information out there, especially where Roman influence blended with other cultures and language families, with regards to how the language behaves. There's also the Catholic Church, which uses a specific dialectic evolution of classical Latin in its day to day operations.

All of this would be extremely relevant and interesting if Games Workshop used Latin rather than Dog Latin, but here we are.

I was going to say the same myself. High Gothic is not Latin it is a bastardised form of it.

Option 1 for me.

Y’all Latin scholars wouldn’t like how I translated my titans’ names through Google.

I pronounce it the first way. BUT I pronounce cataphractii with the ee-eye. I donno, it just sounds better to me

I haven't had to, on account of nobody playing them around here. But I guess I'd go for option 1.

I only speak two languages, English and bad English. So I say number one. That way it sounds like Atari.

Dandelion wrote:
“I” is just ee, but “ii” is more like an extended eeee. So, skitaree-ee as opposed to just skitaree. Anyway, -us is singular and -i is plural. So you’d have a single skitarius and multiple skitarii. An example of an actual Latin word would be hastatus and hastati. Or triarius and triarii.

Yeah, based on GCSE Latin in the 90s, I'm going with this too.

I have heard that the double I is meant to be pronounced. So it would be like the third one, but IIRC it's a long E sound, not a long I (So "Skih-tar-ee-ee", I think with the second "EE" being sort of cut off at the end and the one before it being the full "EE"). I do know that in I think it was Rome Total War 2 when the Triarii is selected they pronounce it wrong ("Tree-ar-ee-eye") which is probably where that idea comes from.

That said though I say the first. "Skih-tar-ee" mostly because I forget to emphasize the second EE.

skit tar REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Ska-TAR-ree
Latin: Seek to Know

Heard one guy say 3, I say 1. The worst thing I ever heard was Ka-Horn instead of Korn. Ui riili niid a neu uay to sbel. The letters and sounds are very poorly linked IMO. Stop using Q, C, X, Y and W. I might make a conlang for this one day, remove all the silent letters as well. Danish is similarly marred by age, I love how Norway made a modernized version of their language.

 Fajita Fan wrote:
I say Skih tar eee, if it was just one 'i' at the end I'd think the Latin pronunciation would "eye" would it not?

Now pronounce Aaron.

Å-ron

Ohh-ron.

Aa=Å in Danish.

You silly people with your silly non-phonetic languages.

But AFAIK, classic Latin was pretty phonetic, so ending is probably just a long vowel.

 Crimson wrote:
You silly people with your silly non-phonetic languages.

We shood all rite fonetikly like da orkz! Dey got it figgered out!

The worst thing I ever heard was Ka-Horn instead of Korn.

For me, the "Horus Lou-PURR-kull" from the Battlfeet Gothic video game was definitely the worst I ever heard.

But I like to pronounce it "Row-BOUT GEE-a-min", so I'm really not one to talk…

nataliereed1984 wrote:

 Crimson wrote:
You silly people with your silly non-phonetic languages.

We shood all rite fonetikly like da orkz! Dey got it figgered out!

The worst thing I ever heard was Ka-Horn instead of Korn.

For me, the "Horus Lou-PURR-kull" from the Battlfeet Gothic video game was definitely the worst I ever heard.

But I like to pronounce it "Row-BOUT GEE-a-min", so I'm really not one to talk…

I only played BFG for an hour, everyone pronounces Russ like Ros, right? When Magnus first came out I played a game where we called him Maunus instead of Maknus because Magnus is a popular boys name in Denmark, it humoured me enough that the crazy abilities didn't bother me.

 vict0988 wrote:

I only played BFG for an hour, everyone pronounces Russ like Ros, right? When Magnus first came out I played a game where we called him Maunus instead of Maknus because Magnus is a popular boys name in Denmark, it humoured me enough that the crazy abilities didn't bother me.

Haha. As a Canadian, that's making me imagine a character called something like "Gordon The Red" or "Todd the Red".

Why do Americans pronounce it lass-cannons while the Brits call them lāz-cannons? It's short for laser cannon so I think the Brits have it right but I can't bring myself to do it in public.

I only played BFG for an hour, everyone pronounces Russ like Ros, right?

I'm pretty sure the actual pronunciation is Roos like rooster with a hard u.

 Fajita Fan wrote:
Why do Americans pronounce it lass-cannons while the Brits call them lāz-cannons? It's short for laser cannon so I think the Brits have it right but I can't bring myself to do it in public.

I only played BFG for an hour, everyone pronounces Russ like Ros, right?

I'm pretty sure the actual pronunciation is Roos like rooster with a hard u.

Americans were cowboys so they pronounce lass like lasso.

Have you ever heard anyone say Leman Roos Battle Tank?

So the new White Dwarf has a guide to pronunciation and, apparently, pronouncing "Russ" as in the name "Russell" actually is the correct way!

They have, however, stood by their dumb version of Guilliman. But I'm going to stick with my totally incorrect French-influenced way, because his name makes me think of "Guillaume the Conqueror".

nataliereed1984 wrote:
So the new White Dwarf has a guide to pronunciation and, apparently, pronouncing "Russ" as in the name "Russell" actually is the correct way!

They have, however, stood by their dumb version of Guilliman. But I'm going to stick with my totally incorrect French-influenced way, because his name makes me think of "Guillaume the Conqueror".

So Gillyman instead of Gi-eh-man?

 vict0988 wrote:

nataliereed1984 wrote:
So the new White Dwarf has a guide to pronunciation and, apparently, pronouncing "Russ" as in the name "Russell" actually is the correct way!

They have, however, stood by their dumb version of Guilliman. But I'm going to stick with my totally incorrect French-influenced way, because his name makes me think of "Guillaume the Conqueror".

So Gillyman instead of Gi-eh-man?

Exactly. Ro-BOOT-Ay GILL-uh-man is the official, correct version, but I still like Ro-BOUT GEE-eh-man way way way better and will go right on saying it!

 Fajita Fan wrote:
Why do Americans pronounce it lass-cannons while the Brits call them lāz-cannons?

I have never once heard anyone, British, Irish, Vietnamese or American ever say "laze" cannon. "Lass" cannon is by far the more popular pronunciation in my experience.

 Ginjitzu wrote:

 Fajita Fan wrote:
Why do Americans pronounce it lass-cannons while the Brits call them lāz-cannons?

I have never once heard anyone, British, Irish, Vietnamese or American ever say "laze" cannon. "Lass" cannon is by far the more popular pronunciation in my experience.

I've only ever heard "lazz" cannon personally. Never heard it with an unvoiced sibilant.

 Fajita Fan wrote:
Why do Americans pronounce it lass-cannons while the Brits call them lāz-cannons? It's short for laser cannon so I think the Brits have it right but I can't bring myself to do it in public.

My guess is that because in England we spell words with zzzz sounds with an s, like minimise or maximise, whilst an American would spell them with a z like minimize and maximize.
Because LASER started as an acronym and has always been spelt with an s, it is more natural for us to convert that into a z sound than Americans.

As for Skitarii, I've always used the third pronunciation which appears to be incorrect. I blame Rome: Total War for mispronouncing Triarii!

nataliereed1984 wrote:
Exactly. Ro-BOOT-Ay GILL-uh-man is the official, correct version, but I still like Ro-BOUT GEE-eh-man way way way better and will go right on saying it!

I also prefer the French version. Because he's basically an idealised version of Napoleon.

A military and administrative genius from a rocky mountains-and-islands backwater region of the Empire (Macragge is essentially Corsica as a whole planet); who emphasises logistics as the most important part of warfare; who (with much reluctance - honest!) takes over the Empire because nobody else is up to the job; sets about a major reform of the legal, administrative and social systems; ends up spending all his time fighting stupid battles instead of concentrating on his reforms because everyone else in Europe/the Galaxy wants to destroy his Empire; and explicitly uses Classical Greek and Roman tropes in his PR...

Oh, and his troops wear blue.

 JohnnyHell wrote:
First one it’s the only correct one. (Could maybe be “Skih Tarr Eeheeh” with an elongated sound at the end but tends to be shortened)

As some other have said assuming it is based on Latin then 'i' will be pronounced as 'ee'. 'Eye' is 'ae' in Latin, although aspirated into a shorter sound (as in Aeneas or Aeneid). I would pronounce it 'skit-ar-e-ee' but no English 'i' sound.

I tend towards the third pronunciation of the double-i plural out of force of habit, but I don't care enough to correct people or argue about it.

This discussion inspired me to wander through some more Mechanicum units looking at what other strange pseudo-Latin I might find. I think I'm pronouncing "Castellax" correctly, but according to Wiktionary the "-ax" suffix is approximately equivalent to adding "-ish" or "-y" to an adjective in English to make a more noncommittal adjective, so it's actually an ungrammatical teenager sticking an adjective suffix onto a noun to call the robot "fortress-ish" or "castle-y".

Unless we interpret "castell" as a Spanish word for a human pyramid instead of a Latin diminutive word for castle or fortress, then it gets silly.