Canonfire! Forums-viewtopic-Greyhawk Pronunciation Q&A

Mon Jun 06, 2011 3:32 pm Greyhawk Pronunciation Q&A

So I've been wondering about the pronunciation about a certain city's name for a while, but it seems like such a waste of a thread for such a small query. So, I decided to try to make a thread that may have some usefulness once it outlives my question.

With that goal in mind, if the rest of you are up for it, I'd like to turn this thread into a place where anyone can ask about (and hopefully receive answers to) the pronunciations of names and words particular to the World of Greyhawk. Of course we should strive for canon pronunciations when available, but best guesses and general consensus are also welcomed (particularly when no canon pronunciation is available).

So, how do you pronounce Rauxes? It looks pseudo-French to me, making me want to pronounce it "roek-ZEI" (or "roeg-ZEI"), but I can also see it being pronounced "RAHK-zehs" or otherwise... Please halp! Confused

Mon Jun 06, 2011 4:26 pm

I don't know about a canonical pronunciation, but I've always pronounced it as something along the lines of "RAHK-zehs" myself.

Being from Louisiana (New Orleans), it doesn't strike me as particularly "french" in pronunciation, but I could be wrong. Wink

_________________
Mystic's web page: http://melkot.com/mysticscholar/index.html
Mystic's blog page: http://mysticscholar.blogspot.com/

Mon Jun 06, 2011 5:44 pm

Somewhere I picked up RAH-zees as the pronunciation. That may have been in Frank Mentzer's DRAGON article "Ay Pronunseeayshun Gyd" (or something like that).

Mon Jun 06, 2011 7:01 pm

I, too, have always pronounced 'Rauxes' as 'RAHK-zehs', but am unaware of any canonical pronunciation for it.

I'd like to point out that I believe 'Drow' should rhyme with 'cow', but realize that many pronounce it to rhyme with 'know'.

One name I still am not certain about is 'Chathold'. I choose to pronounce the 'Ch' as in 'Church' and as if it is two words, 'Chat' & 'hold'. I believe that it could be pronounced 'Kathold', with the 'th' as in 'the', just as legitimately.

SirXaris

Mon Jun 06, 2011 7:22 pm

Mon Jun 06, 2011 10:37 pm

Tue Jun 07, 2011 12:00 am

I pronounce "Rauxes" how Golem would say the plural of "rock".

"What have you been up to Golem?"

"Oh nothing, masster. We's just been collecting rockses...to bash your head in with, my precious!"

"What was that last bit there?"

"Oh, nothing masster."

Razz

_________________
- Moderator/Admin (in some areas)/Member -

Tue Jun 07, 2011 4:29 am

Rawk-ses.
Stair-ick.
Jeff.
Rhymes with cow.

Tue Jun 07, 2011 5:32 am

Jeff?

And to think that I've always pronounced it "Gee-off." Sheesh! Embarassed

*Don't kick me too hard, Rasgon* Wink

_________________
Mystic's web page: http://melkot.com/mysticscholar/index.html
Mystic's blog page: http://mysticscholar.blogspot.com/

Tue Jun 07, 2011 11:48 am

Well, in high school I had a friend named Geoff (short for Geoffrey), so we agreed that his character would come from the Grand Duchy of Geoff.

Tue Jun 07, 2011 12:56 pm

Tue Jun 07, 2011 4:04 pm

Suel. Is it Sool or SOO-el? Or Sue-EL? (I guess I've gone with "sool" which rhymes with fool.)

Tue Jun 07, 2011 4:25 pm

Wed Jun 08, 2011 4:34 am

Wed Jun 08, 2011 6:51 am

Wed Jun 08, 2011 7:02 am

Sadly, most of the good folk of Frinton On Sea prefer Stair-lift; not for nought is it refered to locally as "God's waiting room". Wink

Wed Jun 08, 2011 9:57 am

Woot! Thanks, guys. I love this community. Happy

I, too, go with "sool", "stair-ick" and "jeff" and dark elves that rhyme with "cow" (though my first gaming group pronounced it the other way). For Chathold, I'm inclined to pronounce the "ch" as in "church".

How about Nyr Dyv and Dyvers... Are the "y"s pronounced as in "Calypso" or as in "fly"? As the the "y" in my real name (Kynewulf) is pronounced as the former, I'm generally inclined to go with that in most cases, but with "y" you never know.

Wed Jun 08, 2011 10:12 am

Nyr Dyv has always been as in "fly" for me, purely because Dyvers sounds completely rubbish the other way round.

When I was a kid the word "div" or "divvy" was always used as a derogatory term for somebody a little lacking in grey matter (polite version), so "Div-ers" would have ended up being the city of the terminally thick when I first started playing. It would never have recovered from that stigma.

Wed Jun 08, 2011 2:02 pm

I've always prounounced "Nyr Dyv" as "Near Div"; but "Dyvers" as "Divers" (as in "Scuba Divers")....

Wed Jun 08, 2011 4:27 pm

For me, Dyvers is pronounced with a long 'i' sound while Nyr Dyv is pronounced as 'near deev'.

SirXaris

Wed Jun 08, 2011 4:58 pm

For me it's always been "Near Dive" and "Divers." Shocked

But that doesn't mean that I'm right. Laughing

_________________
Mystic's web page: http://melkot.com/mysticscholar/index.html
Mystic's blog page: http://mysticscholar.blogspot.com/

Wed Jun 08, 2011 5:01 pm

Wed Jun 08, 2011 6:47 pm

Well, how about 'Flan' and 'Flanaess'?

I've always pronounced them 'Flawn' and 'Flawness' (accent on 'ness'), but I've seen other pronunciations promoted as well.

SirXaris

Wed Jun 08, 2011 7:54 pm

Thu Jun 09, 2011 12:06 am

We always said Gee-off simply because the Grand Duchy of Jeff sounded...um...lame. Laughing

The Principality of Barry("Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl..." Yes, that makes it even worse. Even Barry White couldn't save it. Laughing

)

The Kingdom of Fritz("They've killed Fritz!" Razz

)

The County of Abercromby(While sounding suitably pompous, it is still lame. Razz

)

The Empire of Hank(Biggest supplier of propane and propane accessories...of course. Wink

)

The only place it works is Fallout 3- The Republic of Dave. Happy

In *our* Greyhawk? Um...no... the Grand Duchy of Jeff never worked for us. The older pronunciation of Geoff as "Joff", where the "e" is so softly/quickly enunciated that it is barely heard, would be more...palatable to me.
_________________
- Moderator/Admin (in some areas)/Member -

Thu Jun 09, 2011 2:28 am

We've always called it the Duchy of JOFF, as in Geoffrey perhaps.

Nyr Dyv has been pronounced with Swedish y's which have no English equivalent but is akin to the French u (as in Côte d'Azure).

Other pronunciations:
Raok-ses
Stair-ich
Drow rhymes with cow
Lich not lick.
_________________
Never say blip-blip to a kuo-tua

Thu Jun 09, 2011 8:36 am

Thu Jun 09, 2011 8:51 am

I've heard "Lich" both ways...."Lich" (rhymes with "itch") and Lick.....I'm partial to the former....

As for "Flan" and "Flaness"; I always pronounced them as "Flan" (rhymes with "ban") and "Flan-ess" (second part as the letter "S")

As for "Catoplepas"....I guess I would say "Cat-o-plee-pis".....which now that I think about it sounds like a cat going #1...which is kinda icky...like a demon ought to be, I guess! :)

Thu Jun 09, 2011 9:04 am

ka-TAH-bleh-pahs

Thu Jun 09, 2011 10:19 am A pronunsiayshun gyd

Gilban .... your Nyr Dyv pronunciation is interesting. Never really occured to me to think of it that way. And I lived in Sweden back in the Summer of '09.

Joff - Almost imperceptibly different from Jeff (Because that's how my cousin Geoffry pronounces it)
Drow rhymes with cow
Near Divv, but, Dyvers sounds likes Divers
Stair-itch
Flan sounds like Han, as in Han Solo, and thus flan-ACE, with a long "a"
Raw-zees (Now, I'll forever hear golem saying "rockses', though)
Sool

In modern parlance, I believe "litch" is correct, but the archaic word it's derived from is properly "lick", but that's a different word.

cat-oh-BLEP-as?

I believe it was in the Player's guide to Greyhawk that they also included a brief pronunciation guide as well.
_________________
Owner and Lead Admin: https://greyhawkonline.com<div>Editor-in-Chief of the Oerth Journal: https://greyhawkonline.com/oerthjournal</div><div>Visit my professional art gallery: https://wkristophnolen.daportfolio.com</div>

Fri Jun 10, 2011 6:49 am

Fri Jun 10, 2011 10:17 am

I pronounce it 'JOFF' as well. as for Nyr Dyv I pronounce it 'Near Dive'

Is there really a county of Ambercromby? Is it next to the County of Fitch :)
_________________
Dymond
-My kingdom for a Shield Lands map!

Fri Jun 24, 2011 9:36 pm

That may have been in Frank Mentzer's DRAGON article "Ay Pronunseeayshun Gyd" (or something like that).Tera Gold
Buy Runescape Gold
Tera Gold Cheap

Mon Jun 27, 2011 7:35 pm

Well in the Temple of Elemental Evil computer game the Canon Terjon pronounces it as Near Dive for Nyr Dyv. Corellon Larethian is pronounced as Core-ah-lawn Lore-ay-thee-un. There was a bit of a problem with my old group with the pronunciation of Iuz. Like I-use, use, Eee-uzz. LOL Iuz in the computer game is pronounced as Eye-ooze.

Rauxes to me is always been like Gollum saying rocks. Like Rockses...hobbitses.

How does one say Chimera though? Sha-meer-ah or Kai-meer-uh. I know the Greeks enunciate the CH as a hard K.

Question

Mon Jun 27, 2011 10:15 pm

Tue Jun 28, 2011 4:41 pm

Tue Jun 28, 2011 7:31 pm And the bard says

Geoff = JEFF
Sterich = Stair-itch
Nyr Dyv = Near Div
Dyvers = Divers; note that in middle english, this word was pronounced and meant "diverse"
Iuz = EE-uuz
Flan = Flan (as in the dessert)
Flanaess = Flan-EH-ess (this is the Canadian pronunciation, which is correct)
Rauxes = ROWK-ses
Drow rhymes with cow, how and now
Chathold = Chat-uld (short a)
Suel = sül (with the umlaut)

Lich is the only one with debate - should it be pronounces as the english CH or the German; which btw both have the same etymology as the softer sound as in "CHurCH...
_________________
Pateris of Urnst
The Technical Bard