# Name Pronounciations



## Tao (Mar 2, 2002)

So, how does everyone pronounce names in LOTR...?

I pronounce Théoden Th-yo-den, and Éomer and Eoywyn with the 'y' sound also, but how do you guys pronounce names. It really doesn't matter, it's just a matter of opinion.


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## Aroghel (Mar 2, 2002)

I pronounce Ainur as Aa-Ee-Newer, and Illuvutar as Eel-Loo-Vootar


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## Lantarion (Mar 2, 2002)

Actually that's 'Ilúvatar', and I think it should be prnounced 'Ill-oova-tar'. 
The accents on the vowels indicate a stressed sound. SO in Théoden his name would be pronounced 'thee-odn', with a soft 'th' (like in 'think') and a slight 'e'-sound in '-dn'. 
And I think in all the names with a 'y' in them, the 'y' is pronounced like a 'ü'. So Éowyn would be pronounced 'ee-o-wyn', but not 'ee' as in 'eel'; rather like the word 'air' with a British accent. 
And the 'o' isn't like the word 'oh', but a short, abrupt sound.
Heh, hope I helped. 

PS: And 'Ainur' is pronounced 'I-nur', not 'Ay-nyur'.


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## Bill the Pony (Mar 2, 2002)

Recently I got the audio version of LOTR (read by Rob Inglis) and the Silmarillion (read by Martin Shaw). Does anyone know if all the names are pronounced correctly in these productions? Thanks.


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## Tao (Mar 2, 2002)

No...no...no, I don't think so.

é and É are pronounced with a Y sound like Yo...it's the way it's pronounced


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## Eldanor (Mar 2, 2002)

hahahaha me and people that speak spanish are very lucky in these cases.
The elvish languages' pronounciation and the spanish pronounciation are almost the same, except for the C (always the K value, even before E and I => Celebrian=Kelebrian). The quenya is specially good in this way, because each letter has ONLY one sound (with one or two exceptions), not like English, that has lots of different sounds.


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## Cian (Mar 2, 2002)

_Théoden, Éowyn_ are Old English. In the RotK Appendices anyway, Tolkien wrote regarding Personal and Place-names of Rohan:


> '... éa and éo are diphthongs, which may be represented by the _ea_ of English _bear,_ and the _eo_ of _Theobald; ...'_


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## Vilya Elathelas (Mar 3, 2002)

*earendil*

Pronounce THAT! 

I say ee-ar-in-dill. Galadriel says Air-en-deel. and my best friend says yar-an-dell.


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## Lantarion (Mar 4, 2002)

You must remember the accent on the 'a': Eärendil. Eär-en-dil. The 'ä' is pronounced like the 'a' in 'apple'.


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## Cian (Mar 4, 2002)

Ponti, the diacritic (here a diaeresis) is to show that with the combination _ea_, the vowels are to be pronounced clearly separate. It's not a quality marker as far as the vowel a is concerned though. Note _ëar_ "sea". 

The vowel a is not distinguished from ä (not as with Finnish orthography). 
For Quenya short a, the sound heard in Spanish _padre_ will do.


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## Mina Pitcher (Mar 9, 2002)

celeborn= keleborn! It means 'silver tree' and he is Arwens grandad + Elronds father- in- law!


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## Cian (Mar 9, 2002)

> _originally posted by Mina Pitcher:_ celeborn= keleborn! It means 'silver tree' and he is Arwens grandad + Elronds father- in- law!



Also, in Tolkien's latest philological writings, the meaning 'Silver-tree' for Celeborn of Lórien was abandoned. JRRT wrote that the second element was derived from ancient adjectival _orná_ "uprising, tall", rather than from the related tree-word (noun) _orné_.


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