Pronunciation of Greek names

[dimmy52]

First of all, love the mod. If I could physically make sweet, sweet love to it I would. Unfortunately, I can't.

HOWEVER, there is one tiny, minute, miniscule little thing that bothers me, and that is the pronunciation of Greek names of units or of words during battle.

For example, Ekdromoi Hoplitai. In Greek, the 'oi' at the end has a short 'ee' sound, like the 'i' in 'in'. This is true of all 'oi' combination ins Greek language, unless there is a double dot thingie (don't know the name of it) on top of the 'i', then it's pronounced as it looks, and as you have been pronouncing it.

Secondly, Hoplitai. The 'ai' combination is supposed to have an 'eh' sound, like AIr. Again, the only time this differs is with that double dot on top of the 'i'.

Thirdly, the 'oi' at the end of Ekdromoi signals pluralization, but in order for it to be grammatically correct, Hoplitai also needs a plural suffix of 'oi'. Now, this is where I begin to become uncertain in my claims. I THINK Hoplitai should be spelt Hoplitaioi, but I'm certain the correct pronounciation of it would be 'Hop-lee-teh-ee'.

Chances are you guys have probably been over this issue before, but I thought I'd let you know just in case.

PS. I know I'm nitpicking :p

[Korlon]

I have absolutely no idea about the pronounciation of the Greek language, but are you talking about the modern Greek pronounciations? The games uses ancient Greek pronounciations.

And if so, yes this has been gone through many, many times.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Thanks for the interest dimmy. We have indeed spent a lot of time on the issue and feel pretty certain that we have the correct endings and pronunciation (and this is important here) for the time period in our mod. Hope you enjoy it and that it doesn't sound too strange to your ears though!

edit: Check out the link in Keravnos' signature - it has a lot of great information and sound files that explain exactly how classical greek was pronounced.

[Ayce]

dimmy, when it comes to modern pronunciation you're right, but ancient was more „what you see is what you get”. I use modern for most cases because it's quicker, excepting some words, like Daoi, that sound stupid.

[keravnos]

Greek language has changed a LOT over 2300 years. If you care to click though my sig, you will see and hear for yourself.

[dimmy52]

Greek language has changed a LOT over 2300 years. If you care to click though my sig, you will see and hear for yourself.

Many thanks for clearing that up. Yeah, when I went to High school in Greece, the one subject I failed was Ancient Greek It confused the Hell out of me, an Australian-born Greek.

[Maion Maroneios]

Many thanks for clearing that up. Yeah, when I went to High school in Greece, the one subject I failed was Ancient Greek It confused the Hell out of me, an Australian-born Greek.

Australia? That's wonderful, quite a few Greeks there I remember! Xairetismata sthn omogeneia ths Australias!!!

[abou]

BTW, Dimmy, hoplitai is a different declension than ekdromoi. They agree in case, number, and gender so it's kosher.

[Metalstrm]

Related to this, I find some of the pronunciation of Latin words to be over-emphasized. I honestly don't have much knowledge about ancient pronunciation, but the stresses/emphases seem to be in the wrong places or are simply too much.

For example, file Roma_Latin_Unit_Attack_Fast_1 the word "rapide" has got way too much stress on the "rap" part. Similarly for many other Latin pronunciations. Listen to Missile_Fire_3 for example. I think the idea was to imply a forceful command, but it somehow sounds unnatural and forced.

Maybe I'm wrong, so if you have more info on ancient Latin pronunciation I'd appreciate it.

[Tiberius Nero]

the "i" in "rapide" is short, therefore it carries no stress in the position of the penultimate syllable as per Latin pronunciation rules. If the penultimate is long either by nature or place (i.e. being followed by at least two consonants) it carries the stress. If not the stress falls on the antepenult. The final carries stress only in very few Latin words, and then as a consequence of the original final having fallen off (as in words like "illinc", "istuc" "perduc" etc).

[Metalstrm]

Ok, honestly I don't really understand all that you said because I never studied linguistics, but what I meant was the plosive "p" is given too much pressure, making it almost sound like "rappide". I don't think I used the word "stress" correctly!

Anyway, is that what you were explaining?

[Tiberius Nero]

Ah, sorry I thought you meant stress of voice, so I gave the rules about where the stress falls on syllables (on vowels); I don't know about whether the "p" in "rapide" is pronounced double in the voicemod and can't check it now either, you could be right.

[abou]

Actually, it would be rapi'de since the A isn't long either.