How do you pronounce...

[Monarch]

I was just wondering how you pronounce Ptolemaic?

Also Seleucid, I alwayd pronounced it Sel-u-sid but that's probably not correct?

[Craterus]

It's a silent P.

I've always pronounced Seleucid in the same way as you.

[Mouzafphaerre]

.
Pto-lo-ma-yik (softish p like a b)
Se-le-wkid

Have to wait t see my pronounciation guide again until they deliver my HD from the recovery though.
.

[Sjakihata]

eu together in greek has a special prounciation. I cant really type it, but in danish there is a letter for eu which ø. Eu is like euw said quickly.

[KukriKhan]

http://www.answers.com/seleucid&r=67

Has a little speaker icon for sound-pronunciation. Turns out I've been mis-pronouncing it for years (copying some guy on the History Channel).

[Sjakihata]

To my best understanding, that is not the right pronounciation. Maybe it is special for anglosaxon, like latin words sound completely wrong when a brit or american speaks it.

[L'Impresario]

Well, that's the correct pronounciation for english, I gather that you 're comparing them with the original greek ones, which are indeed different.

[Monarch]

http://www.answers.com/seleucid&r=67

Has a little speaker icon for sound-pronunciation. Turns out I've been mis-pronouncing it for years (copying some guy on the History Channel).

Ok. According to that I prounounce Seleucid just about right.

Also according to answers ptolemaic= Tol-e-may-ick

[Rodion Romanovich]

I've always wondered how to pronounce vae victis...

[Craterus]

Also according to answers ptolemaic= Tol-e-may-ick

That's how I say it. I think that's the common anglicised pronunciation.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

"way wictis?" or maybe "wey wictis?"

We English Latinize Greek words and then pronounce them as though in English. Very silly.

[Mouzafphaerre]

I've always wondered how to pronounce vae victis...

.
Vay viktis, ay identical to German ei or English I.
.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

except there's no V is Latin, its pronounced W. Sorry I couldn't remember it ae was A or E.

[BDC]

Phalanx?

[Kagemusha]

You indo europeans have strange problems. We Finns pronounce everything like its written.

[Samurai Waki]

Vae Victus is pronounced W-eye- W-ict-us the ae sounds like eye in english.

Phalanx I'm pretty sure it sounds exactley how its spelled F-al-anks

[LeftEyeNine]

You indo europeans have strange problems. We Finns pronounce everything like its written.

Same here

[Ironside]

You indo europeans have strange problems. We Finns pronounce everything like its written.

But then, this is the way you write...

Suomen pääkaupunki, yliopistokaupunki

Tapahtuu
Tapahtumat, uutiset ja
ajankohtaiset asiat

Liikenne, kartat ja sää
Aikataulut, reittikartat, opaskartta, sää

Yliopistokampukset
Helsingin yliopisto, opiskelijavalinta, muut yliopistot ja ammattikorkeakoulut

Helsingin seutu ja Suomi
Pääkaupunkiseudun palveluja, tietoa Suomesta

Kaupungin palvelut
Koulutus-, terveys- ja sosiaalipalvelut, yrityspalvelut ja muut palvelut, palveluhakemistot

Matkailu
Matkailupalvelut, kongressit, nähtävää ja koettavaa, panoraamakierros

Avaintietoa
Kaupunki ja yliopisto tänään, tilastoja, historiaa

From the homepage about Helsinki.

But, removing the problems of separate spelling from the spoken word is always good , no though and tough to worry about.

[Monarch]

Phalanx?

On Time Commanders the TV show that uses the RTW engine, when refering to phanxes the experts always said: Fal-anks

[Atilius]

A few rules for pronunciation of Latin consonants:


The letter "c" is always pronounced as if it were a "k" - this means that Cicero is pronounced KIH-keh-roh.

The letter "g" always sounds like the g in "gap", never like the g in "age".

The letter "s" always sounds like the s in "set", never like the s in "cars". (So in the phrase "Ars gratia artis", both letters "s" have the same sound.)

When "j" is used before a vowel, it's pronounced like the y in "yellow".

The letter "v" is pronounced as if it were a "w", so "Veni, vedi, vici" is WAY-nee, WEE-dee, WEE-kee.


Sort of odd to dispense pronunciation tips to people I'll never hear.

[nokhor]

i've read previously, that julius caesar's contemporaries would have pronounced his name Yooleoos Keyssar.

[aw89]

Isn't it more like Kaisar?

[The_Doctor]

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

ae goes I, thats right. Caesar is Keye-sar. Hence Tsar and Kaisar.

[LeftEyeNine]

They say "Shah" (Persian) is derived from Caesar as well

[Mouzafphaerre]

.
I can't proclaim a definitive no but still I don't think it is so.
.

[Rosacrux redux]

I think Shah is much older than Ceasar... As for the names go, "Ptolemaic" is not an original Greek word, but the anglicised form of "Ptolemaikon" and "Ptolemy" is the A-form of "Ptolemeos"

The "P" is not a "silent" P, but is pronouncedm, in the typical way it goes before "T", like in the Greek word "πτώσις" (ptosis, fall) or "πτύω" (ptyo, spit) or "πτέρυξ" (pteryx, wing).

Seleucid (greek: Seleucides) depends on the school you follow. I pronounce it Seh-leh-f-kee-thes, and afaik it's been pronounced like that in the past c. 2000 years. But the "reconstructed" ancient Greek has it pronounced it like "Seh-lehw-kee-des"

[Adrian II]

Turns out I always had Ptolomaic right ('To-lo-may-ik') and Seleucid wrong ('Sel-yoo-sit' instead of 'Sel-yoo-sit').

What exactly was the History Channel guy's pronunciation, Kukrikhan?

N.B. I believe nobody knows how Latin words were originally pronounced and we can only make educated guesses. Hence the huge differences in Latin pronunciation between European countries.

I was raised on a diet of Italianised Latin. 'Bene facere potes, si animum modo attendis' would be pronounced 'Bay-nay fa-che-re po-tes, see ah-nee-moom mo-do at-ten-dees'.

Makes me sound like the Pope...

[Rosacrux redux]

Πτολεμαίος (Ptolemy)
If you want an actual phonetic try "ptoh-leh-meh-os" (and that's irregardles if you use the correct pronounciation or the reconstructed one)

So, Πτολεμαικός Under no circumstances it is "to-lo-may-ik(os)" - try Pto-leh-mae-ee-kohs".

And in Seleucides (in both reconstructed and Greek) the accent is in the last syllable.

[Adrian II]

Πτολεμαίος (Ptolemy)
If you want an actual phonetic try "ptoh-leh-meh-os" (and that's irregardles if you use the correct pronounciation or the reconstructed one)

So, Πτολεμαικός Under no circumstances it is "to-lo-may-ik(os)" - try Pto-leh-mae-ee-kohs".

And in Seleucides (in both reconstructed and Greek) the accent is in the last syllable.

Great, but this is about English pronunciation, not Greek.

Hence 'To-lo-may-ik' and 'sai-ko-lo-gee' instead of 'Pto-lo-may-ik' or 'Psai-ko-lo-gee'.