[Ancients] How do I pronounce...

...thetradrachm.

Is it tet-ra-dram, tet-ra-drach-ma, or something else?

Feel free to add other words, some of you like me may suffer from readers vocabulary.

 

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tet-rə-dram

... ummm, I think it's kinda similar to saying, "anagram" ...

Funny though, because when I read it, I pronounce it in my head as Tetra-drackem (kinda like it's a Klingon word?!!)

 

Vlaha, if you want to hear it spoken, Anoob did some YouTube spots, look them up..

 

What are they titled, "Ancientnoob's ancient word pronunciation guide"?

 

I've always thought it was Teh-tra-drawk-um. Not sure if it's right though...

 

I say drawm

 

I say teh-tra-DROCK-uhm. Don't know if that is correct.

 

I think TIF and VK say it nearly alike and is how I say it.

Note to TIF and VK: If I say it the same way, it's probably wrong.

 

While you experienced guys are at it, how would you pronounce "Elagabalus" and "drachm"?

 

AncientNoob is "fistfullofdenars" on YouTube. Here is a link to one of his many videos:

 

No idea if I'm right or wrong, but I say Eh-luh-GA-buh-lus, with GA pronounced like the second syllable of 'exactly'.

Drachm: DRAH-kum.

 

I was pronouncing the "ch" as well, but I got corrected by Bill (Ardatirion). I guess the convention is say dram, as in "wee dram."

Still, would it be so hard to try and pronounce words from other languages properly? The one that annoys me is Trajan, when people pronounce it Tray-jun. That's not even close to the original Latin.

Maybe it's my ancient parochial upbringing - we were taught to say the prayers of the Roman Catholic Ordinary in properly-pronounced Latin, where the vowels are pure as opposed to being diphthongs. Latin is 99.9% phonetic - you only pronounce diphthongs if they're written out as such.

So if I ever meet any of you folks in person, and I hope I do, and we have a conversation about Trajan, I'm going to call him Trah-ee-ah-noos, and you'll just have to get over it.

 

Its a great post. This is one of the greatest problems I have in ancient coins is pronunciation. You can read about a word, write about it, but all along be mispronouncing it because you are not around anyone TALKING about it. I cannot tell you how many times I have been mispronouncing words for years. As an example, for about 4 years I pronounced drachm as drachma, since that is what they are called in Greece today, and is the only way I had heard the word.

It really does make you feel like an idiot when you mispronounce these words.

 

=> yoos got dat rite!!

 

It's ok if ya'll mispronounce until someone corrects you publicly. I was mispronouncing Elagabulus until the Orlando FUN Show last year when I was corrected in front of other customers. Oh well.....

 

sometimes i'll look stuff up on youtube so i can hear people say the word....assume they aren't just as much in the dark as i am. at the last coin show i was talking to a guy about about my giant ptolemy zeus/eagle coin....and he looked at me funny. i said "Toe La Me" and he replied that he pronounced it different...i can't remember exactly how he said it. we were also discussing ancient fakes, and i was affaid to attempt fourress.....say "4" then "E" then make it plural? "four Ez"

 

sorry for yet another double post, since i did...

how about "E Leg uh Ball us"

 

A silent CH on tetradrachm is standard for English speakers. I'm sure an authentic Greek pronunciation is closer to this: http://translate.google.com/#el/en/τετράδραχμο (click the little speaker button in the bottom right corner of the translation box). Of course, if you say it like that, no one will have a clue what you are talking about.

Latin pronunciation is much more straightforward and one place where my three years of Latin come in handy.
http://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Latin Pronunciation
http://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Latin Plurals

My pet peeve is sesterce, that gross anglicization. The proper Latin plural is "sestertii." Pronoucned seys-TER-te-e.

 

No kidding, it's teh-trah-dram?! Not sure I can break the drah-kum habit.

 

It's probably a good habit. I just got tired of having to say it twice at coin shows.