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I've historically loved this particular name, and the name its ripped off from. Primarily because if you listen to the pronunciation, it sounds identical for the eastern european word for bones (Polish or Russian, I think). That is, when it is pronounced KOST-CHEE, with the accent on the first syllable. Hope that helps a bit - if you're owning the selection of what is the new offical pronounciation, then that's my vote. There is a strength associated with this because I've heard angry cuss words spoken in those languages.. (phrases such as P'SHAH KOST-CHEE) that is considered a harsh and angry expletive, meaning dog's bones!
KOSS-fwa-chooo
I say Cootchie.
Like, cootchie-cootchie-coo.
I think he likes that.
Lol. Thats good.
The figure is loosely based on Koschei the deathless, and that I could tell you how to pronounce (though, frankly, it's pretty self explanatory from the spelling). They added (for no apparent reason) some extra consonants ... that could have been simply a poor attempt at transliteration. Hard to tell.
I would go with Co (as in coworker) shay (ends like day) and forget about the nuances of pronouncing the russian sh sound correctly... a simple "sh" is close enough (technically, the "sh" is probably palatalized, which would explain the extra consonants, and means you should pronounce it as if your tongue was stuck to the roof of your mouth by peanut butter. I know, sounds crazy, but that's how my russian teacher taught me, and she's (quite literally) one of the best teachers of russian language in the country).
- Ashavan
Sounds like the authoritative answer to me.
The only concern would be if Ashavan is wrong. Can you imagine the embarrassment of trying to explain, 15 years down the road, that you made a pronunciation guide that was wrong based 'cause some guy on the interwebs told you that this was the correct a pronunciation?
Still if your just going to guess anyway then this is the best answer I've read on the thread.
Is Kostchtchie one of the Monchichis?
ThroatWarblerMangrove
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I would go with Co (as in coworker) shay (ends like day) and forget about the nuances of pronouncing the russian sh sound correctly... a simple "sh" is close enough (technically, the "sh" is probably palatalized, which would explain the extra consonants, [...]Sounds like the authoritative answer to me.
Yep, it is. He's absolutely right.
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Kostchtchie is quite obviously a play on the Slavic demon Koschei (Kosciej in Polish, my 1st language), so I would give it a shot:
Kos-cheey-chee
WTB more Slavic tongue-breakers in Pathfinder - yeah, Baba Yaga is old and everybody knows her, and Marzanna was featured in Frostburn, but how about likes of Swiatowid or Dadzbog ? :)
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Well, in your Demonomicon article in Dragon #345, you write it as being pronounced (KOSS-chuh-chee).
This.
Mix-YIZ-puh-tlick.
Kos-Tee-Chee
But then again, I'm lazy.
I've pronounced it kos- chut- chee but probably various groups will pronounce it various ways-for me I always try to go by the spelling as best I can
Russian isn't the only language that occassionally will trip us up. Gaelic, Welsh, Irish and the various Scandinavian tongues (to say nothing of those further afield such as native tongues of Asia, the Americas, Africa or Australia will not always interact as well with English as we'd hope
And actually there is another D & D name that has bugged me for a while: Blibdoolpoolp. Apparently it's supposed to be blib dool poop, but I've always said blib doolp oolp. Stupid silent letters!
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Or there can be multiple right answers... As a Lovecraft fan this is not only acceptable, but the norm within the genre.
Take this from the Wikipedia...
Cthulhu has also been spelled as Tulu, Clulu, Clooloo, Cighulu, Cathulu, Kutulu, Q'thulu, Ktulu, Kthulhut, Kulhu, Thu Thu Hmong,[2] and in many other ways. It is often preceded by the epithet Great, Dead, or Dread.
However, I found an appendix of Grayhawk dieties with him in it, where the pronunciation was given as (KAHST-ch-chee).
Yeah, what he said. I think it's also a elven swear word for eminent doom. Or something.
Kostchtchie.
I know how I say it. But I'm having a hell of a time, for some reason, finding a pronunciation online.
But what about everyone else?
COAST - uh - chee - chee
Kos-He's-Tetchy :)
Sorry couldn't resist!
Is Kostchtchie one of the Monchichis?
I was going to make a Monchichi joke, but apparently I'm four years too late. At least I got to make a WKRP joke, though.
Kostchtchie is quite obviously a play on the Slavic demon Koschei (Kosciej in Polish, my 1st language), so I would give it a shot:
Kos-cheey-chee
I call him "who the hell made lich into demon lord of frost giants?!"
WTB more Slavic tongue-breakers in Pathfinder - yeah, Baba Yaga is old and everybody knows her, and Marzanna was featured in Frostburn, but how about likes of Swiatowid or Dadzbog ? :)
Lelum Polelum. Don't forget we got jadwigas in Irrisen (which by the way should be spelled yadvigas).
I recently re-read the first couple of Gord the Rogue books and I wondered aloud why, next to Zuggtomy and Yeenoghu, Kostchtchee was always singled out as so repulsively ugly.
Thanks to this thread, and wikipedia, I now realize it's because his quasi-namesake was always depicted as so ugly.
Which still doesn't make any sense, imho, because no matter how ugly Kostchee the Deathless may have been, I'm sure he would have been quite handsome compared with Jubilex (or whatever non-copywritten name Gygax was forced to substitute).
Thanks, Paizonians!
EDIT: Hee hee! Even after having just read the wikipedia pages, I spelled both their names wrong! Stupid demon lords.
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I recently re-read the first couple of Gord the Rogue books and I wondered aloud why, next to Zuggtomy and Yeenoghu, Kostchtchee was always singled out as so repulsively ugly.
Thanks to this thread, and wikipedia, I now realize it's because his quasi-namesake was always depicted as so ugly.
Which still doesn't make any sense, imho, because no matter how ugly Kostchee the Deathless may have been, I'm sure he would have been quite handsome compared with Jubilex (or whatever non-copywritten name Gygax was forced to substitute).
Thanks, Paizonians!
EDIT: Hee hee! Even after having just read the wikipedia pages, I spelled both their names wrong! Stupid demon lords.
I once had Jubilex appear in the form of Bill Cosby, since that made sense for the Demon Lord of Puddings.
Anyone out here in Paizoland speak Russian? That might help.
I do, and I feel that it should be pronounced "KOST-shch-tchee".
That "shch" part is a single letter in the Russian language. We were taught to say it by being told to say "fresh cheese" really fast and then leave off "fre" and "eese". No joke.:)
The funny thing is that I look at the name and think "You say it like it's spelled!"
Of course, this is all water under the bridge. <grin>
Just looked it up. It's based on the creature "Koschei" from Russian folklore. Looking at the Russian letters, "Koschei" is pronounced "kosh-chay" (I'm unsure of where to place the stress).
And so, since "Kostchtchie" is a bastardized conversion of the original I guess the proper way to pronounce it is "any dang way you want".
That "shch" part is a single letter in the Russian language. We were taught to say it by being told to say "fresh cheese" really fast and then leave off "fre" and "eese".
Fre'eese?
When I'm trying to tick him off, I address him as "cottage cheese" :p
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Anyone out here in Paizoland speak Russian? That might help.
That was actually exactly what I was thinking...in fact, when i first saw the name my immediate reaction was to double check it to make sure I hadn't seen Kostchei the Deathless. I mean, Golarion already has his archrival Baba Yaga as a canonical character...
In any case, I'd pronounce it very similarly to how you'd pronounce that name is Russian, so KASS-SHEI-CHI...although when you ad the extra syllable i feel like it might mangle the pronunciation of the first, or maybe my accent sucks...*shrugs* either way.
Kostchtchie.
I know how I say it. But I'm having a hell of a time, for some reason, finding a pronunciation online.
But what about everyone else?
i know this thread is ancient, but isn't the answer obvious?
its from koschei, right?
[kostch={koash(koe-stch} <+> tchie={shae{tch-ei]
think cthulhu but backwards
Co-Shay!
it was there in front of you all along.
but you're free to call it what ever you want.
the first truth of art is freedom unbound by structure and conformity.
its not what it looks like its how it feels.
personally i prefer koss-tah-coh-chee.
it sounds cool, creepy, and strangely perverse; like any demon should be.
Well, James, lots of other folks have weighed in, and mine is quite similar to some others, but "Koss-ch'-chee" has been how I've said it since MMII. I have no experience with Russian but lived in Germany for a few years (I know that that doesn't, by any means, make me an expert) and I still think that that is the correct (or at least DARN close) pronunciation.
Hope this helps.
Kost-či
It seems that Kostchtchie retained Bessmertny quality of original Koschei...
I always pronounced Kostchtchie KOST-chuh-chee, but I am now officially adopting the pronunciation presented in Bestiary 4, kosh-TIK-ti-kai. I think it sounds SO much cooler; almost Lovecraftian.
And I know that it's wrong, but I still don't care what the official pronunciation of Drow is supposed to be; my friends and I will always pronounce it the way we always have: to rhyme with Crow, rather than with Cow. I just can't pronounce it the official way without thinking of Drow saying "moo." Then again, I also imagine it'd be a matter of accent in-universe, with some Common speakers saying one and some the other depending on the local dialect.
Cthulhu backwards would be Ool-Oot-K(eh) or "oohl-oohlk." Lovecraft advised a friend in a letter that "Clue-hloo" (with "H" sounds before the "L"s) was a good way to say it, but he pointed out that it was a totally alien name that could never be pronounced correctly by the human vocal apparatus in any case, so the best we could ever do was an approximation. So anything that's roughly something like two "loo" sounds is as close as we can ever really get. "kuh-thoo-loo," "teh-loo-loo," "ku-tu-lu," "de-loo-loo" and just plain "loo-loo" would probably all be equally close (and equally inaccurate) to the correct inhuman pronunciation. I personally say (short)keh- thoo- loo."
Heck, even Justice League Unlimited's "Ickthooltoo" would be as close to correct as any other sound our mouths can make.
I do speak a little russian, and its best to just pronounce kosh-chee mainly because getting perfect accented russian from an american is hopeless :)
Coast EE Chee
All together now my fellow Pertwee fans...
"You put a Wor after W,
and a Wor after O,
a Wor after R,
and it's away we go.
You put a Wor after Z,
a Wor after E,
a Wor after L,
A zel after Wor,
and you're left.....With me!"
So in Worzel language...
Kostchtchie. (I used to pronounce this Kost-Kot-Chee)
becomes
Koworstchtchiewor pronounced...
Ko-worst-chit-chee-wor ;)
Kost-ch-tchih. Not correct, but it works for me.
Best part is... without a cyryllic version of the name, the question is truly unanswerable. Transcription is never an exact science, and what this thread tries is transcribe a faux-russian word from roman letters to cyryllic, so pronunciation can be deduced. =)
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Actually, the question is quite simple to answer - as it's how I say Kostchtchie, not how it ought to be pronounced. While you could, theoretically, invent a Cyrillic spelling for that name, it's not one that would naturally occur in Russian, even with their love affair with consonant clusters, unless they were being onomatopoetic for some really weird reason.
But to answer the question, I say it "Coast-chut-chee." If I want to give it a more Slavic flavor, I'd pronounce both vowels at the end, so "Coast-chut-chee-yeh," but that makes his name sound like he's the demon lord of Chia Pets, so I'll avoid that for now.
