How do you pronounce Erinyes?

[The Painted Oryx]

For some reason I've been pronouncing it ee-rin-eez. Is that correct? Or is it simply Air-in-yes?

Cheers!

[Porphyrogenitus]

Verified here it's pronounced ih-rin-is

[Trinite]

I pronounce it "AIR-in-yees", or sometimes "air-IN-yeez". It's a real ancient Greek word (though the real word "Erinyes" is plural, and the singular is "Erinys"). The online dictionaries recommend the pronunciation "air-IN-ee-eez," with four syllables.

[RJGrady]

Generally, ehr-INN-eez. I think classically it should be er-EEN-yehz.

[Ravingdork]

I've always pronounced is as ERIN (as in the name) and YES. ERIN-YES.

[Drachasor]

Though, regarding the historic pronunciation, we don't really know how it was pronounced.

I blame Aristotle. Maybe he'd have invented a gramophone if he had believed in getting his hands dirty. Lazy bastard.

[Are]

RJGrady wrote:

I think classically it should be er-EEN-yehz.

This is the way I normally pronounce it. I'm far from a linguist though ;)

[littlehewy]

Trinite wrote:

The online dictionaries recommend the pronunciation "air-IN-ee-eez," with four syllables.

Yep, that's the one. It is a bit weird that they use a plural word as a singular in the game. Probably an old typo or error that never got checked.

[Heymitch]

It's pronounced My-Ex.

[cnetarian]

Heh, I pronounce it ear-IN-knees, but it should be pronounced either ee-RIN-eez (modern English) or AIR-in-yeez (modern Greek). Take yer pick, the word is an actual English word these days, of Greek origin but from ancient Greek not modern Greek- the modern English pronunciation may be closer to the ancient Greek pronunciation than the modern Greek one (or not).

[Arguecat]

It's pronounced "Fury"

(Not "Furries," that's something else, sicko).

[Cao Phen]

Ernie.

Bert is in the tub talking to his rubber duckie.

[hogarth]

I always pronounced it AIR-in-YEZ.

littlehewy wrote:

Trinite wrote:

The online dictionaries recommend the pronunciation "air-IN-ee-eez," with four syllables.

Yep, that's the one. It is a bit weird that they use a plural word as a singular in the game. Probably an old typo or error that never got checked.

Similarly, the manes demon got made into the singular "mane", even though the Latin doesn't really have a singular.

[Detect Magic]

Ear-in-eez.

[Jeven]

Detect Magic wrote:

Ear-in-eez.

That's the correct one.

Its an English word and you can also listen to the sound file on a dictionary website--
http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/erinyes

[RJGrady]

As the letter Y is an upsilon in the original, in classic Greek, er-INN-ee-ees or er-INN-u-ees seems likely.

[littlehewy]

Jeven wrote:

Detect Magic wrote:

Ear-in-eez.

That's the correct one.

Its an English word and you can also listen to the sound file on a dictionary website--
http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/erinyes

Lol that's like saying "hamburger" is a French word, and it's pronounced AHM-boor-GAIR :-)

Trinite and RJGrady have the right of it.

[Drachasor]

littlehewy wrote:

Jeven wrote:

Detect Magic wrote:

Ear-in-eez.

That's the correct one.

Its an English word and you can also listen to the sound file on a dictionary website--
http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/erinyes

Lol that's like saying "hamburger" is a French word, and it's pronounced AHM-boor-GAIR :-)

Trinite and RJGrady have the right of it.

Technically, it IS an english word. Just because it also exists in other languages in an altered form doesn't change that. English takes their words and twists them to its liking. It's been doing that for over 1000 years. Get used to it.

[littlehewy]

Drachasor wrote:

littlehewy wrote:

Jeven wrote:

Detect Magic wrote:

Ear-in-eez.

That's the correct one.

Its an English word and you can also listen to the sound file on a dictionary website--
http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/erinyes

Lol that's like saying "hamburger" is a French word, and it's pronounced AHM-boor-GAIR :-)

Trinite and RJGrady have the right of it.

Technically, it IS an english word. Just because it also exists in other languages in an altered form doesn't change that. English takes their words and twists them to its liking. It's been doing that for over 1000 years. Get used to it.

Don't worry, I'm used to it. And "hamburger" is a French word :)

But relax. I was making a little joke. But as an English word, in an English dictionary, it is still a four syllable word - see here. Or here.

Now excuse me, I'm off to eat my ahmboorgair :P

[strayshift]

My classics teacher pronounced it: Er-in-ee-yz.

[Thanael]

Mmhh. Humm-boor-gare. It's actually german.

Also: Throatwobbler Mangrove!

[BB36]

Honestly, like "witches" only with a "bu" sound instead of a "wa" sound at the beginning, if properly played

[Spook205]

I can't find the link, but it was in the old Planescape pronounciation guide that TSR put out (which solved the Carceri argument for me and my players back in the day).

I think their official pronounciation was the Ehr-in-Yayz, one.

The names of the furies still come up frequently though in discussions.

Alecto, Tisiphone and Megaera.

We can pretty much agree on Meg's name, but Alecto either ends up 'ALEC-to' or 'Electo.' And Tisiphone either ends up as 'Tis-Ih-Fo-Ne' or 'Tizzy-Phone,' as in 'ring ring ring, TIZZY-phone!'

[Ninjaxenomorph]

I always pronounced it ehr-REEN-yez. At least were all pretty close, and its just a mythological creature.

[Ansel Krulwich]

I love this site too much to not mention it: howjsay.com - erinyes

They even have iPhone and Android apps. Great for when everyone around the table is wondering how to pronounce "cuirass".

[Thornborn]

I've an old salt who tells of running afoul of the Sisterhood of the Golden Erinyes, he pronounces it 'your-eye(nz)'.

[Lincoln Hills]

The good news is that the ancient Greeks aren't around to behead us for abusing their language. I was surprised to learn that Anglicization altered the pronunciation of centaur and Cerberus so much; and then there's the difference between the American and British pronunciations of 'minotaur'...

[Ashiel]

RJGrady wrote:

Generally, ehr-INN-eez. I think classically it should be er-EEN-yehz.

The latter is how I pronounce it. EarEENyehz.

[Vincent Takeda]

Airy-Knees

[wolfman1911]

Ansel Krulwich wrote:

Great for when everyone around the table is wondering how to pronounce "cuirass".

Wow, there were a couple of ways I thought that word would be pronounced, and that wasn't any of them.

When I saw this thread I was going to offer my opinion on how the word in question was pronounced, but Raving Dork beat me to it, right down to the phonetic reference.

[Calybos1]

Our GM always pronounces it like "errands" without the D.

[Qunnessaa]

Porphyrogenitus wrote:

Verified here it's pronounced ih-rin-is

RJGrady wrote:

As the letter Y is an upsilon in the original, in classic Greek, er-INN-ee-ees or er-INN-u-ees seems likely.

I think it depends on how fussy you want to be. In my home group we sometimes play the game for laughs, so we might make it err-in-yez.

(With "yez" like a gangstery, "Alright, yez, don't even twitch!" but with a slightly longer "e.")

Poryphyrogenitus has the right of it for the singular, and the link does give the plural to go with RJGrady's clarification. I should really learn IPA, because I'm rubbish at phonetics... But yes, as I was taught reconstructed pronunciation, it should be something like err-in-u-es, with a rather Frenchish "u" and a short "e."

I know I'm catching this thread late, but I like words!