Sorry Tolkien, your fake languages have evolved with fans when it comes to pronunciation of certain vowels And who's to say that characters in the books from different regions didn't pronounce the name differently due to their own language influences? I mean, in the films, Legolas pronounces Aragorn as 'Ah-ra-gorn' while Gimli pronounces it as 'Air-a-gorn'. I also know (from friends) that Mandarin can vary so much in pronuncation from region to region that one of my friends from southern China cannot understand another friend from northern China when they do speak Chinese. For instance, English has so many different ways of pronouncing words depending on the region, and none of them are necessarily more right or more wrong over the other. if some of Tolkien's names/words in his made up languages will end up going through real-world changes in pronunciation that, despite what the book says, what happens in the real world basically becomes canon. It was pronounced correctly in the films.
It's similar to the pronunciation of Sauron. "It struck me last night that you might write a fearfully good romantic drama, with as much of the 'supernatural' as you cared to introduce. "I desired dragons with a profound desire" What should be of considerable interest, is the similarity between "Smaug" and "Smeagol", since the two names appear to derive from the same source. So, before Smaug becomes a "thing of the past", should we actually use the present tense and call him "Smug"? ".The dragon bears as name - a pseudonym - the past tense of the primitive Germanic verb Smugan, to squeeze through a hole: a low philological jest." However, consider the quote I provided from Letter #24, (This post was edited by Growlithe the Grey on Dec 29 2009, 11:32am) I do believe the "correct" pronunciation is #3), however, as in smOWg like in mOUse or hOUse. I always pronounced it using #2), that is, rhyming with the general American pronunciation frOg, AUgust, AUtumn, pAW, strAW. So we've got Sm(ahh)g, Sm(aww)g, or Sm(ow)g. Definitely not poking fun at New Englanders there, but you guys have definite dialact/accent all your own over there :D The "ahhh" sound would however be used in words like yard (yahd) Mark (mahk) or Harvard (hahvahd). I believe many of you pronounce the words I've listed in #1 fairly similar to those in #2. "ow, that really hurt")įor New Englanders: seeing as some Americans pronounce the words in #1) with an "aww" sound instead of an "ahhhh," the parenthesized parts are what I'm going by. "open your mouth and say ahhhh")Ģ) as rhymes with dog/dawg, log, frog, and as in paw, law, raw (American a"awww, isn't she cute")ģ) as in couch, pouch, bout, rout, lout, mouse (American ow. With the way we tend to say the words here in upstate NY, USA:ġ) as rhymes with smog, fog, bog, and as in top, rock, box (American ahhh. I'd say the concensus would agree that there are three "possible" pronunciations. The sigh and murmur of the Sea upon the shores of Middle-earth.įrom the unpublished Epilogue to the Lord of the Rings
Thanks!Īfter squire and sador referred to the similarity you mention (Smaug/smog) in American pronunciation, I tried to provide a British perspective.īut even as he did so, he heard suddenly, Would you be so good as to tell me where the pronunciation is described in the Sil? I am not doubting you at all, just curious to read it. (This post was edited by duats on Dec 29 2009, 4:27am) I wonder if GDT will go with this latter pronunciation, as it was what Tolkien originally intended. Now, being a somewhat ignorant American, I have always pronounced Smaug as "smog." According to The Silmarillion, however, "au" is pronounced like the "ou" in "shout" or the "ow" in "now." So it would appear that Smaug would sound like "Smowg." I don't know if this was discussed before, so I apologize if it has already been exhausted. Tolkien Topics: Movie Discussion: The Hobbit: The One Ring Forums: Tolkien Topics: Movie Discussion: The Hobbit: The Pronunciation of "Smaug"