Pronouncing Delfador

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galicae
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Pronouncing Delfador

Post by galicae »

Hello everybody! I've enjoyed Wesnoth for a long time, and am now contributing to the greek translation. I have been wondering for a long time: how is one supposed to pronounce Delfador? More importantly, where do I intonate? Is it Dél-fa-dor (as I would pronounce it) or maybe Del-fád-dor, in a more Tolkien-esque way? Oh sages and wise men of lore, please answer my question!

I hope this wasn't asked before, a quick forum search didn't provide any answers. Thanks in advance!
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Flameslash
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Re: Pronouncing Delfador

Post by Flameslash »

I always pronounce it Del-Fad-Or.
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nuorc
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Re: Pronouncing Delfador

Post by nuorc »

Flameslash wrote:I always pronounce it Del-Fad-Or.
You didn't cover intonation.

I never said it before (and don't know how this would play a role translating), but I'd go for Dél-Fa-dòr.
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tuggyne
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Re: Pronouncing Delfador

Post by tuggyne »

IIRC, he was given his name in three parts: Del, Fa, Dor*. So something like nuorc's pronunciation is probably correct.


*Prelude scenario in Delfador's Memoirs.
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Re: Pronouncing Delfador

Post by Dugi »

I pronounce it 'Del-Fádor'. I would say that its pronunciation strongly depends on the nationality of the person who pronounces it, heh.
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nuorc
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Re: Pronouncing Delfador

Post by nuorc »

tuggyne wrote:IIRC, he was given his name in three parts: Del, Fa, Dor*.
Totally forgot about that; probably should go back there some time...
dugi wrote:I pronounce it 'Del-Fádor'. I would say that its pronunciation strongly depends on the nationality of the person who pronounces it, heh.
Probably so, but it should depend on the, uh, Wesnothian (?) language, plus what tuggyne said.
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ancestral
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Re: Pronouncing Delfador

Post by ancestral »

As old as certain languages are, there are always older languages that go back even further, and this could be one example.

One or more proto languages would certainly predate Wesnoth’s common human language. It’s been suggested that Dwarves are heavily influenced by Runic languages, and the writing style of humans by scriptwriting from that of ancient mages. However, it’s quite likely there would be spoken languages predating written ones. There could still be cultural and religious origins for names (a real world example might be the prevalence of Hebrew names used by Western cultures who don’t speak Hebrew).

Which leads us to Delfador’s name. It’s entirely seemly that his name could be divvied into three different phonemes (Del Fa Dor), which sounds very Runic, and that could make sense.

See also: http://r.wesnoth.org/t26295
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galicae
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Re: Pronouncing Delfador

Post by galicae »

so, if there's no real consensus, it's just important that the intonation stays constant within a translation?
It’s entirely seemly that his name could be divvied into three different phonemes (Del Fa Dor)
Yes, but everyone keeps calling him Delfador, and that doesn't help at all. It does sound more majestic that way though.
I'd go for Dél-Fa-dòr
It's hard intoning twice in a three-syllable word. Unless you're chinese. Or you're actually singing the word. Both of which, I may add, are physically impossible to me :D
Still, interesting points all around. Thanks a lot guys.

PS: Sorry it took so long, I had internet and health problems.
Last edited by galicae on September 23rd, 2012, 8:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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nuorc
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Re: Pronouncing Delfador

Post by nuorc »

galicea: hope you're fine now.

Was your question just out of interest or do you actually need pronunciation/intonation for translation?
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galicae
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Re: Pronouncing Delfador

Post by galicae »

@nuorc: thanks, I'm fine now :D

Actually a bit of both :P It just dawned on me while I was revising a bad translation of the tutorial (where Delfador was Defáldor) that there was actually no universally-agreed-on way of pronouncing it. Delfador appears (or is mentioned) in many mainline campaigns, including, most prominently, HttT and DM, and any translation that fails to intone his name the same way everywhere is unpolished, if not incompetent.
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Re: Pronouncing Delfador

Post by nuorc »

If the pronunciation doesn't lead to a differing greek spelling I still don't get it. :)
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ancestral
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Re: Pronouncing Delfador

Post by ancestral »

galicae wrote:so, if there's no real consensus, it's just important that the intonation stays constant within a translation?
It’s entirely seemly that his name could be divvied into three different phonemes (Del Fa Dor)
Yes, but everyone keeps calling him Delfador, and that doesn't help at all. It does sound more majestic that way though.
That’s fine. There’s nothing saying it needs to be pronounced in a certain way. I was referring more of the writing of his name, with the letters themselves. Just like in real life, pronunciation can change over time for certain words.
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galicae
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Re: Pronouncing Delfador

Post by galicae »

@nuorc: the intonation of words in greek is especially noted with a "´" on the vowel that's being intoned. So in the translation I have to place an intonation mark somewhere in Delfador's name. The essence of my question was, where do I put the intonation mark? On the "Del", the "Fa" or the "Dor"?

hope that's clear now :)
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ancestral
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Re: Pronouncing Delfador

Post by ancestral »

How do Runic languages do it? Am I right no syllable is stressed?

In which case, I would think the first syllable is used by default (Del).
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galicae
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Re: Pronouncing Delfador

Post by galicae »

That's how I was inclined to intone it either way, so I guess I'm happy with that. I'm gonna update the greek translation wiki page and let everyone know. Thanks a lot!
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