# Pronunciations.



## mcmuffin (Mar 1, 2009)

I think that there is a lot of confusion with regards to pronunciation of things in the 40k universe, so i think a pronunciation thread would be quite useful. i'll start with some basics.
Tyranids: pronounced tirra-nids
Leman Russ: Leeman Russ
Jagathai Khan: Jaggat-eye Khan
Konrad Curze: Konrad Curr-zay
Tzeentch: zeentch


those are just 4 ones that a lot of people find difficult to pronounce ( or at least everyone i talk to) to start off with, if anyone has questions regarding pronunciation, post them here and i am sure you will get a nice quick answer


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## Quozzo (Oct 2, 2010)

layz rifle? or laz rifle?


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## Words_of_Truth (Sep 20, 2007)

I pronounce Konrad Curze as Konrad K-urz


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

I pronounce Kurze as that aswell, Kur-zay just doesnt seem right at all considering how its spelt

I still pronounce Tzeentch as T-Zeentch despite what people say. Zeentch just sounds retarted somehow, dont know why


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

San-guin(as in penguin)-ius. Seems to be another one i hear people have confusion about.

Does anyone else sometimes read something off hand, then realise sometimes ages and ages later that they completely misread it and have been pronouncing it wrong for ages and then it sounds wierd as hell when you start saying it normally? For instance, when i first read Istvaan i somehow in my head pronounced it Istavan, and did so for maybe even a year afterwards, before one day i suddenly realised my mistake somehow. Now pronounce it Istvaan without thinking about it, but it took some time getting used to. Mong moments we can call them


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## Baron Spikey (Mar 26, 2008)

I actually pronounce Tyranids as Tie-ranids, as in Tyrant.

My pronnunciation of Tau changes depending on who I'm speaking to, sometimes I pronounce it Tow- like Cow but with a T- or Tor.


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## hocky (Jan 31, 2009)

Ogryns are 'o' grins not og - rins
Chimera is c-eye-mare-a not chim(p)-air-a
By the way las not lays


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## Words_of_Truth (Sep 20, 2007)

I used to pronounce Pious the same as Pierce lol.


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## Words_of_Truth (Sep 20, 2007)

hocky said:


> Ogryns are 'o' grins not og - rins
> Chimera is c-eye-mare-a not chim(p)-air-a
> By the way las not lays


I disagree, Ogryns is pronounced Og-rins and Chimera is pronounce Ki-meer-ra. At least to me they are.


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

Agreed on Chimera, i pronounce it like the mythical beast. Kai-meer-ah

Tau like cow. Tyranids varies between Tie-ranids like baron said or Ti-ranids like the Ti in 'Tiff'


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## increaso (Jun 5, 2010)

mcmuffin said:


> Tyranids: pronounced tirra-nids
> Leman Russ: Leeman Russ
> Jagathai Khan: Jaggat-eye Khan
> Konrad Curze: Konrad Curr-zay
> Tzeentch: zeentch


I only generally read the novels now so don't usually get into these discussions, but unless the pronunciation is crazy-wrong I won't pick someone up on it. Only really bothers me when it is an existing word that someone gives a random new pronunciation to.

Lee-man or Lemon doesn't bother me

I've always pronounced Kurze, Kerz (or thereabouts) - I recall it is pronounced this way in the audiobook

Tau as cow, but following other words I guess it should be Torr or Tuh

I'm too embarrassed to say how I pronounce Reboute Guilliman, but the way it is pronounced on the audiobook (Row-boot-ay Gwil-ee-man) makes me cringe.

I always pronounce with hard consonents and short vowels when in doubt (and usual naming convention doesn;t work) otherwise it sounds lame. So laz-gun.


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## Azezel (May 23, 2010)

From a conversation I had recently it's become clear that this needs stating: 'Iacton' (as in Qruze) is pronounced JAK-ton not EYE-ak-ton.

And whilst we're on the subject of latin pronunciation, 'Vox' is pronounced 'WOX' and 'Arbites' is pronounced ARR-bit-eez, not ARR-bites. Far too many people seem to get those wrong.


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## Wusword77 (Aug 11, 2008)

I like to say things like I'm a pirate, so I add YARR to everything.


The EmperYARR?

Lemon YARRuss

TYARRnids.

Am I doing it right? :laugh:


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## Smokes (Nov 27, 2009)

Calixis - Cuh-licks-is

Scintilla - Sin-tilla

Ghargatuloth - Garga-Too-Loth

Astartes - Spez Muh-Reenz (In a slow, special kind of way)

Reboute Guilliman - Robot Ghoul-Imahn

I know I pronounced Papa Smurf's name completely wrong but it's 40k. I just speak some obscure kind of Gothic. Also I've always thought Vox was pronounced like "Vaux"


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

Azezel said:


> From a conversation I had recently it's become clear that this needs stating: 'Iacton' (as in Qruze) is pronounced JAK-ton not EYE-ak-ton.
> 
> And whilst we're on the subject of latin pronunciation, 'Vox' is pronounced 'WOX' and 'Arbites' is pronounced ARR-bit-eez, not ARR-bites. Far too many people seem to get those wrong.


 
Really? I'm fairly certain that vox is indeed pronounced exactly how it looks with a v not a w, i'm sure ive heard it like that in different audibooks. Same with Arbites - Are-bites. How does Iac become Jak?


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## mcmuffin (Mar 1, 2009)

when i was talking to one of the GW developers, i asked about Curze, and he pronounces it Kur-zay, so i thought it was Cur-zay, but i guess the audio books isprobably correct, but i think Konrad Curz-ay sounds more fluid then Konrad Curz.

@ Baron: i also pronounce it Tie Ranids, but the general consensus seems to by tyrra-nids. but its my 40k  

this thread is working well, i could never distinguish whether it was Og-ryn or Oh-gryn

@ Angel of Blood: i actually think it is Yakton, kind of like in Latin Jesus was pronounced yay-zeus, spelled Iesus .


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## Words_of_Truth (Sep 20, 2007)

Yeah a lot of them sound as they are spelt. 

Arbites : R-Bites 
Astartes : A-Start-ees
Vox : Vox
Iacton : I-ak-ton


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## SnoopyChicken (Sep 23, 2010)

Angel of Blood said:


> For instance, when i first read Istvaan i somehow in my head pronounced it Istavan, and did so for maybe even a year afterwards, before one day i suddenly realised my mistake somehow.


FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

Is Istavan a name in some other sci fi or something? Because Ive been thinking it was Istavan too :crazy:


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## Child-of-the-Emperor (Feb 22, 2009)

mcmuffin said:


> Konrad Curze: Konrad Curr-zay


I'm fairly sure its simply pronounced 'Curze'. That's how it was in _Throne of Lies_ if I remember correctly. Can't see why it would be 'Curr-zay'?

EDIT: just read your reply above. 



mcmuffin said:


> Tzeentch: zeentch


Pretty sure that's 'Zen - tch' rather than 'Zeen - tch'.


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## Azezel (May 23, 2010)

Angel of Blood said:


> Really? I'm fairly certain that vox is indeed pronounced exactly how it looks with a v not a w, i'm sure ive heard it like that in different audibooks. Same with Arbites - Are-bites. How does Iac become Jak?


In Latin , 'v' is pronounced the same way 'w' is pronounced in English (actually it's more complicated than that, but 'vox' is certainly pronounced 'wox'.

'Vox' is a Latin word. Arbites is a Latin word - it's pronounced ARR-bit-eez. Same with Iacton - clearly derived from the Latin 'iacto' meaning to throw - pronounced JAK-toh.



mcmuffin said:


> @ Angel of Blood: i actually think it is Yakton, kind of like in Latin Jesus was pronounced yay-zeus, spelled Iesus .


Actually, the Latin Jesus was pronounced exactly the way we do - they just spelt it 'Iesus' - which is the Latin translation of Joshua, which is what the hebrews called him.

Much like English makes the letter 'y' pull double duty as a vowel and consonant, Latin makes 'I' do both jobs, and as a consonant, it is pronounced as English pronounces 'J'.

So long as 40k continues to plunder the Latin tongue for vocabulary (which I fully support), we can at least make the effort to get the pronunciation right.


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

They may use alot of latin terms and words but Vox is definetly pronounced as it looks with a 'v' im certain


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## SnoopyChicken (Sep 23, 2010)

Child-of-the-Emperor said:


> Pretty sure that's 'Zen - tch' rather than 'Zeen - tch'.


Ive always thought the name of the changer is _purposely_ left ambiguous and able to be pronounced in different ways.
I love hearing different pronunciations IRL and imagine different cults pronouncing it different ways in the fluff

For the record I pronounce it t-zeen-tch trying to make the first t as short as possible 



Angel of Blood said:


> They may use alot of latin terms and words but Vox is definetly pronounced as it looks with a 'v' im certain


Im inclined to agree. Thats how we pronounce vox populi

http://wordsmith.org/words/vox_populi.html


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## Azezel (May 23, 2010)

Angel of Blood said:


> They may use alot of latin terms and words but Vox is definetly pronounced as it looks with a 'v' im certain





SnoopyChicken said:


> Im inclined to agree. Thats how we pronounce vox populi
> 
> http://wordsmith.org/words/vox_populi.html


But that's not how the Romans pronounced it - and we do know a surprising amount about how they spoke...

Language teaching was a big industry back in the day and Roman (and other Latin speaking) teachers and grammarians wrote reams and reams of instructional texts. We also have large volumes of less scholarly work which is interesting because of the spelling errors the common people made. Especially important considering that unlike ours, the Latin alphabet was entirely phonetic.

Audiobooks are hardly definitive pronunciation guides. Tolkien wrote rather acidly about one audio version of the Lord of the Rings - pointing out how many mistakes they'd managed despite having a pronunciation guide right there in the appendices.

I mean - I can hardly stop you from pronouncing it as you wish, and the correct pronunciation certainly does sound strange the strange anglophone ear - but 'vox' is not a made-up word or a simple derivation, it's an actual, real Latin word meaning 'Voice' (and other things).

The letters J, U & W did not exist in Latin, I was used for our J sound, V was used for our U and W sound, our V sound did not exist in the Language.

I can certainly understand pronouncing 'vox' phonetically - but this thread is asking for pedantry.

'Tzeentch' or 'Tyranid', might have more than one legit pronunciation, and the only ones who can say are GW, but some words do have definate pronunciations.

Damn - this is far to confrontational - not my intention. You pronounce things as sounds best to you.


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## SnoopyChicken (Sep 23, 2010)

Also I think Iacton is pronounced i-AK-ton, their certainly isnt any reason to believe it would use the latin method of pronunciation, their are thousands of cultures in 40k


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## Baron Spikey (Mar 26, 2008)

Azezel said:


> But that's not how the Romans pronounced it - and we do know a surprising amount about how they spoke...
> 
> Language teaching was a big industry back in the day and Roman (and other Latin speaking) teachers and grammarians wrote reams and reams of instructional texts. We also have large volumes of less scholarly work which is interesting because of the spelling errors the common people made. Especially important considering that unlike ours, the Latin alphabet was entirely phonetic.
> 
> ...


Confront all you wish man! You believe passionately in this and I for one am completely swayed by your argument, your reasoning is unassailable (plus I'm a Tolkien fan boy so using him to bolster your argument was a big positive :grin.

If it was possible to give you rep I would...

Anyway people seem to like taking certain parts from latin when they describe the Imperium's language yet don't acknowledge that pronunciation of said stolen words is also going to be latinesque.
No one has presented a coherent argument as to why Azezel's statements are incorrect, you've all come up with variations of 'cause it is'- that people is a load of old bollocks, be ashamed at yourselves for your piss poor arguing skills.

Was that confrontational enough?


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## Azezel (May 23, 2010)

Comforting to know you've got my back, Baron - but I truely don't intend to be so confrontational as I might appear. Fact of the matter is I just love a debate - but this being a forum, no-one can tell that I'm grinning and having the time of my life...

Oh, and it's always a pleasure to encounter another of the Tolkienista.


Anyway - let's move it away from Latin...

'Exarch' (those Eldar lost on a path) is pronounced ex-ark, terminating with a hard 'k', but from time to time you'll hear it bronounced with a soft 'ch' like 'archway'.


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## gen.ahab (Dec 22, 2009)

Baron Spikey said:


> Was that confrontational enough?


Exceptionally. Hell, I can smell the unnecessary rage from here. :laugh:

And, personally, I pronounce it vox. Wox simply sounds wonky. There is no room for argument, it is wox, but I don't like it so I simply substitute that reality with my own.


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## SnoopyChicken (Sep 23, 2010)

Azezel said:


> 'Exarch' (those Eldar lost on a path) is pronounced ex-ark, terminating with a hard 'k', but from time to time you'll hear it bronounced with a soft 'ch' like 'archway'.


And for Dark Eldar?
Archon: Ark-on or arch-on?


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## Azezel (May 23, 2010)

Ark-on.

It has exactly the same Ancient Greek origin as Exarch.

Such is the natuure of the English language. We acrue words so often and from such a broad field that we constantly find we have two (or more) which started in the same place and reached us by vastly different routes - often they can mean very different things, and sometimes, almost the same.




gen.ahab said:


> And, personally, I pronounce it vox. Wox simply sounds wonky. There is no room for argument, it is wox, but I don't like it so I simply substitute that reality with my own.


It _does_ sound wonky. That I'd never deny.


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## Anfo (Jul 17, 2009)

I've always said Tzeentch as: Tes-nee


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## gen.ahab (Dec 22, 2009)

Anfo said:


> I've always said Tzeentch as: Tes-nee


Are you being facetious?


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## chromedog (Oct 31, 2007)

Konrad Curze as Konrad Kurtz. The writer of "heart of darkness" (which the movie apocalypse now was based on) - Joseph Conrad and Col. Kurtz from that same movie. As I believe the rather thinly veiled intent should have it.

Tzeentch is "Ts" like a German 'Z', "ee" as in "free" and ntch as in Winch without the wi.

Roboute Guilliman - Bob the girlyman. Just because.

Archon and Exarch with the "ch" as a hard, almost k sound (like a German 'hard' CH or Dutch 'k').

Tau as in "Cow", identical to the way the physics usage has it. 

Gauss as in "G-ow-ss" (sounds like cows, with a 'g'). Magnetic flux density unit. Like I learned it in physics. Not "Gorse". Gorse is a thicket of brambles.


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## Serpion5 (Mar 19, 2010)

Tau - T-ow (sounds like cow)

Tyranid - TI-ra-NID 

Gauss - g-OW-ss (as above)

Kurze - K-er-z 

Guilleman - gill-eh-man

Tzeentch - ZEN-tch

Slaanesh - SLAHN-esh

Nurgle - NER-gul

Khorne - k-OR-n

C`tan - K-tahn (NOT with the S sound!)

Mephet`Ran - mef-et-RAHN

Exarch - ex-ARK

Autarch - ow-TARK



Any more? Let me know.


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

The arguement for wox is sound enough, but for the sake of debate, it just sounds retarded, true its by no means a solid arguement, but just imagine an astartes or grizzled imperial guardsman saying "get me the wox now!" it just sounds like they're taking the piss lol. Plus my other reasoning is just that i have never heard anyone use wox, BL audiobooks, BL writers, GW staff. It may very weel be vox, but i think GW just didn't really think about the pronounciation when they first coined the word.


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## Daddysen (May 31, 2010)

so far i am cool with everyones argument as long as no one pronounces the "T" in tzeentch, as in tuh-zeen-tch. that always drives me crazy.


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## Words_of_Truth (Sep 20, 2007)

I pronounce Tzeentch like Finch, so Zinch.


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

Sorry to drive you crazy lol but its always gonna be tuh-zeentch for me. I just hate 'zeentch' i really do. Plus it was a looooong time before i heard anyone pronounce it zeentch, at games workshops, gamesday and other places i have always heard tuh-zeentch. It just sounds right


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## Serpion5 (Mar 19, 2010)

I`ve always thought of the T in Tzeentch much like the G in Gnome.

Sure it`s nice, but it doesn`t do much.


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## Grins1878 (May 10, 2010)

Anfo said:


> I've always said Tzeentch as: Tes-nee


Didn't he sing the one and only song?

:wink:

Edit: Best put something topic related in...

To rob from Serpion5 (cheers pal!)

Tau - T-ow (sounds like cow)

Tyranid - Tih-ra-NID 

Gauss - gorse - my necrons fire brambles and shit plants.

Kurze - K-er-z 

Guilleman - gill-ee-man

Tzeentch - t-zeen-ch

Slaanesh - SLAN-esh

Nurgle - NER-gul

Khorne - k-OR-n

C`tan - Heh, now this one I pronounce See-tan, no idea why, if in doubt, say it how you see it (yep, languages aren't a stong point with me... possibly not even English...)

Mephet`Ran - mef-et-RAHN

Exarch - ex-ARK

Autarch - Ort-ark

I would go with Vox too, simply on the Jonathan Woss aspect of calling it a Wox. Vox may be wrong... but Wox... haha!


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## Azezel (May 23, 2010)

Gauss rhymes with house. I admit, it doesn't sound right, but there you go. It's German surname and has an accepted pronunciation.


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## mcmuffin (Mar 1, 2009)

well, i pronounce it gawss, with an aaaww sound. as far as i am aware, necrons aren't German. you dont here guardsmen shouting " ze Necrons are coming"


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## Words_of_Truth (Sep 20, 2007)

I pronounce C'tan as K'tan


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## GrimzagGorwazza (Aug 5, 2010)

Serpion5 said:


> I`ve always thought of the T in Tzeentch much like the G in Gnome.



gnome = guh-nom-ee

gause = Sorry folks but i have and always will pronounce it g-orz, i always assumed it was more closely linked to the word gauze as in medical gauze.

tanith = tah-nith ...if i hear anyone else start pronouncing it tay-nith, tah-nyth or tanf i'm probabley going to go on a homisidal gaming spree.


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## chromedog (Oct 31, 2007)

Gauss and Gauze are words with two entirely different etymologies. They are not in any way related.

One is Germanic, comes from a surname, and is used in physics. G- ow as in cow - ss.
Ask your physics teacher.
The other is bastardised provincial Latin (French) from Arabic.
From a word for 'silk'.


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## GrimzagGorwazza (Aug 5, 2010)

chromedog said:


> Gauss and Gauze are words with two entirely different etymologies. They are not in any way related.
> 
> One is Germanic, comes from a surname, and is used in physics. G- ow as in cow - ss.
> Ask your physics teacher.
> ...



good to know...i'm still gonna pronounce it gauze though.

ps: physics teacher? I'm pretty sure they won't let me back in the school any more...or at least they'll call the fuzz if i try


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## OIIIIIIO (Dec 16, 2009)

Roboute Guilliman : Rob out Gee a man ... like he was French or some shit. Thats how I say it anyways as it looks very close to guillotine to me.


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

Aye im another Gaaws (rhymes with horse) person. 

Guillimans a wierd one really. I go with Roo(like rupert)-boot Goo-ill-iman


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## Serpion5 (Mar 19, 2010)

@Grins: Several sources have C`tan as pronounced with a K sound, the DoW games, one of the Cain novels, as well as every other person I`ve ever discussed it with, so


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## SnoopyChicken (Sep 23, 2010)

Roboute Guilliman 
Ive been sayin Row-boot Gwee-li-man
Althouh thats a complete guess


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## Grins1878 (May 10, 2010)

Serpion5 said:


> @Grins: Several sources have C`tan as pronounced with a K sound, the DoW games, one of the Cain novels, as well as every other person I`ve ever discussed it with, so


Lol, I have no doubt my pronunciation of it is wrong, to be honest, I'd never even heard of it until I started reading the HH books. :biggrin:


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## Cambrius (Nov 4, 2010)

I'm not sure that adherence to proper Latin is necessary for a couple of reasons. First, Gothic is fictional and only loosely based on/in Latin to begin with. And second, because there's no solid adherence to proper conjugation. Otherwise we would have stuff like Adepti Astartes, and Adeptae Sororitae. Just my two bits.

Anyay, here is how I and my circle of nerds pronounce these:

Tau - TOW (like cow)

Tyranid - TEER-a-nid 

Gauss - gawss

Kurze - Kurz 

Roboute Guilliman - ROH-but GILL-uh-min

Tzeentch - zeench

Slaanesh - SLAH-nesh

Nurgle - NER-gul

Khorne - korn

C'tan - K-tahn

Mephet`Ran - MEF-et RAHN

Exarch - EX-ark

Autarch - AH-tark


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## Azezel (May 23, 2010)

Dog-Latin notwithstanding (and _I'm_ not the one with a superfluous Latin quote in my .sig), at least I have a reason for my pronunciations rather than 'because I say so'.

Anyway - even if you misspronounce the Latin/High Gothic 'Gauss' is _somebody's name_ - a great man who deserves a little respect.


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

You do, but im still sure GW didn't really think about the pronounciation when they made it, as i've never heard a single GW game, audiobook, staff, writer, BL author or anything ever pronounce it Wox. Again your right with the actual pronounciation, but im fairly certain if you went up to most GW devs, writers or BL authors they would think it strange when you asked them about a wox caster


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## sethgabriel1990 (Sep 21, 2010)

im still stuck on Rouboute Guilliman  ive been saying _ro-boot guy-el-man_


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## Words_of_Truth (Sep 20, 2007)

I don't think anyone knows the true pronunciation of Roboute Guilliman tbh it's such a weird name.


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## increaso (Jun 5, 2010)

Cambrius said:


> Roboute Guilliman - ROH-but GILL-uh-min


That is probably not too far off how I pronounce it.

Vox or Wox - well vox sounds better because that's how i've always read it, but does it mean it's correct? Probably not. However, since it is accepted that the word voice (pronounced with a 'v') is derived from vox (pronounced with a 'w'), is it not arguable that the replacement of the 'w' sound to 'v' sound could have took place before the word actually changed shape?

A good example of a name not having a universally accepted pronunciation is 'Van Gogh'.

As a child it was always on TV as 'goff', the at some point it changed to 'go' and apparantly the proper dutch way is kinda like 'hock'.


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## Cambrius (Nov 4, 2010)

Azezel: My post wasn't intended to be a criticism in any way. My apologies if that wasn't clear. I do think that since the rules are only loosely adhered to in the writing anyway, that deciding one's own pronunciation until presented with something "official" is reasonable. I also had no idea gauss was derived from a proper name. Given the source, "gowss" does make sense.

What is it that makes my sig quote superfluous, though?

My pronunciation of Roboute stems from the idea that it's kind of like Robert without the second R. *shrug*


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## Azezel (May 23, 2010)

I didn't take it as a criticism so much as an unfounded asertation - but that's by-the-by. You may o course pronounce any word as you please.

Re: Superfluous Latin. Well... As it happened, a very few days ago a friend of mine explained in some detail that, Latin being a dead languiage, _all_ Latin is superfluous. I was quoting Vergil at the time (amor omnia vincit if you care).


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

Xenos is another ones i hear pronounced differently by some people.

I say it as Zen-oss
But i've heard it as Zeen-oss and Ex-en-oss


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## Words_of_Truth (Sep 20, 2007)

Angel of Blood said:


> Xenos is another ones i hear pronounced differently by some people.
> 
> I say it as Zen-oss
> But i've heard it as Zeen-oss and Ex-en-oss


I pronounce it Zeen-oss, but Zen-oss is equally fine.


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## komanko (May 16, 2010)

Then how do you pronounce Cthulhu!!! No one knows it, even not H.P.Lovecraft XD So good luck with that. (I know it has nothing to do with 40k)


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## zerachiel76 (Feb 12, 2010)

Sanguinius - San - gwin - ius
Tyranids - Tirra - nids
Konrad Curze - Night Haun - ter  (just kidding) Konrad Curse
Jaghati Khan - Jag - Hah - Tie Khan
Tzeentch - T-zeen-tch
Corax - Co - rax (not Core - ax)
Chimera - Ki - meer - a
Ogryn - O - grin
Tau - T - ow
Leman Russ - Lee - man Russ
Culexus - Coo - lex - us
Astartes - Ass - tart - eez
Vox - v - ox (like in the english word vocal)
Arbites - Are - beet - eez
Istvaan - Ist - van
Archon - Ar - kon
Roboute Guilliman - Ro - boot Gull - iman
Gauss - G - ow - ss
C'tan - K - tan (not tarn)
Autarch - Or - tark
Tanith - Tan - ith
Baal - Barl (not bale)
Xenos - Zen - oss (like the chemical element Xenon)
Wrath - roth (NOT RATH) as in Storm of the Emperor's Wrath
Horus - Hore - uss
Ferrus Manus - Fair - uss Man - uss
Perturabo - Pert - a - rar - bow
Custodes - Cust - oh - deez


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

I says custodes as Cust-odes
And Corax in the audiobooks has been pronounced as Core-axe


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## zerachiel76 (Feb 12, 2010)

Angel of Blood said:


> I says custodes as Cust-odes
> And Corax in the audiobooks has been pronounced as Core-axe


I should have made it clear when reading my own post, the o in Corax I pronounce like the o in lost not the o in go. Co (as in go) - rax is just so wrong 

But yeah in Raven's Flight it's pronounced Core - Ax, the other is just my personal pronunciation


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## Azezel (May 23, 2010)

Like the Roman alphabet, the Ancient Greek alphabet was phonetic, so we can be fairly sure how a given word is supposed to be pronounced.

ZEN (rhymes with 'hen') - ohs (rhyme with 'dose')


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## Child-of-the-Emperor (Feb 22, 2009)

Angel of Blood said:


> Xenos is another ones i hear pronounced differently by some people.
> 
> I say it as Zen-oss
> But i've heard it as Zeen-oss and Ex-en-oss


I've always pronounced it 'Zeen-ose' - as do all audio CDs and Dawn of War games I believe.


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## gen.ahab (Dec 22, 2009)

It is zee-nos. Anyone who pronounces it ex-en-os is a dip-sh-it.


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## normtheunsavoury (Mar 20, 2008)

komanko said:


> Then how do you pronounce Cthulhu!!! No one knows it, even not H.P.Lovecraft XD So good luck with that. (I know it has nothing to do with 40k)


From Wiki, I know I know, but it's backed up in books and it's easier to cut and paste than to copy from a book!

"Cthulhu has also been spelled as Tulu, Clulu, Clooloo, Cthulu, C'thulhu, Cighulu, Cathulu, C'thlu, Kathulu, Kutulu, Kthulhu, Q’thulu, K'tulu, Kthulhut, Kulhu, Kutunluu, Ktulu, Cuitiliú, Thu Thu, and in many other ways. It is often preceded by the epithet Great, Dead, or Dread.

Lovecraft transcribed the pronunciation of Cthulhu as "Khlûl'-hloo" (IPA: [ˈχɬʊl.ɬuː] ?).S. T. Joshi points out, however, that Lovecraft gave several differing pronunciations on different occasions. According to Lovecraft, this is merely the closest that the human vocal apparatus can come to reproducing the syllables of an alien language. Long after Lovecraft's death, the pronunciation kə-THOO-loo (IPA: /kəˈθuːluː/) became common, and the game Call of Cthulhu endorsed it."

So, it's not that Lovecraft didn't know what the correct pronunciation is, he just said it was nigh impossible for a human to say it properly.
Now, back to the 40K goodness!


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## gothik (May 29, 2010)

Khorne - corn
Khaine - Cane


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## Cambrius (Nov 4, 2010)

I've heard Arbites pronounced ar-BY-tiss and AR-bit-eez. The latter seems to make more sense....


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

I still pronounce it as are-bites

Xenos aswell though isn't a warhammer made word, and i've heard it in multiple sources of both fiction and real life in general as Zen-oss. Ex-en-oss i've only heard from a few people and they changed how they said it shortly after. But i hear both Zeen-oss and Zen-oss in equal measure


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## Davidicus 40k (Jun 4, 2010)

There's another problem, too. The blokes wot made this crap are British, which means that I, as an American, don't understand half the shit they say. It's not just the colorful and different vocabulary, it's the accent itself (when it's quite thick). Americans, British; a common people separated by a common language.

Anyways, I don't pronounce Pteradactyl with the P. Similarly, I don't pronounce Tzeentch with the T. At most, the T will come out as a whisper or a hiss, a short exhalation before the "zeentch."

Arbites - Ar-BIT-tays or Ar-BIT-tease, but this one has me the most confused, honestly. When I read 40k books aloud (go ahead and laugh at me, but it's more epic that way!), I find I resort to a more natural "Arrr-BITES". So, meh. Slightly off-topic, are the actual "police officers" called arbitrators (much simpler to pronounce) and the whole organization is the Adeptus Arbites, or are they arbites in the Arbites?

Addressing some of the others: Corax = Core-ax, Sanguinius = San-GUIN-(yep, penguin)-ius, Ogryn = "Oh..."-*grin*, like after you did something naughty, Chimera = Ch has a K sound, and Tyranid = TEAR/TIER-a-nid, not Ty as in tyrant (though that's the logical root word). 

Now, how the hell does one pronounce Roboute Guilliman!?!? I mean, I see "/rɒb'uːteɪ 'gwɪlɪman/" on Lexicanum, but I can't read that stuff. Layman's terms, please! Is he a Frenchie? As long as it's not "Robot GILL-a-MANN." Or "Row-booty Gwill-ee-mon."


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## normtheunsavoury (Mar 20, 2008)

Davidicus 40k said:


> Now, how the hell does one pronounce Roboute Guilliman!?!? I mean, I see "/rɒb'uːteɪ 'gwɪlɪman/" on Lexicanum, but I can't read that stuff. Layman's terms, please! Is he a Frenchie? As long as it's not "Robot GILL-a-MANN." Or "Row-booty Gwill-ee-mon."


Pa-pa Sm-erf.:laugh:


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

Davidicus 40k said:


> When I read 40k books aloud (go ahead and laugh at me, but it's more epic that way!), I find I resort to a more natural "Arrr-BITES".


I do the same!




Davidicus 40k said:


> Addressing some of the others: Corax = Core-ax, Sanguinius = San-GUIN-(yep, penguin)-ius, Ogryn = "Oh..."-*grin*, like after you did something naughty, Chimera = Ch has a K sound, and Tyranid = TEAR/TIER-a-nid, not Ty as in tyrant (though that's the logical root word).


All the same again, apart from tyranid in which my 'Ty' is like the 'Ti' in'Tiff'. Not so different after all despite the large pond sperating us all


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## mcmuffin (Mar 1, 2009)

what about catachan; is is chan or can?


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## Svartmetall (Jun 16, 2008)

mcmuffin said:


> what about catachan; is is chan or can?


'Can', as far as I'm aware.


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## Davidicus 40k (Jun 4, 2010)

Svartmetall said:


> 'Can', as far as I'm aware.


Yeah, that sounds right.

"Catachan, yes you can, if you can't do it, no one can!"


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

Really? I thought it was chan as in channel.


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## increaso (Jun 5, 2010)

Angel of Blood said:


> Really? I thought it was chan as in channel.


Same here, never heard anyone say it the other way.


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## Davidicus 40k (Jun 4, 2010)

Let's throw some Eldar (always fun) into the mix.

Cegorach!? Ynnead!?


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## gothik (May 29, 2010)

i can never pronouce Robute Gulliman, sort of say Row-boot works for me i guess


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## Davidicus 40k (Jun 4, 2010)

gothik said:


> i can never pronouce Robute Gulliman, sort of say Row-boot works for me i guess


I guess. Similar to Row-Boat Gilligan (would've sucked even more if Gilligan had gotten stuck on that island because of a row boat), except it's Row-BOOT Gilli-MAN. Cool.


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## Todeswind (Mar 2, 2010)

Davidicus 40k said:


> I guess. Similar to Row-Boat Gilligan (would've sucked even more if Gilligan had gotten stuck on that island because of a row boat), except it's Row-BOOT Gilli-MAN. Cool.


Robute Guilliman is a not so subtle variation of the words Robustus, the latin word for strength, and Guillain–Barré syndrome |gēˈyan bəˈrā|an acute form of polyneuritis, often preceded by a respiratory infection, causing weakness and often paralysis of the limbs. An ironic name that would indicate both his own strength in life and his own eventual paralysis.

So it would probably be pronounced as rōˈbəste gēˈylman.

The primarchs are all named based on, frankly terrible, latin puns.

Ferrous Manus literally means Iron Hands.

Vulkan is named after the god of the forge.

Sanguinius is a not so subtle blood pun. 

Leman Russ is a variation of Leman Rusticus, which translates as either lover or elicit lover of the wild.

Jagatal Khan is an obvious reference to Genghis Khan.

Horus is named after the egyptian god of the same name. It's frankly an ironic choice as the Horus of Egyptian mythology was widely accepted to be the savior of the egyptian people against the god Set. Interesting side note, part of the Horus mythology includes Horus being killed while in conference with his 12 apostles and resurrected on the third day by this father after one of his apostles betrays him. Just an interesting tidbit.

Peturbo is off the root word perturbare, completely disturbed.

Fulgrim is based off the concept of the fulcrum or fulcire, the point upon which all things were propped upon. Once again a not so subtle reference to the obsession with perfection and their own self image as being central to the emperors plans characteristic of the emperors children both pre and post heresy.

Lion El'Johnson is named after the author Lionel Johnson who wrote the poem "A Dark Angel". http://theotherpages.org/poems/johns01.html Bottom of the page if you're interested.

Konrad Kurze is named after Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, also known as Joseph Conrad, the author of Heart of Darkness (1902) and the novel Nostromo (1904). All of these works deal with the issues of the darkness in men's own hearts and within the human race as a whole, moreover with the need for justice. Once again a not so subtle pun.

Mortarion is off the latin mortuarius which has to do with the process of death and decay. Another pun.

Magnus the Red is based off the word maguš for sorcerer. I actually seriously suspect that this is a Lord of the Rings joke, he is "Magnus the Red" the red wizard.

Lorgar is based off the old english word for liar, lēogere. 

Corax is the species name of the common all black raven.

Alpharius Omegon is an Alpha and the Omega reference that one would have to be blind to miss.

Angaron is off the old Norse word angra, litterally meaning to 'anger' or to 'vex.'


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

Another one i've just stumbled across while watching a Dan Abnett interview. Prospero

Now Abnett pronounces it like pross-per-oh. Don't know about anyone else but i've always pronounced it as 'pross-pear-oh'


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## Engindeer (Dec 1, 2010)

Roboute Guilliman - row-BOOT ghillymann (would-be french pronunciation)

Leman Russ - leemann ross

Rogal Dorn - rowghul dorhn (like 'dorm')

Konrad Curze - conradd curse

Perturabo - purr'too'rahbow

Lion El'Jonson - lee'awn el-johnsonn

Sanguinius - sarng'gwinny-oos


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