# Pronouncing "Saim-Hann"



## EvgO (Dec 23, 2007)

Since my second army is this band of barbarous eldar riding red freaky-bits I was wondering how are they pronounced.

The question arose mainly because of this.


> Translator's note: Saim-Hann is pronounced Sam Hine (not Same Han)
> Inquisitor's Note: Translators should learn more respect for their masters.


So is it "sam hine"?
Was wondering if the translator got his "promotion" to arco-flagellantation^^


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## Red Orc (Jun 14, 2007)

Pronounce it how you like.

It's based on an old (Irish) Gaelic word "Samhain", pronounced something like "savvin". 

But not closely enough for the Irish word to be the correct pronunciation (see also Imbolc/Yme-loc, Hy-Brasil/Iybresail etc).

Until you actually meet an Eldar who objects to your pronunciation, say it whichever way you think best. I call it "Saym Haan" - no one's complained yet...

Mar-Cuil of the Saim-Hann

:surprisingly pointy-eared cyclops:


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## EvgO (Dec 23, 2007)

Just asked, because I was going to write some fluff for the army and, not surprisingly, wanted to do it in my mother tongue..which is russian.

That's why I asked..
Writing it the way it is pronounced worldwide seems logical, but eh..

Thanks though (=


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## Red Orc (Jun 14, 2007)

Sorry, I can't find a backwards-N to use for "ee" I'm afraid. But it would presumably be something like "CNM XAH".

Your English is much better than my Russian.

:linguistically-challenged cyclops:


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## EvgO (Dec 23, 2007)

(surprised) Wow but that was definetely a worthy attempt (= 

Hm. Than it would sound like "Seem Han" (with an "a" not like in the word "ham" but more like in the word "car").

What I saw on the russian net was something like "CANM XAH", if you get what I'm talking about, but I find your variant much better :good:


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## Red Orc (Jun 14, 2007)

"CANM XAH"... that would be more like "Sime" or "Sa-eem", at a guess? It's a fair enough assumption from the original speling of "Saim", but English is a notoriously unpredictable language.

Well what can I say. Yeah I think my version's better. :wink: Closer to how most players I know pronounce it anyway. But then, who's to say we're right?

But I'm sticking to it, until until a real Elda laughs at me!

:go for it cyclops:


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## EvgO (Dec 23, 2007)

:biggrin:
Than until a real eldar or gw representative bumps into this thread (which is equally unlikely, I suppose) I'll stick to it too..

Thanks :mrgreen:


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

I always pronounced it "Sah-eem-Han"

I suppose you could always just ask a redshirt at the local GW, though.

-Dirge


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## EvgO (Dec 23, 2007)

Have no local GW in the borders of my country, that's the prob :biggrin:


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## Red Orc (Jun 14, 2007)

EDIT: Ah, Evg0, you got there first!

@ Dirge: Are there Redshirts in Riga? I don't remember seeing Latvia in the lists of places GW have stores.

The point though is I think that it's been transliterated into Russian pretty literally - S=C, A=A, I=N, M=M. But most English speakers (that I've come across anyway) don't pronounce it as "sah: eem" or "sah: im" (ie, a two-sylable word), they pronounce it "saym", to rhyme with "aim". And in Russian, the closest we can get to that currently is "CNM" which is a bit like 'seem'... or 'sim' with an Italian accent, maybe?

@ Evg0... there's at least one person who works for GW who frequents these boards. I can't imagine he's tell you that you were saying it wrongly though! :wink:

:etymological cyclops:


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## EvgO (Dec 23, 2007)

Hm. Speaking of "saym" we can find a more precise variant.. Written like this









Hm, can't believe it..I'm a guy from Latvia, asking english-speaking community on an international board how to write in russian a word from an imaginary language..globalisation! :biggrin:

Edit: oh, and it's E-v-g-O (not 0).. but that's okay.. (=


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## Red Orc (Jun 14, 2007)

I do apologise old chap... misread "O" for "0". I'll try not to let it happen again 

If you reckon "C3N^M" (sorry, really must try to work out how to do Cyrillic typefaces on this machine) is closer to 'same' or 'saym', and you're happy with that, then, I'd say go for it. But as Dirge has said, he pronounces it differently anyway... It's up to you in the end - however you chose to pronounce it, and then work out the spelling in Russian, I don't think anyone gets to tell you you're wrong!

What's _really_ odd for me though is transliterating the 'official' Russian version back into English and getting "Sahim Khan", which sounds to me like a Persian Warlord, or something.

Aren't languages fun!

:really it's philological rather than etymological cyclops:


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## EvgO (Dec 23, 2007)

Hm. Found another transcription, they mostly use "CEN^M-XAH" (man, this is funny (= )..
The question is not how it should read..because the pronounciation can differ..it's how it's "officially" written in russian..Hm..

Actually "CEN^M-XAH" is gramatically more correct than "C3N^M-XAH", because we read "E" as "3" in this case anyway..
Guess I'll stick to it then.. Hm this was a fun thread.. 

Thanks a lot linguistically educated Red Orc cyclops man! :good:

P.S. damn, next time I'll think twice of writing fluff in my mother language.. But a lot of BL novels were translated nicely, loved 'em.. Horus Heresy 1 till 4 and the whole Eisenhorn Trilogy was good. No Saim-Hann though! :biggrin:


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## Red Orc (Jun 14, 2007)

Glad you've found something you're happy with, and I'm happy to have helped. The reason I got into this whole crazy game in the first place was through the Lord of the Rings when I was a kid, with its layers of invented languages - I consider myself a student of invented languages... and it helps to know something of real ones too!

:happy cyclops:


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## EvgO (Dec 23, 2007)

Off-topic: Sindarin, nin mellon? :biggrin:


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## Red Orc (Jun 14, 2007)

LOL!

Now, if only I knew what that was in proto-Eldarin. I'm pretty sure that Tolkien didn't forsee txt-speak. Though the Elvish languages are written substantially without vowels of course... 

I bow in the presence of a Master (give me a week, I might be able to render that into passable Quenya). (Or possibly Russian).

:impressed cyclops:


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## EvgO (Dec 23, 2007)

I guess we are all even now :biggrin:


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