I secretly dread talking about The Silmarillion out loud, because even though I’ve checked the pronunciation guide, I’m still not 100% sure I’m saying everyone’s name right.
Fuck you, Maedhros.
Yeah I butcher their names too. It’s a shot in the dark but I think Maedhros is pronounced MAyd-rOS.
oh shit i thought the dh was pronounced as a th????
As far as I am aware, ‘dh’ is pronounced like a soft ‘th’, for example as in the English word ‘this’.
That’s correct! The proper word for that sort of thing is a diphthong: basically two letters that make a singular sound. In Tolkien’s Elvish, and this is true for both Sindarin and Quenya, the dipthong ‘dh’ makes the ‘th’ sound such as in the word ‘thistle.’ Therefore, Maedhros would be ‘May-thros.’
Wouldn’t it be closer to My-throhs? The ae dipthong makes a sort of ah-eh sound rather than a long ay sound, especially in Sindarin, and Maedhros is a Sindarin construct for a Quenya name.
Meg's Mumbles 