the Greeks in here are saying that’s basically correct.
Comment on How do you pronounce "centaur" and why?
SatyrSack@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
The most incorrect pronunciation i can come up with is probably ken-TAH-oo-ur
bitofarambler@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
toynbee@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Well, apparently my answer (“sen-chwar”) is also very incorrect. Someone else in this thread also answered “sen-a-tar.” I would argue both beat yours for incorrectness, as they don’t fit the spelling.
I thought mine was based on something French, based on almost nothing, but another person in the thread has corrected that theory.
nesc@lemmy.cafe 3 weeks ago
That’s like the most correct one if there even could be a ‘correct’ way to pronounce a word of foreign origin in most languages.
futatorius@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
In English, it’s a matter of honor to mangle foreign loan words, unless you’re the kind of twit who pedantically pronounces foreign words as though you’re not speaking English, but the language of origin. That’s most common with French loanwords, since French was once considered higher-prestige than English. But I’ve even heard people attempting to pronounce Arabic words like that, despite having no idea of Arabic phonology or case inflection, with ridiculous results.