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Thread: How should "Leonidas" be Pronounced? And how do YOU pronounce it?

  1. #1
    The Good's Avatar the Bad and the Ugly
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    Icon14 How should "Leonidas" be Pronounced? And how do YOU pronounce it?

    I have had this on my mind for a week now, how should the name "Leonidas" (King Leonidas, the one who fought against Xerxes in the Battle of Thermopylae. Leonidas is also from "300" the movie) be pronounced?

    I have a theory that the correct Ancient Greek pronunciation of Leonidas is like this: "Lee-Oh-Need-Us", or an alternate would be "Lay-Oh-Need-Us."


    What do you think of that pronunciation of Leonidas? I commonly hear it as "Lee-Oh-Nide-Us", or "Lee-Oh-Ny-Dus", and I felt that it wasn't the right way to say it.


  2. #2

    Default Re: How should "Leonidas" be Pronounced?

    leh-o-knee-das

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  4. #4
    Phoebus's Avatar εις οιωνος αριστος...
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    Default Re: How should "Leonidas" be Pronounced?

    The correct Hellenic pronounciation is le-oh-KNEE-thas. The last syllable would be a "das" instead of a "thas" in the anglicized version.



  5. #5

    Default Re: How should "Leonidas" be Pronounced?

    mmmm, english nazis..lol, I say it "leo-ny-das"


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    Curtana's Avatar Semisalis
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    Default Re: How should "Leonidas" be Pronounced?

    Sloooooooooooowly

    Lay on e dass
    Last edited by Curtana; May 24, 2007 at 04:27 AM.
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  7. #7
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    Default Re: How should "Leonidas" be Pronounced?

    Lay-on-idus is the way Paul Cartledge the Greek Historian pronounces it

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    Phoebus's Avatar εις οιωνος αριστος...
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    Default Re: How should "Leonidas" be Pronounced?

    Paul Cartledge means well, but he is by no means perfect.



  9. #9
    William the Bastard's Avatar Invictus Maneo
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    Default Re: How should "Leonidas" be Pronounced?

    It appears that the Americanisation of the name is with a "n-eye" where as we in Blighty use "ni". Good job Monty Python was British as the knights who say "n-eye" just doesn't have the same ring to it.

  10. #10

    Default Re: How should "Leonidas" be Pronounced?

    Leonithas.

    Means "I've seen a Lion" like alot of Ancient Greek names mean something.
    Last edited by Dimitri The Hellene; August 14, 2007 at 10:53 PM. Reason: Mixed up something.

  11. #11
    Leonidas The Lion's Avatar Until we win! Or die.
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    Default Re: How should "Leonidas" be Pronounced?

    LEO-NEE-THAS thatis in the Greek pronunciation.

    But I just like plain and simple Λεωνἰδας.
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    Default Re: How should "Leonidas" be Pronounced?

    Let me just add that i dont like 300,i hate the History rape and i feel sorry for the Persians as it makes them look like mutants which isnt true,and that coming from a Greek.

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    Leonidas The Lion's Avatar Until we win! Or die.
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    Default Re: How should "Leonidas" be Pronounced?

    Off Topic: Where in history did it say that ephialtis was a hunchback?
    Quote Originally Posted by Jom View Post
    When using the stick and carrot approach, remember that what you have to do is shove the carrot up their arse and then beat them with the stick.
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    Default Re: How should "Leonidas" be Pronounced?

    His name does not mean "I've seen a lion." The ancient Hellenic (Doric, in this case, IIRC) -idas means "child/son of", or "like". Hence, Leonidas is the "son of the lion" or "like a lion".

    Off Topic: Where in history did it say that ephialtis was a hunchback?
    It didn't. Both his physical defects and his Lacedaemonian heritage in the movie were simply artistic license. Ephialtes was a local from the lands surrounding Thermopylae. I don't recall of any line from Herodotus that states he was deformed.



  15. #15

    Default Re: How should "Leonidas" be Pronounced?

    yep, he wasnt even a spartan by birth either

    LOL, who cares how you say it, we all know who you are talking about


  16. #16
    The Good's Avatar the Bad and the Ugly
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    Default Re: How should "Leonidas" be Pronounced?

    Off topic, but I think that they made Ephialtes a hunchback for a reason, so that people would feel sorry for him, kind of. I doubt that the real Ephialtes was a hunchback though.


  17. #17

    Default Re: How should "Leonidas" be Pronounced?

    I agree with Lucius Julius on the pronounciation of Leonidas as "Lay Oh Need Us," that seems to be the most accurate pronounciation I have heard so far, though in Ancient Greek, the "d" makes the "th" sound...

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    MaximiIian's Avatar Comes Limitis
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    Default Re: How should "Leonidas" be Pronounced?

    I pronounce it like "Lee-on-I-das", because I speak English, not Greek.

  19. #19

    Default Re: How should "Leonidas" be Pronounced?

    Quote Originally Posted by Lucius Julius View Post
    Off topic, but I think that they made Ephialtes a hunchback for a reason, so that people would feel sorry for him, kind of. I doubt that the real Ephialtes was a hunchback though.
    Ephialtes was a shepherd from the area close to where Xerxes army was camped. I am pretty sure that a lot of people with flocks in the area wished to see that army, which devoured huge amounts of food daily, gone from their lands. And that is if we assume that he actually existed. The Persians coming from a mountainous land they would know that every pass could be outflanked given enough time.

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    Default Re: How should "Leonidas" be Pronounced?

    Quote Originally Posted by Lucius Julius View Post
    Off topic, but I think that they made Ephialtes a hunchback for a reason, so that people would feel sorry for him, kind of. I doubt that the real Ephialtes was a hunchback though.
    It wasn't "they". Ephialtes was in Frank Miller's comic as a hunchback too. But I agree that he might be meant to be a tragic figure.

    I have no trouble pronouncing greek names, (or names from Europa Barbarorum) it comes natural to me. I've always pronounced it Leh-o-nee-das. When can you english-speakers start pronouncing names right!

    For example: ROMA.

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