Deception's Pawn (Princesses of Myth) (37 page)

It was the most splendid hero’s portion ever known, and I had won it for myself.

P
LACES AND
F
ACES
,
OR
“H
OW
A
M
I S
UPPOSED TO
P
RONOUNCE
T
HAT
?”

As a writer, I am sometimes called upon to read aloud from my books. I love seeing my readers’ reactions face to face, without the smoke, veils, and anonymity of the Internet. I will know straightaway just by looking at them if they’re not enjoying what I’ve written.

I will also know if they
do
like it.

It’s one thing to write a book and another to read from it. I know how to spell words like
yolk
and
espresso
and
Givenchy
, but reading them aloud is something else. For example, the yellow part of an egg is the “yoke.” I was pronouncing it “yolk” with an
l.
Sorry about that, folks.

So
now
what have I done? I’ve written two books filled with characters and places whose spelling often has little to do with how they should be pronounced. Welcome to the Romance of Romanization.

Not all languages use our alphabet. Some languages use a nonalphabetical system, such as the characters of written Chinese or the hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt. Romanization lets us take a word from Chinese, Arabic, Cherokee, Hawaiian, Nahuatl, or the Celtic tongue of Maeve’s people and represent the sound of that word in a way that we can read.

I have no idea how the powers that be decide how to
represent the words of a particular language. Sometimes said powers even decide to change the previous Romanization. For example, the first dynasty of China—and the one that gave the country its name—was the
. This used to be Romanized as
Ch’in
, but now it’s
Qin.
Another example is the capital of China, once written in English as
Peking
but now written as
Beijing.
The change in Romanization happened in China in 1949 and then was slowly adopted by Western countries.

I thought it would be handy to include a pronunciation guide for the Celtic names, places, and so on in
Deception’s Princess
and
Deception’s Pawn.
In some cases, the pronunciation is so uncomplicated and obvious (“Tara”) that you might wonder why I bothered. I say, better too much information than too little.

Remember, I’m doing this for myself as much as for you. I want to get it
right
when I read these books before an audience.

By the way, there may be
alternate
pronunciations for many of the following names and terms, due to variables like dialect and locale. Example: My husband comes from Los Angeles and I come from Brooklyn. When the word in question is
horror
, he pronounces it “HOR-er” and I pronounce it “HAH-rer.” Then we argue about who’s right.

In other words, po-TAY-to, po-TAH-to.

Special thanks to Mary DeDanan, who helped me with this pronunciation guide. Eagle-eyed readers will notice that it includes the names and terms used in both
Deception’s Princess
and
Deception’s Pawn.
This is not a mistake; we wanted the second book to have a complete list.

1. M
AEVE AND
H
ER
F
AMILY

MAEVE: MAYV

CLOITHFINN: KLETH-fin

CLOTHRU: KLAW-rah

DERBRIU: DJER(ah)-broo

ÈILE: AY-lah

EITHNE: EN-ah

EOCHU FEIDLECH (son of FINN): OH-ah FED-lekh

FINDEMNA: FINJ-djehm-nah

The fair-haired triplets.

BRES: BRESH

LOTHAR: LAH-har

NÁR: NAHR

MUGAIN: MUH-gan

2. F
RIENDS
, F
OSTERLINGS
,
AND
O
THER
R
ESIDENTS OF
C
RUACHAN AND
D
ÚN
B
EITHE

AIFRIC: AH-frik

ARTEGAL: ar-teh-GIHL

BLÁITHÍN: BLAW-heen

BRAN: BRAHN

BRYG: BR(eh)G

CAÍLTE: KEEL-teh

CAIRPRE: KAHR-preh

CERA: KEHR-ah

COLLA: KAL-la

CONNLA: KON-la

DAIRE: DAW-reh

DAIRINE: DAW-RIH-neh

DEALLA: DAW-lah

DEVNET: DJEV-nit

DONAL: DUN-al

DONNCHADH: DON-uh-huh

FECHIN: FEH-heen

GORMLAITH: GARM-leh(k)

GUENNOLA: GWEN-no-la

ÍDE: EE-djah

ÍOBAR: EE-bvehr

KELAN: KIHL-lin

KIAN: KEY-en

KINNAT: KIHN-nut

LASSAIRE: LAW-seh-reh

MORIATH: MAW-ree-eh

NIALL: NEE-ul

ODRAN: AH-drin

OWAIN: AH-win

RUADAN: ROO-ah-din

SABHA: SAW

ULA: UH-la

3. M
ISCELLANEOUS
P
EOPLE AND
D
EITIES

ÁED: AYD

AENGUS: ENG-gus

ÁINE: AWN-ya

AIRMID: AWR-ah-mid

BRIGID: BRI-ged

CAER IBORMEITH: KER eh-BROOM-mah

CAIRILL: KAWR-il

CINEÁD: kee-NOD

CONCHOBAR: koh-NA-ber

DANÚ: DAN-oo

DIAN CECHT: DJIH(en)-kekt

DIARMAID: DJEER-mahd

DONN: DUN

EDANA: EH-djeh-nah

FACHTNA FÁTHACH: FIR(tih)-na FWAH-ah

FAOLÁN: FEE-LAWN

FERGAL: FAIR(eh)-gil

FINTAN: FIN-chen

FLIDAIS: FLI-dish

GUAIRE OF THE GANGANI: GU(ah)-reh / GAN-ga-nee

LUGH: LEW

MANANNÁN MAC LIR: MA-neh-nahn mak LIHR

MORANN: MOH-rin

MORRÍGAN: MOHR-ee-gahn

NUADA: NU-eh-deh

RUS: ROS

4. A
NIMALS

DUBH: DOO

EA: AW

GUENNOLA: GWEN-no-la

MUIRÍN: mir-EEN

TREASA: TRA-sa

5. P
LACES

ALBION: AL-bee-en

AVALLACH: AH-va-loh

CONNACHT: kon-NAWKHT

CRUACHAN: KRUA-kihn

DÚN BEITHE: DOON BEH-heh

EMAIN MACHA: EM-en MA-ha

ÈRIU: AY-ru

GAUL: GOL

HIBERNIA: hy-BER-nee-ah

LAIGIN: LAWG-in

MUNSTER: MOONJ-ster

TAILTEANN: TAL-ton

TARA: TAH-reh

TECH DUINN: tjekh DIN

TÍR NA NÓG: TEER na NOHG

6. M
ISCELLANEOUS
T
ERMS

BEAN SIDHE: BAN SHEE

CRANNOG: KRAN-og

FIDCHELL: FIDJ-khel

FIR DOMNANN: FAYR DOM-nen

SLIOTAR: SHLIH-ter

TRIQUETRA: tri-KWEH-tra

ULAIDH: oh-LEE

7. H
OLIDAYS
/H
OLY
D
AYS

SAMHAIN: SOW-in

November 1, festival honoring the dead, start of winter, and the Celtic new year

IMBOLC: IM-bolk

February 1, festival of lambing and births

BELTANE: BEL-tane

May 1, festival of fertility, start of summer

LUGHNASADH: LEW-na-sa

August 1, harvest festival, time for fairs

About the Author

Nebula Award winner E
STHER
F
RIESNER
is the author of over 40 novels and 150 short stories. Educated at Vassar College and Yale University, she is also a poet, a playwright, and the editor of several anthologies. Her Princesses of Myth books include
Nobody’s Princess, Nobody’s Prize, Sphinx’s Princess, Sphinx’s Queen, Spirit’s Princess, Spirit’s Chosen, Deception’s Princess
, and
Deception’s Pawn.