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.

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