Saints' Names Pronounciations

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gemmaologist
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
G

Gemmaologist

Guest
I’m looking for the correct pronounciation of these Saints’ names, but I’m not having much luck as I can’t read/translate Greek.

Any ideas?

Agia
Anysia

Thanks for your help!
 
Agia ((h)agia) means “Saint.” HAH-GEE-UH

Anysia: AHN-EE-SHUH or AHN-EE-ZEE-UH depending on your preference
 
Agia ((h)agia) means “Saint.” HAH-GEE-UH
Actually, in Greek that initial H is silent, so it would be pronounced

a-YEE-ah.
 
Actually, in Greek that initial H is silent, so it would be pronounced

a-YEE-ah.

To the extent that the OP was looking for the pronunciation in (some dialects of ?) Modern Greek, that would be correct.

Since the OP doesn’t know Greek, I assumed the question concerned the English pronunciation.

Many foreign words are adapted into the English language with English phonotactics superimposed. Sometimes, archaic orthography in the source language dictates English pronunciation even when the source language has evolved to lose the sound in question.

In this case, the spiritus asper may have been lost in Greek, but in English it is perfectly acceptable to pronounce the word as indicated in my first post.

See the entry here from Merriam Webster. The pronunciation guide indicates the same HAH-GEE-UH as in my post, albeit with a different phonetic transcription.
 
To the extent that the OP was looking for the pronunciation in (some dialects of ?) Modern Greek, that would be correct.
Just as liturgical/ecclesiastical Latin is pronounced as if it were Italian, so liturgical and ecelesiastical Greek, which would include the inscriptions on icons, is pronounced as if it were Modern Greek.
 
Cluny said:
To the extent that the OP was looking for the pronunciation in (some dialects of ?) Modern Greek, that would be correct.
Just as liturgical/ecclesiastical Latin is pronounced as if it were Italian, so liturgical and ecelesiastical Greek, which would include the inscriptions on icons, is pronounced as if it were Modern Greek.
Click to expand...
I have no doubt that’s true, except for the fact that hagia has its very own English pronunciation based on its spelling! To my knowledge, this is the only Greek word that has that status.
 
I have no doubt that’s true, except for the fact that hagia has its very own English pronunciation based on its spelling! To my knowledge, this is the only Greek word that has that status.
If you’re pronouncing Greek words on a Greek icon, it’s common sense to pronounce them in Greek.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top