#Information
Here you can find a possible pronunciation guide for your Rohirric names, but the
unavoidable fact is that we can only guess how certain letters and letter
combinations from Old English, or Rohirric, would have sounded. These values are
commonly accepted although not set in stone and other people may know different
values for them which are just as likely as the ones given here. In the
interests of making this lookup table simple to use, I have given only one
possibility for each letter or combination.
Since some letters are pronounced differently depending on their position in
the word or whether they are part of a combination, you should make sure you
check all the entries of all the letters in the name if you wish to pronounce it
consistently with this guide. The table is ordered alphabetically with letter
combinations placed in order of the first letter, unless it is made up of a
vowel and a consonant in which case it is placed with the consonant which is
usually more important to the sound. The letters ð and þ (or Ð and Þ
respectively in upper case) which do not exist in modern English can be found at the end. In
letter combinations not included in the chart,
it is most common for each letter to be pronounced individually; doubled
consonants not specifically mentioned generally make the sound longer.
| Letter | Position | Pronunciation |
| a |
anywhere |
as the u in the southern English pronunciation of ‘bubble’ |
| á |
anywhere |
‘hard’ |
| æ | anywhere | as the a sound in ‘cat’ |
| ǽ | anywhere | as the a sound in ‘lad’ |
| b | anywhere |
as modern English |
| c | before most consonants and the vowels o, a, u and æ |
hard, as in ‘camel’ |
| cg | in the middle or at the end of words |
as g in ‘peg’ if in the middle of the word; may also represent the dg in ‘hedge’ at the end of words |
| ci, ce, ic | ci and ce at the beginning of words, ic at the end |
as ch in ‘chin’, very occasionally hard as above |
| d | anywhere | as modern English |
| e | anywhere | as the e in ‘Fred’ |
| é | anywhere | as é in French or the a in ‘spade’ |
| f | at the beginning or end of a word, or when doubled (ff), or next to p, t, k, c, f, s or þ |
as the f in ‘food’ |
| f | in the middle of a word, except when doubled (ff), or next to p, t, k, c, f, s or þ (otherwise as above) |
as the v in ‘silver’ |
| g | at the beginning of words before most consonants and the vowels o, a, u and æ |
as the g in ‘gold’ |
| g | at the middle and end of a word | as the ch in the Scottish ‘loch’ or the name ‘Bach’ |
| ge, gi, ig | ge and gi at the beginning of a word, ig at the end |
most often as y in ‘youth’ |
| h | at the beginning of a word except when doubled (hh) |
as modern English |
| h | at the middle or end of a word, or when doubled (hh) |
a very breathy h sound, almost like a soft exhalation during the preceding vowel sound |
| i | anywhere | as the i in ‘grid’ |
| í | anywhere | as the ea in ‘fear’ |
| k | anywhere | as modern English |
| l | anywhere | as modern English |
| m | anywhere | as modern English |
| n | anywhere | as modern English |
| o | anywhere | as the o in ‘odd’ |
| ó | anywhere | as the oa in ‘oar’ |
| p | anywhere | as modern English |
| r | anywhere | as modern English |
| s | at the beginning or end of a word, or when doubled (ss), or next to p, t, k, c, f, s or þ |
as the s in ‘silver’ |
| s | in the middle of a word, except when doubled (ss), or next to p, t, k, c, f, s or þ (otherwise as above) |
as the z in ‘razor’ |
| sc | anywhere | a soft sh sound, similar to ‘sheep’; occasionally sounds hard, like the sk in ‘sky’ |
| t | anywhere | as modern English |
| u | anywhere | as the u in ‘pull’ |
| ú | anywhere | as the oo in ‘food’ |
| w | anywhere | as modern English |
| x | anywhere | as modern English |
| y | anywhere | as the u in modern French ‘rue’ |
| ý | anywhere | as the u in modern French ‘sur’ |
| z | anywhere | as modern English |
| ð/Ð | at the beginning or end of a word, or when doubled (ðð), or next to p, t, k, c, f, s or þ |
as the th in ‘think’ |
| ð/Ð | in the middle of a word, except when doubled (ðð), or next to p, t, k, c, f, s or þ (otherwise as above) |
as the th in ‘these’ |
| þ/Þ | at the beginning or end of a word, or when doubled (þþ), or next to p, t, k, c, f, s or þ |
as the th in ‘think’ |
| þ/Þ | in the middle of a word, except when doubled (þþ), or next to p, t, k, c, f, s or þ (otherwise as above) |
as the th in ‘these’ |
