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View Full Version : How to Pronounce "Cyre"



Kol Korran
2010-07-29, 06:08 AM
English is a second language to me, and i've always been bad at names. My friends and me will soon start an Eberron campaign, and we realised each of us has a different idea of how Cyre is prnounced.
so which is it? (the following is written phonetically):
- sir?
- sayer?
- kir?
- kayer?
- anything else?

BobVosh
2010-07-29, 06:10 AM
I don't know the word, but I would guess "Sire" as in sigh-er

hamishspence
2010-07-29, 06:10 AM
I pronounce it the same way- to rhyme with "pyre"

Amphetryon
2010-07-29, 06:12 AM
It's pronounced "Throat-warbler Mangrove." :smallwink:

KillianHawkeye
2010-07-29, 06:16 AM
I don't know the word, but I would guess "Sire" as in sigh-er

I don't play in Eberron, but that's how I always thought it was pronounced too.

Darkxarth
2010-07-29, 06:18 AM
It is almost certainly the soft c sound. and I would personally pronounce it "sear." While it is possible to use the long i sound and pronounce it as "sire," to me that feels too awkward for the spelling used.

I do have a Bachelor's in English, but I only took two linguistics courses. However, I suspect there are at least a few actual linguists on these boards, so we'll see if one of them chimes in.

hamishspence
2010-07-29, 06:21 AM
The main reason I think that the Y, being used as a vowel here, would be a long vowel, is that that's the normal procedure with words ending in "e".

At least, that's how I remember it from videos when I was at school. The "Magic E" short:

"Man"- becomes "mane"
"Pan" becomes "pane"

And so on.

Yora
2010-07-29, 06:24 AM
I'd also go with "sire", seems the obvious one to me.

Much more interesting is how you pronounce "Khyber"? :smallbiggrin:

Dhavaer
2010-07-29, 06:29 AM
Much more interesting is how you pronounce "Khyber"? :smallbiggrin:

Kye-ber. Seems pretty straightforward.

hamishspence
2010-07-29, 06:30 AM
I assumed the same way as in the real world- as in "Carry on up the Khyber"

In Eberron, would it be "Carry on Down the Khyber"? :smallbiggrin:

Eldariel
2010-07-29, 06:32 AM
Kye-ber. Seems pretty straightforward.

With an aspirated K, I'd assume?

Emperor Ing
2010-07-29, 06:33 AM
I would have no way of knowing, but IMO, it rhymes with "Fire."

hamishspence
2010-07-29, 06:37 AM
Or with "Tyre"

Yora
2010-07-29, 06:45 AM
I assumed the same way as in the real world- as in "Carry on up the Khyber"
I doubt americans can correctly pronounce Urdu. :smallbiggrin:

Project_Mayhem
2010-07-29, 06:47 AM
I'm with the 'Cyre as sire' and the 'Khyber' as rhyming with eye her. Hard K.

hamishspence
2010-07-29, 06:49 AM
I doubt americans can correctly pronounce Urdu. :smallbiggrin:

True- I was thinking of the way it's pronounced in the movie (which is British, not American). Whether it's right or not, it seems to follow standard British pronunciation rules.

The "E" doesn't have to end the word- as long as it follows the previous pronounced vowel, that vowel is normally pronounced long.

Wolf- wolves
Knife- knives
Leaf- leaves

Etc.

Yora
2010-07-29, 06:55 AM
I like german pronounciation. You just say each letter in the same order as they are written, and it doesn't make a difference what other letters are next to it. (Except for compund letters like "ch", "sch" and "ie".
Same with Japanese.
But at least English is harmless when compared to french. (How many ways do ou need to spell "o"? :smallbiggrin: )

hamishspence
2010-07-29, 06:58 AM
Dragon Compendium had a big list of D&D words and how they were pronounced- but I don't think it had much if anything in the way of Eberron words as I recall.

Edge
2010-07-29, 07:00 AM
Just to be different, I've always pronounced it with a hard C and rhyming with "pyre".

Eldan
2010-07-29, 07:00 AM
Heh. Actually, thinking back now, I've pronounced it as both
K-eye-bear and Key-bear. As in "the tool to open a lock - Stephen Colbert's worst enemy".
I should start deciding on one way.

But "Cyre" was always pronounced "Sire".

Yora
2010-07-29, 07:49 AM
"I wanna take you to a Kay Bar?"

In German, Khyber is written Chaiber, and ch is never used as a hard K, but often used the way kh is used in english for many arab words. The "yber" part would be used the same way as in "cyerbenetics". Assumed German historians/explorers actually tried to use the local pronounciation. :smallwink:

InkEyes
2010-07-29, 09:46 AM
Cyre- "sire" for me

Khyber- "eye-bur" with the "k" sound as it is in "kick." I don't know how correct that is.


Kalashtar has always been difficult for me. Is it Kal-LASH-tar, KAL-lashtar, or something else entirely? The world may never know.

dgnslyr
2010-07-29, 09:52 AM
I believe the correct pronunciation of Cyre is "kuh-why-re-ay-uh" :amused:

AslanCross
2010-07-29, 09:53 AM
I've always pronounced it "Sire" and "KAI-bur." (An attempt to be consistent with EH-bur-on and SI-bur-is.)





Kalashtar has always been difficult for me. Is it Kal-LASH-tar, KAL-lashtar, or something else entirely? The world may never know.

I pronounce it as ka-LASH-tar, though now that I think of it, the vague South Asian air of Quori words might make it sound more like "ka-lash-TAR."

Whammydill
2010-07-29, 10:29 AM
I'm pretty sure in a couple of the ebberon novels and source material I've read that someone from Cyre is called a Cyran. This leads me to believe that it is pronounced SEER, so Cyran becomes SEER-an. Sye-ran sounds dumb to my ears.

hamishspence
2010-07-29, 10:33 AM
Some words change pronunciation depending on the formulation.

TIE-rant. (tyrant)

Tir-ranny (tyranny)

Same could apply here:

Sigh-er. (Cyre)

Sirr-an (Cyran)

(Cyre has an E after the Y- so the Y is pronounced long. Cyran does not have an E after the Y- so the Y is pronounced short.)

Prime32
2010-07-29, 10:34 AM
I'm pretty sure in a couple of the ebberon novels and source material I've read that someone from Cyre is called a Cyran. This leads me to believe that it is pronounced SEER, so Cyran becomes SEER-an. Sye-ran sounds dumb do my ears.I pronounce it "sire" and "sirran" (soft i in the latter)

It's not like Canadians come from CaNAYda.

Whammydill
2010-07-29, 10:39 AM
Just be lucky that Ebberon names aren't like Birthright names......how much time we spent trying to figure out those.......

Anuire
Boeruine
Rhobhe
Medoere
awnsheghlien

and much much worse....

Tanuki Tales
2010-07-29, 10:45 AM
I've always pronounced it as Sigh-Re (Re as in Redo.)

AslanCross
2010-07-29, 10:48 AM
At least "Cyre" has many possible pronunciations that sound somewhat cool. "Dragonne" sounds lousy no matter how it's pronounced. "Dru-GOHN?" Lame.

hamishspence
2010-07-29, 10:49 AM
At least "Cyre" has many possible pronunciations that sound somewhat cool. "Dragonne" sounds lousy no matter how it's pronounced. "Dru-GOHN?" Lame.



Maybe pronounce it like Dragon, but with a long O: Drag-own.

TroubleBrewing
2010-07-29, 12:05 PM
"Cyre" is pronounced exactly the way it is spelled.

Eldan
2010-07-29, 12:20 PM
Kalashtar has always been difficult for me. Is it Kal-LASH-tar, KAL-lashtar, or something else entirely? The world may never know.

I always stressed the second syllable.



Just be lucky that Ebberon names aren't like Birthright names......how much time we spent trying to figure out those.......

Anuire
Boeruine
Rhobhe
Medoere
awnsheghlien

and much much worse....

And here's why I'm happy to speak a language where very word has one clear pronounciation. It's just so much easier.

Also, I just noticed that, like Khyber, I pronounce Syberis differently depending on whether I'm using it in a german or english sentence. It's either

Sigh-beris (english, stressed on the first syllable) or Sea-beris (german, stressed on the second syllable, which has a long "e").

Prime32
2010-07-29, 12:32 PM
Also, I just noticed that, like Khyber, I pronounce Syberis differently depending on whether I'm using it in a german or english sentence. It's either

Sigh-beris (english, stressed on the first syllable) or Sea-beris (german, stressed on the second syllable, which has a long "e").I would pronounce it sib-ER-is, which I guess is closer to the latter.