Conan the ...Ksimmerian?

[Yora]

Silly english language with it's C. Is there any consensus on how Cimmeria is pronounced?

There was an ancient region Cimmeria in the Crimean region, which I am pretty sure is pronounced K by everyone and not S. That would make it Kimmeria, but was that actually established to be true for Conans homeland?

[Bulldog Psion]

I've never been a big Conan fan, so I have no personal knowledge, but the Conan fans I've run into have said "Simmerian." They could very easily be wrong, though.

[BannedInSchool]

Sonan the Simmerian?

[Pronounceable]

Simmeria sounds like a land of wimps and sissies.

[Brewdude]

Given the number of snakes and swamps in the land, Simmeria seems to stress superior syllabic symmetry.

[pendell]

Conan.com (http://www.conan.com/invboard/?showtopic=1933) seems to suggest that it should technically be pronounced "Kimmerian" but Howard himself used the phrase "Simmeria."

It's English, which only has a nodding acquaintance with spelling in any case.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Palanan]

Pretty sure one or both of the movies used the "S" pronunciation, which is probably what most people are following.

[Legato Endless]

Conan.com (http://www.conan.com/invboard/?showtopic=1933) seems to suggest that it should technically be pronounced "Kimmerian" but Howard himself used the phrase "Simmeria."

I don't think Howard left behind a pronunciation guide. If there's an actual source though, that would certainly clarify things. Authorial intent overwrites grammatical convention, much like you're beholden to the pronunciation of a person's name as it was intended, regardless of what you think the spelling should render.

[LibraryOgre]

I've always heard it as Simmerian, but that's likely heavily influenced by Ahnold's movie.

[BWR]

It's rather common in English (and other languages) to have the /k/ sound palatalize towards 'ch', and later towards 's' and 'sh' when the initial 'k' is followed by vowels like "eee".
Just look at all English words, and loanwords, beginning with 'ci' or 'ce' and see how many of them are pronounced with a 'k' sound and how many are 'ch', 's' or similar.
Then look at how many words are spelled with a 'ca', 'co' 'cu', and see how many have a 'k' sound. You will see a pattern.
So my guess is that it's pronounced 'simmerian'.

[Yora]

We pretty much discontinued C as a consonant in German with the last spelling reform, except for a few loan words. It's now only used in combination with other letters to indicate sounds that have no letter in the standard latin alphabet. (Unfortunately, CH can be two completely different sounds.)

[Closet_Skeleton]

Ancient Greek doesn't have a soft C sound, but nobody knows what the historic Cimmerians actually called themselves. Cimmerian is an Anglicisation of the Greek Kimmerioi.

Howard is the best source for his made up fantasy people. His Cimmerians are supposed to be proto-Celts, not Iranian nomads like the historical ones. I have no idea how a Gael or an Iranian would pronounce Cimmerian, but it wouldn't be the same way they would have in the 8th century BC or in a fictional 10,000 BC.

[Cespenar]

I've always pronounced it as Kimmeria, because it sounds better, more fitting somehow in a phonetic sense.