Character Names

[tigrisomega121]

As much as I'd like this to be a topic where anyone can get pronunciation, etc. for a roleplay character's name, I realize it'll be mostly me asking for the help. I'll start us off by asking for help with stress (guesses bold) and soundings out (parenthetical question mark) of the Domitia (dau-mih-tih-a) family from a roleplay involving the revival of ancient Rome.

Handy pronunciation key noting that the long "a" is "ah" to avoid confusing it with the short "a" and the long "o" is "oh" rather than "o" so it's not confused with the long "u"s "oo" elaboration.

My character: (praenomen) Gnaea = guh-neye-a(?); (individual cognomen) Iuventās = yuh-vehn-tahs(?);
Sister: (praenomen) Līvia = lee-vih-a; (individual cognomen) Albīna = al-bee-na(?);
Mom: (praenomen) Lūcia = loo-kih-a; (individual cognomen) Tuditāna = tuh-dih-tah-na(?);
Dad: (praenomen) Marcus = mar-kuhs; (individual cognomen) Būteō = boo-teh-oh;
Aunt: (praenomen) Gāia = gah-ih-a; (individual cognomen) Lānāta = lah-nah-ta;
Uncle: (praenomen) Trāiānus = trah-yah-nuhs(?); (individual cognomen) Aselliō = a-sehl-lih-oh(?);
Cousin 1: (praenomen) Tiberia = tih-beh-rih-a; (individual cognomen) Flacca = flak-ka(?); and
Cousin 2: (praenomen) Appia = a-pih-a; (individual cognomen) Crīspa = kree-spa

 

[Pacifica]

It's sometimes difficult to give English equivalences; keep in mind that those will sometimes be rather approximative (as English diphthongizes many things and has many weird sounds that Latin doesn't).

Domitia (dau-mih-tih-a)

No, the stress is on the second syllable.

Gnaea = guh-neye-a(?)

No, I don't know where your "u" comes from? This is two syllables, roughly "gneye-a".

Iuventās = yuh-vehn-tahs(?)

No. The stress is on the second syllable.

A strange cognomen, maybe, but well.

Līvia = lee-vih-a

Correct.

Albīna = al-bee-na

Yes.

Lūcia = loo-kih-a

Yes.

Tuditāna = tuh-dih-tah-na

Yes.

Marcus = mar-kuhs

Yes. But the a is long.

Būteō = boo-teh-oh

Yes, but the o is long. I'm not sure what your final h is meant to indicate; wouldn't it make the vowel short?

Gāia = gah-ih-a

Yes, though, like above, note the vowel length.

Lānāta = lah-nah-ta

No, the stress is on the second syllable.

Trāiānus = trah-yah-nuhs

Here too, it's on the second syllable.

Aselliō = a-sehl-lih-oh

Here too, second syllable.

Tiberia = tih-beh-rih-a

Here too.

Flacca = flak-ka

Yes.

Appia = a-pih-a

Don't forget to double the p: "ap-pih-a".

Crīspa = kree-spa

The i is short.

For the basic stress rules, see this post again.

 

[tigrisomega121]

Thanks for the help. I forgot to include the link to Wikipedia's IPA originally.

Gnaea's short "u" sound was me putting too much empahasis on the "g" after listening to an online translator pronounce it. I cross-referenced Latin lexicon with L&S for all the vowel lengths. My guess is Crispa's "i" has a breve, if anything, over it because LL's bold font makes breves and macrons look the same for some reason. And, I don't think either of them had Marcus' "a" marked as long.

 

[Pacifica]

The a of Marcus isn't marked as long because it's a hidden quantity, i.e. since the first syllable would be heavy anyway (because it ends in a consonant and is followed by one) whether the a is long or short makes no difference in a meter. Yet it was discovered somehow that it was long. But most dictionaries don't indicate hidden quantities, even when they are known.

 

[gedwimere]

The spelling MAARCO, indicating a long vowel, is found in an inscription.

 

[tigrisomega121]

Do any of the following vowels have the hidden long quality: Appia's "a," Aselliō's "e," Flacca's first "a," or Iuventās' "e"?

 

[tigrisomega121]

The Empire's now a mixture of fantasy and science-fiction to incorporate a setting known as Andromeda into it. The Empress forces inhabitants of conquered planets to Latinize their names to some extent. I Latinized the names of a drow (Trissae Delyl) and an ogre (Vraska Okposo) to Trissa (/'trɪs.sa/) Dēlia (/'deː.li.a/) and Uarāska (/wa.'raːs.ka/) Ōkpōsō (/oːk.'poː.soː/), respectively. Would either Trissa's "i" or Uarāska's second "a" have the hidden long quality? While I'm at it, are the correct syllables stressed, even if I have the wrong "a" marked in Uaraska?

 

[tigrisomega121]

I'm going to recreate a character named Syael Snowpearl for the Salakian Empire setting, there by making her name Saela (/'sae̯.la/) Margarītaniuālis. Does her surname's pentult fall on margarīta's "rī," on niuālis' "uā," or somewhere else?

 

[Bitmap]

If it's one word, on ua

 

[Pacifica]

But I don't think it should be one word...

 

[tigrisomega121]

The thing is it'll appear to be two separate names when it should, clearly, be one name, if I put a space in between. Would a hyphen be an acceptable alternative to a space?

 

[Godmy]

I find it more difficult to answer to you and divine whether your English approximations (with the English phonology) are remotely correct or not than to send you a recording where it is pronounced correctly (and not with the English phonology)

P.S.: Trājānus or Gāja the first "a" is short, but the "j" is doubled. Just like in Mājus or e.g. mājor and all other intervocalic "j".

"Gn" preferably with the "g" being pronounced as a nasal velar stop.

 

[Godmy]

P.S.2: I reuploaded the recording due to "i" in "crispa" correction (I guess we all make mistakes).

 

[tigrisomega121]

According to Wikipedia, the classical Latin phonetics of Suetonius' full name were [ˈɡaː.ɪ.ʊs ˈswɛ.tɔn.jʊs traŋˈkᶣɪl.lʊs]. Yet, according to note seven on Wikipedia's pronunciation help table, the o may have been nasalized making the phonetics [ˈɡaː.ɪ.ʊs ˈswɛ.tõː.jʊs traŋˈkᶣɪl.lʊs] or [ˈɡaː.ɪ.ʊs swɛˈtõː.jʊs traŋˈkᶣɪl.lʊs]. The phonetic [j] seems to support the nasalization of the o because of Suetonius' syllabication as trisyllabic as opposed to the quadrisyllabic [swɛˈtɔ.nɪ.ʊs]. Following the note linked above, would I be wrong to have the Salakians nasalize the o in Suetonius/a? If not, would Suetonius' phonetics be [ˈswɛ.tõː.jʊs] or [swɛˈtõː.jʊs] Either way, would Suetonia's phonetics have been [swɛˈtɔ.nɪ.a], [ˈswɛ.tɔn.ja], [ˈswɛ.tõː.ja], or [swɛˈtõː.ja]?

 

[Bitmap]

According to Wikipedia, the classical Latin phonetics of Suetonius' full name were [ˈɡaː.ɪ.ʊs ˈswɛ.tɔn.jʊs traŋˈkᶣɪl.lʊs]. Yet, according to note seven on Wikipedia's pronunciation help table, the o may have been nasalized making the phonetics [ˈɡaː.ɪ.ʊs ˈswɛ.tõː.jʊs traŋˈkᶣɪl.lʊs] or [ˈɡaː.ɪ.ʊs swɛˈtõː.jʊs traŋˈkᶣɪl.lʊs]. The phonetic [j] seems to support the nasalization of the o because of Suetonius' syllabication as trisyllabic as opposed to the quadrisyllabic [swɛˈtɔ.nɪ.ʊs]. Following the note linked above, would I be wrong to have the Salakians nasalize the o in Suetonius/a? If not, would Suetonius' phonetics be [ˈswɛ.tõː.jʊs] or [swɛˈtõː.jʊs] Either way, would Suetonia's phonetics have been [swɛˈtɔ.nɪ.a], [ˈswɛ.tɔn.ja], [ˈswɛ.tõː.ja], or [swɛˈtõː.ja]?

The note says

In Classical Latin, the combination of a vowel and ⟨m⟩ at the end of a word, or a vowel and ⟨n⟩ before ⟨n⟩ or ⟨f⟩, represents a long nasal vowel.

I think that's a typo. At least it's not in line with what I know about classical pronunciation. The rule actually is that a vowel + <n> before <s> or <f> was nasalised, which gives you nasalised vowels in constans and confidere, but not in Suetonius

I also don't think the i would be a semi-vowel here. What makes you think Suetonius is trisyllabic? Words like that were usually quadrisyllabic ... a quick search in Horace:

Hor. carm. 4.9.17:
primusve Teucer // tela Cydonio

Alcaic hendecasyllable:
x - v - - // - v v - v x

 

[tigrisomega121]

Those are the phonetics listed in that article and, admittedly, they looked a bit strange to me, even with my limited knowledge of Latin. Thus, I wanted to double check them here because there's no pronunciation audio there, and the only word related to Suetonius on Wiktionary is the modern Suetonian, which is a very loose relationship at best.

 

[Iáson]

Those are the phonetics listed in that article and, admittedly, they looked a bit strange to me, even with my limited knowledge of Latin.

Vox Latina is probably a better source than Wikipedia.

 

[Pacifica]

Suetonius is quadrisyllabic, I think, as Bitmap said: sue-to-ni-us.

What Bitmap is saying is that it is sue-to-ni-us rather than sue-ton-jus.

 

[Godmy]

Oh, I see, I miscounted! Thanks for telling me I'll delete the post.