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Help[Opinions] Re: How would you pronounce Lyra
in reply to a message by Luvbug86
In the His Dark Materials trilogy, Will is totally honest with impressive will power while Lyra is able to fib her way into and out of just about any situation, though she never uses her talent frivolously! So, given the messages in both their names, LIEra seems the only logical pronunciation; plus there is the beautiful association with the stringed instrument, in English 'lyre', and Lyra the somewhat harp-shaped constellation.
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Lyra has two correct pronunciations.
The first time I came across this name was with this book series. I wasn't certain how it was pronounced at the time, I'm not certain but I think I went with the LIE pronunciation in my head. In the movie it is pronounced LIE- rather than LEER-. You may be right about why he named them Will and Lyra, I never considered that. I'm pretty certain that the LIE- pronunciation is the most common in Britain and other English speaking places.
The constellation Lyra and the star systems Beta Lyrae are LEER- according to the Italian astronomer I met and worked with so I pronounce them that way.
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The first time I came across this name was with this book series. I wasn't certain how it was pronounced at the time, I'm not certain but I think I went with the LIE pronunciation in my head. In the movie it is pronounced LIE- rather than LEER-. You may be right about why he named them Will and Lyra, I never considered that. I'm pretty certain that the LIE- pronunciation is the most common in Britain and other English speaking places.
The constellation Lyra and the star systems Beta Lyrae are LEER- according to the Italian astronomer I met and worked with so I pronounce them that way.
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This message was edited 7/9/2018, 2:49 PM
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How can LIEra be the only logical pronunciation when "lyrical" is not pronounced LIErical?
It's not as if that book series invented the name/pronunciation.
It's not as if that book series invented the name/pronunciation.
This message was edited 7/8/2018, 2:57 AM
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Lyra mispronunciation? & honorary verse
I too would look at Lyra - and phonetically hear "Leera"; and I'll admit that I am not good with assuming an accurate pronunciation of words or names. When younger I pronounced the word precipice to rhyme with the word recipe: luckily the writings of the Good Lord Byron set me aright.
I add this quotation from Byron's Child Harold's Pilgrimage - which includes a natural pronunciation guide for the word 'precipice' - due to a recent news story of a heroic tragedy at a waterfall.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/07/06/girl-16-sacrifices-her-own-life-to-save-sister-on-waterfall.html
The roar of waters!—from the headlong height
Velino cleaves the wave-worn precipice;
The fall of waters! rapid as the light
The flashing mass foams shaking the abyss;
The hell of waters! where they howl and hiss,
And boil in endless torture; while the sweat
Of their great agony, wrung out from this
Their Phlegethon, curls round the rocks of jet
That gird the gulf around, in pitiless horror set,
And mounts in spray the skies, and thence again
Returns in an unceasing shower, which round,
With its unemptied cloud of gentle rain,
Is an eternal April to the ground,
Making it all one emerald. How profound
The gulf! and how the giant element
From rock to rock leaps with delirious bound,
Crushing the cliffs, which, downward worn and rent
With his fierce footsteps, yield in chasms a fearful vent
To the broad column which rolls on, and shows
More like the fountain of an infant sea
Torn from the womb of mountains by the throes
Of a new world, than only thus to be
Parent of rivers, which flow gushingly,
I too would look at Lyra - and phonetically hear "Leera"; and I'll admit that I am not good with assuming an accurate pronunciation of words or names. When younger I pronounced the word precipice to rhyme with the word recipe: luckily the writings of the Good Lord Byron set me aright.
I add this quotation from Byron's Child Harold's Pilgrimage - which includes a natural pronunciation guide for the word 'precipice' - due to a recent news story of a heroic tragedy at a waterfall.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/07/06/girl-16-sacrifices-her-own-life-to-save-sister-on-waterfall.html
The roar of waters!—from the headlong height
Velino cleaves the wave-worn precipice;
The fall of waters! rapid as the light
The flashing mass foams shaking the abyss;
The hell of waters! where they howl and hiss,
And boil in endless torture; while the sweat
Of their great agony, wrung out from this
Their Phlegethon, curls round the rocks of jet
That gird the gulf around, in pitiless horror set,
And mounts in spray the skies, and thence again
Returns in an unceasing shower, which round,
With its unemptied cloud of gentle rain,
Is an eternal April to the ground,
Making it all one emerald. How profound
The gulf! and how the giant element
From rock to rock leaps with delirious bound,
Crushing the cliffs, which, downward worn and rent
With his fierce footsteps, yield in chasms a fearful vent
To the broad column which rolls on, and shows
More like the fountain of an infant sea
Torn from the womb of mountains by the throes
Of a new world, than only thus to be
Parent of rivers, which flow gushingly,
This message was edited 7/8/2018, 12:37 PM
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