Faerun vs. Faerûn

Desdichado · Jul 27, 2005

Faerun vs. Faerûn

Is there any significance to the ^ over the u in Faerûn? Is it supposed to be pronounced differently than Faerun would be? Or is it just an attempt to "look all fantasy" and all that?

clark411 · Jul 27, 2005

I figured it changed the sound of the name from "Fay-run" to "Fay-rune." If not, I'll go with the squiggles = fantasy theory.

Deadguy · Jul 27, 2005

I agree - I have always understood that the caret served to make the pronunciation fay-ROON, i.e. with a long U and with the stress on the second syllable. Certainly all the FR gamers I know pronounce it that way.

Mean Eyed Cat · Jul 27, 2005

Deadguy said:
I agree - I have always understood that the caret served to make the pronunciation fay-ROON, i.e. with a long U and with the stress on the second syllable. Certainly all the FR gamers I know pronounce it that way.

Yeah, my son has the Forgotten Realms PS2 game Demon Stone and it's narrated by Patrick Stewart. In the game, Mr. Stewart pronounces it "fay-ROON."

Desdichado · Jul 27, 2005

I'm I the only one who would have pronounced Faerun that way already without the circumflex?

EDIT: By "that way" I mean FAYE-roon. Years ago, looking at it I would have pronounced it more like FIE-roon, but I've since re-adapted to American English standards a bit.

Mean Eyed Cat · Jul 27, 2005

Joshua Dyal said:
I'm I the only one who would have pronounced Faerun that way already without the circumflex?

I don't know - After Forgotten Realms came out, my friends and I pronounced it "fay-run." Finally, we were told to pronouce it the other way. Sometimes I still catch myself. Mostly I blame the education system in Idaho

Desdichado · Jul 27, 2005

Mean Eyed Cat said:
I don't know - After Forgotten Realms came out, my friends and I pronounced it "fay-run." Finally, we were told to pronouce it the other way. Sometimes I still catch myself. Mostly I blame the education system in Idaho

It's probably me having studied Spanish, Russian and a bit of German, not to mention linguistics. I tend to pronounce lots of words differently than most other Americans would anymore. It was really bad when I first came back from living in Argentina, but I've never lost the habit. Frankly, I don't want to.

But I wonder, especially with fantasy names, if I don't end up pronouncing things differently than the author intended or than most other readers would.

SHARK · Jul 27, 2005

Greetings!

Hey there Joshua! Yeah, I'd say it is proper to say "Faye-Rune" as opposed to "Fay-Run".

I have studied Latin, as well as reading so many works in proper English that it has even changed the way I spell words. I routinely spell armour and valour as such, instead of dropping the u for example. Strange, huh?

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK