How do you pronounce 'melee?'

[Tallifer]

Yes, several online and physical dictionaries, as well as several years of French lessons.



In the original French, you'd stress the second syllable (making it "meh-LAY"). But in English accentuating either is acceptable. However, "mee-lee" is not, imho, acceptable. The first syllable varies from "meh" to "may" in English, but is never "mee".

And changing the pronunciation as jargon specifically for RPG use... that seems more than a little... silly and hubristic.

Get off your high horse. Do you pronounce Paris like a Frenchman or like the rest of the English speaking world?

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Get off your high horse. Do you pronounce Paris like a Frenchman or like the rest of the English speaking world?

Paris, Maine or Paris, France? I consider it generally polite to use the pronunciation preferred by the natives. Whether that is Paris or Appalachia.

The Auld Grump

*EDIT* And in response to the original question 'MAY-LAY'

 

[Theroc]

Me-lee drives me nuts. I'm not sure if the 'maylay' I pronounce is correct, but it's what my father raised me to say... used to have a friend who pronounced it me-lee. Really weird, since he was French Canadian... >.>

Anyways, I also usually say, "Coo day gra". The s sounds foreign to me, lol. Anyways, People can pronounce it however they want, so long as I'm not there to have my 'grammar nazi' senses tingle.

 

[pedr]

Get off your high horse. Do you pronounce Paris like a Frenchman or like the rest of the English speaking world?

I understand why 'Paris' is pronounced as if it were an English word by English-speakers and as if it were a French word by French speakers.

I'm intrigued why melee (which would probably be mee-lee if it were an English word) could come to be pronounced 'may-lay'. The most correct pronunciation is probably 'meh-lay' but I have no idea how 'may-lay' could have developed.

 

[Theroc]

I'm intrigued why melee (which would probably be mee-lee if it were an English word) could come to be pronounced 'may-lay'. The most correct pronunciation is probably 'meh-lay' but I have no idea how 'may-lay' could have developed.

melee 1648, from Fr. mêlée, from O.Fr. meslee "confused fight, mixture," from fem. pp. of mesler "to mix, mingle" (see meddle). See also medley.

Melee comes from a French word. So, it makes sense to me that it may have a more French pronunciation. Whether May-lay is correct French or English though, is something I can't answer with any true certainty besides my education. I also do not know the significance of the symbols above the 'melee' besides the 'Fr.' portion.

 

[pedr]

Melee comes from a French word. So, it makes sense to me that it may have a more French pronunciation. Whether May-lay is correct French or English though, is something I can't answer with any true certainty besides my education. I also do not know the significance of the symbols above the 'melee' besides the 'Fr.' portion.

I've copied Wikipedia's listing of a French pronunciation (in IPA) above - my reading of the IPA used suggests meh-LAY as the French pronunciation. Wikipedia - and the various English dictionaries I've seen - puts the stress on the first syllable in English and some cite MAY-lay (e.g. Webster) as the only pronunciation, some MUH-lay (e.g. Concise OED) and some both (Wikipedia, which puts MUH-lay first and MAY-lay second).

My question is: why would anyone ever start pronouncing it MAY-lay as we don't usually pronounce a single e as 'ay' unless we put an accent on it, in fact older sources may put a circumflex on that first e which really doesn't mean 'pronounce like ay' -- so where did it come from, for it to (appear to) become the standard American pronunciation. I'm not sure I've ever heard it from a British-English speaker - here it's pretty much always 'meh-lay'.

The diacritical marks in the French are: a circumflex on the first e and an acute accent on the second. The acute accent gives us the 'ay' sound; the use of circumflexes in French is complicated and - mainly - historical I think. I've linked to a Wikipedia article about it in an earlier post. Here it seems to clarify that the e should be short (as in 'bed').

 

[vectner]

Personally I say ME LEE. Although a large fight may be referenced as a May Lay, and it wouldn't sound dumb.

Lich = Litch

Mana = Man a

my 2cp

 

[Barcode]

Jethro Tull pronounces it meh-LAY in Thick as a Brick, and if Ian Anderson isn't an authoritative source for gamer pronounciation, then I don't know what is.

 

[Hadrian the Builder]

Paris, Maine or Paris, France? I consider it generally polite to use the pronunciation preferred by the natives. Whether that is Paris or Appalachia.

I say this only with good humor, but with a dash of truth:

Maine is not part of appalachia.

 

[Umbran]

Do you pronounce Paris like a Frenchman or like the rest of the English speaking world?

If I am speaking to a native speaker of French, then I pronounce it in the French fashion (if I am speaking about the capitol of France, that is). If speaking with a native English speaker, I'm more apt to use the English pronunciation. Or did you not see that I allowed for the English pronunciations?

I am not much for jargonization, in general. Unnecessary jargon gets in the way of real communication. That's not a high horse, that's a personal preference.