Let's pronounce "Genasi"

[Zustiur]

Rhymes with cow = 1[/COLOR]Thankyou for including that. You have no idea how close I came to snorting my drink due to the sudden fit of laughter. I was mildly amused when I saw it the first time. Seeing it quoted and counted in an 'official' tally almost had me on the floor.

I used to read it as Gensai, having not bothered to look at how it was spelt.
I now say jen-AH-see as it is spoken in our group. But I think I prefer jen-AH-sigh.

They occasionally confuse it with an Australian accent, but that's a monstrous accusation that results in painful and excruciating death for the hapless confused person.

Right. I'll try to note the differences.

It's easy. Kiwi's say Bro' when Aussies say Mate. And Kiwis get all embarrassed when they get caught saying "G'day" near an Aussie.

 

[Monte At Home]

jen-AH-see

This.

 

[Shemeska]

This.

And I think we have an answer.

 

[jbear]

When I encounter a non-English word in Roman Script I tend to default to using the kind of pronunciation we use for Romanized Japanese and Classical Latin (not to be confused with Ecclesiastical Latin).

Ge = "Geh," since there is no "soft" G in Classical Latin or Romanized Japanese (heck, the Romans didn't even have a "J," they just used "i" as a Consonant, making a "y-" sound in front of other vowels).

Note well that the Roman letters used to spell "Julius Caesar" are actually correctly pronounced - "Yoo-lee-us-Kigh-Sar" and written IULIUSCAESAR. You don't pronounce Cicero or Virgil as "Sissero" or "Verjil" either.

At any rate, what does this have to do with Genasi? Romanization. When you romanize a word that comes from a language that doesn't use Roman Characters (like Japanese), you shouldn't use "soft G" or "soft C" when you find the sounds of a "J" or "S." You are just aping the sounds of the native language into your own script, so you use the "pure" script rather than the exceptions.

Ergo, when I see a purely fabricated word in a fantasy setting I automatically assume it has been Romanized from whatever make-believe fantasy language it came from - and therefore there is no "Soft G" or "Soft C" to be had.

"Genasi" as a Romanization from another language would most likely be "Geh-Nah-See." "Genasi" as a mutated derivative of "Genie," however, would be completely different. Considering the Genasi-Genie-Djinn thing is muddled and tenuous at best in 4th Edition I'm just going with "Geh-Nah-See" until I see a definative pronunciation guide.

- Marty Lund

I'll put my vote in for [jén-aa-see]. I think that the root word (djinn or genie) gives the right clue. I'm not sure why you would romanise a word that seems to have arabic origins, but if its a question of taste then sweet as, but seems just as 'tenuous' if not more than the connection between djinn and genasi.

Also the word genesis springs to my mind when I think of Genasi. Something elemental, the building blocks of creation.

From a linguistic point of view without even trying to link its origins to the word djinn
gen- at the beginning of a word is always pronounced with a soft [dz] g:

gendarme
gender
gene, genealogical,genealogist etc.
general, generality,generalization, generalize etc
generation
generator
generic
generous, generosity
genesis
Genevese
genial, genialty,genially etc
genie
genital
genitor
genius
genocide, genocidal
genre
gent, gentleman, gently etc.
genuflect
genuine

I havent found one hard [g] g in any word beginning with (gen-) in the dictionary.
Its also interesting to note that the plural of genie can also be genii which again looks quite like the ending of genasi. So one genasi, two genasii? That's quite cool.

For an exotic variation of the word how about with a Spanish pronounceation?
[hen-aa-si]