# How doe you pronounce GEAS? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 8, 2005, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-doe-you-pronounce-geas/298422 "2005-04-08T17:31:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-doe-you-pronounce-geas/298422/1 "2005-04-08T17:31:27Z")
I’ve checked the internet and gotten many contradictory pronunciations. > [@](#): > > A Geas (pronounced “GESCH”). . . > Geas (GESS). . . > I usually pronounce it Geezz. . . > choose to pronounce it gise rhymes with vise. . . > Geas = GEE-ass, or GYASS (both with a hard “g”). . . > geasarladh (geh-ahs-AHR-lahth): Someone trained in the use of geas. . . > i pronounce geas as gee ass. . . None of the online dictionaries list it. Wikipedia has no pronunciation. I’m beat. Does anyone have an official pronunciation? ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-doe-you-pronounce-geas/298422/2 "2005-04-08T17:46:32Z")
Our D&D group pronounced it “GUY-us”, but I (since I played the character with said geas) would always jokingly refer to it as the “Gay-ass”. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-doe-you-pronounce-geas/298422/3 "2005-04-08T17:59:58Z")
My group, also geeks, pronounced it “gay-us.” ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-doe-you-pronounce-geas/298422/4 "2005-04-08T18:06:24Z")
Me and my geeky RPG friends say “gay’ us” ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-doe-you-pronounce-geas/298422/5 "2005-04-08T18:22:06Z")
Is it an abbreviation for something? If so, I would probably pronounce it G-E-A-S. ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-doe-you-pronounce-geas/298422/6 "2005-04-08T18:27:03Z")
It’s a Gaelic word, I believe, so I’m hoping one of the dopers who speak Irish or Scots Gaelic will give us the definitive answer. I’ve always wanted to know myself. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-doe-you-pronounce-geas/298422/7 "2005-04-08T18:29:25Z")
My Irish/English dictionary makes it _gesh_, which corresponds to a discusion I saw regarding the word in a commentary on Irish myth. It might help, when looking it up, to spell it _geis_, which is the Irish spelling in the nominative singular. ([Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com) and [m-w.com](http://m-w.com) still do not recognize it, but you might stand a better chance with larger print dictionaries.) _Geasa_ is nominative plural while _geas_ is genitive plural. (I’m not sure which English-speaking author introduced the _geas_ spelling. I know that early in the 20th century James Branch Cabell was excoriated by some reviewer for “inventing” the word, but I do not recall which spelling he used–I think it was _geis_. It is still really rare in English outside fantasy literature or discussions of Irish literature.) ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-doe-you-pronounce-geas/298422/8 "2005-04-08T18:32:23Z")
[connery] I’ll take gay ass for $400, Trebek ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-doe-you-pronounce-geas/298422/9 "2005-04-08T18:36:16Z")
> [@](#): > > Is it an abbreviation for something? No. It is an Irish word roughly corresponding to taboo. It is an action that has been forbidden to a hero (usually) by some higher (divine?) power, usually used as a means to bring down the hero late in the story. For example, Cuchulain had a _geis_ that prohibited him from declining a stranger’s offer of food and a separate _geis_ that prohibited him from eating the flesh of a dog. So when his enemies got tired of him beating the snot out of them, they sent someone he did not know out to wait alongside the road, cooking a dog, and offering it to him as he passed. Whichever choice he made broke one of his _geasa_ and doomed him in the upcoming battle. (Possibly substitute “priest” for “stranger” in the previous tale; it has been a while since I read it and I probably have the details wrong.) ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-doe-you-pronounce-geas/298422/10 "2005-04-08T18:42:31Z")
[Random House Word Maven on GEIS](http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19990805) ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-doe-you-pronounce-geas/298422/11 "2005-04-08T20:17:18Z")
In Terry Pratchetts Discworld _Geas_ is pronounced _Geese_ At least, the jokes are only funny if you read them that way. It’s a running gag through several books. Nigel the Barbarian has a real problem explaining why he is on his quest. Si ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-doe-you-pronounce-geas/298422/12 "2005-04-10T20:39:12Z")
Looks like GESH is the original, root pronunciation, with various fantasy and D&D folks branching off from it in a multitude of ways. Thanks to everyone who contributed. I’ve been wondering about this for a long time.