# In the HOBBIT movies, how were the names "Dain" and "Thrain" pronounced? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 26, 2015, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hobbit-movies-how-were-the-names-dain-and-thrain-pronounced/713697 "2015-02-26T19:25:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hobbit-movies-how-were-the-names-dain-and-thrain-pronounced/713697/1 "2015-02-26T19:25:02Z")
Assuming they were ever used, that is. I hated the first one and so haven’t seen it since it came out (and never saw the latter two). Anyway, were they pronounced to rhyme with “sane” or “sign”? ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hobbit-movies-how-were-the-names-dain-and-thrain-pronounced/713697/2 "2015-02-26T19:33:38Z")
sane ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hobbit-movies-how-were-the-names-dain-and-thrain-pronounced/713697/3 "2015-02-26T20:32:50Z")
Of course, the real pronunciation should be Dáin and Thráin–two syllables and pronounced more like “Day-in” and “Thray-in”. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hobbit-movies-how-were-the-names-dain-and-thrain-pronounced/713697/4 "2015-02-26T21:10:43Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Of course, the real pronunciation should be Dáin and Thráin–two syllables and pronounced more like “Day-in” and “Thray-in”. Seems to me that if Tolkien had meant the vowels to be pronounced as separate syllables rather than as a diphthong, he’d have placed a diaeresis rather than an acute accent over one of them. Of court, I can’t explain what the accent mark is for; it’s clearly not to indicate stress. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hobbit-movies-how-were-the-names-dain-and-thrain-pronounced/713697/5 "2015-02-26T22:12:05Z")
Did Tolkien give different rules for Dwarvish phonetics than for Elvish phonetics? I thought “A” was always supposed to be pronounced as in “father”, and “I” was always supposed to be pronounced as in “machine”. Making “AI” the equivalent of an English “long I”. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hobbit-movies-how-were-the-names-dain-and-thrain-pronounced/713697/6 "2015-02-26T22:25:14Z")
Oin and Gloin were pronounced as single syllables in the movie as well, rhyming with “coin.” But my memory of the Appendix is that they should be spoken as two syllables: Oh-In and Glo-In. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hobbit-movies-how-were-the-names-dain-and-thrain-pronounced/713697/7 "2015-02-26T23:05:03Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > Oin and Gloin were pronounced as single syllables in the movie as well, rhyming with “coin.” But my memory of the Appendix is that they should be spoken as two syllables: Oh-In and Glo-In. My memory is the reverse of yours; the digraphs oi and ai are pronounced like the diphthongs of coin and sign. But the appendices are about Elvish tongues rather than Dwarvish, and do no indicate how to pronounce kh, for instance. Moreover, according to the Appendix, terminal f should be voiced-- “of” rather than “off”–but nobody pronounces Gandalf like that. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hobbit-movies-how-were-the-names-dain-and-thrain-pronounced/713697/8 "2015-02-27T00:20:17Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > My memory is the reverse of yours; the digraphs oi and ai are pronounced like the diphthongs of coin and sign. But the appendices are about Elvish tongues rather than Dwarvish, and do no indicate how to pronounce kh, for instance. Moreover, according to the Appendix, terminal f should be voiced-- “of” rather than “off”–but nobody pronounces Gandalf like that. Well, I went through the appendix and couldn’t find it, so you could be right. Either I read it somewhere else, or I’m deeper into my dotage than I thought. Where’s my assistant, Grima?