Okay, I know how to pronouce Cthulhu. But can anyone give me the straight dope on how to pronounce some of the other common terms he flangs around? Also definitions, too. 'Cept for R’lyeh. I know what that is.
R’lyeh
wgah’nagl
fhtagn
mglw’nafh
Ph’nglu
Thanks!!
Correct pronunciation of those words is a nonissue for humans–they’re from antehuman languages, so humans are physiologically incapable of pronouncing them correctly.
If you’re a Mercotan, though, your mileage may vary.
Well, in Shoggoth on the roof, R’lyeh is pronouced “Ri-lay”. And fhtagn(which means “dreams”(as a verb), if I’m not mistaken) I’ve heard pronouced "fa(as in “father”)-ta(same father a sound)-gin(as in “begin” not "gin).
How about Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos? There’s gotta be, like, fifty ways to pronounce that.
Try pronouncing them as if you did not have a hard palate.
You sure about that? My friend, who is a huge Lovecraft fan (no, he doesn’t believe it.) told me that most people pronounce it as “Ca-thu-lu”, pronoucning the first vowel sound after the C and before the ‘th’ very lightly, since it’s not there and we have to put one in to get it to make a word. He said that’s wrong, and the right way, according to some notes by Lovecraft himself, is “Ca-hu-lu”. Again, the first vowel sound is barely pronounced, but this time no ‘t’. At least…I think that’s what he said.
Actually, this one’s easier than the others. Although he’s “The Crawling Chaos”, his first mention in the canon is that he appeared as “a priest in ancient Egypt”. An artist friend rendered him that way. Once you realize that, you see the similarity to Im-Ho-Tep (who was a historical character – a sacred architect – before they used the name in the 1932 movir The Mummy, and. I think, a play before that). So Nyarlathotep isn’t one o’them pre-human Names not Meant for Human Mouths, but a variant of an old Egyptian name, and the only real question is whether thayt “y” is supposed to be a consonant or a vowel.
Interesting. Most Lovecraft fans I know say that he pronounced it “Cloo-loo,” but that since it’s not supposed to be pronounceable by human tongues, pretty much anything goes. I hadn’t been bothered enough to dig up a cite one way or another, but quick Googling reveals at least one web site that supports this pronunciation. I have to admit that the “Ca-thu-lu” pronunciation is much more melodious, espcially when sung in A Very Scary Solstice.
It’s possible he said “Cloo-loo.” All I remember for sure is that he said it was not “Ca-thoo-loo,” even thoguh I think that sounds better.
Simple—rhymes with “gnr’wafh”.
Sorry. Someone had to do it. 
Did you know that besides mglw’nafh and gnr’wafh there is only one other word in the Old Ones tongue that ends in ‘afh’?
(Sorry. Somebody had to do it).
The word is ‘afh’, of course.
It’s an obsolete OldOneian unit of measure.
(Sorry, someone had to do it.)
(No, they didn’t, but I couldn’t resist.)
…
If you ever pronounced any of those correctly, your sanity would instantly be blasted into infinitesimal fragments and you’d be forced to spend the rest of your days hog-tied in the basement of a rat-infested snakepit insane asylum. Just FYI.
While most Cthulhu Mythos names are indeed phonetic conundra, it is fairly easy to pronounce Hast
I once read somewhere, though I cannot remember exactly, that when trying to pronounce these names as they should be (i.e. as Chthuhu himself might say them), it is best not to think about how exactly all the letters are supposed to sound. Because they’re words from alien species, it is best to try to think about how some animal, like a dog, for example, might try to say the same word.
As a result of reading this, whenever I read this Lovecraft-speak, I imagine a very canine pronounciation. It’s very throaty and bark-like with nothing similar to normal human cadence. This is actually kind of similar to the description of the way the townsfolk talk to one another in The Shadow over Innsmouth.
So, I’d say the best bet is just make up something that sounds creepy and alien.
I agree with this. The Deep Ones are an unholy mixture of batrachian, icthic, and human traits. Imagine you’re also part frog and part fish, how would you talk?
For the other names, what element or place is the entity associated with? Cthuga is a fire being. So, for me the C is hard and brief, the sound of flint and steel being struck. Thu is the rushing sound of the fire spreading rapidly. Ga is the sound of the flames growing and roaring as the fire sets in for a long steady burn.
Ithaqua is the sound of a gale demonstrating the Doppler effect as it passes.
The Taelons speaking their alien language on Earth-Final Conflict are a useful resource.
When pronouncing any Mythos word properly, the average person should have no idea what you’re saying and their attempts to write it down should get no closer than ‘Clool’ or ‘Ash Terr’
Azathoth and Hastur may look easy to pronounce. But, so does Gaelic.
And this would be different from my current situation how?
Thanks for the tips, all!
What, nobody’s got an audiobook to give us an authoritative answer?
Surely a Lovecraft audiobook would leave anyone who heard it a gibbering madman…
“The Necronomicon. Narrated by James Earl Jones.”
Dude, even if it were guaranteed to drive me insane, I’d pay good money to listen to that…