# Pronouncing "Leonidas" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 22, 2007, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-leonidas/423610 "2007-10-22T19:35:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-leonidas/423610/1 "2007-10-22T19:35:59Z")
Either the heroic Spartan king, Confederate Gen. Leonidas Polk, or the Emperor of Humanity from _The Mote in God’s Eye_ etc. Would you say “Lee oh NYE das” or “Lee ON ah das”? I’ve heard both. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-leonidas/423610/2 "2007-10-22T20:25:54Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] Either the heroic Spartan king, Confederate Gen. Leonidas Polk, or the Emperor of Humanity from _The Mote in God’s Eye_ etc. Would you say “Lee oh NYE das” or “Lee ON ah das”? I’ve heard both. [/QUOTE] In Greek, λεωνίδας [le-ō-ní-das] would seem to have a rising pitch on the iota. Ancient Greek had no stress accent (or so my limited knowledge has led me to believe), but certainly if transplanted to ancient Athens an English-speaker would hear the syllable with rising pitch as the stressed syllable. So, Lay-own-EE-dahss. But if you’re going with conventional English pronunciation, all bets are off. Quite often American and British English have different pronunciations of Classical names. I’ve never heard Leonidas spoken but I would say “Lee-on-EYE-dahss.” ---
**Author:** ![ignis\_glaciesque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@ignis\_glaciesque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ignis_glaciesque)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2007, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-leonidas/423610/3 "2007-10-23T06:00:01Z")
I use, and have heard others use, the pronunciation “lee-o-NEE-das”. Sounds like sort of a compromise between the technically-correct “lay-o-NEE-das” and the silly-sounding “lee-o-NYE-das”. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2007, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-leonidas/423610/4 "2007-10-23T06:38:56Z")
General Polk was Lee-uh-NYE-das, however (just as General Beauregard sounded the final consonants on the ends of his name unlike his French grandparents). ---
**Author:** ![Crescend](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Crescend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crescend)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2007, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-leonidas/423610/5 "2007-10-23T08:24:33Z")
I pronounce it similarly to how “Leonid” is pronounced in Russian, so “Leo-NEE-dahs”. ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2007, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-leonidas/423610/6 "2007-10-23T19:57:19Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] General Polk was Lee-uh-NYE-das, however [/QUOTE] How do you know? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2007, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-leonidas/423610/7 "2007-10-23T20:26:22Z")
[QUOTE=WF Tomba] How do you know? [/QUOTE] It’s how it’s pronounced in the Ken Burns documentary, at the museums in Atlanta (where he died during the war), and in a recent debate I watched among Episocal ministers over gay ordination (Polk wasn’t gay to my knowledge, but the fact that he was a bishop who owned hundreds of slaves was mentioned when discussing morality). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2007, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-leonidas/423610/8 "2007-10-23T20:37:51Z")
> [@](#): > > Pronouncing “Leonidas” > > * * * > > Either the heroic Spartan king, Confederate Gen. Leonidas Polk, or the Emperor of Humanity from The Mote in God’s Eye etc. > > Would you say “Lee oh NYE das” or “Lee ON ah das”? I’ve heard both. Shame on you! Leaving out Leonidas W. Smiley (or Leonidas W. Greely, in the revised version) from Mark Twain’s seminal classic **The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County**. Just For the Record, on the recordings (I have more than one), the readers invariably pronounce this **Lee oh NYE das** , but I’ll bet the Spartan leader didn’t pronounce it that way. No big surprise. ---
**Author:** ![Zambini57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/4491bb/32.png) [@Zambini57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zambini57)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2007, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-leonidas/423610/9 "2007-10-23T21:49:19Z")
Do you know what I like about this thread so far? It’s that no one has jumped in, as usually happens, to state that you are all wrong, and that it’s pronounced “Lay-unhh-day-nay dee-hass”, or something like that, and he has been pronouncing it like that since the 4th grade, and that if YOU don’t pronounce it like that, then you are an ignorant wanker. ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2007, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-leonidas/423610/10 "2007-10-24T04:29:35Z")
If I were pronouncing the Greek, I’m not sure how much the stress on the iota would make a difference. It feels like a sort of strange place to put the accent - it feels much more natural to put in on the omega, but I double checked and wikipedia did get the accent right. I suspect it would come out as “leh-oh-nee-das” - still some emphasis, but a little more balanced. In English? Hmm. I think I’d say “Lee-oh-NYE-das”, but that’s totally subjective. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2007, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-leonidas/423610/11 "2007-10-24T04:45:12Z")
Dr. Drake had the Greek pronunciation nailed (it’s Lay-oh-NEE-das), but if we had to use Greek pronunciations in English, we’d also have to call Socrates “So-KRAH-tays,” and Plato "PLAH-to and Zeus “ZDAY-oos.” In English I think I’ve most often heard it as “Leo-NYE-dus.” ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2007, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-leonidas/423610/12 "2007-10-24T04:47:53Z")
[QUOTE=Helen’s Eidolon] If I were pronouncing the Greek, I’m not sure how much the stress on the iota would make a difference. It feels like a sort of strange place to put the accent - it feels much more natural to put in on the omega, but I double checked and wikipedia did get the accent right. [/quote] If the ultima is long, the accent goes on the penult. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2007, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-leonidas/423610/13 "2007-10-24T06:26:45Z")
Might I add, _Pronouncing Leonidas_ would be a great name for an arthouse movie. James McAvoy and Chloe Sevigny are attached with Sir Ian McKellen as Leonidas. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2007, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-leonidas/423610/14 "2007-10-24T19:10:05Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] Might I add, _Pronouncing Leonidas_ would be a great name for an arthouse movie… [/QUOTE] Or a band name!!! ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2007, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-leonidas/423610/15 "2007-10-24T19:14:17Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] Or a band name!!! [/QUOTE] But how would you pronounce it? (My vote: it’s spelled pronouncing Leonidas but pronounced Pronouncing Rafe.) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2007, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-leonidas/423610/16 "2007-10-24T19:22:03Z")
I should add that I know a woman named Leonida (no -s) who pronounces it “LeNEEda” (as an American would pronounce Lenita). ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2007, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronouncing-leonidas/423610/17 "2007-10-24T19:46:12Z")
Well, yeah, but there’s no particular reason why the ultima should be long in this case, as far as I’m aware - alphas can be either.