I know it’s probably a dumb question but I’m not certain on the pronunciation of these names. I mean is it “mar-DUC” (as in ‘duck’) or “mar-DOO-c”, or “MAR-duc”?
There are a number of ancient god’s I’m not sure of the pronunciation of. I don’t suppose there’s a wonderful person out there who knows of a ‘pronunciation of ancient gods’ page or anything else that could help me, is there?
Can anyone help?
Actually, if I remember correctly, that book has a pronunciation guide at the front of if. Usually they’ve been translated phonetically.
And, even though nobody will get it…
WHAM!!
And no, my number is not 11.
I don’t know. I always assumed – for no good reason – that Marduk was pronounced “mar-DUKE” until I encountered a Larry Gonick comic in which a Babylonian was being carried away shouting “Marduk! Marduk! I’d rather worship Donald Duk!” (That particular panel no longer appears in his Cartoon History of the Universe, so maybe someone told him that it’s not pronounced that way. Or maybe he decided he was finally sick of the joke.)
As for “Nabu/Nebo”, I always assumed that the vowel was either short (as in “Nebuchadnezzer”, whose theophorus name actually includes the name of the god), or maybe it was pronounced “NAH-boo”. Again, no reason, it’s just the way I sound it out (influenced by the name of the Biblical king). The god’s name means “Prophet”, as in Middle Eastern “nabu”, plural “nabiim”, IIRC, which I pronounced the same way, even before I learned the names were related. Nabu, BTW, is relatively obscure, and is the god of writing, the scribe’s god, kinda like Thoth in Egypt. Like him, because he is the God of Writing, he is seen as Messenger of the Gods.
In a University class that I recently took, the prof. said “Mar-duke” and “Na-boo”…I suppose that she could have been wrong, but I’m inclined to think that she knew what she was talking about.
And here I thought Nabu was made up for Dr. Fate. Huh. The things we learn.
My teacher pronounced it mar-duuk. Like duke, but less… “ooo”.
Also, quick hijack, I love love love The Cartoon History of the Universe.
Thanks folks
mar-duuk (as in duke) seems to me the better choice. No real reason though. It just sounds better.
Is there a page or something somewhere that tells you how to pronounce things like other gods names, ancient cities etc?
Gosh, and I thought Naboo was a place in Star Wars…
Most of the folks I know from the Area of the Tigris and Euphrates speak Arabic, Farsi, or Turkish.
Perhaps, one day, we will find a copy of “Hooked on Phonics” from the Fertile Crescent.
Martin
Nebo, like the Biblical mountain? In Hebrew, it’s pronounced Nevo. When you see a b in Anglicized Hebrew, it’s often pronounced as a v in Hebrew. The two sounds are made by the same letter, and for some reason Bible translators just went whole-hog and transliterated them all as bs.
The Encyclopedia Mythica has begun adding pronunciation keys to its entries. It gives mah’ - duk as the pronunciation for Marduk. Nebo only shows up in a reference to Moses, with no pronunciation, and the “Nabo” version is not referenced, at all.
That Encyclopedia Mythica is pretty sweet. Thanks Tom!