The Band Name Pronunciation Thread

[Zaqarbal]

Originally Posted by Dayvan Cowboy

How would one pronounce Tera Melos?

Just pronounce the two E's like in lemon. BTW, it means monstrous music or marvelous music in Ancient Greek:

• TERA: It means monster and also marvel. That is, something uncommon in both cases. I guess the guys wanted to make that pun because of the kind of music they play.
• MELOS: It means music. For instance, in Spanish we have a word to say music lover: melómano (or melómana if it is a woman), from Greek melos + mania (that is, something like music-maniac).

EDIT: Ops! I forgot this: The word melody comes from the Greek melos too.

[Dayvan Cowboy]

ah, that makes sense. I was trying to explain math rock to my friend and I wanted to mention Tera Melos but I didn't want to pronounce it wrong in front of some indie kids.

[Seltzer]

I'd guess that Tera Melos is based on the Spanish melos because IIRC, the Greek melos means poetic order. From that we derive melody = melos (poetic order, i.e. the lyrical component of music) + ote (song).

I actually discovered Patagonian Rats today and it's definitely one of the better albums I've heard from this year.

[Turquoise_Days]

Originally Posted by sidewinder

Yeah you're not the first to want to pronounce it in a French way. That's how I always say it in my head. (see first page also).

Ahhh... well, having the sort order for messages set to newest first in my users preferences obviously wasn't the best way to go.... :-)

[Zaqarbal]

Originally Posted by Seltzer

I'd guess that Tera Melos is based on the Spanish melos because IIRC, the Greek melos means poetic order. From that we derive melody = melos (poetic order, i.e. the lyrical component of music) + ote (song).

Ultimately, it all comes from Greek. Melos means music (or chant accompanied by music), and meloidia, singing or chanting. Both Greek words have the same root.

Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon,

Then, from Greek to Latin, and from Latin to Neo-Latin languages (Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, etc.) as an affix to form words. Because the Spanish word for music is música, which ultimately comes from (art of the) muses (as it happens in Italian, French, English and many other languages).

[Janszoon]

Ok, I have two more for this thread:

1. Pere Ubu. I have never known how to pronounce the first word in that band's name. I always just get by with sort of mumbling it but I'd love to know how it's really supposed to be pronounced.

2. Sun Ra. Everyone I've ever heard pronounce this has said it as "sun rah" except, and this is a very big exception, on this on live album of his that I have it sounds distinctly like one of his band members is addressing him as "sun ray". And I may be wrong here, but I think the Egyptian god Ra is pronounced "ray" even though, again, everyone always seems to pronounce it "rah".

[dankrsta]

Pere - I pronounce it just as it is written. I don't know how to write it down though. Maybe like pay-ray? (or peh-reh, ugh not sure about this) But I've heard people pronounce it like 'pair'. I was never sure what's right.

And I've never heard the Egyptian god Ra be pronounced as anything other than 'rah'. Well, I'm not 100% sure, but at least that's how it's pronounced in my language. But maybe there are more versions of that word.

[Janszoon]

Originally Posted by dankrsta

Pere - I pronounce it just as it is written. I don't know how to write it down though. Maybe like pay-ray? (or peh-reh, ugh not sure about this) But I've heard people pronounce it like 'pair'. I was never sure what's right.

I think I usually sort of pronounce it "peh-reh" so I guess that means I've been doing it right.

Originally Posted by dankrsta

And I've never heard the Egyptian god Ra be pronounced as anything other than 'rah'. Well, I'm not 100% sure, but at least that's how it's pronounced in my language. But maybe there are more versions of that word.

It looks like Merriam-Webster agrees with you that it's "rah" as far as the god goes. I'm still curious about Sun Ra though. Is it pronounced like the god for him too?

[Husky McDump]

royksopp = ?????

and "!!!" is the sound "Chick, Chick, Chick," like the sound of someone palm muting guitar strings. *chick chick chick*

heh

[FETCHER.]

Easyish ones, but "tiga" and "shinichi osawa" always make me doubt myself I say the first like tie-ga and the second like shin-eachy os-ah-wa? Am I right?