Alright. My GM and fellow players pronounce Arbites as "ARR-bit-eez." Is that correct? Or is it "ARR-bites?" I've suddenly started doubting when I saw people posting "Arbite" as a singular noun... although admittedly, I don't know if it's valid in its singular form.

I've always said "Ar-bit-ezz" myself, with the single being an "Arbitrator" though I have some people in my group that said "Ar-bites" and call a member of that force an "arbite." As "arbitrate" is a word while "arb" is not I've liked my way better. It just sounds more regal in my opinion.

Arr-bit-eez would be the correct pronounciation in english. Although personally I try to go with how it would be said in latin with the pronounciation "Arr-beet-es". Where the "es" part is pronounced like in the word "Est" but without the "t" in the ending (like in "Terminus Est" or "Dominus Est")

I don't think "Arbite" would really be a correct singular form, but should rather be replaced with "Arbiter" or "Arbitrator" instead.

Varnius has it correct. Many of the terms in DH are patterned after a Latin sort of style (with some liberties I'm sure ). Though it's called High/Low Gothic... But then again it was the Visigoths (then later the Lombards) that changed the language around that area and affected the language as well. Hell, the Huns, Vandals and even the Franks affected it some.

Doh! But let me also allow for the fact that it is the 41st century and not the 4th or 5th so there could possibly be some phonetic changes. But it is my assumption that Varnius is correct. Also allowing for the fact that I'm no expert.

from france

as a french who suffered latin classes ... definetly arbites (es) and not ( ez).

Bear in mind that the original writers of WH40k were British. At the time they were going to school, Latin was quite common in British educational institutions. I'm 34 and I was one of the last to be taught latin in a comprehensive (state) school.

English latin classes were notorious for mispronouncing latin phrases. If you learned latin in an English school in the past 30 years, chances are that your latin accent is terrible. We seem to have a totally different pronounciation to the rest of the world, a sort of flat, dead inflection that baffles other European latin speakers.

I always saw High Gothic as a kind of cheerfully appalling British schoolboy latin, full of errors, mispronounciation etc etc. So in a sense it doesn't matter how it's pronounced, I think.

(but for my money, I go for Arr-BITE-eeez, which I acknowledge is probably wrong, I just like it!)

the 8 spider said:

To be fair though, if you're speaking english, it would be okay to pronounce the (ez) instead of (es). The english language does it all the time with, not only latin words, but greek and roman words and names as well. Like the greek name Kratos (yes I have God of War stuck in my mind ), would correctly be pronounced "Krey-toes" in english, but a person speaking old greek would probably say something like: "Kraa-tos" instead.

Some languages just seem to have inbuilt rules for pronounciation that also covers foreign words and names as well.

Not that I have any real academic knowledge of pronounciation, though I have a particular talent under my belt. Which is a certain knack for pronounciation of different languages even if I don't understand them. I actually passed my spanish classes with good grades in elementary/high school, without knowing much spanish at all after a few semesters. The teacher just loved my pronounciation as to reward me with good grades.

I've also been able to blabber stuff in japanese and having people tell me that I sound like a native born japanese person when I speak (without having the slightest clue what im actually saying). I guess im like a kroot that way, I can mimic the sound of languages quite well without actually knowing the exact meaning of them.

Also, I have to interject that my ability gets severely hampered by the french language. Mainly because reading words written in french is so goddamned hard to decipher due to all the redundant letters included in so many words of the french vocabulary. Not meant as an insult to you of course (8 spider), or any other native french person, but I do get a headache from your strange alphabet and generous usage of silent letters in words.

(Yes, im perfectly aware of the peculiar double standard here because im from sweden and we use three umlaut-letters in our alphabet that only a few scandinavic countries seem to use and would come off as very strange to non-scandinavian people )

from france

okay i am ill but i remenber my classe well enought to say this french in the midlles ages was the international language when latin slowly give ground to "new" national language. because is a spaniard, a italian and a french wants to speack french was chosen. it was the lingua franca of the time. italian is closer to latin than french but we do pronounce the same latin sound. granted we also have other influence but a "es" is a "es" in italy, spain and france.

oh my friend, no insult for me. the alphabet is the same in the latin word. but maybe you talk about "é" accent. and yes french is subtle. and i as said in a other topic it is a marvel for cursing. it was and still is a diplomatic language. anyone with a good mastery of it can use irony on someone whithout the same mastery and never be detected.

"Not meant as an insult to you of course (8 spider), or any other native french person, but I do get a headache from your strange alphabet and generous usage of silent letters in words. "

don't want a headhache?so i won't use a french oral language trick on you.

Back at Gamesday 2003, Jervis Jonson a well known Games Workshop developer/studio-person did the Specialist Games seminar. He pronounced it Are-bee-teys. There you are, from the horse's mouth, so to speak.

Look how diverse language and pronunciation is within a country or a continent let alone across a few billion people on the planet. Multiply that by millions of worlds and untold trillions of starships and orbital facilities scattered across the galaxy each with their own languages. Combine that with three dominant “common” languages, High Gothic, Low Gothic and Technica Lingua, influencing everyone. You also have many, many specialized sub dialects. Take your preference and run with it. No one persons pronunciation can really be wrong in 40K.

ItsUncertainWho said:

This ... exactly. For example, my fellow rednecks in Tennessee prefer "Ar-bites", while I, having some small schooling in Latin, prefer "Ar-beet-ays". So in my mind, 40,000 years in the future, with millions of worlds and billions of cultures, who can say what's the appropriate pronunciation?

I like to think that "Ar-bites" is Low Gothic, while "Ar-beet-ays" is High Gothic. JMHO.

Xisor said:

True, but then again, George Lucas calls lightsabers "LASER SWORDS"... so... yeah...

the 8 spider said:

I foud this post quite entertaining. I've only studied french for a few years, so I'm pretty sure I missed some of the finer tricks, but the use of "lingua franca" was very clever and the last line made me laugh and be worried I had missed something much nastier :-)

And I'm with Varnias on the pronounciation of ar-BEET-ess, specifically with a very "open" A, pronounced at the front top of the mouth, like the A-sound of "buy" (don't bend it into the i-sound) . And the ess sounds like the end of a brittish "guess". But I'm swedish as well, so that might be why it seems natural to me.

from france

still agonizing but i answer your post. the idea of guess to illustrate your point of vue is perfect. wants to try your oral french? trys this one. "la maire amere, ma mere, a été à la mer. it all sound the same you will notice but each word is differents *** means " the mayor my mother in a bitter mood was at the sea.

a litlle trick for irony? "une femme d'une certaine beauté" means a woman whose beauty is not realy apparent somewhat common. "une femme d'une beauté certaine" is a woman of striking beauty. so as i told you french is good for ironny. maybe high gothic proceed the same if it is the case than noble character may have fun.

this why for me high gothic/ low gothic is your native tongue for me. it just depends on your level of mastery of your language the other option is more difficult is to switch between language if you can one for low gothic and one for high gothic. and then aribites like guess for high gothic and like you want for low gothic.

Would it not depend on the accent of the world that you're on?

It may be High-Goth or Low-Goth. But even in English there are many, many different different accents.

I generally go for 'Are-Bites' though.

So, which of you pronounce Adeptus Astartes, 'Ah-Starts' or 'As-Tarts' Seems to me 'Ah-Star-Teez' sounds better. As does 'Ar-By-Teez'. IMHO

St Drusus' Bones said:

I pronounce it the same as with the Arbites.

I go with: Adeptus Arr-beet-es so Astartes would be Adeptus Astart-es (not "eez")

We pronounce it as the Adeptus uh-STAR-tays. Which I realize isn't consistent with AR-bit-eez, but oh well.

Xisor said:

GW personnel is not the best indicator. During one of our Games Days, where GW guys from UK were present, one of them ssaid many times: "BloodthRIster".

egalor said:

GW staff are one thing. Jervis Johnson, however, has been with GW ever since he invented Blood Bowl back in the 80s, and has been involved in the development of the 40k universe pretty much since the beginning. There are a few people who have worked on 40k who I would trust above all else to know what they're talking about - he's one of them. Andy Chambers (who pretty much wrote 3rd and 4th edition 40k, and contributed towards a hell of a lot besides), and Jes Goodwin (who pretty much defined the imagery of the Eldar, the Tyranids, the Space Marines and a good deal else) are the other two.