Talk:Sláine (character)

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Pronunciation

I notice someone's changed the pronunciation of "Sláine" back from my effort ("Slahn-yeh") to "Slawin-uh". Aside from being clumsy and difficult to understand what pronunciation is actually intended (Sla-win or slaw-in?) I just think it's wrong. The i is there to keep the n slender and wouldn't be pronounced, any more than the o in Fionn which is there to keep the n broad. I think "ah" is a better way of representing the sound of á than "aw". And "Slawin-uh" also doesn't represent the slenderness of the n in any way. Comments from any wikipedians who know Irish?

Nicknack009

Hi Nicknack009

I'm an Irish speaker and I go with your "Slahn-yeh", much better than the other option.

Daithimac

Its pronounced slain, as in dead, this may be historically incorrect but thats how its said in the comic.

Whilst the majority of readers may well have pronounced the name 'slain', as per the English pronunciation of those letters, the name is definitely correctly pronounced 'Slahn-yeh'. I was told this by an Irish reader once. In fact, if I remember rightly, there was an issue that carried a guide to the pronunciation of some of the names in the strip, including Niamh ('Neeve', I think), and Mebd (can't remember, maybe 'Meeve' :)). LSmok3 00:34, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

Just as a point of reference, you can hear series creator Pat Mills pronounce it as "slain" in a podcast dated 2010-12-12 (9 mins in). 94.195.194.71 (talk) 12:15, 20 December 2010 (UTC)

• {However, Pat Mills is (to say the least) a bit “public school” in his speech. He might not be the best guide to pronunciation of a Gaelic name - regardless of his hair colour and first name! ;) }* — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.135.129.252 (talk) 13:48, 9 April 2018 (UTC)

Note from another Irish reader, Medb = 'Mayv'

I was told (by a person brought up speaking Irish Gaelic) that the correct pronunciation is more like Shlawn-ah or Shlawn-eh (or to borrow from Germanic: Shlön-eh... more of an eww than an aww.

I've always read it as that since. It's absolutely not "SLAIN" that's just American laziness 😉 Bizenya (talk) 08:13, 14 February 2020 (UTC)

It’s Slaw-nyuh folks, take that from an Irish person. It’s the accent over the ‘á’ that creates this pronunciation, otherwise it would be Slain/Slane. Another example of this would be the difference between the Irish name Seán and the Irish word sean, meaning old. The former because of the accent over the ‘á’ is pronounced (and sometimes even spelled by non Irish) Shawn or Shaun. The latter word sean without the accent over the ‘a’ is pronounced shan. IrishGuy 11:19, 11 May 2022 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.64.72.113 (talk)

The pronunciation was covered in a specific letters page in 2000ad itself. I forget what the definitive answer was, but ISTR that it was along the lines of "Shlawn-ay". I'll try to remember the prog number and look it up. I'm pretty sure that when Mills created Slaine he never expected so much furore over the pronunciation. It's not like it's "Slade", but "S-L-A-Y-E-D." to you. Chaheel Riens (talk) 14:37, 11 May 2022 (UTC)

There’s really only one question here and that’s why Irish and British people have different pronunciations for this character’s name. I’ve given you the authentic pronunciation of the Irish name ‘Sláine’, if you decide not to accept that information, that’s your prerogative. As it happens, I do think it’s fairly obvious that Mills intended the character’s name to be pronounced ‘Slain’. Unfortunately he undermined that intention by including the accent above the ‘a’. Maybe he just wasn’t aware of its significance and meaning, maybe he just didn’t care? Either way, perhaps he should have made more of an effort to understand/respect the culture that he was mining for his stories and financial gain? But that’s a whole other debate. IrishGuy 10:16, 21 May 2022 (UTC) 51.37.3.109 (talk) 09:18, 21 May 2022 (UTC)

I'd forgotten about this - I still mean to look for the letter (and response) that appeared in Tharg's Nerve Centre. However, one thing of interest is that I'm also currently listening to Pat Mills' "Be Pure, Be Vigilant, Behave" audiobook read by Mills himself. He consistently refers to Sláine as "Slain" - as in bereft of life. So regardless of Tharg, the Irish or the British, creator Mills considers the pronunciation to be simply "Slain". Chaheel Riens (talk) 16:31, 21 May 2022 (UTC)