r/AskRomania • u/Current_Office_7101 • 17h ago
Writing a Romanian speaking character, pronunciation advice?
How would a Romanian (rather old) speaker end up pronouncing the name "Archimedes", would they have an easier time with a nickname like "Archie"? Im not looking to see if they can or can't, im just curious how it would sound if they tried!
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u/Which-Appearance9857 17h ago
Arhimede is in romanian. AR (like in car, army) - HI (like in him, his) - ME (like in melt, merry) - DE (like in dermatology)
No one would use Archie and there is no nickname for Arhimede.
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u/Street-Emu6562 17h ago
Never heard a Romanian called Arhimede (which would be the name in Romanian, the etymology is Greek).
You'd say Ar-hi-me-de, pronunciation is exactly as it is spelled.
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u/CommitteeAgitated302 15h ago
Am eu un vecin care îl cheamă Arhimede
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u/mehdir_94 17h ago
Ar-hee-mae-deh would be closest to what I can figure
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u/fallen380 17h ago
Mae would be pronounced as meh
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u/mehdir_94 16h ago
I figured that'd sound kinda weird assuming the character would have some forced english accent anyway
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u/pm_me_P_vs_NP_papers 17h ago
Based on their character, would they recognize the name as that of the philosopher? If they aren't proficient enough in English to just say the English name, they might just code switch and say the Romanian variant of the name "Arhimede" (ar-hee-MEH-deh, where the R is a trill)
Otherwise, Do they see it written and try to read it, or hear it and try to recreate? How advanced of an English speaker are they -- is it just a matter of a hypothetical accent, or also one of (un)familiarity with English phonotactics? These would bear quite some significance when thinking about how someone would mispronounce a foreign name
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u/Current_Office_7101 17h ago
What a wonderful insight! Thank you for your curiosity. The character is speaking Romanian and doesn't know any English and they are recreating the name from hearing it for the first time as it is the name of a contemporary.
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u/barneyaa 16h ago
Then yes, Archimedes, in english, not the greek, is pretty hard to pronounce. Archie would be easier if somebody would introduce the character to the nickname (he wouldn't be able to figure it out by himself). But, if the older romanian is an educated one, he would simply make jokes about the greek mathematician and just call him Ar-hee-meh-deh (the greek, and romanian name), and keep on making jokes, maybe just calling him Pi at one point cause arhimede is too long. I know I would nickname somebody called archimedes, Pi (π)
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u/Current_Office_7101 16h ago
Ill have to steal that nickname from you it a very good one XD
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u/neriad200 2h ago edited 2h ago
an elderly person with half a lobotomized brain would piece out "ar-chi-meh-diez" and quickly reach the romanian version of the name tbh
edit: romanian people don't really have much trouble pronouncing english or anglified names, they just put a heavily accented twist on it. you say archimedes like "arr-kai-mey-deez" they may say "arr-ki-meh-dess" (dess like in dress but without an r), but again, refer to main point
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u/ZealousidealComb7891 14h ago
Realistically, if he's hearing it for the 1st time, and doesn't ask for it to be repeated, and then doesn't practice saying it for a while, there's no way to tell what he'd hear.
I knew enough english to understand the plot of cartoons, but i still heard "Oh matchbox" when Ace of Base was on MTV (having a few of the toy cars likely influenced it).
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u/DocGerbill 16h ago
English has a hard time phonetizing the east European H sound, in Romania like Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria etc we would say Arhimede.
Archie wouldn't make sense as a short name either in Romanian or English because Archie is short for Archibald (notice both make the same ch sound as opposed to the Archimedes k sound). While in English the spelling is at least the same in Romanian adding the ch sound makes absolutely 0 sense.
I would say a Romanian shortening Archimedes would more likely be something along the lines of Mede or Medelu, but I don't really see anyone shortening Arhimede.
If your character presented himself as Archie, then the Romanian would pronounce that with a hard i at the end and write it Arci.
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u/TwentyNex 15h ago
This. As a short form of Arhimede, would most likely be "Mede". In my village, we had a person whose nickname was "Medeu" (with the stress on the "u"), but I don't know his real name.
In my region (north-western Romania), we often use the "-u" suffix when referring to someone in the third person.
Mădălin -> Mădălinu
Aurel -> Aurelu
Mede -> Medeu"Who drinkt pălinca?"
"Medeu""What is your name?"
"Mede"
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u/Longjumping-Slip-376 15h ago
It would be a lot easier for an elder to pronounce it the Romanian way: "Arhimede" (spoken as it is written) once they realize what name it is. The nickname "Archie" is dependent on an english pronunciation to sound good and it is not reflective of the way we put nicknames. The only people who would think to use that nickname would be english speaking gen Z-ers or millenials who spent a bit too much time in a corporate setting.
Even then, it would be cringe and reveal a lack of education.
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u/unusingur 16h ago
Romanians don't have a shortened name for Arhimede because it is the only individual we know with this name, so this is the only name we use for him. Coming up with a shortened name would make your fictional Romanian character feel inauthentic, unless it is made clear they use a short name as a joke.
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u/SHTRUDEL1 16h ago
It wouldn't be so natural fir an old Romanian person to say Archie, so the full name is better and yes it can be pronounced easily
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u/Platinum_Fae 15h ago
It would make more sense for a "rather old" guy to be called Ion/Gheorghe/Marin/Costel/Dan... definitely not Arhimede.
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u/ZealousidealComb7891 14h ago
Assuming he doesn't know who that is, and hears it right/makes the efort he'd likely say Archimidiz using romanian phonetics... no idea how to sound that out in english, though it should sound close.
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u/OkCheesecake5894 10h ago
He'd say it "Arkeemeedez" if he'd try to do it in english, but if he'd literally just say it in romanian it would be Arhimede (Arheemaydeh)
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u/BestSorbet6197 17h ago
It depends on your character. Is he educated? Would probably use the Romanian variant, Arhimede (Ar-hee-meh-deh). For your specific name, a simple older Romanian would read it Ar-kee-meh-des, phonetically. Archie would be a very tricky one for an older Romanian speaker. My grandpa would probably change it to an Arcuș haha or something that sounds more Romanian.
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u/Current_Office_7101 17h ago edited 16h ago
O? What is this Arcuș! And they would be educated but encountering the name for the first, time only hearing it.
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u/Longjumping-Slip-376 15h ago
Man, if they are really educated they know the name and it's variants already + who it belongs to originally. If they are moderatly educated, they still heard the name at least once even if they don't know the personality. Either way, they would revert to the romanian variant most likely. The "Arcuș" (Arcush) nikname would work best if the elder is somebody with a sense of humour. In free traslation, it means the stick of the violin (idk how it is called in english). It is completely unrelated to the name itself besides sounding closer to the english variant and that is the funny part:))
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u/ZealousidealComb7891 14h ago
Don't they teach it before high-school anymore ? So lower then moderately educated, just not the lowest (4 clase).
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u/Bodorocea 17h ago edited 17h ago
in Romanian the name is "Arhimede" and i see no reason any person, especially an elder would have issues pronouncing it
LE : using the nickname "Archie" would automatically imply that the person is somewhat fluent in English, and also that the person to whom he's talking to also is