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eldin raigmore
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 Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 6:01 pm Post subject: Transcription Challenge: Cthulhu |
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Write
Cthulhu
in as many scripts as you can.
Natscripts:
Latin: Cthulhu
Greek:
Cyrillic:
Hebrew:
Arabic:
Hangul:
Tamil:
Conscripts:
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langover94
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| Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 9:44 pm Post subject: |
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I don't know how to pronounce that word...
But if I did I could translate it into Cyrillic.
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Hemicomputer
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| Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 4:20 am Post subject: |
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No one is sure how to pronounce Cthulhu, although "ka-THOO-loo" seems to be most common. It's supposed to be from an alien language that humans cannot possibly pronounce.
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eldin raigmore
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| Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 5:56 pm Post subject: |
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Greek: χθυλυ , maybe?
Cyrillic:
Хтулу ?
Цтулу ?
Хфулу ?
Should some letters be soft?
Хтулю ?
Anyone for Hebrew? Arabic? Hangul?
| Hemicomputer wrote: | | No one is sure how to pronounce Cthulhu, although "ka-THOO-loo" seems to be most common. It's supposed to be from an alien language that humans cannot possibly pronounce. |
What he said. Even Lovecraft himself didn't always pronounce it the same way. I get the impression it was about 50%-50% whether he'd pronounce it the same way twice in a row.
Also; some people don't spell it the same way every time, although Cthulhu seems to be the preferred spelling.
Do the "h"s mean "aspiration"? or "spirantization"? or "palatalization"? or "nasalization"? Maybe it depends on the language?; aspiration for Greek?, spirantization for English?, palatalization for Portuguese?, nasalization for something else ...? Or maybe it's palatalization for Khmer and nasalization for Portuguese?
And there's a lot of variation about where the h's go.
Essentially, in languages that use the "C", it's something like
C(h)t(h)u(h)l(h)u(h). Usually there are at least two h's and not more than three, and not all of them are equally likely; for instance a final <uh> is uncommon, and both h's around the <l> (that is, <hlh>) are uncommon.
But some European translators say "Ktulu". And again, if a language doesn't use the <C> but does use the <K> and the <h>, the <h>'s can show up various places.
Some "disciples" of Lovecraft have written stories in which his characters have "disciples" of their own; and some of these write "Kutlu".
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StrangeMagic
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| Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 8:54 pm Post subject: |
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가두루 - ka du ru
May be what it is in Korean. |
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Tolkien_Freak
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| Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 10:11 pm Post subject: |
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| In Japanese it might be カスール (kasuuru) or カツール (katsuuru), depending on what the <h> means. |
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eldin raigmore
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| Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 7:57 pm Post subject: |
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| Tolkien_Freak wrote: | | In Japanese it might be カスール (kasuuru) or カツール (katsuuru), depending on what the <h> means. |
| StrangeMagic wrote: | 가두루 - ka du ru
May be what it is in Korean. |
Thanks, T_F and S.M.
| langover94 wrote: | I don't know how to pronounce that word...
But if I did I could translate it into Cyrillic. |
Care to give it another try?
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langover94
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| Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 12:03 am Post subject: |
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| langover94 wrote: | I don't know how to pronounce that word...
But if I did I could translate it into Cyrillic. |
| Quote: | | Care to give it another try? |
Well, the closest translation that I can think of is:
Ктулху
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Tolkien_Freak
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| Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 1:49 am Post subject: |
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| Tolkien_Freak wrote: | | In Japanese it might be カスール (kasuuru) or カツール (katsuuru), depending on what the <h> means. |
 I'm stupid. It should be either クスール or クツール. (ku instead of ka) |
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Serali
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| Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 11:29 am Post subject: |
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Well in Käläli it's "Thulu" since there's no such consonant cluster. I'll show you in the script later. S.M beat me to it in Korean. I shall make you pay! MUAHAHAHAHA! 
Beware.........
.........they're......
........coming..........
....to......
.............get......
..................................YOU!
.......BOINGIES!!!!.......
 You'd better run now SM!
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eldin raigmore
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| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 7:52 pm Post subject: |
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Good. Thanks.
| Serali wrote: | | Well in Käläli it's "Thulu" since there's no such consonant cluster. |
If it's the cluster it doesn't have, but it does have the consonants that make the cluster (and just doesn't allow them to come together), then most languages would handle it by inserting an epenthetic something, for instance a vowel, typically either a schwa or a /u/. That is, [kta hu lu] or [ka thu lu] would be much commoner ways to handle this, than /Thulu/.
But maybe you meant it doesn't have the consonant /K/? Obviously you couldn't have meant that, or how would Käläli-speakers pronounce the name of their language?
Just dropping the K is indeed an option; but there are others as well.
For instance:
Could you replace it with a voiced velar plosive? (a [g]?)
A mute velar fricative ([x]) or affricate?
Or a mute palatal plosive or a mute uvular plosive [q]?
(I can't remember how to write a mute velar affricate or a mute palatal plosive. And I may have guessed wrong on the ones I thought I did remember!)
| Serali wrote: | | I'll show you in the script later. |
Look forward to it!
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Serali
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| Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 2:40 am Post subject: |
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Thanks for that one! I changed it to Kathulu. Oh and here it is in the script:
Cthulu In Käläli
It's way to big to put on here so I don't want stretch out the board.
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eldin raigmore
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| Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 7:48 pm Post subject: |
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| Serali wrote: | Thanks for that one! I changed it to Kathulu. Oh and here it is in the script:
Cthulu In Käläli
It's way to big to put on here so I don't want stretch out the board.
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I like it.
BTW Cthulu is a proper name; I don't know if "he" comes in plurals.
Maybe it's a family name and we mortal, one-planet, one-universe mayflies who don't live even a whole eon, just didn't know that.
"Dear, are we going to the Cthulus' party tonight?"
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Serali
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| Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 12:06 am Post subject: |
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Hehehe! Since Cthulu is the name of a made up creature it's a noun so you would use -zë.
Still working on the other one.
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eldin raigmore
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| Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 5:34 pm Post subject: |
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I don't know whether Käläli has schwas; if it does, you might get
[k@ thu lu] or [k@ Tu lu] (do you have [T]?) instead of [ka thu lu].
And if it doesn't, you might get [ku thu lu], since all the other vowels in the name are /u/.
IMO those are probably likelier strategies cross-linguistically than inserting an epenthetic vowel other than a schwa or a harmonizing vowel.
But what the hey, even dropping one of the segments is attested.
-------------------
This probably belongs on another forum here, or at least another thread, but:
Q: "Dear, are we going to the party at the Cthulus' house in R'lyeh tonight?"
A: "In their dreams, maybe! That bastard Cthulu is dead to me now!"
Q: "What did he say when you were showing your slides about the mountains of Antarctica that made you so mad?"
A: "It's not that. He kept lurking about, and his shadow kept blocking what I was trying to show."
(etc.)
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Serali
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| Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 7:05 pm Post subject: |
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No Käläli doest have "ə".
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eldin raigmore
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| Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 8:29 pm Post subject: |
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| Serali wrote: | | No Käläli doesn't have "ə". |
An excellent reason not to use one in transcribing "Cthulhu" to Käläli.
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dusepo
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| Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 8:49 pm Post subject: |
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Retfon:
kathōlō (ka-thoo-loo) / kotalō (kot-a-loo)
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Hemicomputer
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| Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 10:09 pm Post subject: |
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Possible transcripts in Holxûs:
Kthüllü
Kuthüllü
Kthülxü
Kuthülxü
The first one is how I would pronounce it, but the others are just as likely.
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eldin raigmore
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| Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 7:10 pm Post subject: |
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| dusepo wrote: | Retfon:
kathōlō (ka-thoo-loo) / kotalō (kot-a-loo) |
| Hemicomputer wrote: | Possible transcripts in Holxûs:
Kthüllü
Kuthüllü
Kthülxü
Kuthülxü
The first one is how I would pronounce it, but the others are just as likely. |
To me, this one appears likeliest.
--------------------------
But those are pronunciations. (Or romanizations?)
How would you actually write it in Retfon and Holxûs?
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