how do you pronounce Caesar

Caesar


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The Latin/original pronunciation is Kaisar.
The German/retarded pronunciation is Kaisr.
The English pronunciation is Seezr.
The Spanish pronunciation is Sésar.

All but the English pronunciation have a 'hard r'.

One question, why do you consider the different German pronunciation more retarded than the English or Spanish pronunciation.:confused:
 
Actually the right way (the way he pronounced that) was something like Chesar
sweet c as in cheddar
e as in envelope
s as in estimate
a as in already
r as an arrotated r, I'm not sure there si an english word to represent that properly
 
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It originally said German/wannabe-original, then I edited it to say retarded.

So why do you consider that version to be retarded (and not the English or Spanish version)?

Because IMHO I don't see any difference, they all differ from the original pronunciation.
 
So why do you consider that version to be retarded (and not the English or Spanish version)?

Because IMHO I don't see any difference, they all differ from the original pronunciation.
Because it tries to be the original and fails.

Actually, just to irk the Dutch commentators on this thread.
 
If you say Yulius Kaisar, you sound like an idiot, though.
Wouldn't it be Iulius?
Actually the right way (the way he pronounced that) was something like Chesar
sweet c as in cheddar
e as in envelope
s as in estimate
a as in already
r as an arrotated r, I'm not sure there si an english word to represent that properly
Isn't that similar to the Italian pronounciation of Cesare (as in Borgia)?
 
I'd like to point out that "czar" should be "tsar", and not pronounced "zar". I studied Russian; it's a minor annoyance.

I have gotten funny looks using "Jenghis Khan".:)
 
It think it depends on if you mean Gaius Julius or Octavian, doesn't it?:confused::p

(BTW, I would say "ky sar", except then I'd always be explaining why.:rolleyes:)
 
Zuark/Zwark. With the 'a' being the sound of the Spanish 'a'; not like the 'a' in the English word 'war' or the 'a' in the English word 'cat'.
Huh. I've always assume the x in your username was supposed to be pronounced 'ch' like in Catalan.
 
Doesn't this whole topic ignore the twin facts that A - language evolves, and B - it is natural for words and names to be Anglicised when spoken in English? I mean, the logical extension of this discussion is that we should stop pronouncing all words as we currently do and revert to the original forms of language, simply because they were originally correct.
 
Doesn't this whole topic ignore the twin facts that A - language evolves, and B - it is natural for words and names to be Anglicised when spoken in English? I mean, the logical extension of this discussion is that we should stop pronouncing all words as we currently do and revert to the original forms of language, simply because they were originally correct.

I agree, but this applies to every language. That's why I annoyed Xwarq with my question.:cool:
 
Doesn't this whole topic ignore the twin facts that A - language evolves, and B - it is natural for words and names to be Anglicised when spoken in English? I mean, the logical extension of this discussion is that we should stop pronouncing all words as we currently do and revert to the original forms of language, simply because they were originally correct.

Yes.
Yes yes yes.

I've been trying not to respond to this thread, because it's irritating me. Specifically, the notion that there's an abstract "correct" way to say the name that's applicable across all languages and at all periods is irritating. But you're absolutely right. English-speaking people say, and have said for a long time, "SEE-z'r." Which means that pronunciation is correct in English.

Since I'm now participating in the thread, I'll add a couple of other things and then go away. :p

Someone made a point about pronouncing people's names the way they would have. I agree with that in general, but it's different and always has been for historical figures of that level of importance. Names that come up on a regular basis in languages that are foreign to the person whose name it is and centuries after the person lived are going to evolve, just like any other word does. And it's not just English that does this.

Someone else said Caesar would have pronounced the C like an English CH. I believe that's not correct. The letter C was always a K sound in Caesar's time. The development of the CH sound when K is followed by E or I (linguists call this palatalization) was later.

And I've said it before and will no doubt have occasion to say it again, but Dutch people and Swedes don't get to tell the English-speaking world that its English is wrong. Our native language is not your Esperanto. At least not yet.
 
Actually, while (correctly) the German title "Kaiser" is derived from "Caesar", in modern standard German, "Caesar" is pronounced as "Tsaezar", with the "ae" pronounced as an elongated open-mid front unrounded vowel.
 
When conversing with ancient Latin-speaking people, I always revert to Kysaar. How do you pronounce Julius? Hoolius, Yoolius or Julius?

How do you pronounce Picayune?
 
All hail for Hebrew- we pronounce it in the right way ("Kaisar", "קיסר"). In hebrew, it is also the word for every emperor. This is becasue Hebrew freezed in time during the Roman conquest of Judea. We pronoune it just like the Roman governors and the legionaries (and damm there were a lot, because of the many rebellions) pronounced it.

Edit: I don't know excatly how to write קיסר in English, so it may be "Kysaar" or "Keisar" as well. BTW- "Yoolius Kaisar" was his full name. in Hebrew.
 
I had a thought earlier today: Caesar is Latin, but ae isn't pronounced like "aye" in Latin AFAIK. Shouldn't the proper pronunciation actually be Keh-sar?
 
Cæsar’s name is properly and rightly rendered in the Classical Latin of his day as GAIVS IVLIVS CÆSAR (i.e. the late form j is not used, both because of its late appearance in the 16th century and because it is not pronounced differently from the i and y in Latin, while the differentiation between the v and the u is similarly of late appearance--in the 14th century--and would have been unrecognizable to a Latin speaker of Cæsar’s day). The antique prænomen form CAIVS is also attested and is effectively interchangeable, since in employs the ancient pronunciation of the letter c as g, as in English ‘goose’ as an adaptation of the Greek γ.

In regards to the proper Classical Latin pronunciation of CÆSAR, the c prior to the diphthong æ is properly pronounced like the hard English k, as the c in ‘cat’, or the k in ‘keep’. The diphthong æ is properly pronounced separately, i.e. with the a pronounced like the in the English ‘marble’ and the e of the diphthong is pronounced like the English stressed è, like the e in ‘bed’. The s, since it is preceded by a stressed e is pronounced like the z in ‘zebra’ not, as conventionally, like the s it ‘sit’, and the second a is again pronounced like the a in ‘marble’, and the r like r in r in the American English ‘roar’, thus the proper phonetic pronunciation is something akin to ‘kaè-zar’. Similarly, in the koinē Greek lingua franca of Cæsar’s day, his name was written as Καίσαρ, which properly transliterated as kaisar, with the Κ hard as as in ‘stick’, the diphthong αί as in ‘aisle’, the σ as in ‘sister’, the α as in ‘father’, and the ρ trilled like the Spanish r as in ‘rapido’. Note that this is very much a vexata quæstio, i.e., a disputed question. The diphthong æ is generally rendered more simply as in the English ‘eye’, but the above is, in this case, a more proper and accurate phonetic rendering, and is supported by comparison with the German kaiser.
 
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