(One of) Muh Speh-shul Interests
And but one reason why your audacious, AuDHD bug is an … ahem, acquired taste.
I’ve read that the actual pronunciation of Cthulhu is closer to “cuh- HLOO-loo” … with the T more like a silent, sharp exhalation, rather than “cuh-THOOL-hoo.” If this is the case (I’m still lazily googling it … I am no Mallory, the Demon-Slayer) then Yog-Sothoth would indeed sound like: “Yog-SUH-oth.” That said … the second TH might be an i-before-e-except-after-c sort of exception/exemption, or simply sloppy linguistics. Or … it could just be how things go, with ancient languages for Outer Gods and Elder Gods that very few living folks know how to pronounce or which are … unpronounceable for human mouths. Lovecraft, himself ,said some of the names more than one way, I’ve also read.
I DID find a short vid: “How to Pronounce Cthulhu? (CORRECTLY).” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=mUpCt5qUWqw) Which in no way proves anything I’ve said. And there’s the Lovecraft Wiki’s page on R’lyehian and its pronunciation (https://lovecraft.fandom.com/wiki/R%27lyehian). I also enter into evidence, the Wikipedia entry for “Cthulhu,” which is probably where I saw the blurb about the above pronunciation at least a decade ago:
“**Lovecraft transcribed the pronunciation of Cthulhu as Khlûl′-hloo, and said, “the first syllable pronounced gutturally and very thickly. The ‘u’ is about like that in ‘full’, and the first syllable is not unlike ‘klul’ in sound, hence the ‘h’ represents the guttural thickness”[5**] yielding something akin to /χ(ə)ʟʊʟˈluː/. S. T. Joshi points out, however, that Lovecraft gave different pronunciations on different occasions.[6] According to Lovecraft, this is merely the closest that the human vocal apparatus can come to reproducing the syllables of an alien language.[7] Cthulhu has also been spelled in many other ways, including Tulu, Katulu, and Kutulu.[8]
“Long after Lovecraft’s death, Chaosium stated in the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game: “we say it kuh-THOOL-hu” (/kəˈθuːluː/), even while noting that Lovecraft said it differently.[9] Others use the pronunciation Katulu or Kutulu or /kəˈtuːluː/.”
Asterisk emphasis is mine, lol. Also, apologies, if those are wanted, re: one of my enduring Special Interests, run infodump-amok. Mostly, I just try to get as close to what feels correct based on various names in the Yog-Sothery that I can already nail. With random exceptions because I, too, say: “Yawg-SOTH-oth” and “Nye-arr-LATH-o-tep” and “Cuh-THOOL-HOO” … FULL TH-sounds throughout 😁 Have a good one and thanks for the fun mini-rabbit hole!
“Y’ai ‘ng’ngah, Yog-Sothoth h’ee — l’geb f’ai throdog uaaah.”
So. Someone made a passing comment on a narrated creepypasta (great narrator and great story!) FIVE YEARS AGO … and I took a mini-vacation playing Pronunciation Sleuth. And I had a fucking BLAST at it!
And it was more restful than a full night’s sleep — well, than my usual full night of sleep. I’ve never had this much fun on any damn beach … mostly because I hate sand. DO YOU HEAR THAT EVERY BEACH I’VE EVER BEEN TO???
Anyway….
Fhtagn, folks!
Citations and resources:
· “I Can Swim” | CreepyPasta Storytime.” MrCreepypasta, Youtube. [33:00] James G Boswell of Disquietly.com Brings et another story featuring Lovecraftian themes and Demons. July 19, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OoVQ5uMMKA
· https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu_Mythos_deities#Yog-Sothoth
· https://lovecraft.fandom.com/wiki/R%27lyehian
· DuckDuckGo Images
Edited to add, for ish and giggles:
IT’S A LOREM IPSUM GENERATOR FOR CTHUVIAN (technically, it should be R’lyehian, but … I’m not stickler-enough to let THAT keep me from some fun)! Iä! Iä!
