Dragaera

The pronunciation of "jhereg"

Wed Jan 5 20:24:36 PST 2005


On Wed, 5 Jan 2005, Mark A. Mandel wrote:

> Steve gives the pronunciation of "jhereg" with the stress on the second
> syllable (pronunciation guide in _Jhereg_;
> http://dragaera.info/encyclopedia/data/pg-test/#LETTERJ), but in the spell that
> Vlad uses to make his initial contact with Rocza it is evidently on the first
> syllable (http://www.speakeasy.org/~mamandel/filks/RoczasSong.html):
>
> Come to me, blood of my House. Join me, hunt with me, find me.
>
> Let the winds of Jungle's night
> Stay the hunter in her flight.
> Evening's breath to witch's mind
> Let our fates be intertwined.
> Jhereg! Do not pass me by!
> Show me where thy soul doth lie!


[lots of Dragaera erudition snipped]

Just wanted to note that (at least in English versification, esp. iambic)
it's common for the first foot to be reversed (Timothy Steele puts it at
upwards of 10% for iambic verse in _All The Fun's In How You Say A
Thing_); that before a caesura it's easier to have a metric variation;
that such a variation can show emphasis, a turn, a breath; and that I
probably prefer the poem with an iambic "Jhereg" - it adds a bit of drama.

Excellent line of thought in any case.