(urth) Grand Unified Theory

[Dan'l Danehy-Oakes]

On Wed, Aug 25, 2010 at 9:16 AM, Ryan Dunn <ryan at liftingfaces.com> wrote:

> Is there any question about the following:
> 1. Typhon from BotNS is a name borrowed from Typhon of Greek myth, king of
> all monsters?

That seems to be a gimme.

> 2. Most modern readers will instinctively pronounce his name: TAY-fun

Really? I pronounced it TIE-fawn.

> 3. The proper pronunciation, however, is: TOO-fahn

I deeply mistrust anyone who claims to know how the ancients -- ANY
ancients -- pronounced things. Unless the Greeks left a text
(something like the opening movement of de Saussure's _Cours de
Linguistique Generale_) that actually describes the mouth and throat
movements involved in each letter, the most we have is a high
probability that, say, the kappa was pronounced like the modern
English kay. Was psyche pronounced SOO-kie? I don't know.

-- 
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes