Info for this post was taken from many sources, and some of it is copied or paraphrased. My primary sources:
Following the news that Cait Sith will be pronounced in the English version of the FF7 remake as “Kate Sihth”, I thought I’d explain the pronunciation a bunch of common Irish mythology that appears in video games. (“Cait Sith” is actually Scottish spelling; the modern Irish spelling is “Cat Sí”.) I don’t actually care how they pronounce it in the game. Transformations like “kot shee” into “kate sihth” are inevitable when two languages share a writing system but have different orthographies. Unless you convert the word into the new language’s orthography, people will mispronounce it. (I’m thankful we created the English word banshee, considering the Irish is spelled as bean sí.)
The final section of the post explains how to pronounce several Irish words and names that appear in video games. I looked all this up a while ago because I wanted to understand just how on earth Claíomh Solais (“light sword”) could be pronounced as “klee-əv SOLL-əsh”.1
Schwa
In IPA, the schwa is written as ə and it’s the same sound as in the word uh, in one of the two common pronunciations of the word a (the other rhyming with hay), or in one of the two common pronunciations of the word the (the other rhyming with see). In English, vowels are often replaced with ə if they’re not stressed. For example, I pronounce the word accredited as “ə-KRED-ə-təd”. The a, i, and second e all get the same pronunciation. The same thing happens in Irish; non-stressed, non-accented vowels usually become ə. Irish overwhelmingly accents the first syllable, but there are exceptions.
A schwa is sometimes pronounced in between two consonants even though it’s not written. This is an epenthetic or auxiliary vowel. This shows up in several letter combinations, but the only that come up below are lg and rg, pronounced “ləg” and “rəg”.
Long and short vowels
Acute accents designate vowels as long. These are:
í (like she)
é (like hay)
ú (like too)
ó (like no)
á (like awe)
There are a few combinations that are considered long vowels:
ae (like may)
eo (like bowl)
ao (like hay or she depending on dialect)
The short vowels are:
i (like in)
e (like fetch)
u (like put)
o (doesn’t quite exist in English. Try saying got and hold the vowel. Then try to change it into get. Irish o is like the sound in between the two.)
a (like father)
And a combination that’s treated as a short vowel:
ea (like cat)
Slender and broad
Irish differentiates between slender and broad pronunciations of letters. To understand the difference, try this: say the word foot. As you’re pronouncing the vowel, bring your tongue up in your mouth, so you’re pronouncing the word forward in your mouth. You should end up with something that sounds in between “fet” and “fate”. In this example, foot is a broad vowel sound and our imaginary second word is a slender vowel sound. The broad vowels are a, o, and u. The slender vowel sounds are e and i. The accented versions are in the same groups.
This works with consonants too. Try pronouncing the letter s, letting out the normal hissing sound. Then move your tongue up in the same way. It should transform it into the “sh” sound. The s sound is broad and the sh sound is slender. If you try the same thing with t and d, you should hear them morph into the English “ch” and “j” sounds. For the most part, the difference between slender and broad consonants is small and hard for English speakers to hear. But for d, s, and t it’s very apparent.
Vowels and vowel combinations function differently than English
Before and after a broad consonant, only a broad vowel is allowed. Before and after a slender consonant, only a slender vowel is allowed.2 So the nearby vowels determine the pronunciation of consonants.
Consider names like Seán and Sinéad. These start with the “sh” sound. This is because e and i are slender vowels, and the s must be slender as well.3 If you want a slender consonant sound, you can’t have a slender vowel on one side and a broad vowel on the other. This means a lot of words end up with vowels that are not pronounced, and exist only to clarify the pronunciation of the consonant next to them. For example, bailchríochnaitheoir is pronounced “BAL-khree-nə-hor”.
Phonological change with h
In English, the letter h can change the sound of the letter before it. These diagraphs are:
ch (church)
gh (one sound, one silent: enough, through)
ph (phone)
sh (shine)
th (two sounds: voiced as in this or voiceless as in thing)
The letter h has the same function in Irish, but there are many more diagraphs, and they might have different pronunciations depending on whether they’re slender or broad. The diagraphs it has in common with English do not usually share their English pronunciations. Ch is never pronounced like teach; sh is never pronounced like mash; th is never pronounced like that or teeth. The only one close to English pronunciation is ph.
bh and mh (broad): w
bh and mh (slender): v
ch (broad): This sound doesn’t exist in English. It’s in between an “h” and a “k” sound. Think German Bach, or Hebrew Chanukah or challah. Written in IPA as x, sometimes written in English as kh.
ch (slender): As above, but even closer to an “h” sound, like German ich.
dh and gh (broad): Doesn’t exist in English. Much like a voiced version of the broad ch above. Sometimes written in English as gh. Silent at the beginning of words.
dh and gh (slender): y
fh (broad and slender): silent
ph (broad): fw
ph (slender): fy
sh and th (broad and slender): h
Putting it together
We’ve left out quite a lot, but we now know everything we need to decode the two words I set out to understand, and many more besides: Claíomh Solais (“KLEE-əv SOLL-əsh”).
Claíomh: Cl is pronounced as “kl”, same as English claim. But unlike English claim, the aí is not a diphthong. Instead, the a shows that the l has its broad pronunciation, and the í is pronounced as in she. In some dialects, the final o adds a schwa. Regardless, it changes the mh to the broad sound of “w”. But because it’s at the word’s end, it comes out sounding like a “v” anyway. (It’s a “v” in which the teeth don’t touch the lips.) Hence: “KLEE-əv”.
Solais: Sol isn’t pronounced like English solo. That would have to be spelled sól. Instead, this makes that sound in between got and get. For the next a, it’s not stressed so it gets pronounced as ə. And the final i doesn’t create a diphthong with a. It’s just there to show the s is pronounced as “sh”. Hence: “SOLL-əsh”.
We can understand cat sí and bean sí as well. The í makes the sound like English me, and in the latter, the ea makes the sound like English cat. Since í is a slender vowel, it gives s the slender consonant sound of “sh”. Hence: “kot shee” and “ban shee”.
The part you actually care about
Here’s how to pronounce a collection of Irish mythology based items, characters, and creatures in various video games. (Shin Megami Tensei series contains a lot of these.) Note there are regional differences for each of these. But if you copy what I instruct here, you will be much closer than if you tried to read them based on English orthography.
Weapons:
Caladbolg/Caladcholg: “KAL-əd-bəll-əg” or “KAL-əd-khəll-əg”
Claíomh Solais (light sword): “KLEE-əv SOLL-əsh”
Dubthach Lance (modern Irish Dubhthach): “DUH-həkh”
Fragarach/Freagarthach: “FRAG-ər-əkh”4
Gáe Buidhe (modern Irish: Gáe Buí; yellow spear): “GAW-eh BOO-ee”
Gáe Bulg/Gáe Bolg (notched spear5): “GAW-eh BOLL-əg”
Gáe Dearg (red spear): “GAW-eh JAR-əg”
Móralltach: “MOE-rəl-təkh
Creatures/Races:
Aonbhar: “AIN-war”
Cat sí (fairy cat6): “kot shee”
Cù-sìth/Cù-sìdhe (fairy dog): “koo shee”
Each-uisce7: “Ach UH-shkə”
Fear Dearg8: “Far JAR-əg”
Fir Bolg: “fihr BOLL-əg”
Fomóire (modern Irish Fomóraigh): “fə-MORE-əgh”
Tuatha Dé Danann: “TOO-hə day DAHN-ən”
People/Gods:
Badb Catha/(modern Irish: Badhbh Catha; lit. battle crow, but she’s a goddess): “bive KA-ha”
Balor: “BAL-ər”
Brigid: “BRIH-gəd”
Chailleach Bhéara: “KAHL-əkh VEY-rə”
Clíodhna (modern Irish Clíona): “KLEE-nə”
Crom Cruach: “krom KROO-əkh”
Cú Chulainn: “koo KHULL-ən”
Dian Cécht: “JEE-ən keykht”
Étaín (modern Irish Éadaoin): “EY-deen”
Fionn mac Cumhaill: “FIN mə-KOO-əl”
Leannán sídhe: “LA-nawn shee”9
Lugh/(modern Irish: Lú): “loo”
Macha: “MAKH-ə”
Manannán mac Lir: “MAH-nə-nawn mac lihr”
Midir (modern Irish Midhir): “MIH-yər”
Mórrigan (modern Irish Mór-Ríoghain): “MOE-ree-ghən”
Nemain (modern Irish Neamhain)10: “NA-wən”
Nuada Airgetlám (modern Irish Nuadha Airgeadlámh): “NUE-ah-gə AR-gəd-lawv”
Scáthach: “SCAW-həkh”
Other:
Dunscaith/Dún Scáith: “dune skaw”
Geis (a tabooed behavior, similar to a curse): “gesh”
Samhain: “SAH-wən”
1 Depending on dialect, see here. Other pronunciations are “klev” and “klive”.
2 At least, following the spelling reforms of the late 1940s. Before then, this rule wasn’t consistent.
3 I had a coworker named Sean who jokingly trashed people named Shawn because their name was spelled wrong. But his name is spelled wrong too, if we’re insisting on the Irish rules. The name that sounds like Shawn is spelled Seán, because you need an accented a to get the “aw” sound. This is the Irish version of the name John. Séan would be pronounced like Shane, and is the origin of that name. Sean with no accent marks would sound like the English word sham with an n instead of an m. Shan. I wish I knew that back when I had the trash talking coworker.
4 Dance your cares away clap clap worries for another day!
5 Maybe. See the etymology section on Wikipedia.
6 More specifically, sí/sídhe means “mound” and the folklore is that supernatural beings lived under the mounds that dot the land.
7 In Final Fantasy 3 as Aughisky
8 In Final Fantasy 3 as Far Darrig
9 Difficult to write the pronunciation in an intuitive way, honestly. Listen here.
10 Spelled in Revelations: Persona as Nemhain, but this spelling is a blend of the old Irish Nemain and the reformed spelling Neamhain.