45 replies to this topic

[DrBloodmoney]

Is it 'master', 'mai-ster', 'maa-eh-stur'? Anybody know?

[redxavier]

I seem to recall that there was a So Spake Martin segment that indicated it was to be pronounced "may-ster". The audiobooks, although by no means definitive, follow this method and I believe it sounds the most natural (as opposed to a Latin-like "ae" as in formulae).

[Stark Raving Mad Wolf]

edxavier is right - I think it is "mayster" though I read it as "My-ster"

[Venustas]

"ae" in latin is pronunced "e", so i read it mester. but then agian, i dont know how much George is familiar with latin, or does it have any influence on his writing ...

[Lampmonster]

I always just read it as master. Why? Because it doesn't hurt my brain that way. :)

[Ran]

GRRM says "may-ster.

Edited by Ran, 26 August 2008 - 12:26 PM.

[Quoth]

Lampmonster, on Aug 26 2008, 13.18, said:

I always just read it as master. Why? Because it doesn't hurt my brain that way. :)

Ditto. My brain ignores all the spelling variations and reads 'em the way my brain expects they should sound. My poor brain has enough trouble keeping all the characters straight and where they are located when last we saw them. ;)

[Michael Jon Snow]

Venustas, on Aug 26 2008, 11.53, said:

"ae" in latin is pronunced "e", so i read it mester. but then agian, i dont know how much George is familiar with latin, or does it have any influence on his writing ...

Depending on the period, ae was also pronounced as a long i, and since that was the pronunciation I was taught in my Latin classes in HS, I read it as mI-ster.

And I believe George's pronunciation mAY-ster would have been the correct Latin vernacular of britton circa the 5th century.

[Turlough]

Thirded on "master". Mayster just sounds too cheesy.

[The Black Mamba of Dorne]

mayster is the American way of pronouncing it. Myster is the 'proper' English way. :P

[house of black and white]

i always read it as maYster, seems to make the most sense to me, and it doesn't sound all that bad.

[Lady Cheesevillage]

Stark Raving Mad Wolf, on Aug 26 2008, 07.19, said:

edxavier is right - I think it is "mayster" though I read it as "My-ster"

My head uses the long i as well.

[Coffee]

Lady Cheesevillage, on Aug 26 2008, 15.25, said:

My head uses the long i as well.

Same here. That's just what I've always thought of it as.

[untornguy]

I use the long I sound.

[Maester Yobjascz]

:sigh:

It's pronounced "maester"

Geez, how hard is that? :smug:

[El Regrs]

I pronounce it 'mayster' ever since playing FFX.

...not that I recall ever having heard the term before.

[Jon of the Hudson]

Maester Yobjascz, on Aug 26 2008, 18.00, said:

:sigh:

It's pronounced "maester"

Geez, how hard is that? :smug:

Ironically, in the Old English alphabet, "ae" (one letter) would be pronounced like the ordinary everyday 21st Century "master".

[Venustas]

Ran, on Aug 26 2008, 19.24, said:

GRRM says "may-ster.

God, i hate martin now... im pronouncin everything different ... :pirate:

[Tycho]

Venustas, on Aug 26 2008, 18.28, said:

God, i hate martin now... im pronouncin everything different ... :pirate:

well, he has also said, though im too lazy to find a direct quote, that you can pronounce just about anything any way you please. very rarely has he said a pronounciation was other than he intended, eg. petyr balish is pronounced peter not pet-yr.

i am in the long i camp as well.

[Wevets]

I too read it as "master" but always assumed it was pronounced as My-ster, since it is so close in spelling to maestro