How do *you* pronounce Dido?

[Dregor]

I personally pronounce it Dye-doh, but my friend just mentioned that it's pronounced Dee-doh in game. Is that actually accurate?

 

[merubhanot]

He's wrong. Check wikipedia

 

[medwynn]

Shakespeare had it rhyme with 'widow', so...

 

[pcoveney]

6 years of Latin, including translating the Aeneid (where Dido occupies a few books). You're right, your friends is mistaken.

 

[nefloyd]

In game, she says Dee-Doh.

Why are people saying his friend is mistaken? She clearly says it this way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uunBJbVfRVo

His friend is absolutely right. What you guys are actually saying is the voice actor *performed* it wrong (or even performed it right, but was given wrong information)

 

[Sporaticus]

With a redneck twang:

diyeeeeeeDO

 

[Cicerosaurus]

I usually pronounce it as "Bastard" when I am playing against her.

 

[AriochIV]

I usually pronounce it as "Bastard" when I am playing against her.

She is kind of a bastard.

 

[Naresh]

Die-doe. Like the singer

 

[Pouakai]

I say Dye-doh myself.

 

[Yzman]

Its the same as the singer, hence the achievement "No white flag here"

 

[Adjuvant]

Her name was Elishat.

Dido is the "Latinized" rendition of her title, "wanderer", which would have been pronounced, as closely as possible, "DEE-e-do"

 

[weregamer]

"Dee-doe" comes from the rules for pronouncing Latin and from the rules for transliterating Greek into Latin before pronouncing it in Latin.

The most likely source for "DYE-doe" is Anglicization of the name in the 1594 play by Marlowe (similar to the angilicization of "Montague" and "Capulet" in Shakespeare).

Since the language is a bit dead, and most of its contemporaries other than Latin and Greek didn't have symbols for vowels, the "real" answer is pretty much impossible to reach confidently. But I'd expect the Latin spelling of the name would probably try to be phonetically accurate, and the English long-I sound is, I think, not very common around the Mediterranean before much more recent times. So if I were a betting man my money would be on "DEE-doe".

 

[weregamer]

Her name was Elishat.

Dido is the "Latinized" rendition of her title, "wanderer", which would have been pronounced, as closely as possible, "DEE-e-do"

Ah, more depth than I had, I stand corrected. But given the word is in fact Latin, the correct pronunciation is definitely "DEE-do".

 

[AbenHumeya]

Her name was Elishat.

Dido is the "Latinized" rendition of her title, "wanderer", which would have been pronounced, as closely as possible, "DEE-e-do"

Not surprising considering both Carthage and Phoenicia are just Latin or Greek names for Qart-ḥadašt and the Kenaani.

 

[Xotite potancev]

Its the same as the singer, hence the achievement "No white flag here"

Still say its Pronunciation: /b*itch

And when we meet
Which I'm sure we will
All that was there
Will be there still
I wont let it pass
or hold my tongue
And you might think
That I've moved on....

You will go down on your ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
That will be my trebuchet upon your door
I'm at war and always will be

 

[Adjuvant]

Elishat and Pygmalion were the son and daughter of Mattan I, who was the son of Ba‘l-mazzer II. - Against Apion i.18

Ba‘l-mazzer II had a sister, Izável (Jezebel) who was a queen of Israel.- 1 Kings, 2 Kings

edit: after refreshing my memory with google, "Ba‘l-mazzer I" was incorrect, it was "Ba‘l-mazzer II". Ba‘l-mazzer I was the son of Hiram (2 Samuel 5:10-11)

 

[EulerMcE]

I had always said Dye-doh prior to hearing herself say 'Dee-do' which I've been saying since. Seems Dye-doh is the most common English pronunciation after all.

 

[Adjuvant]

Anglicized, I suppose it's "DYE-do". If you're speaking English you probably pronounce it this way.

The voice actress is also correct, because she's not speaking English.

 

[Barghaest]

Actually, I believe she preferred it pronounced "Shar-day"