mispronounced wonders

[dante alighieri]

I was watching "Digging for the truth" this weekend and the episode featured Chichen Itza. I'vwe been aware for a long time that I couldn't pronounce it because until I watched this show I had never heard it pronounced. In my mind i just called it "Chicken Ittza". (it always made me want buffalo wings when I thought about it too).

The same with the hagia sophia. I know its not pronounced "Hagg-ia", but my mind says it that way. At least I actually know that my pronunciation is wrong. I've always wanted to see those places so it's in my best interest to learn how to say it.

Anyone else have that happen or is it just my warped mind?

 

[Swedishguy]

I am ALWAYS gramatically correct!

 

[Daddy-O]

Thank you for bringing this up. When thinking of the sacrifices of Chicken Ittza I often have the image of El Grande Vampiro Pollo tearing at human flesh. I always wondered why no one made a movie about this. It would be great! Just think of the Conquistadors fighting El Grande Vampiro Pollo while trying to tame the savages.

But now it seems that I was a bit confused.

 

[jesusin]

And not only wonders. Since when is Moctezuma called Montezuma?

 

[Swedishguy]

And not only wonders. Since when is Moctezuma called Montezuma?

Surely you mean Moctechuzoma?

 

[Lord_Iggy]

They're two different people jesusin.

I've always said it 'Shee-shain Eet-za'.

 

[jesusin]

They're two different people jesusin.

Really? My ignorance is far deeper and wider than I thought, then.
The Moctezuma everyone has heard about is Moctezuma II, the one who met with Cortés. His father was calles Moctezuma the Great (or the Old). The way Swedishguy writes it is the way one of the monks led by Cortés worte it. It was probably more accurate, but it was not the way that catched on. That's all I know.

Who is this other person called Montezuma, then?

 

[feldmarshall]

this says montezuma is Moctezuma II

 

[Lars_Domus]

Really? My ignorance is far deeper and wider than I thought, then.
The Moctezuma everyone has heard about is Moctezuma II, the one who met with Cortés. His father was calles Moctezuma the Great (or the Old). The way Swedishguy writes it is the way one of the monks led by Cortés worte it. It was probably more accurate, but it was not the way that catched on. That's all I know.

Who is this other person called Montezuma, then?

"Montezuma", "Moctezuma" and "Motecuhzoma" are alternate spellings of the same name, with the last being at the same time the least used and the closest to the actual Nahuatl pronounciation. All of them can refer to the ruler who met Cortéz. IIRC it means something like "the angry lord".

What Lord_Iggy is on about, I haven't the foggiest.

 

[The Ninja]

No, no. You've got it all wrong. It's pronounced 'Chicken-it's-a'

The Ninja

 

[AriochIV]

Who gives a darn how extinct civilizations used to pronounce their names?

 

[BeefontheBone]

Anyone who gives a darn about them generally, perhaps?

 

[Duuk]

Who gives a darn how extinct civilizations used to pronounce their names?

You mean like Julius Kie-Zar (K-eye-zar) with a hard c?

 

[Lockesdonkey]

You mean like Yu-li-us Kie-Zar (You-lee-us K-eye-zar) with a hard c?

Corrected.