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Old 01-09-2009, 05:20 PM   #1
Vaine
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Sting hin or chin?

I just noticed that CT refers to the Children of Hurin as Narn i hin Hurin in Silm and UT, but as Narn i chin Hurin in CoH. Do you think it was an unintentional typo? Or might there be several ways to write the word?
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Old 01-09-2009, 05:33 PM   #2
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As far as I recall, I believe the idea was that it is supposed to be chin, only later Christopher (or the Prof himself already? I don't know) decided that it is better to write it as hin, because English speakers might pronounce "chin" indeed as "ch", like, as in "charm" (or "chin" ). While it is supposed to be more like the ch as in, umm, well, Khand

(If somebody can help with more information and with better examples, please do so )
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Old 01-09-2009, 05:44 PM   #3
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So what you're saying is that hin is supposed to be pronounced as if there's a K in front of it? I never knew :|

I suppose this is why CT added the 'note on pronunciation' in CoH.

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Old 01-09-2009, 05:51 PM   #4
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Yes, that's right. I think the pronunciation is "Narn ee kheen Hoorin".
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Old 01-09-2009, 06:10 PM   #5
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Hmph. Well, does anybody know what is ch pronounced in, let's say, Latin? Or if you know any other language where it is. Words that come from different languages, and having ch in them, are anyway pronounced differently in English... Like, chalcedone. It is not supposed to be really k. But quite close to it. Well, how do you pronounce for example Marach, anyway? That's what it is.
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Old 01-09-2009, 06:17 PM   #6
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It's not as simple as "Mare-ahk" with a hard K, is it? I picture the "ch" as having more (how can I explain?) character to it? I can hear it in my head but I can't pronounce it properly myself. I don't think it's a sound from English - more like German. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Well, the pronunciation guide in Children of Hurin says CH has the same value as Scottish loch or German buch.
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Old 01-09-2009, 05:34 PM   #7
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Quote:
Note that the title of the Narn is given as Narn i Hîn Húrin in the published Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales. This was an editorial decision by Christopher Tolkien which he later regretted, done only to prevent people from pronouncing Chîn like the English "chin".
This from Tolkien Gateway. Where they got this information I am not sure - I scanned The Children of Hurin itself without finding any passage by Christopher related to it. Maybe it's in a revised Silmarillion? However, it is probably true, what Tolkien Gateway says.
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Old 01-09-2009, 05:42 PM   #8
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Another site says:

Quote:
In LR:322, Christopher Tolkien confesses: "Narn i Chîn Húrin...is so spelt at all occurences, but was improperly changed by me to Narn i Hîn Húrin (because I did not want Chîn to be pronounced like Modern English chin.)
Does LR mean Lost Road?
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