How Do You Pronounce Samhain?

[@secretlyadragon4723]

I didn't even know I was supposed to be looking for a correct pronunciation! It would have never occurred to me to look up how to say Samhain because everyone in popular culture says 'Sam-hane'. Like WTH! We've been saying it wrong all this time! Thanks for putting this out there. Hope more people see it.

[@Bubbleguns13]

Thank you for finally correcting it for the Scott's

[@Ceilidhmacmc]

Scot’s

[@kavikv.d.hexenholtz3474]

If you're pronouncing it correctly in Irish Gaelic the final 'n', because it's preceded by 'i' is what is called "slender", that is, it becomes palatalized. A palatalized 'n' is the 'n' in the word "onion". So in Samhain, there's no 'third syllable'. The final 'n' is a palatalized 'n'. For speakers of English, this presents an issue as in English, no word ends with a palatal 'n' so many people add that extra 'third syllable'. It is from this palatal 'n' sound at the end that some English speakers will hear it (and thus also pronounce it) as "SAU-ween" (to rhyme with 'Halloween'). Yes, in Scots Gaelic, it's the same as in Irish, only the mh is a 'v' so, "SAH-vin" (or more correctly with the final 'n' being palatalized). There's also Manx Gaelic "Sauin" which is exactly like the Irish Gaelic. Manx's spelling system (orthography) is based more upon English, so all those silent letters kind of disappear in Manx. There is absolutely no "sh" sound at the beginning of this word. So, yeah, it's not your friend and mine, the famous Samuel Hayne, better known as "Sam Hayne" :) It's kind of like that girl's name Siobhan - it's pronounced exactly like the name 'Joan' as if written with an 'sh' instead of a 'j'. So, 'Shoan'. In Scot's Gaelic it comes out as "shah-VON" as medial 'bh' (as well as 'mh') tend to be pronounced as 'v'.

[@LadyOfSnark]

My great-grandmother, born in County Clare and moved to America when she was 17, always pronounced it Saw-whin with slightly breathy wh sound. That is how a pronounce it.

[@k9wolf07]

One of the most difficult and frustrating aspects for me when researching Irish mythology and really Celtic mythology as a whole as a native English speaker is really struggling with the pronunciations and spelling. without hearing someone speak it, its nearly impossible to know the correct way to pronounce the names of characters and places but then even if you do their are regional variations, its madness lol. Samhain I've heard enough time's to know how to say it but it is weird that its not Sah-vin since MH in the middle of a word is usually pronounced with a V.

[@whereyouathalol9621]

In English maybe, but I hope you do realise that there are other languages who are pronounced their own way.

[@k9wolf07]

​@@whereyouathalol9621 I get that but as far as I'm aware native speakers of other languages using the Latin Alphabet wouldn't intuitively know how to spell or pronounce many Irish words because Celtic languages are so different from the other European languages it makes sense that people mispronounce or misspell Irish names and words soo much. To be fare every language has its hard quirks like English has the GH problem that frustrates many learners.

[@tipptoggy]

In written Irish double letter (dipthongs) stand in for Englsih letters that are not in the Irsh alphabet. in Samhain, the middle mh sound like a soft v/W in English, so samhain, can be broken into two syllables samh and ain. Sow -an... scary ain't it.

[@ronantoast4464]

Samhain definitely doesn't have a ñ sound at the end, however the genetive form of the word ends with an -a sound (samhna, like mí na samhna, month of November), pronounced sow-na.

[@sethread8978]

In Scottish Gaelic, the slender final /n/ is palatalized to [ɲ], while Irish and Max palatalize that slender /n/ to [nʲ]. To a native English speaker, a word-final pronunciation of either of these sounds would be nearly indistinguishable from [n] (as a non-native Gaeilgeoir this drives me insane), but a native speaker of Irish or Scottish Gaelic would be able to distinguish between the two sounds.

[@roisindubh02]

Halloween II should've researched this pronunciation

[@carlitos2x261]

The avatar is the grim reaper or is the god of samhain?

[@riverbilly64]

Pro-nun-see-ashun. Not pro-nounce-ee-ashun. Otherwise, enjoying your channel.

[@irishmyths]

Yup, you got me! I use a nonstandard pronunciation of "pronunciation." www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pronunciation Unfortunately for me, pruh-nown-see-AY-shun was the most common pronunciation where I grew up (blue-collar suburb of Boston). You'll likely notice other such dialectal quirks in my videos. But I'm hoping you'll be able to look past them (hear past them?) and continue enjoying the channel!

[@Nushka1962]

The word "mispronunciation" is constantly mispronounced in this video. Disrespectful

[@irishmyths]

As I told another recent commenter, I totally confess to using a nonstandard pronunciation of "pronunciation." www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pronunciation No disrespect intended, just part of the dialect I grew up with!

[@Nushka1962]

@@irishmyths It's good to know that nonstandard pronunciations are acceptable if that's what you grew up with!

[@irishmyths]

Shouldn't it be "if *those are* what you grew up with"? All good though, I understood you regardless (even if your grammar was nonstandard/unacceptable).