How to pronounce Smaug

Please read What is the Correct Pronunciation for Smaug’s Name? Note that in the new Hobbit movies they are very careful to pronounce "smaug" as "smawg" and not "smog". Why?

I also pronounce it smog.Have a question you would like to see featured here?

Discuss the workings and policies of this site The Tolkien Estate also has information on this and in fact my name here is the original name of Smaug: Just to make it clearer, it's pronounced as in the trailer: /smaʊɡ/.The best article so far on the pronunciation of Smaug. That could probably be improved, but we should include a description of the trailer's pronunciation in here.Thank you @Keen. Anybody can answer That addition definitely improved the question.+1 for Rifftrax! I just hope they didn’t rely on what is most easily found on the Internet, because all the easily found arguments are completely wrong in their reasoning.Click here to follow The Middle-earth Blog on Twitter: If smaugs name is based off of the german word smugan… then we all have it wrong. I would trust their memories more than I would trust what people are writing on the Internet.

The only problem with this source is that Tolkien was only providing guidance on the Sindarin and Quenyan words. I’ve butchered just about every pronunciation Tolkien invented. And, of course, there is a coterie of Tolkien scholars who have conversed with Christopher Tolkien himself (and/or his siblings) — and perhaps they have heard the “correct” pronunciation of the dragon’s name.So if Wayne Hammond, for example, were to say, “Yes, the dragon’s name is pronounced ‘smOWg'” then I would accept that.But I would continue to pronounce the dragon’s name as “smOg” or “smAWg”. I recall how, back in the 70's and 80's the word Smaug had the 'Sm'..'aug' sound in popular speech but now (and especially since a certain film maker got involved) the fashion is for Smaug with the 'Sm'...'ow'...'g' sounds.In fairness, though I'll stay with 'aug' as in 'augment', I agree with a certain quote from a certain author;"...and the strange names that they meet they may, of course, pronounce as they like." He was a linguist and studied several languages in depth, particularly old Germanic languages such as Old English, Old Norse, and Gothic. Stack Exchange network consists of 177 Q&A communities including

How to Pronounce ‘Smaug’ According to Tolkien’s description of general pronunciation rules (which you can find in Appendix E of LotR), “au” is pronounced like the vowels in “how” or “loud” (not like in “laud”) So, Smaug should be pronounced “sm ow g.”

It would then be pronounced “smoog” with that long o sound.

Because I’m not going to change a life-time of mispronunciation in some misguided attempt to be perfect or correct. Tolkien and who probably heard him pronounce the dragon’s name. Martinez quotes one of Tolkien's letters regarding the origin of the name: "The dragon bears as name--a pseudonym--the past tense of the primitive Germanic verb Note: the definition given for the Proto-Germanic form doesn't quite match Tolkien's, though it appears to be the same verb; the Old English form, also with the infinitive So yes, it appears that Tolkien really did intend Smaug to be pronounced /smaug/, with that very un-English (but very Germanic) /aug/ combination at the end. I’m not going to hang myself now over one dead dragon’s name.And I have no idea of how Peter Jackson’s crew are pronouncing the name. This is not a duplicate of Is "Smaug" pronounced "Smog", since the Hobbit quite probably has less strict pronunciation than the Lord of the Rings. Oddly enough, some (perhaps quite a few) people point to the guide on pronunciation in Appendix E of So the whole argument for “smOWg” seems to be rather weak.On the other hand, some people pronounce the dragon’s name “smORg”. Also, many of the commentaries there are worth reading. Featured on Meta

– MadTux Dec 16 '15 at 12:14. add a comment | 1 Answer Active Oldest Votes. Add your voice! Then I looked it up.Tolkien, J. R. R. "Appendix E – Writing and Spelling: I. Pronunciation (I can't speak with authority about other varieties of English, but they would probably opt for one of those vowels or something similar, but not the diphthong /au/.) User Info: Orochi_Oni. Then I … 30. It only takes a minute to sign up.Did Tolkien the linguist intend for the name of the dragon I had always read it as sm-og until I heard the guys from MST3K / RiffTrax say it this other way. Lord of the Rings Topic Archived; Page 1 of 2; Last ; You're browsing the GameFAQs Message Boards as a guest. Thus most Americans will rhyme it with smog. Tap here to turn on desktop notifications to get the news sent straight to you.Sign up for membership to become a founding member and help shape HuffPost's next chapterWe made it easy for you to exercise your right to vote!Part of HuffPost Entertainment. ©2020 Verizon Media. You can find the pronunciation silly if you want, you can hate it, and you can even threaten to boycott the movie, but you can't call it wrong. So, I did a little research, and found out that I had been the one saying it … After all, he says, the appendixes are a guide to the pronunciation of Elvish, and Smaug's name is not Elvish.

"Therefore names such as Sauron or Smaug are pronounced like Sow-ron or sm-ow-g." According to the LOTR Wiki. All rights reserved.Important conversations are happening now. That's my preferred way to watch any of the LOTR movies, and I can't wait for them to do the Hobbit films.Correct.

were 'falling' diphthongs, that is stressed on the first element, and - John Ronald Reuel Tolkien.Though I cannot find citation for this quote, I think it is in one of the prints of one of the books by Tolkien.Thanks for contributing an answer to Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange!