April 20, 2003

Pronunciation in FotR
Olliephaunt

While recently watching the FotR extended version, I noticed that the pronunciation of "Caras Galadhon" by Haldir, the Elf who leads the Fellowship through Lothlorien, seemed wrong. I think he said (in phonetic spelling)"Karas Galadon", but he should have said "Karas Galathon", where the "th" is pronounced as in the word "the" or "these" (this is the soft, or lenited, form of "th"). Tolkien used "dh" to represent this sound, as can be seen on page 1087 in the appendices of "The Return of the King". I think that Gandalf also pronounces this sound incorrectly when he says "Karadras" where he should pronounce the "dh" as I said before. can anyone confirm my suspicion on this (as I perceive) slight mistake?