The pronunciation of his name is up for some debate; it isn’t explicitly defined in canon. Les Mis fandom ppl – who also have a Marius in their canon – tend to pronounce it “MAHR-eeus” with more emphasis on the first syllable.
I’m not a scholar on Roman history, either, so someone who is can chime in on this, bc it would probably be that way. I’ve always pronounced his name “Marry-iss” which I’m sure is totally wrong, but sounds right to me 😛
//ooc: Mun’s going to take this one bc I know there’s some debate about his name, and part of the confusion is bc
in movie!IWTV it is pronounced more like “Les-CAT” with a somewhat softened second T, and there’s canon that has him indicating that alternate, “less-DOT” wackiness.
My headcanon is that he prefers the “Les-CAT” version, in especially domestic moments, Louis will call him “ ‘Stat,” which, incidentally, is also the abbreviation for a medical emergency, which they both find humorous.
I just cut a random set of three shots w/ different characters pronouncing his name; Claudia, Louis, and Armand: I even did subtitles theses are the lengths I go to for you!
IIRC, we don’t actually see Lestat say his own name in the movie, but he presumably told Louis and Claudia how he prefers it.
Personally, I prefer the IWTV film adaptation version, it feels warmer to me than that harsh “DOT.” AR was involved with that adaptation so she could have made a point to have it pronounced however she wanted, and Neil Jordan had worked with her very closely, so I doubt he would have overrode her on that but it’s possible he decided it should be pronounced differently to how she preferred.
IIRC, the books don’t actually indicate the pronunciation until several books in, and many ppl do not consider these later books canon anyway, but here’s a quote re: his name’s pronunciation:
From Blackwood Farm (2002), when asked his name: “ ‘Lestat, Madam,’ he answered, pronouncing it “Les-dot,” with the accent on the second syllable.“
TBH I wouldn’t even consider a native French speaker a total authority on this since “Lestat” was an invented name which came from Anne’s husband’s name, Stan, with “Le” added to the front for “The,” and she has said that she intended for the name to be “Lestan” but made a typo and VOILA! we have “Lestat.” So it’s not a name that’s really based on Frenchness other than the “Le.”
ANYWAY here’s an older post with some more thoughts on his name… and one of our fandom’s native French speakers (who is also a language teacher!), @takemetocoffin-or-losemeforever, even made a video pronouncing Louis’s name (and Lestat’s!):
So it’s up to you how you want to pronounce it but I go with movie!IWTV.
No, that’s not being “that” person at all! What IS being “that” person is being all overly offended at someone else’s pronunciation, so before I answer I’ll just remind y’all that these are fictional characters, there’s no right way to pronounce them, I don’t care if you have a master’s degree in Etymology and/or Linguistics, named your pet/child after them, have a friend with the same name, even if you are the creator of the series, anyone is free to pronounce these names however they want.
Amadeo- “ah-mah-DAY-oh” or “ah-MAD-eeyo,” I sorta use both.
Khayman- “Kay-men”
Mekare- “mee-CARE” or “mek-ARRAY,” personally, I prefer the first option.
Maharet- “maha-RET” (emphasis on the last syllable like “Margaret”), or “MAH-harret” (emphasis on the first syllable), or “muh-HAH-ret” (emphasis on the second syllable). Personally, I prefer the last option.
(redhairedtwin may disagree with me on the twins, she can add her two cents if she wants to do so.)
No, that’s not being “that” person at all! What IS being “that” person is being all overly offended at someone else’s pronunciation, so before I answer I’ll just remind y’all that these are fictional characters, there’s no right way to pronounce them, I don’t care if you have a master’s degree in Etymology and/or Linguistics, named your pet/child after them, have a friend with the same name, even if you are the creator of the series, anyone is free to pronounce these names however they want.
Amadeo- “ah-mah-DAY-oh” or “ah-MAD-eeyo,” I sorta use both.
Khayman- “Kay-men”
Mekare- “mee-CARE” or “mek-ARRAY,” personally, I prefer the first option.
Maharet- “maha-RET” (emphasis on the last syllable like “Margaret”), or “MAH-harret” (emphasis on the first syllable), or “muh-HAH-ret” (emphasis on the second syllable). Personally, I prefer the last option.
(redhairedtwin may disagree with me on the twins, she can add her two cents if she wants to do so.)
BONUS… hit the jump.
Marius- “MAH-reeyus” or “MARE-eeyus,” I tend to prefer the second option.
Lestat- Despite AR’s explicit instructions that it be pronounced “Less-DOT” with emphasis on the second syllable, I can’t do that, it sounds too clunky for me. I think it’s more like “Less-TAT,” second syllable like “cat,” or “Less-STAH,” as in “star” without the “r.“ I prefer the “cat” version. More discussion on his name here.
More seriously, since I saw the movie before reading the books, I pronounce the final “T” of Lestat, while it’s usually not the case in French. So, theoretically, in modern French, the pronunciation would be something like “lesta”. But it sounds kinda silly, and there is an awful lot of exceptions to the “t” rule. Furthermore, “Lestat” hugely looks like the Occitan word “estat”, prononced “S-taT”. And guess where Occitan, an old language still used nowadays, is spoken? In south France, which include Auvergne. So, in a very twisted way, “LestaT” as an old french name is making sense. At least if you accept the idea that “the state” is a decent name for a person.
OuO very informative.
AR says it was a typo of Lestan, “Le,” French for “The,” + “Stan” for her husband, Stan Rice, and the typo with the “T” stuck. In a way, Uncle Lestan is actually how AR intended his name to be.
In canon, Lestat explains in Blackwood Farm that his name is just the first letters of his siblings’ names:
“What an unusual name, Lestat,” she returned. “Does it have a meaning?”
“None whatsoever, Madam,” Lestat answered. “If memory serves me right, and it does less and less, the name’s compounded of the first letter of each of my six older brothers’ names, all of whom – the brothers and their names – I grew up to cheerfully and vigorously despise.”
^This could work, but we only know one of his brother’s names, Augustin.
Discussing this with viaticumforthemarquise-archive… maybe Augustin (or one of Lestat’s brothers) told him that just to hurt his feelings, like “YOU ARE SO WORTHLESS THAT AT BIRTH OUR PARENTS COULD ONLY MUSTER THE CREATIVITY TO TAKE A LETTER FROM EACH OF OUR NAMES” *SLAPS*
Lestat: *screaming internally*
They told him this at a young age … and he never questioned it ;A;
♛“Pssssst: that’s not the only thing about him that’s a mouthful.”
Alright *shoves Lestat aside* to answer your question: How to pronounce Louis de Pointe du Lac: you’re lucky I took French in high school which has been EVER so useful to me in my adult life. NOT.
Louis: “Loo-wee”, with less emphasis on the “wee” part.
de: “dih,” means “from” in French.
Pointe: “Pwan” with almost no emphasis on the “n,” means “tip.”
du: “due,” means “of.”
Lac: “Lack,” means, “lake.”
BRING IT ALL TOGETHER! Emphasis on Pointe and Lac bc of reasons.
“Loo-wee dih Pwan due
Lack,” “Louis from the tip of the lake.”
This has been your French lesson.
With the blessing of i-want-my-ivtv (praise be to you Uncle Lestan!) and one
shoulder left (sword-mishandling during a blessing happens a lot more than you
can imagine), here’s a
little tutorial on how to pronounce Louis’ name.
Warning: strong French accent incoming.
IT GOT BETTER. your French accent is impeccable. PARFAIT JUSTE PARFAIT. am I gonna need to coerce you into pronouncing more stuff properly in French hmmmmm?… also you pronounced Lestat the way I prefer, too, none of this weird Germanic “Les-DOT” crap Mater tries to get us to do.
I-want-my-IWTV 