Oedipus Rex

[Wyandotte]

How do you pronounce the above? Why does everyone say it "EE-DIPUS"? "Rex" is a Latin word, so shouldn't "Oedipus" follow the Latin style, too? I am asking because I am going to see the play one of these days. Tks.

 

[Philip Newton]

It depends on whether you are speaking Latin or English

sudoku, tsunami, karate, karaoke and many other words are also pronounced quite differently in English from in Japanese, and similarly with words from other languages.

I believe traditional English pronunciation of Latin is based on traditional French pronunciation, borrowed so long ago that it went through much the same sound changes as English did. Thus ‘long e’ is pronounced like English ‘long e’ (as in bee, tree, see), for example.

Nowadays, there are several different pronunciations of Latin available, e.g. Ecclesiastical, reconstructed, traditional English, etc.

 

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

Why does everyone say it "EE-DIPUS"?

Americans don't.

Apropos of not very much, it's an anagram of Opus Dei. You won't be able to unsee that now.

 

[Wyandotte]

Philip, I know about the various pronunciations of Latin, but, so help me, I cannot bring myself to say EEdipus. FWIW. Thanks.

@Etaoin: Yes, the English say EEdipus. How do Americans pronounce Oedipus? Where can I find out? I go to the pronunciation websites and so far what I've seen, they all claim it's EEdipus. Feh.

Hoo-boy. I really won't be able to unsee opusdei/oedipus now. I'm ruined for life...

PS: there's no agreement:

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081021094711AAOpLUu

 

[Gamblingbear]

Merriam Webster is a pretty standard US dictionary. If you click on the little speaker phone symbol next to the word, you'll hear it. The Oe is more of an "eh" (at least an American eh, that is).

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Oedipus

And here's Rex - it's bit more emphatic than I personally would pronounce it:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rex


Now I'm off to try to find the British pronounciation. I don't think I've ever heard EE-dipus.

 

[Aurifex]

I don't think I've ever heard EE-dipus.

I don't think I've ever heard anything else.

 

[Wyandotte]

Gamblingbear. This production of the play uses the EEDIPUS pronunciation.

 

[Gamblingbear]

Gamblingbear. This production of the play uses the EEDIPUS pronunciation.

Thank you! I can't say I've ever heard it pronounced that way, but it isn't as weird (to my ears) as I imagined it to be just from trying to read it out loud that way. but then again, I'm horrible at mimicking accents.

 

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

 

[Gamblingbear]

Tom Lehrer is great. I'm always happy to find a new song from him.

That's definitely more like the pronunciation I'm used to.

 

[Wyandotte]

@Etaoin. Thank you for the Tom Lehrer video demonstrating his version of "Oedipus".