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-   -   How to pronouce Cyclades? (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/how-to-pronouce-cyclades-551838/)

Dreamer2 Aug 15th, 2005 06:50 AM

How to pronouce Cyclades?
 
Is it:

kih-klah-dez

sike-la-deez

sigh-clades

Kate Aug 15th, 2005 06:54 AM

well, I don't know how it's pronounced by a Greek person, but I've always heard it as:

sick-la-deez

so, 'Cyc' pronounced as in 'bicycle', not 'cycle'

cocofromdijon Aug 15th, 2005 06:57 AM

I agree with Kate but would add no "s" at the end(at least the french way)
sick lad!

bill_boy Aug 15th, 2005 07:01 AM

Not being Greek, I never knew that this word was written/speleed any other way.

There's a good restaurant in Astoria, Queens (New York) called Kyclaedes and it's pronoundced by the local Greek migrants as kih-klah-dez.

rsb99 Aug 15th, 2005 07:04 AM

I'm not Greek either, but when I was there I always heard it pronounce kee-KLAH-dees (or maybe more of a "kih" sound).

chatham Aug 15th, 2005 07:27 AM

I lived on the islands for a number of years and rsb99 has it right.

GeoffHamer Aug 15th, 2005 07:32 AM

I'm not Greek either, but I do know enough of the language to know that the Greek alphabet is different, so any English names can only be a transliteration of the Greek name. That is why Greek names are spelt so many different ways in English: Kos, for example, is spelt "Cos" in some tourist guides.
In Greek, Cyclades is I think pronounced as above, but the "d" is a soft "d", pronounced more like the "th" in "these".

Kate Aug 15th, 2005 07:33 AM

Then, chatham, I bow to your greater knowledge, and take my bad English pronunciation home with me.

kih-kladees it is for me from now on.

brotherleelove2004 Aug 15th, 2005 07:53 AM

kee-KLAH-des.....The 'des' has a soft d, almost a 'th' and sounds more like 'less' but not with a strong sibilant 's'.

jahoulih Aug 15th, 2005 07:56 AM

Presumably the question is how to pronounce it in English, in which case, Kate, you had it right the first time and should stick to your guns.

If the question is how to pronounce it in French, then Corinne is of course correct, and Geoff is right about how to pronounce it in Greek.

cocofromdijon Aug 15th, 2005 08:12 AM

thanks jahoulih but at least we all learnt something in greek ;-)

Marilyn Aug 15th, 2005 09:03 AM

No different from "Pah-ris" vs "Pa-ree" -- the Greek pronunciation has a hard C at the beginning while the English version does not. Three syllables (not two) in both languages.

Eleni Aug 15th, 2005 09:47 AM

The correct Greek pronounciation is easier to remember once you know that "c" is NOT a letter that appears in the Greek alphabet, and that in Greek the name of the island group is ÊÕÊËÁÄÅ& Oacute; (Kyklades).

Thus: keek-LAH-thes

"y" in greek is pronounced like the "e" in "me"
"d" in greek is pronounced, as a soft "th"

Eleni Aug 15th, 2005 09:49 AM

Guess Fodor's doesn't allow typing in the Greek alphabet!


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