Author's Pronunciation Guide: Heart's Blood

Heart’s Blood pronunciation guide

Names are included only where the pronunciation is not obvious. The approximate pronunciation is shown by English equivalents rather than phonetics. Every effort has been made to make these accurate, but there may well be some errors.

‘kh’ is used to denote a sound somewhere between the Scottish ‘ch’ as in loch, and the softer ‘ch’ as in the German ‘dich’. ‘ch’ is used as in the English word ‘inch’. Accented syllables are italicised. Words with equally accented syllables have no italics.

Market Cross:
Ita: ee-tah
Cillian: kill-ee-an
Berach: bar-akh
Maraid: ma-rayd
Shea: shay
Caitrin: kat-reen
Etain: ay-deen
Fianait: feea-nich
Phadraigh: fau-rig

Whistling Tor:
Anluan: An-loo-an
Muirne: mir-neh
Fianchu: fian-choo (‘hound of a warrior band’)
Eichri: ekh-ree
Rioghan: ree-awn
Cathaír: ko-heer
Gearróg: garr-og
Sionnach: sho-nakh
Brión: bree-on
Oisin: ush-een
Róise: as in English word, rose

Characters from the past:

Breacán: brak-awn
Nechtan: nekh-tan
Líoch: leekh
Irial: irr-ee-al
Emer: ayv-er
Aislinn: ash-lin
Farannán: farr-an-awn
Iobhar: eev-ar
Maenach: may-nakh
Téide: tay-dyeh
Ruaridh Uí Conchobhair: a real king of Connacht. Think of him as Rory O’Connor.