How do you pronounce Ra's Al Ghul?

[gocryemokid]

I think of it like this. If someone was name "Ra" and I had something of his, I'd say I had Ra's ____ whatever. Just like if I had the Batmobile, I'd have Bruce's car. I pronounce it the same way, idk why tas has Y and H sounds but whatever keeps your boat afloat

[bongoes]

Originally Posted by DonC

I always pronounced it like a possessive of the Egyptian god Ra. Like, "Ra's car wouldn't start so he had to ride the bus to the chariot races."

Originally Posted by gocryemokid

I think of it like this. If someone was name "Ra" and I had something of his, I'd say I had Ra's ____ whatever. Just like if I had the Batmobile, I'd have Bruce's car. I pronounce it the same way, idk why tas has Y and H sounds but whatever keeps your boat afloat

That's how I think of it.

[Deason]

Originally Posted by Sn4tcH

Well I heard Batman call him "rahz" in Batman Begins, so therefore it is correct.

I'm being sarcastic obviously. No one can really say "No no, it MUST be pronounced this way." And even if Denny does say it "Raysh" his stories also point out that the name is derived from the Arabic term "Demons Head" which we were just told is pronounced in the "Rahz" way. This means the characters creator can't pronounce his own characters names correctly. (It wouldn't be the first time I've seen this. I've heard authors in the past say they couldn't pronounce their characters names, but that they chose it because it looked cool.)

I'm not saying how people MUST pronounce it, either. People are obviously free to pronounce "Ra's" any way they want - including "Throat Warbler Mangrove".

But I humbly disagree with some of your conclusions, anyway :) A scattershot of counterpoints:

1) "Derived from" does not equal "identical to". If anything, it suggests "similar, but not identical to". Which would describe "Raysh al gool", no?

2) There're the open questions of accent, dialect, and the evolution across centuries of pronunciation. How old is Ra's? When did he get his name? If definitive knowledge of how a phrase was pronounced several centuries ago is hard to obtain, an author of fiction is entitled to invent a pronunciation, no? (Though my understanding is that he researched it, and was told "Raysh")

3) That some authors in some cases may not have known how to pronounce the names of the characters they create does not require that this is the case here. Denny may have chosen a pronunciation that may be different from what would be expected from the most common contemporary Arabic pronunciation, but that doesn't make his pronunciation (of the name, not the phrase - it's important to distinguish) "wrong".

Even if we stipulate the correct mainstream modern Arabic pronunciation of that phrase as given, and even if the fictional character name was influenced by that phrase, the author is still free to define the pronunciation of the fictional character name (not the phrase) as he wishes.

4) Once a name is given, any "errors" in how it was selected or created may become historical curiosities, but are not relevant in third parties subsequently "choosing" a pronunciation (or a spelling).

a) "Cerebus" as a name was originally a mistaken misremembering of "Cerberus", but that doesn't mean it should be pronounced (or spelled) that way.

b) When Mrs Middler named her daughter "Bette" after Bette Davis, she was entirely within her rights to pronounce the name of her daughter "Bet" even though Bette Davis pronounced her own name "Betty". Same principle here.

Mrs Middler (and for some decades now, Bette Middler herself) say it's pronounced "Bet" even though it's spelled "Bette" which may usually be pronounced in other contexts (including that of the instance which supplied inspiration for the new name) as "Betty". Denny says it's pronounced "Raysh" even though it's spelled "Ra's" which may usually be pronounced in other contexts (including that of the instance which supplied inspiration for the new name) as "Rahz".

One can "choose" any pronunciation one wishes, but only one such has a reasonable claim for "correctness": if "Bet" is how one correctly refers in speech to the younger Ms Middler (and does anyone dispute this?), then "Raysh" must surely be how one correctly refers in speech to Mr Al Ghul.

Thanks for your attention!

[Kirayoshi]

Tonight's Top Ten list; Top Ten Ways to Pronounce Ra's Al Ghul.

10) Ray's All Good

9) Rash Al's Goal

8) Ash-Ray Al-Ay Ule-Gay

7) Weird Ra's Al-Ghulovick

6) Racer Ghoul

5) Mix-YES-Spit-Lick

4) That Arabic James Bond Villain-Dude

3) Luhg-La S'Ar(Zatanna only)

2) Gwynneth Paltrow

And the Number One way to pronounce Ra's Al-Ghul...

1) Eraserhead!

[Jared]

Originally Posted by mofo

its defintely pronounced as in Batman Begins
demons head translated to arabic = رأس الغول
the transliteration is "Raas Al ghul"

(i know arabic)

How is the "ghul" pronounced in Arabic?