Have I been pronouncing "Angband" wrong all these years?
 

I've always pronounced it with the first "a" a long a, like in the word "hay" and the second a as in the word "band" or "sand"

I recently heard someone pronounce it with both "a"s sounding like the a in "hah".

Any Tolkien experts here to verify the correct pronunciation?

I think (slightly to my surprise) that person was correct. Appendix E of LoTR says "the sounds were approximately those represented by i, e, a, o, u in English machine, were, father, for, brute".

I have pronounced both a's as in "sand" (and will probably continue to).

I think the pronounciation should be like in "Gandalf", with the "a" being more like the german "a" sound or the english a in "fun".
That's like it was to be pronounciated in the LotR movies according to the involved language expert. Even if Elijah Wood managed to pronounce it wrong most of the time. ;)

GHENDOLF!!


yes. Both A are open, like the A in bAbylon.

Wait until you get to pronouncing Celeborn.

That's a tricky one, it's actually pronounced "fish".

I pronounce "an" like "answer", then "band" is like "sand".

A "long a" in the sense of the vowel sound from "hay" is a peculiarity of modern English; so in any other language, it's a pretty safe bet that whatever the correct pronunciation of 'a' is, that is not it, unless the word's a direct loan from modern English. In this case, the correct pronunciation - in Sindarin, at any rate - is indeed that of the person you heard. In English it's hard to fault Nick's pronunciation, even if it isn't faithful to the original.

(Modern English here contrasts not just with other languages, but also with older forms of English, including Old English, which was used [in a mildly adapted form] by Tolkien as a stand-in for the language of the Rohirrim. Old English did have a "long a" sound [the á in the name of Háma, Théoden's doorward]; but it was completely different from the "long a" of Modern English.)

I'm French so for me it's Anguebande ;)

Why are people so surprised that two letters that are both written "a" are pronounced in the same way? Oh, right, English... :D

Actually, Celeborn is pronounced "ghoti" ;)

About "Angband", I dimly remember that, in the German edition of the the Silmarillion, it says that Sindarin words are pronounced more like German rather than English. So, Sky and Mondkalb are probably correct. (I'm too tired right now to fully comprehend Sideway's post though.)

huh, i've been pronouncing it like "bang" - "sand"