this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2026
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[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 23 points 1 day ago (4 children)

For me, the problem with "Rocinante" is I don't know how to pronounce it. So, while reading, I'd skip past it, recognizing that it's the horse, but not parsing it as a word.

If asked that question, I'd need to explain that, but I'd stumble over the word.

If a book has too many oddly (to me) spelled names, I'll skip it for this reason. Apostrophes in the middle and no vowels, and I'm not going to read your book.

[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

For me, the problem with “Rocinante” is I don’t know how to pronounce it.

If you're using a European language, you're pronouncing it correctly, or close enough.

If your only contact with English is the written word, I guess it depends on what languages you're familiar with. If you're using AI / translation software, just ask it to read it to you. Maybe it'll get it right. Or not. Who can tell with those things.

[–] whatstatersprecious@lemmy.world 1 points 6 hours ago

Spanish is incredibly easy to pronounce though? There are only a couple things different than English and none of those differences are relevant for Rocinante. It’s also consistent in pronunciation, unlike English.

[–] TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world -3 points 6 hours ago

what's it like being a stubborn dumbass?

[–] baahb@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Ro Cin An Te

Roh sin ahn the

Rocinante

[–] Crozekiel@lemmy.zip 12 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Why would you make it a 'th' at the end??

[–] baahb@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 1 day ago

Autocorrect is a motherfucker

[–] NewSocialWhoDis@lemmy.zip 1 points 23 hours ago (4 children)

The weird 'th' handling of 'c' isn't just a Catalan thing? Is that all of Spain? I know I'm biased as a North American, but preference for Mexican Spanish.

[–] sanzky@lemmy.world 3 points 8 hours ago

that is why the Barthelona thing is so pedantic. In Catalan is pronounced more like "barsalona"

[–] leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

The th pronunciation is Spanish.

In Catalan c before e or i is pronounced like a hard s.

[–] NewSocialWhoDis@lemmy.zip 2 points 9 hours ago

Oh, thanks for the clarification!

[–] Crozekiel@lemmy.zip 2 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

I have no idea about 'c' becoming 'th'. I was referring to the 't' at the end that the above comment made 'the' when breaking it down, which they have mentioned in a reply was an auto-correct error.

The Spanish I know is not generally NA influenced.

[–] NewSocialWhoDis@lemmy.zip 1 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

Ah, I guess they had fixed the autocorrect by the time I saw it.

Apparently it is most, but not quite all, of of Spain that does the 'th' business... Which makes me wonder if the horse's name should use the 'th' sound: https://youtube.com/shorts/dxBoVaOuw4Q?is=uFdY_uC6q6AjdcDF

[–] Lemminary@lemmy.world 1 points 20 hours ago

It's the Spaniard pronunciation. Virtually everyone else would pronounce it as "see".

[–] leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.com -2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Thin, not sin.

Ro as in rod. Thin as in, well, thin. An as in ant. Te as in tent.

[–] olafurp@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

Latin American Spanish might disagree so both sin and thin pass. Book came out before the languages split after all.

[–] Crozekiel@lemmy.zip 1 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

So you are saying it's raa - thin - an - teh??

That's wild... I'm convinced you are not pronouncing 'ant' or 'tent' "correctly" for those to be your suggestions...

[–] Lemminary@lemmy.world 1 points 20 hours ago

They're right, afaik. An as in land, te as in test.

[–] leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

Hm... Ro as in Ross..? The rest is the correct pronunciation, yes.

Maybe, I don't know... an as in anvil and te as in tenant..? English, being several unrelated languages in a trenchcoat, can be a bit weird, and pronunciation varies excessively with dialects...

The vowels in Castilian (aka Spanish outside of Spain and other Castilian speaking countries) are very simple, five vowels, five sounds, pronounced more or less as they would have been in Latin.

C is pronounced like a k or a hard z, never as an s (except in some dialects).

Rocinante. From rocín and antes, for he was a rocín (old horse) before being Quijote's steed (also during, but the old man wasn't all there).