How do you pronounce Cuchulain?

coo - cull- ann ....forgive my lack of phonetic understanding! Pronouce each of the words above individually and then join them together to form the word.

Pronunication:

1) coo ---like a bird does
2) cull --to kill animals/plants for the purpose of number control
3) ann ---the girls name.

I'd pronounce it coo-HULL-ann becuase of the séimhiú on the second word in Cú Chulain (Hound of Culann).

Hi,

I was always taught it as I spelt it above in svhool. Perhaps you could spell it:

coo-chull - ann

with a slight emphasis on the h....very slight.

hey,
im a university student studying irish its pronounced

coo-cull-in

Guess I'm wrong then. I've heard it pronounced both ways to be honest, and can't remember which I was taught in school, so if Shay is doing his B.A. in Irish, I'd go with his pronounciation.

No, it's a dialectical difference. I always heard it pronounced "Coo-hull-an" and if you ever listen to Irish radio or TV you will always hear the "ch" sound pronounced as "h" and not as a hard "c".

I notice that many people in Dublin pronounce it as a hard "c" but to me it sounds like ignorance.
These dialectical differences are always contentious.

slán,

Oliver.

So it's coo-hull-an then?

Do you pronounce the second "c" at all? Sorry my Gaeilge is not very good.

Hi Dion,
That's the way i would pronounce it:

Cúchulainn "Koo-hull-un"

The name comes from
Cú = Hound (Koo)
Culann = Personal name (Kul-un)

To say the Hound of Culann you say Cú + Chulainn (genitive case of Culann).

The added "h" in Chulainn changes the sound of from "k" to "h" in speech.
that's how it's supposed to be anyway, but others may take a different view.

slán
Oliver.

Go raib maith agat.

Cuchulain lenited would be Chuchulain, right?

This doesn't have anything to do with Cuchulain, but would a lenited "b" (bh) be pronounced as a "v"?

Thanks again.

I always pronounced it as Coo-(Ch)ull-an

By that I mean I pronounced the "ch" as in the Scottish "loch", as in Loch Ness. So it sounds like "Coo-Hull-ann" except you have that guttaral ,at the back of the throat sound.

I also pronounce words like "Cruachan" in a similar way, would that be correct?

Tomás,
Your pronunciation sounds right to me.

Dion,
"bh" = "v" is correct.

There are a few different Irish Dialects

Gaeilge Mumhan -Munster Irish

and Gaeilge Ulaidh- Ulster Irish

although only literally miles apart - the prononciation is so different as to be untrue

Don't get too hung up on pronunciations

A real Good Irish Speaker from Donegal will find it hard to understand a real good Irish speaker from Kerry

Suaimhneas