Why, with a team of reference librarians, of course! Today’s personal reference challenge came as a nice break from dealing heavily with technology issues.
A peer brought us the question: How does one pronounce the name “Ligeia,” as in “short story by Edgar Allen Poe”?
Those of us at the desk had various theories. We tried dictionaries of literary characters, foreign language dictionaries, and regular dictionaries (both print and online), only to find definitions without pronunciations. Our enterprising intern, Coral E., even traced the word to its Greek root, then put together a possible pronunciation from an online Greek dictionary. But, no solid answer, no solid source.
Until, that is, I mentioned the question in passing to yet another colleague, whose eyes lit up immediately. She knew just what book might be helpful, and where it was on the shelf, demonstrating that no matter how sharp you are alone, you are never quite half so sharp as when surrounded by other sharp persons.
Yes, yes, lesson learned, and to the greater good. But what’s the answer, you ask?
According to the New Century Cyclopedia of Names, the answer is lye-JEE-uh. That’s a phonetic reproduction; you’ll have to visit the source for the correct diacriticals. Thanks to Debbie R. for the win, with assist credits to Bobbie R., Tim W., and the wonderful, aforementioned Coral E.
Don said,
November 14, 2007 at 3:47 pm
Also, in the main ref room we have “Pronouncing dictionary of proper names : pronunciations for more than 28,000 proper names” – no guarantee the name you are looking for will be in there, but it is formidable. Don
Leigh Anne Vrabel said,
November 14, 2007 at 4:13 pm
How did we miss that? Thank goodness you’ve returned…and thank you for supporting my theory on collective wisdom!
Ajax said,
December 2, 2011 at 8:45 am
It may be even trickier than you give; clearly we are dealing with a Greek-inspired name, and thus the i will be {‘eye’}, but the other combo of vowels is, if anything, an Anglification of something else, so taking these vowels back to Greek equivalents is an iffy way to derive a pronunciation for them. ‘Jee-ah’ is but one way, and no better founded than the other common way; ‘Jay-ah’.
I tend to the latter in that it represents the sequence e – i – a in the ancient way, the i being swallowed by the a in the process; L-eye-jay-ah, emphasis on the ‘jay’.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything in your link to back up the pronunciation that it gives. Is there anything other than the assertion?
Leigh Anne said,
December 2, 2011 at 11:42 am
It’s not online – you have to actually put your hands on the physical book and look at the pronunciation, which I have transcribed faithfully here.
Leigh Anne said,
December 2, 2011 at 11:44 am
Incidentally, as a librarian, I would NEVER post an assertion without proof, so at first I found your comment a little insulting. Then I realized that people are so used to everything being online that the notion of actually having to verify something in a print reference source might, perhaps, have been alien. If you can locate a library that has the book, they would be glad to photocopy the proof for you, I’m sure.
Ajax said,
December 2, 2011 at 10:38 pm
oooops
A misreading – no insult intended!
I did not mean to imply that you had misrepresented the book, merely ask what, other than an assertion that this is the pronunciation, the book gives as evidence. I’m sure you have given the pronunciation as the book asserts it to be, but wondered on what ground it says what it does. Not laziness on my part, BTW, the nearest physical library is over 700 miles away over desert.