Ok. Last time. How do you say Ra's?

[Ibn]

Cause I was watching Batman Beyond and Terry kept calling him Raz, but Talia corrected him by pronouncing it Raysh. I personally prefef Raysh, but I think I'm in the minority.

 

[HR-PUFF&STUFF]

so you didn't watch the movie or the cartoons to find out, and thought "i know i will make a thread to a question that i can answer by just watching the dvd"?

 

[Mee]

Is there even a set way? BTAS it was Raysh, Begins it was Roz.

 

[Spidey]

Yeah, both TAS and Dark Tomorrow pronounce his name as Raysh, but it almost makes more sense, to me at least, for his name to be pronounced Roz, as though you were pronouncing the name Ra in the possessive form, like Ra's cellphone number or Ra's parking space, because Ra's al Ghul is supposed to translate to "The Demon's Head", isn't it? Then again, al Ghul could stand for "of the demon". Who knows? Not me.

 

[Motown Marvel]

denny o'neil, the man who created r'az al ghul, says its suppose to be pronounced "roz", and that the cartoon got it wrong.

 

[TheDemon'sHead]

Since it's my screen name, I took the liberty of looking it up thoroughly.

After looking up Arabic pronunciations, "Ra's" should be pronounced as "Roz".
When referring to the Egyptian sun god, you don't pronounce it "ray" the sun god but "Ra" the sun god. The letter "S" in arabic is pronounced as a "Z". S's and Z's in that language can be substituted for one another. Thus it is pronounced as "Roz"

The name Ra's Al Ghul translates into "Head of the Demon" but when translated into English it becomes "The Demon's Head".

English nouns have a possessive. In Spanish, "Batman's car" would translate to "Coche de Batman". In Spanish, Ra's Al Ghul would translate into "la cabeza del demonio" which is kind of funny.

 

[batmaluco]

The name Ra's Al Ghul translates into "Head of the Demon" but when translated into English it becomes "The Demon's Head".

English nouns have a possessive. In Spanish, "Batman's car" would translate to "Coche de Batman". In Spanish, Ra's Al Ghul would translate into "la cabeza del demonio" which is kind of funny.

"Cabeça do Diabo" or "Cabeça do Demônio", in Portuguese.

In Arabic: رأس الغول according to wikipedia. t:

 

[lujho]

I think it's pretty well established that it's pronounced exactly like it looks (i.e. Batman Begins got it right). Allthough it's not talking about something belonging to Ra - the apostrophe does not denote a posessive form as it would in English.

But I still have absolutely no idea where the raysh pronunciation came from. How did they get it wrong? Was it first said to be pronounced that way in a comic, or the cartoon? I'd like to know the origin of the error.

 

[Nepenthes]

^ Raysh just sounds more 'arabic', perhaps. Like when Claremont used to write accents in the X-Men, it was all bull***** but you could tell what it was *supposed* to be.

 

[Spidey]

Since it's my screen name, I took the liberty of looking it up thoroughly.

After looking up Arabic pronunciations, "Ra's" should be pronounced as "Roz".
When referring to the Egyptian sun god, you don't pronounce it "ray" the sun god but "Ra" the sun god. The letter "S" in arabic is pronounced as a "Z". S's and Z's in that language can be substituted for one another. Thus it is pronounced as "Roz"

The name Ra's Al Ghul translates into "Head of the Demon" but when translated into English it becomes "The Demon's Head".

English nouns have a possessive. In Spanish, "Batman's car" would translate to "Coche de Batman". In Spanish, Ra's Al Ghul would translate into "la cabeza del demonio" which is kind of funny.

That makes the most sense to me.

 

[Ibn]

I think it's pretty well established that it's pronounced exactly like it looks (i.e. Batman Begins got it right). Allthough it's not talking about something belonging to Ra - the apostrophe does not denote a posessive form as it would in English.

But I still have absolutely no idea where the raysh pronunciation came from. How did they get it wrong? Was it first said to be pronounced that way in a comic, or the cartoon? I'd like to know the origin of the error.

That's what I'm wondering. But Raz to me sounds more "Arabic". I don't know what they were thinking.

 

[TheDemon'sHead]

As far as I know the Raysh pronunciation first came out from BTAS. I think it was the first time Ra's was first shown outside of the comics.

 

[joe petree]

it is pronounced raysh even though it is spell Ra'z

 

[lujho]

As far as I know the Raysh pronunciation first came out from BTAS. I think it was the first time Ra's was first shown outside of the comics.

Yeah, but it's possible that the comics may have featured the mispronunciation before that, if there was ever a point where the pronunciation was ever spelled phonetically. But BTAS being the source of the error does seem just as likely if not more.

 

[lujho]

it is pronounced raysh even though it is spell Ra'z

It really isn't, by all reliable accounts. BTAS apparently got it wrong.

 

[lujho]

Allthough this thread refutes that - says that O'neil says it "raysh".

http://www.comicscommunity.com/boards/dennyoneil/?frames=n;read=1308&expand=1

Jeez, I don't know anymore - I've seen separate anecdotes regarding arabic speakers that go both ways. Is it possible there are different pronunciations in different dialects of Arabic? Does Denny O'Neil have a speech impediment that would render his "S"s as "Sh"s, thus spawning the misconception?

Ra's definitely did have a horizontal "-" symbol over the "a" in the early days, denoting a long a sound - if you read it phoenetically it says "rays" (or possibly "race") - but I'm not sure that's correct Arabic pronunciation or written notation either - did O'Neil just put the line over the a to make it look fancy?

 

[lujho]

Does Denny O'Neil have a speech impediment that would render his "S"s as "Sh"s, thus spawning the misconception?

Okay, just checked this on a video of Denny - definitely no speech impediment.

But it definitely seems from the thread I linked to above that O'Neil is the source of the error, if it is one - or rather, the girl who told him the pronunciation. Maybe SHE had the speech impediment?:

I've heard Denny tell this story quite a few times and I assure you that this is how he pronounces the character's name.

Although I'm sure that he'd be the first to admit that it really depends on who's translating it and why.

If I remember the story correctly he usually says, "I once had it translated by a cute young girl who was getting her masters degree in arabic literature. She assures me that the correct pronounciation is "Raish Al Ghoul", for what it's worth, although no one seems to say it that way."

So the BTAS people seem to have got it from Denny.

 

[TheDemon'sHead]

Maybe we're all wrong and it's pronounced "Rahsh"