Pronunciation of "Cui"

[Kim Braithwaite]

There was a Russian composer whose name is generally rendered in English and 
Western European as Cesar Cui (1835-1918) - a member of "Les Six," I 
believe. In the Russian encyclopedia the name is rendered Цесарь Кюи 
[Tsesar' Kyui/Kiui] with the accent on the и [i]. Without further context I 
don't know if this is the composer the original query sought.

Mr Kim Braithwaite, Translator
"Good is better than Evil, because it's nicer" - Mammy Yokum (Al Capp)

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Paul B. Gallagher" <paulbg at PBG-TRANSLATIONS.COM>
To: <SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2008 8:49 PM
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Pronunciation of "Cui"


> Francoise Rosset wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:51:39 -0400
>>  Klawa Thresher <kthresher at RANDOLPHCOLLEGE.EDU> wrote:
>>
>>> Dear Colleagues,
>>>
>>> A musician has asked me how to pronounce this composer's name - and
>>> specifically if the "C" is soft or hard.  He says that in Chinese the
>>> name is pronounced as "Sway."
>>
>> But that doesn't make much sense if his Russian name is Kjui
>> K-JU-I, sort of like Q-E as in QE II in English.
>> If that name is French, as I've heard it, then it might pronounced
>> à la française, which I can't begin to transliterate -- but such names
>> acquire an Russian pronunciation anyway.
>
> The usual Russian spelling of this syllable (Pinyin cui = Wade-Giles 
> ts'ui) is цуй, indicating that the consonant is hard and voiceless and the 
> vowel is not fronted. The corresponding soft syllable would be Pinyin qu = 
> Wade-Giles ch'ü = Russian цюй.
>
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrillization_of_Chinese_from_Pinyin>
>
> There are no syllables containing кю- in this system.
>
> The equation cui = цуй is confirmed here:
> <http://www.cinemasia.ru/persons/_82/_7/827.html>
>
>> Or is the Russian name really something else??
>
> Assuming it's the very common Chinese name 崔, you can hear a native 
> Chinese woman pronounce it here:
> <http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/rsc/audio/voice_pinyin_cl/cui1.mp3>
>
> Others more expert in Chinese can say whether "tsway" would be a regional 
> dialectal pronunciation (e.g., Cantonese); I cannot.
>
> -- 
> War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
> --
> Paul B. Gallagher
> pbg translations, inc.
> "Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
> http://pbg-translations.com
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
>  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
>                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------