Appendix I

The Angelical Language

Pronunciation Key (Fully Explained)

You may notice that this key is very different from the pronunciation guides we normally see for the Enochian language. Most often, such guides are alphabetical—meaning that they present the Angelical (or English-equivalent) letters and then suggest what sounds these letters might make individually. While it is good to know what sound each letter makes, it tells us little about what sounds are made when the letters are combined into actual syllables and words.

My pronunciation guide, on the other hand, is entirely phonetic. It begins with the sounds that make up the syllables. Then it presents the phonetic notations I have created to represent those sounds. These notations are intended to be simple and intuitive to the modern reader.

Vowels

Short vowels are mostly represented by single letters, while I have extended the long vowels to two letters:

Phonetic Sound

Notation

a –long (cake, day)

ay

a –short (bat, cat)

a

e –long (beet, seat)

ee

e –short (bed, wed)

e

i –long (bite, kite)

ii

i –short (bit, sit)

i

o –long (boat, slope)

oh

o –short (bot, stop, father)

o, ah

u –long (boot, blue)

oo

u –short (but, cup)

u

Note: There are some cases where an A falls at the end of a word. I feel this likely indicates something between a long and short A, or a schwa. In such cases, I have simply left a single A in my pronunciation. It can be treated as a short A, but it is more akin to a schwa sound. (I assume Dee, had he intended the long A sound, would have ended the words with ay or eh.) For example, the word amma (“cursed”) likely ends with a sound somewhere in between the long and short A (schwa)—“am-a.”

Consonants

If consonants are written together (as in br, cr, gr, st, th, and tr), simply pronounce the combined sound as you would in present-day English (break, crate, grab, start, and so forth). Otherwise, standard consonant sounds are indicated by the following:

Phonetic Sound

Notation

b (branch, blurb)

b

d (dog, during)

d

f (far, fork)

f

g (gap, gourd)

g

h (half, heavy)

h

j (jump, giant, bludgeon)

j

k (kind, can)

k

l (large, loud)

l

m (many, move)

m

n (north, never)

n

p (pace, pardon)

p

r (rain, banner)

r, er

s (serve, circle)

s

t (test, tax)

t

w (water, wind)

w

x (exit, except)

ks

y (yellow, your)

y

z (zoom, zebra)

z

“Long Consonants”

There are many cases where Dee indicated a consonant standing alone in a syllable. At these times, the letter does not make its usual consonant sound. Instead, the syllable is pronounced the same as the English name of the consonant. I have dubbed these “long consonants” and represent their sounds as follows:

Phonetic Sound

Notation

d

dee

f

ef

g

jee

j

jay

l

el

m

em

n

en

p

pee

q

kwah

r

ur

s

es

t

tee

y

wii

z

zohd, zed

Digraphs and Diphthongs

The digraphs and diphthongs are fairly standard in modern English:

Phonetic Sound

Notation

ch (church, witch)

ch

ch (ache, chrome)

kh

ou, ow (out, town)

ow

oi, oy (oil, boy)

oy

qu (queen, quick)

kw

sh (shine, wish)

sh

ph (phone, philosophy)

f

th (that, whither, thorn)

th

Also Note

There are a few instances when the letters sg occur in Angelical words, such as Caosg or Vorsg. In these cases, Dee does not indicate that the “g” sound should stand alone as its own syllable. Thus, I find it likely it is intended to combine with the s to make a kind of “zh” (or hard “sh”) sound, as we hear in English words such as measure, pleasure, and treasure. I have indicated this sound in the Psalter with the digraph zh.

Accented Syllables

Dee included accent marks throughout the 48 Claves Angelicae and A True and Faithful Relation. I have indicated these accents in my pronunciations by writing the related syllable in all caps. For instance, the word Cacacom (“to flourish”) is recorded in the 48 Claves as ca-cá-com. In the Psalter, I have given the pronunciation of “kay-SAY-som,” showing an accent on the second syllable.

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