What is the correct pronunciation of his name?  I want to know how to
say it, as nearly as it can be rendered with the aid of
quasi-phonetics, rhyme, and other devices that help us hear words in
print, including how many syllables are sounded and where the accent
falls.  Rather, I want to know how he would have said it in his native
Romanian pronunciation, or nearest English-speaker's equivalent. 
Customary rendition in academe is an extra but not a substitute for
the answer I'm after.

Thanks,
Apteryx

Hello Apteryx,

"(pronounced Meer-cha Ay-lee-A-duh)"
source: DePaul University
http://condor.depaul.edu/~dgitomer/webrel300/News2-5-01.html

Also see this discussion:
Google Groups:  Eliade's Name
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&threadm=091293e1129%40aldhfn.org&rnum=1&prev=/groups%3Fq%3DEliade%2Bmeer-cha%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26selm%3D091293e1129%2540aldhfn.org%26rnum%3D1

-----

search strategy:
Eliade, pronounced

I hope this helps.

---

Request for Answer Clarification by apteryx-ga on 29 Dec 2003 14:58 PST

Looks good with respect to academe, but that was secondary.  I don't
see authority for a Romanian pronunciation there other than
second-hand and unverified.  So far, so good, juggler (and it is a bit
refreshing to see that I am not the only one to have been bewildered
by this name), but not quite there yet.

Apteryx

---

Clarification of Answer by juggler-ga on 29 Dec 2003 15:07 PST

Yeah, I agree that it's sort of second-hand, but I thought this part
was of the newsgroup discussion was particularly interesting:

"During that program the following pronunciation of Eliade's name was
used.  It was not used by the Romanian commentator, but by the NPR
announcer.  However, I would expect that the Romanian had been
consulted concerning its correctness.  It may be that this is the
Romanian (pre-French influence) pronunciation of the name:
 
MIR-cha il-i-AH-de "
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=deaneCHyJA5.IL7%40netcom.com

That seems so close to what's on the DePaul site (albeit with certain
syllables capitalized for emphasis) that I see it as a kind of
independent confirmation.

I'll see what else I can find and report back soon!

---

Clarification of Answer by juggler-ga on 29 Dec 2003 15:09 PST

Sorry for that typo:

"... this part of the newsgroup..."

---

Clarification of Answer by juggler-ga on 29 Dec 2003 15:22 PST

I found an interesting tidbit about Romanian-American tennis player
Corina Morariu.  Her brother is named Mircea and apparently pronounces
it "Meer CHA."

"Morariu experienced this syndrome, which can be life threatening; but
she was treated successfully with steroids, says her older brother,
Mircea Morariu, MD, a neurologist. "She?s just been tremendously
positive," Mircea (Meer CHA) Morariu says."
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/NWS/content/update/NWS_1_1xU_Tennis_Champ_Scores_Early_Points_Against_Rare_Form_of_Leukemia.asp?sitearea=NWS&viewmode=print

I'll keep searching...

---

Clarification of Answer by juggler-ga on 29 Dec 2003 16:35 PST

Here's another person's take on the subject:

"You can get a fair bit of information about this from the book on
shamanism by Mircea Eliade (pronounced sort of like Meer-chaw
Ell-yaw-day)"
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sca-dance/message/1547?source=1

It looks like there'e something of a consensus on Mircea (i.e., "Meer-cha").

---

Clarification of Answer by juggler-ga on 29 Dec 2003 16:45 PST

Here's a post from a Romanian newsgroup:

"> What is the correct pronunciation of "Mircea Eliade"?
Mir-cea  [Mir] like in Mir Station or mir-(acle)  [cea] like in cha-(pel)
Eli-ade  [Eli[ like in Eli-(zabeth)   [ade] like in ade-(quate)adequate "
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=78d4ab2b.0207251158.3307dff%40posting.google.com

This message is the last in the thread and no other Romanians contradicted it.

Note that this is virtually identical to the DePaul pronunciation above:

 Meer         -        cha
mir like in mir-(acle) / cha like in cha-(pel)

 Ay-lee           -            A-duh
Eli[ like in Eli-(zabeth)   /  ade like in ade-(quate)


What do you think?

---

Clarification of Answer by juggler-ga on 31 Dec 2003 12:24 PST

Hello Apteryx

I called the Romanian Center of Sacramento [
http://www.romaniancenter.org/ ] and spoke to a nice gentleman there.

He assured me that the pronunciation and emphasis was as follows:

MEER-chah

ell-EE-awe-duh

-----

I also tried calling several of the Romanian consulates (L.A., Chicago
& N.Y.),  but I wasn't able to speak to anyone as everyone has
apparently taken off early for the long weekend. I can try again on
Monday if you want me to.  Let me know.

 Happy New Year!
juggler

Now, *that* I'll take as definitive, juggler, wondering why I didn't
think of it myself.  Guess that's why you guys get the big bucks.  (I
also notice that it's different from all your findings online, so I
hope this source didn't have what other Romanians would think of as a
weird regional accent.)  Many thanks, and I will pronounce this
scholar's name with confidence from now on.

Happy New Year to you, too, juggler--you're on *my* honors list, even
if H.M. qliz2 was a little myopic.

Apteryx

Meer         -        cha
mir like in mir-(acle) / cha like in cha-(pel)

 Ay-lee           -            A-duh
Eli[ like in Eli-(zabeth)   /  ade like in ade-(quate)


What do you think?
My university prof pronounced it Mar(as in March)- cha(as in
chapel)Ill -ee(as in in hilly) A-duh(ade as in  ade-quate)

Thanks, Mister2u, but my guess is that your professor had "Mircea" wrong. 

Corina Morariu's parents are from Romania. The fact that their son
pronounces the first syllable as "meer-" rather than "mar-" suggests
that "meer-" is the Romanian pronunciation.

Well, thank you, Juggler, but I'm still not sure we have it because I
don't see the clear match that you see.  I think that if we were to
use a Romanian's pronunciation of "Elizabeth" as a guide, it might not
be the way I'd say the same name, as an English speaker.  I say
"e-LIZ-a-beth," with the first "e" basically a schwa, and yet I don't
see evidence that Eliade is pronounced with an accent on the second
syllable or a short "e" at the beginning.  Also, the placement of the
accent in Mircea seems to have two renderings in the two sources.  And
the syllable "cha" in "chapel" (and the first "a" in "adequate") has a
vowel sound that just about nothing ends in except the bleat of a
goat.  It's a very different sound from, say, the "a" in "shawl" or at
the end of "sofa."  So I am not persuaded that I know enough to
pronounce this name correctly; discrepancies would have to be
resolved.

Apteryx

Okay, Apteryx.
I'll make some calls tomorrow and see if I can get in touch with some
real live Romanians to try to settle this.

Apteryx,
Thank you for the tip and kind words.  You're on my "honors list" too,
as your questions are so interesting!
-juggler