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ArchivesRe: Pronunciation of Neeraja?
in reply to a message by Sera M.
nIraja is a word still in use in many Indian languages and is derived from Sanskrit nIra meaning water or juice and the root jan, meaning to be born, and is cognate with the root gen in such words like oxygen, genetics, genealogy. The word is used for lotus or water lily, which stood as an universal symbol of beauty, and formed the resting point of divinities.
Its original pronounciation is nIra'ja (dental nasal unaspirated n, unstressed long palatal vowel I, alveolar semivowel r, stressed closed short a, palatal voiced unaspirated j, and unstressed closed short a). If used as a female name, the last syllable would have unstressed open long A instead.
The pronounciation in different Indian languages is likely to be different. Stress as a phenomenon in the language has gone away, and the colour of the various consonants is different, and the vowels are also slightly different.
As a Hindi name, I would pronounce it as the English word knee followed by raj, where the a is an indeterminate short vowel (as in rum), and the j is exactly as in English genetics. As a feminine name I would add an a sound (a as in jar).
The original poster did not mention the language the name was from :-)
Its original pronounciation is nIra'ja (dental nasal unaspirated n, unstressed long palatal vowel I, alveolar semivowel r, stressed closed short a, palatal voiced unaspirated j, and unstressed closed short a). If used as a female name, the last syllable would have unstressed open long A instead.
The pronounciation in different Indian languages is likely to be different. Stress as a phenomenon in the language has gone away, and the colour of the various consonants is different, and the vowels are also slightly different.
As a Hindi name, I would pronounce it as the English word knee followed by raj, where the a is an indeterminate short vowel (as in rum), and the j is exactly as in English genetics. As a feminine name I would add an a sound (a as in jar).
The original poster did not mention the language the name was from :-)
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