I think it’s cool if you read the unusual names in my books however you want. There won’t be a test afterward and I’m not going to withhold a Twinkie from you if you pronounce any of them incorrectly. You’re supposed to have fun here, after all, and it’s usually not fun if someone tells you that you’re doing it wrong. But I like to provide these in case you want to master those names and enjoy the Druids’ globetrotting. So here we go; caps-lock bits indicate stressed syllables.…
OLD NORSE
Erlendr = EHR len dur (Not quite AIR lend ur, but close. A bit more like a short e on that first syllable.)
Freydís = FRAY deece
Hildr = HILL dur (Female name still used today in Iceland and Norway, but in modern spelling they go ahead and indicate the last vowel, like Hildur.)
Ísólfr = EES ol vur (The first syllable should rhyme with fleece, not ease. The o is a long oh, you know. And an f in the middle is kinda soft, so it sounds like a v.)
Krókr Hrafnson = KROH kur HRABn son (Hrafn = raven. Difficult to get this right in English. There’s that aspirated Hr at the beginning and then the problematic fn. In modern Icelandic it’s pronounced like a bn or simply a b, but we’re unsure precisely how it was spoken in Old Norse. In the old days it may have been HRAV son. From poetry scanning we know that there wasn’t a vowel sound between the f and n, so this is supposed to be a two-syllable word, but maybe with a hint of n in the middle.)
Oddrún = ODD rune (Female name still used today in Iceland. Bonus points if you roll the r a bit.)
