Message: "How do you pronounce Sapphira?"

How do you pronounce Sapphira?

by stephanie85

6/21/2011, 9:05 PM

I have always pronounced it sa-FEAR-uh, but it just occurred to me that it is probably pronounced sa-FIRE-uh. What do you think?

#pronunciation

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- Orsino (bananarama)

6/26/2011, 8:55 PM

sah-FIE-ruh is what I usually say. It's a nice name, but it's been ruined for me by Eragon (I know it's Saphira with one P, but still).

- Aileen (aileenbean) +1

6/22/2011, 6:25 AM

I'm in the same boat as you. I know that way back when, when I read Eragon, I pronounced the dragon's name suh-FEAR-uh. Now, however, it seems most logical to pronounce it suh-FIRE-uh. I think I prefer the first pronunciation, though. Plus, you can always fall back on the fact that in Spanish, the "i" makes a long "e" sound. So hey, reasoning! I'm aware that the name is Greek, but since I know very little about Greek phonetics, I'm not a trusted source on how it would be properly pronounced in Greek.

- Marija Luminitsa (guest)

6/22/2011, 7:09 AM

I'm pretty sure that Σαπφειρη (Sappheire), the base of the name Sapphira is pronounced SAHP-fee-ree. There is a guy pronouncing Sapphira here http://www.searchgodsword.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=4551 in Greek, but I don't understand why he says SAHP-fee-ray. I've never heard α pronounced as ay in Greek before. The first P is definitely pronounced in Greek though. This site is also a good basic guide to Greek pronunciation: http://www.foundalis.com/lan/grkalpha.htm

- kookiemonster71

6/22/2011, 6:23 AM

I pronounce it like you do. It's one of my favorites! So beautiful.

- insane romantic

6/22/2011, 5:27 AM

I say it the same way you do. The gemstone Sapphire is SA-fire though, so we might be wrong!

- Llewella (penguiny7)

6/22/2011, 3:45 AM

I pronounce it sa-FEER-ə.

- Lisa (EchoSketcher)

6/22/2011, 3:18 AM

I pronounce it sa-FIRE-uh, though I like your pronunciation better ^^;

- coldplayer9

6/22/2011, 3:02 AM

sa-FEAR-a, definitely.

- mirfak

6/21/2011, 11:50 PM

I'd say sa-FEER-a too. Regardless of what the official pronunciation is, Sa-FIRE-a seems artificially dramatic to me.

- Jade Diana (akaZsa)

6/21/2011, 10:08 PM

sah-FEYE-rah

- Kate

6/21/2011, 10:07 PM

The traditional English pronunciation is sə-FIE-rə (long "I" sound like the word "fire"). I've never heard it pronounced sə-FEER-ə.

- meena +1

6/21/2011, 9:19 PM

It can go either way, but I pronounce it like you do

- Donham

6/21/2011, 9:43 PM

I pronounce it like you do. It's the dragon's name in Eragon, and it's pronounced SaFEARuh in the movie, too. I like the name.

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