"How do you pronounce this?" Topic

This is more for our Anglo-Celtic type folks but anyone can weigh in. The Briton Tribal Queen Boudicca has many different spelling for her name and consequently many different pronunciations. I have seen her name spelled ;

Boadicea
Boadicca
Boudicca
Boaddicea

Now I'm wondering about the preferred spelling and pronunciation. I have heard Prince Charles go with BOO-dick-uh.

Other pronunciations that I have heard include;

BO-uh-dicky-uh
Bo-uh-dis-see-uh
bo-DIS-see-uh

And slight variations of the above, mainly changing "bo" to "boo" Most seem to put the accent on the first "BO". So is there a preferred way to pronounce and to spell this Icenian name"?

I pronounce it as Boo-dick-uh. Whether that is right… Who knows!

I tend to say Bwa-dick-uh

"Bodacious".
Since even my Hinchliffe model was topless…

Since even my Hinchliffe model was topless…

Hasslefree's is nude.

A recent opinion from some Professor of Ancient Languages claims it should be Bo-DEEK-a. I'm not sure what the Latin is for 'red haired woman from hell'.

Back in England, while at secondary school (the 70's) we all called it "Bo-uh-dis-see-uh", since then the accepted pronunciation for schools appears to be 'Boo-dick-uh'.

But, as Generalstoner46 says – who can tell what it really was in the local tongue?

I'm not sure what the Latin is for 'red haired woman from hell'.

"flavaque mulier a rubrum inferni" according to Google Translate [a bit beyond my 30 years in the past Latin]

We were taught BooDiCa at school.

Teacher made a point of telling us Boaddicea was the Latin form of the name so we weren't to use it.

Boo da see ya

It is spelled Boudicca but it is pronounced "Throatwobbler Mangrove

Exactly what Narratio said, although I still stubbornly call her bo-dih-seea

Call her what you like, she doesn't mind.

"We were taught BooDiCa at school."

I'd go with that. The Bou-'Boo' = Bua = Victory and the C is hard in Celtic languages so BooDiCa is a good call. If the i is long it would give you Boo-dee-ka which sounds equally plausible. A sort of Victoria type name.

With difficulty.

In Welsh it would be and still is:

Buddig

bih thig
Bih is short not long, think bit not bye
Thig as in twig

Just saw her statue recently, with the scythes on her chariot wheels. How many cities have a statue honoring someone who burned that same city to the ground?

The Museum of the City of London tipped me off to the fact that the city was created by the Romans.

How nice to be in England
Now that England's here:
I stand upright in my wheelbarrow
And pretend I'm Boadicea.

Vivian Stanshall – How nice to be in England from Sir Henry at Rawlinson End

YouTube link

As noted above, in various posts:
Boudicca (a much more correct form) is typically pronounced BOO-dick-uh. If in Latin this would be a long or short "i", I'm not sure. But the short i seems to be the anglicization, at least.

Boadicea (a common but incorrect variant based on a transcription error) is typically pronounced "Bo-uh-duh-SEE-uh.
Be it noted that the name itself may be a sort of sobriquet meaning "Victorious" in her native tongue and not really a proper name at all. But that's how she's come to us in history, via Roman-era writers.

Also, contrary to popular conceptions, she was probably tawny yellow haired and not fiery red. Many English translators or secondary writers miss that the original reference to her coloring uses the Greek "xanthotis", an adjective derived from xanthos/xanthion, "golden".

link

Gonna cause a stink
Won't be the first to blink
I'm not who you think
Don't mess with me, I'm Boudicca

My husband Presotagus died
He was a Celtic king
I was his queen, so due to me
Was half of everything

Roman law gave half to me
So half was what they got
Till their nasty soldiers came
And took the blessed lot

Hey mister
I say you got the wrong end of the stick
His answer turned this sister
Into one angry chick!

No man, Roman'll
Push around this woman
You won't get far, with Boudicca
Foeman, yeoman,
Smash the Roman foeman
All say yah! Yah! Boudicca

I built a massive army
Headed straight for the city
Beat 'em all with ease
And like me, it wasn't pretty

Chopped 'em and hacked but
What made their red blood curl
Bad enough being beaten
But beaten by a girl?

Wacked 'em, smacked 'em
Boy how we attacked 'em
Near and far, ha ha ha!
Flayed 'em, slayed 'em
Up and down parade 'em
Boudicca Toughest by far!

Colchester, London, St. Albans
Everybody talk about dead Romans!

We marched on up the Roman road
That's known as Watling Street
They trapped us in the forest
Then thrashed us to our defeat

By now you'd guessed I'm not the kind
Of girl to sit and cry
Be sold a slave to Romans?
You know I'd rather die!

They tried to take me prisoner
So I led the Roman boys on
Instead of giving in to them
I swallowed special poison!

Martyr, smarter
Capturer, non-starter
This was our last hurrah!
Slaughtered, dismembered
Our tribe always remember
Boudicca! Superstar!
Boudicca! Superstar!

@ gbowen,

I'm sure you know that letters change in Welsh, mutation is part of the language. The mutations tend to be similar to the way pronunciation evolves over time. The letter "c" changes to "g", and "d" can change to "dd" (pronounced as English "th"). So "Buddig" could well be a modern form of an original "Budic".

Thanks all