# Szörény - Szoreny



## SeptemberAMonth

In the RPG Exalted, they use Hungarian/Hungarian-inspired names for some individuals. One of them is Szoreny (a name my crude internet research makes believe is based on Szörény).
 I am curious of how I should pronounce Szoreny if I want to take the Hungarian origin in mind.


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## bibax

Szörény is the name of a small village in Hungary. 

The corresponding surname is *Szörényi* (with i at the end). This surname reminds me the Hungarian rock band Illés which was quite popular even in Czechoslovakia (though not so much like Omega or Locomotive GT). Levente Szörényi and Szabolcs Szörényi were members of the band.

Pronuntiation:

sz = s (like English s in sister)
ö = rounded vowel (like German short ö)
é = close (narrow) long e
ny = palatal n (like Spanish n-tilda or French gn)


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## Ateesh6800

Just for the sake of accuracy: Szörény is in fact a geographical name, but it is also a first name. In fact, the geographical name came second, the male first name came first. Its origin is unclear; it may come from a Turkish word meaning "beloved", "loved one" or "loving one", or it may come from the Slavic name "Severin".

The form Szörényi means "one from Szörény" or "of Szörény"; -i is like "de" or "von" in Romance or Germanic languages.

The trickiest thing about the pronunciation of the name Szörény is this: while the accent is on the first syllable, the first syllable is to be pronounced as a short syllable and the second as a long syllable. This is difficult for speakers of languages where an accented syllable is percieved as "long". In Hungarian, all four combinations exist: stressed and short (in terms of time); stressed and long (in terms of time); unstressed and short (in terms of time); unstressed and long (in terms of time).

In Hungarian, the stress is always on the *first* syllable (like in the English word "*su*nny"), so the accent is to be put onto the first syllable: *Szö*rény. However, the first syllable is _short _in terms of its length (the time it takes to pronounce) just like "su" in "sunny". The second syllable is unstressed but twice as long as the first one, almost as long as an accented "e" would be in Italian (but without the stress). Have fun!


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