For many years I’ve been pronouncing Sigil as Sij-ill, like the word sigil. Recently I read something in a post from WotC saying that it is pronounced sig-ill (hard G). This just sounded weird to me, so I am continuing to say it with a J sound. You know, like in GIF 😏
Anyway, are there any other names of things in D&D that made you go “huh?” when you heard the official pronunciation?
Capitalized “Sigil” (sig-əl) in this context is a made up place-name from D&D lore. It is a homograph to the actual English word “sigil” (sij-əl) They are pronounced differently for the same reason I can name my storm barbarian “Barnacles” (rhymes with “Hercules”).
Ahhhh! That is cool as hell, I never knew that!
Been playing since the eighties, you’d think I would have picked that up lol.
That makes sense. It is what they decided to name it according to the lore. Of course, anyone who decides that they don’t like the pronunciation can pronounce it differently in their campaign world.
That’s clever. Given the spoken nature of a Dungeons & Dragons session, a DM could just meme by naming a character literally the English word “barnacles” but by pronouncing it as “barn” + “uh” + “cleese” (to rhyme with “please”) I imagine people would not think of that word.
…barnacles would make a fine champion in a party with vinegar the barbarian…