We've been pronouncing it Zirk-sees
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> I know this is a little spurious, but it's lunchtime and it's been
> bugging me for a while now:
>
> How do I say "Xerces" ?
>
> I'd gone with Zir-chay for now, but a colleague reckons it comes from
> the Greek "Xerxes" (a type of butterfly, apparently), which would be
> pronounced Zirk-sees. Maybe we could put this in the FAQ on the website.
Xerxes (xi epsilon rho xi eta sigma) would be pronounced Ksir-ksay-ss by
most accounts of Ancient Greek pronunciation.
Judging from the way in which Greek words get transliterated into English
via Latin, my guess would be that Xerces would be xi epsilon rho kappa eta
sigma and hence Ksir-kay-ss. Although you can't tell for sure from the
transliteration as both epsilon and eta went to E when Greek words were
transliterated in Latin.
Modern Greek pronunciation would be different.
James Tauber
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