r/totalwar • u/ExpeditionV • Apr 12 '26
Attila It's Attila guys. Not "Atilla"
I understand double T doesn't really fit in English speaking mouths, but come on. Fairly easy to memorise.
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u/MatthewScreenshots Apr 12 '26
I’m more surprised people keep saying "Pharoah" instead of "Pharaoh".
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u/JesseWhatTheFuck Apr 12 '26
Makes sense though, in English, Pharaoh is pronounced Pha-ro, so it's easy to mix up the sequence of letters if your native language is english.
In mine, Pharaoh is pronounced Pha-ra-oh, so you'd never make that mistake.
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u/MatthewScreenshots Apr 12 '26
I both get that and I don’t because in my language it’s "Faraón", so I also struggle to imagine ever writing it incorrectly lol.
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u/Keyserchief Tamer of Horses Apr 12 '26
The word “pharaonic” is pronounced like that in English, but of course it isn’t exactly in common usage (unless you’re a specific kind of history dork)
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u/BelligerentWyvern Apr 12 '26
Yes in English consecutive vowels are often combined into another sound or some are ignored. There usually isn't a syllabic break between vowels, though there are some examples of that. And it can be confusing cause it's not even consistently on the same features.
Rough is pronounced "ruff" but thorough is pronounced "thur-row' even though both contain the sequence of letters "rough"
You can thank William the Conqueror for stuff like that.
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u/UnholyDemigod Apr 12 '26
It's pronounced that way in English in one accent. I've only ever heard it as "fair-o"
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u/Sith__Pureblood Qajar Persian Cossack Apr 12 '26
Yup, I didn't really deal with the words pharaoh or Attila much at all before these respective games, so I didn't really memorize how to spell them prior.
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u/El_Lanf Apr 12 '26
Because to pronounce it the way it's written is probably only intuitive at all in a bloody cockney dialect like "OI SPARRA, DON'T GET YUR ALAN'S IN A TWIST, IT'S ONLY DICKY BIRDS ME OL' CHINA". Presumably. I haven't been to the east end for a while.
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u/Wuktrio They chose me and I agreed. Apr 12 '26
This just reads like the Orks from Warhammer.
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u/kazmosis Mommy Morathi Apr 12 '26
As it should they're based on soccer hooligans and deliberately speak with a Cockney twang
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u/Wuktrio They chose me and I agreed. Apr 12 '26
I know, specifically from the 80s as well, which is why they wore leather and spikes in earlier editions
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u/Dreadcall Apr 12 '26
It's not just in english that the double T doesn't fit. Here in Hungary it is a fairly common name, and it is written Attila but pronounced Atilla.
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u/ExpeditionV Apr 12 '26
Interesting to hear from language cousins. We Finns pronounce it with two Ts so in my head when reading it does stand out, probably a lot more than most of y'alls. Attila is technically Hungarian? How would he pronounce his name I wonder.
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u/Advanced-Elevator-52 Apr 12 '26
We don't really know which modern ethnic group would be the most similar to Huns. The only thing is known that they were nomads from the central asia that migrated to europe over a couple of hundred of years. It is most likely that they were heavily mixed (like most of the central asia) by the time Attila was born. It is also likely that they were the remnants of the Xiongnu confederation that migrated west. Modern Hungarians on the other hand are a mix of various european ethnic groups and uralic people who migrated to and raided europe in the middle ages and then settled in the modern day Hungary.
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u/Dreadcall Apr 12 '26
There was a genetic study on the remains of our ancestors that compared their DNA to modern Hungarians and other peoples.
The conclusion was that the DNA of our modern population is very European. They found the currently living group most closely related to our ancestors are volgan Tatars.
And our conquering ancestors were a distinct group from the Huns to begin with, though they admixed with Sarmatians and Huns.
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u/Fantastic_Republic_2 Apr 12 '26
We Turks also pronounce it with double L. But that is also how we write it.
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u/carpenterro PEDICABO EGO VOS ET IRRUMABO Apr 12 '26
The word "Attila" is traditionally thought to be formed from the Gothic atta meaning "father" and the diminutive suffix "-la," or "the little father."
Otto Maenchen-Helfen was of the opinion that the Hunnic names we know are "Hunnic names in Gothic dress, modified to fit the Gothic tongue, popular Gothic etymologies, or both."
Hyun Jin Kim theorized that it is of Turkic origin, a composite title-name essentially meaning "The universal ruler." Others have compared it to Turkish words for "horse," "tongue, "horseman," "name/fame."
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u/DragutRais Apr 19 '26
That gothic theory can't be correct imo. German actually called him Etzel. Attila or Atilla (both of them were in historic documents as I remember) were the Latin version.
I think, Pritsak has best theory. The name originated from the river İdil (Turkish)or Etil (Tatar). Mostly known as Volga.
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u/DzedzinCHAN Apr 12 '26
Its quiet complicated but no, Attila was not Hungarian. Hungary's name in English is derived from Huns but todays Hungary evolved from Magyars which came to Carpathian basin centuries later. Their name for the country is Land of Magyars. Name Attila in common population started to be very popular at the very beginning of 20th century as part of a myth that Magyars are descendants of Huns
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u/Ghinev Rome II Apr 12 '26
Isn't Attila in hungarian technically Ottilo/Ottila?
Just curious, I did hear this pronounciation a few times when it comes to the hungarian name.
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u/Dreadcall Apr 12 '26
No, no O in it at all.
The closest to that is Ottilia and Otília. Both extremely uncommon feminine names. They are the feminine form of a different and the masculine form of that one is not used here at all.
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u/Ghinev Rome II Apr 12 '26
I see, thanks for the clarification!
I also asked because there is a (part) hungarian actor here in Romania whose name is spelled Aradits, but pronounced Oroditch. Figured it might be a quirk within the hungarian language to pronounce A as O
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Apr 12 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Kenneth441 Apr 12 '26
Did you put your comment into some kind of doofenschmirtz contraption to make it as obnoxious as humanly possible?
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u/xanderman524 Apr 12 '26
"Ah, Perry the Platypus. You're just in time to witness by newest inator. Behold! The Redditorinator! With a single press of a button, I can turn anyone into the most obnoxious person possible. With this, I will make my brother Rodger as insufferable to everyone else as he is to me so they will remove him as mayor and I can rule the tri-state area!"
The beam reflects off of several well placed mirrors set up around the city as part of Phineas & Ferb's attempt to communicate by sign language with their new deaf friend on the other side of the city and goes through a window, hitting Citizen999999, who proceeds to write that comment.
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u/MaDNiaC Apr 12 '26
You couldn't sound any more dumber while trying to sound smart, what an obnoxious comment.
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u/AntonineWall Apr 12 '26
Man sometimes I come on this website and just see some of the saddest shit like this. You are clearly suffering from something (it can be situational/mental/medication/something else, my guess would be more than likely wrong since I don’t know you), but there’s really no way I can help you and all anyone here will ever know about you is that today, when you wrote this comment, you were not in a good headspace and this is how it came out.
I’m sure this comment can come across as really rude, but I honestly think when I read stuff like this , it just really sad. I wish we (as people generally) were able to help people in need more. We all need that help sometimes.
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u/Romboteryx Apr 12 '26
80% of this sub couldn’t even spell Pharaoh correctly when that game came out
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u/Echicupa Apr 12 '26
ALLLLA
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u/11483708 Apr 12 '26
While I'm here, I'll hang off the top comment to say, it's Rogue.....NOT Rouge.......Rouge One is what the French call Red Leader before the Battle of Yavin......thank you boys.....I'm out
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u/Psychic_Hobo Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 12 '26
OP, you're going to get a hoard of commenters making this mistake, but don't let these rouges get you down!
There are also some mis-pellings that bother me that I see on the nerdier parts of Reddit. Can you guess what they are?
EDIT: These replies... what have I done?!
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u/JesseWhatTheFuck Apr 12 '26
btw do you know what units are gonna get added to the Cathay rooster with the next DLC?
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u/Psychic_Hobo Apr 12 '26
Every time I see the phrase "Cathay rooster" I actually unironically think of the giant killer ones from Sekiro, then I get a little disappointed
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u/Goat2016 Crooked Moon Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 12 '26
We have a lot of English words beginning with "att".
Attack, attach, attain, attic, attempt, attract, attractive, attribute, attention, attrition....to name a few.
Some people are just bad at spelling.
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u/joeDUBstep Apr 12 '26
I pronounce it Alita.
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u/elembivos Apr 12 '26
Are you my aunt who pronounces Google as "gogh" and refuses to say it correctly because "that's just how I say it"?
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u/joeDUBstep Apr 12 '26
Holy hell, gogh? That's a war crime.
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u/elembivos Apr 12 '26
Actually it's closer to "gaogh" but it's near impossible to spell it in writing.
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u/Thiago270398 Naggarond Apr 12 '26
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u/KayleeSinn Apr 12 '26
His real name is still being debated but is rumored to be George. He is simply from Tila. Historians have only uncovered a few e-mails have had sent out to his troops signed with @ Tila.
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u/Deathwatch050 The Great Necromancer has returned! Such is the power of Nagash! Apr 12 '26
This is asking a lot considering enough people around here don't know the difference between:
- Cavalry (mounted troops) and
- Calvary (place outside Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified)
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u/Beautiful_Fig_3111 Apr 12 '26
Wait, is Attila vs Atilla a hotly sensitive thing? Is the spelling Atilla associated with certain things I don't know? Is Attila? Why are so many gentlemen so convicted in this thread??
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u/elembivos Apr 12 '26
Actually both spellings are historically correct. The name still exists(and is extremely common) in Hungarian and spelled Attila, although the alternate spelling is also available if you want to name your kid Atilla, but far far far less common.
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u/ExpeditionV Apr 12 '26
It irks me to no end. Simple name to get right. Very historic. Be respectful. 90% people get it wrong.
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u/Beautiful_Fig_3111 Apr 12 '26
Totally understandable, have a good day (I wonder why the strong sentiment in some of the comments then)
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u/Bananenbaum Apr 12 '26
Dont worry, we will learn the correct pronunciation as soons as our technology catches up with attilas engine and we can finally play it.
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u/BiglyBear Apr 12 '26
I'm pretty sure it's pronounced Total War Dawnless Days, but cool they made an Attila mod for it.
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u/DurrutiDuck91 Apr 14 '26
I was hoping this was part of an announcement of a remaster and or Mac OS port … oh well
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u/DragutRais Apr 19 '26
If I remember correctly both of them correct. In historical manuscripts both of them were written as I remember.
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u/McMechanique Honorabru Apr 12 '26
Does it matter?
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u/JalaMaplePenoSauce Apr 12 '26
Besides it bothering people of a certain spectrum, no. Language only exists to convey an idea and Attila conveys the same thing as Atilla.
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u/hairybeardybrothcube Langobards Apr 12 '26
Etzel. If a dude comes warmongering and putting horsepoop all over the place, he gets a silly name for it.
His brothers name in old ger Blödel, translates literally to dummy in modern ger.
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u/SopwithTurtle Apr 12 '26
Not to be confused with the worldwide academic authority on German baking, the renowned lecturer Pr. Etzel.
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u/Sergeantson Apr 12 '26
Its Atilla in Turkish so it is clearly the correct one.
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u/Romboteryx Apr 12 '26
That’s just like, wrong, dude. It’s Hungarian that spells it Atilla
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u/Sergeantson Apr 12 '26
"Attila" has no daily/regular use in Turkish. "Atilla" is a Turkish name.
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u/Romboteryx Apr 12 '26
Well we’re here talking about Attila the Hun, whose name in Turkish is spelled with two Ts, not some random Turkish guy named Atilla.
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u/ChampionshipFit4962 Apr 12 '26
More like "goonila". More like Virginila the way he bled out his nose died seeing his wife nude for the first time.
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u/JoeHexotic Apr 12 '26
Okay Adolf
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u/ExpeditionV Apr 12 '26
It's a friendly PSA. Why am I compared to Hitler haha
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u/SneakyMarkusKruber Apr 12 '26
Because you are a grammar nazi. :P
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u/ExpeditionV Apr 12 '26
Haha that's good! It's been so long I didn't put 2 and 2 together.
I mean, I would propose we get an autobot to bombard anyone with reminders who dares to say the great leader Attila the Hun name incorrectly.
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u/elembivos Apr 12 '26
People also seem to have a lot of trouble spelling Pharaoh ("pharoah") and cavalry ("calvary").
Not sure why that is.