Sunday, November 07, 2010

To be Shee or Sidhe? That is the Question

Here's a delightful all-woman Celtic folk and trad band called "The Shee." I found them on youtube when I was googling "Shee" as the antiquarian spelling for the "Sidhe" or fairy folk. I'm thinking of using this spelling in The Celtic Princess because, let's face it, the average non-Irish-language-speaking person would not in a million years know that you pronounce "Sidhe" as "Shee." And don't be annoyin' me, ye purists. J.M. Synge himself used that spelling.

3 comments:

Kiki Hamilton said...

I vote for using 'sidhe'! Maybe in dialogue you could tell the reader the correct pronunciation?

Loved the music!

OR Melling said...

I don't know, Kiki. It's a real problem because it LOOKS so complicated and I think readers will stumble over it every time and get pulled out of the story, which is very fast-paced action adventure. How's your own writing going? Are you on the second or third book in the series yet or still editing?

Kiki Hamilton said...

Hi Orla,

Sidhe does look complicated, I agree - it took me a while to remember the correct pronunciation. I'm sure you'll make it work for the reader whatever you decide to do. (I had the same issue in my 2nd book.)

I just finished copy edits on the first book (thanks for asking!) - expecting ARCs in March! The second is written and going to my editor at the end of the month (keep your fingers crossed!!) and just completed a first draft of book three. Much work yet to be done but I'm looking forward to it.