Lick or Litch?

[IncendiaryDevice]

How do you personally pronounce the word Lich?

& is there an official way based on something concrete?

I've always said Litch, there's no other word it can be confused with & it sounds more like a creature that dwells in damp & dank places than saying Lick, which is confusing by sound, unimpactful in an auditory sense & is one of those sounds that could easily be confused with someone just clearing their throat. A voice artist can do a lot with the word Litch, but sounds constipated saying Lick.

Poll is single choice, people can change their vote.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

'litch'

see: lychgate
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/pronunciation/english/lychgate

 

[SausageInYourFace]

We actually had a pretty good thread about this a short while ago.

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/people-who-pronounce-lich-as-litch.109387/

 

[Bocian]

 

[Wayward Son]

It's litch because otherwise as a DM, I'd be talking abouts licks throwing spells around and that sounds really kinky, and my party doesn't need any help getting to that point.

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

We actually had a pretty good thread about this a short while ago.

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/people-who-pronounce-lich-as-litch.109387/

Yes, I was always frustrated that one didn't have a poll.

 

[Vulpes]

Isn't "lick" slang for "vampire fledgling"?

 

[Lacrymas]

Lick sounds like it would fit in PoE, i.e. a retarded version.

 

[The Brazilian Slaughter]

I just say as it is spoken - Lich, with the ch sound. Like Leech, but with without the prolonged Liich sound, just Lich.

 

[ga♥]

In polish it's Licz

 

[Wayward Son]

In polish it's Licz

Sooooooo.... Is that Litch or Licks?

 

[Delterius]

Lick sounds like it would fit in PoE, i.e. a retarded version.

Lwt

 

[King Crispy]

If you pronounce it like 'lick' then demi-lich sounds p. stupid, doesn't it?

 

[Incendax]

9:55 minute video on the issue. Watch if you are extremely bored.

 

[JarlFrank]

Lich with a soft "ch", like the German ch.

Because I'm German.

 

[V_K]

I'm pretty sure I once heard it pronounced "laich" somewhere

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

Lich = Litch

Makes the monster sound much more dangerous anyways. "A lick appears" vs. "A litch appears."

 

[octavius]

The word may have been originally pronounced more like "lick".
I assume it's from the same stem as the Norwegian word "lik" (pronounced like "leek") which means corpse. And English has changed much more than Norwegian, or just about any language probably, the last 1000 years.

 

[Wayward Son]

The word may have been originally pronounced more like "lick".
I assume it's from the same stem as the Norwegian word "lik" which means corpse. And English has changed much more than Norwegian, or just about any language probablt, the last 1000 years.

That's a fair point. Still pronounced Litch. Just like Knight isn't pronounced Kuhnighit

 

[Strange Fellow]

OED has it as Litch. For some reason I thought it was a velar fricative, like Spanish "j." Maybe because of Loch Ness. So kingcomrade it is!

 

[Aqualung]

Liche

 

[V_K]

I assume it's from the same stem as the Norwegian word "lik" (pronounced like "leek") which means corpse. And English has changed much more than Norwegian, or just about any language probably, the last 1000 years.

And in Danish the same word is "lig", pronounced "lee", without any consonant at the end. You can't draw any conclusions from either of the facts, each language developed in its own way and has its own rules.

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

OED has it as Litch. For some reason I thought it was a velar fricative, like Spanish "j." Maybe because of Loch Ness. So kingcomrade it is!

A good real word modern word for comparison would be the country of Lichtenstein.

That sounds ok in both the German and English versions:

German: Licktenstine
English: Litchenstine

Loch is a good example of that awkward throat clearing sound being used in English though, so good example there, it's not an outright ck sound, but that course ch sound of loch.

 

[G.O.D]

And if one scales the Lich up a tier.. would it be "Ark-Lich" or "Artsh-Lich"?

I always pronounced it as "Artsh". It bothered me when I heard it pronounced as "Ark".

Perhaps I'm wrong, and it's on me.

 

[octavius]

And if one scales the Lich up a tier.. would it be "Ark-Lich" or "Artsh-Lich"?

I always pronounced it as "Artsh". It bothered me when I heard it pronounced as "Ark".

It's easier to just say Soros.