How is the name Pritha pronounced?

November 19, 2008 12:40 PM

How is the name Pritha pronounced?

Long "i" sound? soft th or hard t? Are there variations or does it have a standard pronunciation?

posted by peep to Human Relations (5 answers total)

The girl I know by that name always pronounced it pree-tha, with the emphasis on the first syllable.
posted by katemonster at 12:56 PM on November 19, 2008

Best answer: My cube-neighbor at work says:

It definitely has sanskrit origins. It could mean , love or loved one or palm of hand. It is name of a queen in Hindu mythology.

Also, he said it is pronounced "Pree-tah". With a little roll of the tongue on the r.
posted by yellowbkpk at 12:57 PM on November 19, 2008

Best answer: Yeah, yellowbkpk has it. There's no "th" sound in Sanskrit (either as in think or then); the letter transliterated th represents an aspirated t (a t with a puff of air accompanying it, as in tell or top or pretty much any English word starting with t-).
posted by languagehat at 1:56 PM on November 19, 2008

Response by poster: Thank you!
posted by peep at 2:15 PM on November 19, 2008

A friend of mine is named Prithi; if it follows the same rules as Pritha, the pronunciation was equal emphasis on each syllable, and no soft "TH"--it was more like a glottal stop (not exactly a tongue roll).
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:24 PM on November 19, 2008