Seeing your discussions on pronouncing Mando'a recently got me wondering: how actually does one pronounce Mereel? Since English is my only language, I just defaulted to mer-EEL. But since there's two vowels, maybe it should be mer-EY-el (elided), or mer-EH'el (glottal stop) or the stress on the last syllable (mer-ey-EL or mer-eh'EL), or even the stress on the first syllable? I have no idea now and I don't know enough about Mando'a to make an educated guess. What is your opinion?
My FAVORITE thing about this question is that it’s something that comes up like every couple months or so. This specific “How do I pronounce Mereel?” question. I’m also like … simultaneously the best and worst person to ask, because my answer is literally “all ways to pronounce Mereel is the correct way,” and I maintain that Mereel would very likely feel the same way, given how he likes to flex words in any way he can.
I feel like one can really express just how they’re feeling @ Mereel simply by how they pronounce his name.
And like … even though I’ve been writing things to do with Mereel directly for quite a long time now, I still don’t pronounce his name in the exact same way every time bc … lmao, of course I don’t.
Personally, on any given day, I’d pronounce his name as either meh’REEL or meh’REY’ehl, or if shortened, then REY’ehl, as opposed to REEL. Pronunciation is entirely contingent on one’s accent and one’s dialect — of which I’ve insisted that mando’a must have multiple dialects, specifically due to the widespread reach of mandalorians during the Mandalorian Wars.
On a more serious note though …
Determining how Mereel’s name is pronounced “correctly” would actually require learning from where his name actually comes from, and its origins. If it’s a loan word from a different language, that generally affects how pronunciation “should” or “could” be.
Mereel’s name actually comes from a mandalorian clan: clan Mereel, of which Mand’alor Jaster Mereel was apart. The thing is, he’s native to Concord Dawn, located firmly within Mandalorian space, and served as a Journeyman Protector (the group that Fenn Rau belongs to) … but for whatever reason, he was not considered mandalorian until he was formally adopted by a True Mandalorian (faction).
The tricky thing here is that, at least in Legends, Concord Dawn has its own particular accent and dialect different from “standard” mando’a and main mandalorian space where Sundari is located. Jaster Mereel did not change his name when he was adopted, and so Mereel is technically a Concordian family name.
Where am I going with this?
Well, Concord Dawn was a predominantly agriculture world — the vast majority of the population who called the planet home were farmers, or part of an agriculture-focused industry of some kind.
The word that sounds and looks closest to Mereel would be … Neral, which translates to grain. And, it would make sense for a family name of a family native to an agricultural world, to be close to, or similar to, grain.
I feel like this is the closest, most genuine origin of the name. And, if this really is the case, then the “correct” way to pronounce Mereel would be closer to
I mean … aside from neral, there aren’t any close/similar words in mando’a that I can see. Then again, like many other family names, some changes can happen over time — and this isn’t quite taking into account dialectical differences between mando’a spoken by a Sundari mandalorian vs a Concordian.
On top of that, I could be completely off and it’s entirely possible that it’s not a name of Concordian origin but a combination of other words, something perhaps from:
mhor — [rare, archaic] ours
used with some variation of IIL or AAL, or EL, though aal is more likely, as its word would already exist: aalar, to feel … but possibly also from elek, meaning yes
mhor’el — agreement, accord
I like the idea that Mereel comes from neral, though, and it makes the most sense purely from history, and location, and people.
