Talk:Behir

This monster is closely based on a monster from Scottish folklore, which can be spelled beihir, beithir, or bheithir. It is similarly found in Irish folklore. The pronunciation is akin to "BAY-hur" or "BAY-thur" with a soft "th" palatization at the start of the second syllable. While we can expect some Americanizing of spelling and pronunciation for the game, I would suggest as much of the gaelic pronunciation should be preserved as is practicable.

Note that the Dragon Magazine article listed as a reference is not a valid source. It contains many inaccurate pronunciations for words used outside of D&D. It appears to be a listing of the author's guesses at pronunciation of Monster Manual entries without any attempt at research into the mythologies that inspired Gygax and other TSR writers (fictional intro with a pretense at a scholarly backstory notwithstanding).


 * As a wiki for a D&D campaign setting, D&D sources are used for lore, including pronunciations. For those who are interested in what the behir is based on, there is a handy link to the wikipedia page (beithir) in the infobox. The Dragon (magazine) article is a valid source for the same reason; our canon hierarchy "includes Dragon, Dungeon, and Polyhedron magazine, and information from the WotC website written about core D&D products." ~ Possessed Priest (talk) 10:32, 24 November 2021 (UTC)