Dorothea

[snowowl.livejournal.com]

I'm reading Middlemarch by George Eliot, and one of the main characters is named Dorothea. How the hell do you pronounce that? Is it supposed to sound exactly like Dorothy (with the ea making an ee sound)? Or is it:

DoroTHEEah (the same cadence as "Mamma Mia!" from the Meryl Streep film)
DorOHthea
???

This is really bugging me. I'm just going to think of her as Ms. Brooke from now on if I can't get this sorted out.

Comments

[shweetnettie13.livejournal.com]

I would pronounce it like you'd pronounce Dorothy, but add an "uh" to the end. Like Dor-oh-thee-uh

[waitingonsunday.livejournal.com]

I've always heard it pronounced as dor-o-THEE-ah.

[smallandneedy.livejournal.com]

I say DoroTHEEah

[spaceandclouds.livejournal.com]

I always pronounced it Dor-oh-THEE-ah as well.

And random tangent: where I live, it'd be Dor-oh-TAY-ah. But since George Eliot writes in English, I presume it's the former pronunciation ;)

[invisibob.livejournal.com]

My instinct says Doro-THAY-ah.

[aquilinum.livejournal.com]

Either doh-roh-THEE-ah or doh-roh-TEH-ah.

[trishy-h.livejournal.com]

Studied this text (but still haven't finished it) and it's always been pronounced Doro-THEE-ah

[speakingsoul.livejournal.com]

DoroTHEEah

[gipro2003.livejournal.com]

See, I don't even pronounce Dorothy the same as everyone else is. I pronounce it with two syllables Dor-thy. So to me Dorothea is Dor-THEE-uh.

[unmowngrass.livejournal.com]

Me too.

[cremepuff.livejournal.com]

I would assume DoroTHEEah.

[cairtirnin.livejournal.com]

Ditto on this comment.

[ajsuram.livejournal.com]

I pronounced it DoroTHEEah, but what do I know, being non-native speaker. I am so glad you asked :)

[1842.livejournal.com]

to be honest, i've always pronounced it dor-oh-TAY-uh

[freezemyazaleas.livejournal.com]

I always thought it was the same as Dorothy, but I guess I'm wrong.

[kitchen-poet.livejournal.com]

Me three.

[nothingtolose19.livejournal.com]

Fourthed! :p