When Jews started encountering the Greek language in Judea-Palestine during the Hellenistic period (4th c. BCE1st c. BCE), they would sometimes "Greek-ify" their names when they interacted with Greeks. He himself switches between them across media appearances. As for the first name, even that is a point of contention as mostfeel it is pronounced "Yonnis," and others say it "Yonnie." In fact, in English we have a similar situation. Adetokunbo was born in Athens, the son of Nigerian immigrants who had no legal status in Greece. "I have asked [Antetokounmpo]," said Ruocco. Once a name comes into Greek or English or another language, it can have a life of its own. Can you pronounce this word better or pronounce in different accent or variation ? But according to ESPN's Ryan Ruocco, in the. At age 18, he came to the United States to play college basketball. So it stuck by me, I love it and it's a cool nickname.". Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo joined The Daily Show on Monday night, and host Hasan Minhaj gave the NBA champion a chance to roast some of his fellow NBA stars.. But they eventually found their way onto a basketball court. Although Giannis was born in Athens, Greece, he is of Nigerian descent. Giannis may be an All-Star captain, but @SHAQ still can't pronounce his name The NBA All-Star Draft is coming up next at 7pm ET on @NBAonTNT pic.twitter.com/LE73n1KDp7. He began playing organized basketball when he was just 12 years old. Well, to answer this, we need to have a little lesson in historical Greek phonology and scribal practices. Please try again. Over time, two developments occurred. Giannis surname is pronounced AHN-teh-toh-KOON-boh. His name is pronounced YAH-nis ah-deh-toh-KOON-poh. So called hard and soft pronunciations. Giannis Antetokounmpo is originally from Greece and his name is pronounced yah-NEEs ah-deh-toh-KOON-boh. First, the Greek letter , which originally sounded like "ey" in English hey (but without the "y"), came to be pronounced like "ee" as in English see. Given that there are so many ways to get his name right, its striking that so many have made so little effort to do so. Because Greek has no "y" sound, just the vowel iota , which is pronounced like English "ee", the sequence gamma-iota , which would be transliterated in English as "gi", eventually came to be used to transcribe a "y" sound in other languages. Oops! Now, linguistically, this just explains the history and the spelling. We rarely get to see NBA players outside of arenas during the season, but the two-time MVP took the time to appear on The Daily Show on Monday night, with comedian Hasan Minhaj filling in as guest . However, the "Greek Freak . He is 23 years old, a hair under seven feet tall and there are 13 letters in his last name, most of them consonants, so he is usually referred to as Giannis or 'The Greek Freak.' He's called. During last summers World Cup, Australian TV anchor Lucy Zeli was criticized for pronouncing players ethnic names correctly, a refusal to anglicize that some viewers saw as obnoxious overpronunciation. Making connections that facilitate communication among all members of our community. You have earned {{app.voicePoint}} points. Register Giannis wouldn't reveal what the family talked about in private, but once he emerged to meet with the media, he spoke about his humble beginnings, saying that night, "At the end of the day, I . Many European languages feature multiple pronunciations for the letter <g>. Step 1: Giannis Is A Name Of Greek Origin. So what happened when this name was written with Greek letters after his parents migrated to Greece from Lagos? Thanks for signing up! Giannis was born on December 6, 1994, in Athens, Greece.if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[580,400],'stuffsure_com-medrectangle-3','ezslot_2',179,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-stuffsure_com-medrectangle-3-0'); Giannis Antetokounmpo (YAH-nis ah-deh-toh-KOON-boh; Greek: , IPA: [anis adetokumbo]), born December 6, 1994) is a Greek professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Growing up poor, his family struggled until NBA scouts discovered his talent. He is currently playing for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Is Giannis a boy or girl name? You just say the letter G like you would in the English word go, then say YAH-nis. Shortly after being crowned the NBAs Most Valuable Player f.. All fair game. Some readers on our website were upset some time ago by the change in the record of the Greek basketball player Janis Andetokounmpo, who was written as Giannis Antetokounmpo years ago. How to Pronounce Giannis Antetokounmpo? That journey starts in Nigeria, Giannis parents country of origin. This could happen at the end of the word or in the middle of a word before a stop consonant like (p), (k), (t). Giannis was born in Athens, Greece, on December 6, 1994. The Greek Freak! Basketball has long been a testament to the idea that there is strength and value in diverse teams. Ruocco does concedethat his pronunciation is not perfect. How To Teach Transition Defense Basketball. Giannis himself seems to be flexible in this respect when describing how to pronounce his name: Although it is undoubtedly the last name that gives people most trouble, the first name also deserves a few comments. Log in or In Modern Greek, in order to clearly represent the rumbly "y" sound, the sequence gamma-iota is used. So in a word like (pente) [pente], the weakening of the nasal could lead to the dropping out of the "n" sound and/or the change of the "t" to a "d" sound: i.e., pe(n)de. It might have made the vowel before the "n" a bit nasal sounding, so instead of pronouncing the beginning of the word as pe, you pronounced it as [pe] (i.e., with a nasally "e"). Most settled on pronouncing the name the way it is spelled which, by the way, is a challenge in and of itself. That may seem weird and random, but its a common strategy. The same thing happened with the name Giannis. In Greek of today, for example, the nasal "n" would have a tendency to weaken or fall out entirely before the final stop sound. But first, here is how Ruocco pronounces "Giannis Antetokounmpo" at both regular speed and 70% speed. You've got the pronunciation of GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO right. "The difference is that the T is actually pronounced as a D and the P in the end is actually a B," Ruocco told Le Batard. Giannis was recently on The Daily Show with guest host Hasan Minhaj where they had a segment where he had to read off a script and trash-talk some NBA greats. All contents 2023 The Slate Group LLC. At 611 he has the size of a traditional center, but the skills of a guard. Before "Giannis" became a household name, those who couldn't pronounce his last name often called the NBA's reigning MVP the "Greek Freak," because of his rare, freakish athletic ability and ballhandling skills for someone 6-foot-11. Unfortunately, this device does not support voice recording, Click the record button again to finish recording. It is also true that in native Greek words a word-initial iota before another vowel eventually came to be pronounced as this rumbly "y" as well. Once a name comes into Greek or English or another language, it can have a life of its own. Part of the problem is thatmanyannouncers during NBA games, highlight shows, and talk showsmispronounce the last name. In 2013, the Milwaukee Bucks released a short Media Day video asking the then rookies teammates to hazard a guess at it, to disastrous results. Antetokounmpo grew up in Greek culture learning the language, going to school and eventually starting to play basketball at age 7. It is not very often that my field, historical Greek phonology, and modern sports culture cross paths. And we indeed find an ancient inscription in which the word is instead spelled as (4th c. BCE Asia Minor). Manage Settings All Rights Reserved, {{app['fromLang']['value']}} -> {{app['toLang']['value']}}, Pronunciation of GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO with 20 audio pronunciations. Listen and learn how to say Giannis Antetokounmpo correctly (NBA basketball players, Milwaukee Bucks) with Julien, \"how do you pronounce\" free pronunciation audio/video tutorials.Learn how to say wine words in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, and many other languages with Julien Miquel and his pronunciation tutorials! Mike Budenholzer took a timeout mid-possession to get him off the floor. How to Choose a Dining Table - Tips for Selecting the Perfect Table for Your Space. (Antetokounmpo became Giannis' surname after it was spelled that way on his Greek passport instead of his birth name of Adetokunbo.) Bucks keep good vibe going, minus Lopez bros. Before "Giannis" became a household name, those who couldn't pronounce his last name often called the NBA's reigning MVP the "Greek Freak," because of his rare, freakish athletic ability and ballhandling skills for someone 6-foot-11. Giannis grew up in the Athens neighborhood of Sepolia. The reason for this transliteration is that Greek lacks a separate character for the [d] sound. Seems like your pronunciation of GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO is not correct. Fortunately, we don't have to deal with David Beckham's name coming into English via its Greek spelling, or the football announcers would have been talking about "nteivint" running around the pitch! In a 2013 interview, Giannis revealed that he hadn't started playing basketball until 2008, five years prior. No, Antetokounmpo told him with a weary smile, it wasnt right. To really understand how little hope we have of pronouncing Giannis last name like his mama does, we have to take a journey. Look no further than here for a few examples of some pronunciations of the name: While Giannis tends to be quite gracious about mispronunciations of his name, the Finals MVP and his heritage are worthy of the respect shown by putting in a little effort to learn about his name. In the case of the name yoanan or yoanna, this meant getting rid of the guttural sound and adding a Greek ending -es. He is 6 feet 11 inches tall and his nationality is Greek. Florida Court Approved Interpreter. Giannis Antetokounmpo has already been on the radar of NBA fans for several years, thanks to his crazy highlights and catchy nickname, The Greek Freak. We can see this illustrated in English with the words "rag" and "rage". Giannis Antetokounmpo was born in Athens, Greece. Antetokounmpo has been in the NBA for six years. Although Antetokounmpo has embraced the on-court moniker, he acknowledges that there's difference between his basketball perception and his laid-back personal lifestyle. Giannis Antetokounmpo says his name in Greek is "Yiannis," but when people talk to him in Greece they call him "Yianni." He says a lot of people in American don't understand this, but he's. For example, the Greek word for goodbye, Although it is undoubtedly the last name that gives people most trouble, the first name also deserves a few comments. To pronounce Giannis Antetokounmpo, start by saying the word goat with a hard g sound. . Thats what they call Giannis Antetokounmpo, and for good reason. Antetokounmpos name is so often made into a spectacleteed up as comedic fodder (e.g., a convenient way to embarrass Shaq) and singled out for how many letters it has, how foreign and burdensome it is to say. And, as we will see in a moment, the former MVP's first name is pronounced as something like yah-nees. Giannis Antetokounmpo is a Greek professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). I'm trying to think when I'm with my family, I'm with my family. In the middle of the stars breakout season a few years later, Fox Sports Wisconsin did a similar experiment with Bucks fans, who did only marginally better. Register Giannis was born in Greece to Nigerian parents, and he is the brother of Thanasis Antetokounmpo, who also plays professional basketball. or post as a guest, GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO should be in sentence. as well as other partner offers and accept our. But when he was home with his family, he learned and lived the Nigerian way. "I have complete confidence that if there's a way for us to return to basketball, return to play, in a healthy and safe manner, for our players and for the public and people that would be involved, that our league will figure out how to do it," Horst said. (John Henson left out a syllable, which Ersan Ilyasova made up for about nine times over.). In 2017, he was named the NBAs Most Valuable Player.if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'stuffsure_com-banner-1','ezslot_4',181,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-stuffsure_com-banner-1-0'); Giannis Antetokounmpo is a Greek professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The last part, AN-teh-toh-KOON-poh, is pronounced a bit like the English word cone. We immediately encounter an issue in pronouncing the very first letter in Giannis Antetokounmpo. (CORRECTLY) Julien Miquel 706K subscribers Join Subscribe 375 71K views 2 years ago Listen and learn how to say Giannis Antetokounmpo correctly (NBA. ({{youtube.currentSearch+1}} / {{youtube.searchResult.length}}), {{app.userTrophy[app.userTrophyNo].hints}}. Giannis Antetokounmpo joins Malika Andrews on NBA Today to discuss being called The Greek Freak, how he views himself and more. Adetokunbo transliterated into Greek becomes Antetokounmpo. Keep up. So dominant that on an island with the unstoppable force that is the Bucks MVP, Royce O'Neale did what the Nets should have done all game long. Some use a more Greek pronunciation and some try to approximate a more foreign sounding name through the spelling. As a matter of fact, both Gianni and Giannis are the equivalent of Johnny (being nicknames of Giovanni and Ioannes respectively, both of which are equivalent to John). Antetokounmpo admits there are a few acceptable ways to say his last name, the result of inexact transliteration from the Yoruba version (ah-det-oh-KOON-boh) to Greek (where it became an-tet-oh-KOON-poh). Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. His last name is Nigerian, so the "t"s in his name should be pronounced as "d"s. This would make the pronunciation of Antetokounmpo AH-ded-KOOM-poh. Now to the main event. But among the Frank Ntilikinas, Zydrunas Ilgauskases and Nemanja Bjelicas, one name stands apart. The n is pronounced like the n in songstep. Rams defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh (en-DOM-uh-ken SOO) said in a radio interview last spring that hed started going by Suh rather than Ndamukong because he was tired of hearing his first name get botched. This resulted in a pronunciation like yah-nees. Antetokounmpo had joined the broadcast with fellow captain LeBron James to pick teams for the Feb. 17 game. Giannis Yoruba father Charles passed on the name Adetokunbo, which according to one reputable source, means the crown has returned from overseas. anukah? And that's exactly what happened. Please Both guys have been amazing, in very different cir.. Giannis Antetokounmpo reacted to a reported online, saying he would not pay to read his piece on him back for a game back in December. Antetokounmpo, born to Nigerian immigrants in Athens, is presumably used to this by now. Both his parents are from Nigeria; his mother is Igbo and his father Yoruba (see here). It is no surprise that a name like Giannis Antetokounmpo would be difficult to pronounce by many commentators in the sports world. Rate the pronunciation difficulty of GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO. Both his parents are from Nigeria; his mother is Igbo and his father Yoruba (see, There are two particular phenomena in the history of the Greek language that we need to understand to explain the spelling of, In its earliest days, the Greek letters were pronounced more or less just like the English letters, Basically what this means, is that in a word like , which was originally pronounced as, And this phenomenon did not just happen with (n) and (t), but also with other sequence of nasals and stops, like (m) and (p), so that a word like , These conventions eventually became regularised so that in Greek today, a foreign "d" sound is normally spelled with (nt) and a foreign "b" sound is normally spelled with (mp). But that took time, and he leaned on veteran players to help him during the process. The nickname was given to him because of his unique set of skills for a player his size, and his African heritage. In the world of words and the diversity of accents and local dialects, some words can be extremely hard to pronounce.Giannis Sina Ougko Antetokounmpo is a Greek professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association. NEW YORK Giannis Antetokounmpo is the most dominant force in all of basketball. The g is pronounced like the y in yellow, and the o is pronounced like the o in gostep. Well, given the fact that his Yoruba name has two stop sounds "d" and "b", each of these had to be represented in Greek with a two-letter sequence. Giannis and the Greek Freak are two different people. Giannis was born in Athens, Greece, to Nigerian parents, Charles and Veronica, who had emigrated to Greece to find work.if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'stuffsure_com-large-leaderboard-2','ezslot_6',182,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-stuffsure_com-large-leaderboard-2-0'); Giannis first name is pronounced yah-NEEs. Unfortunately, this device does not support voice recording, Click the record button again to finish recording. My first name means a ton to me, he said. Check out these Famous cuisines around the World, Phonetic spelling of GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO, Examples of GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO in a sentence. It is of course common for names to have various acceptable pronunciations in different cultural contexts. Now when this happened, the nasal "n" didn't just fall out without a trace. A random rearrangement of the letters in the name (anagram) will give Iegnasnni. The exchange was emblematic of a strange paradox. Then, add the word apple with a soft a sound. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. He was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2013 NBA Draft. One name strikes fear in the heart of announcers. How do you pronounce Giannis Antetokounmpo's last name? Historical Greek Phonology & the Greek Freak, Image by Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, USA - Giannis Antetokounmpo, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73758747, Although Giannis was born in Athens, Greece, he is of Nigerian descent. Second, the "o" near the beginning of the name dropped out. He can handle the ball, shoot from anywhere on the court, and drive to the basket with ease. But LeBron shouldn't win the MVP because you like the story of his 2019-20 season better than that of Giannis Antetokounmpo. Giannis Antetokounmpo, also known as the "Greek Freak," is 6 feet 11 inches (2.11 m) tall and weighs 242 pounds (110 kg). We explain why the change occurred. So called hard and soft pronunciations. His first name, Giannis, is a typical Greek name that is pronounced as YAHN-nees, with emphasis on the "n"s, which acquire an elongated sound. from the second division of Greek basketball with a name that most Americans didn't know how to pronounce . Sure, sometimes letters are silent, or certain consonant combinations are tricky. A champion, activist and one of the most dominant players of his . So how could Greek signify a "b" "g" or "d" sound after these letters changed? Chicago Bulls color commentator Stacey King tried and failed spectacularly with the five syllables, ending up with something to the effect of Anagarunbo. Marv Alberts no less than a dozen attempts at the 2017 All-Star Game ranged from Anchootekembo to Antetokooko. Kevin Hart, in charge of introductions at last years All-Star Game, didnt even bother to try. Giannis Antetokounmpo is one of the best basketball players in the world. That's why ancient Greek has a word like iatros for doctor, but Modern Greek spells it as giatros. On opening night of the current season, the NBA had more than 100 active players who were born outside the U.S. Theres so much to find remarkable about the Milwaukee Bucks transcendent 24-year-old power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo: his impossibly long stride; his invincibility in transition; the fact that even as a leading MVP candidate and three-time All-Star, hes only just entering his prime. Sometimes when you're the MVP, you're the leader of the team, you've got to do a photo shoot and all that, you lose yourself, and whenever I'm with my family, I'm myself.". Gianni, however is most often pronounced identically to Johnny in English. Sign up for notifications from Insider! Learn more here. Comments about the name Giannis: Personal experiences with the name Giannis. Especially if youre a sportscaster and a not insignificant portion of your job is saying athletes names out loud. pauline hanson dancing with the stars; just jerk dance members; what happens if a teacher gets a dui We and our partners share information on your use of this website to help improve your experience. The Greek native is struggling to shoot the ball from behind the three-point arc in the 2022-23 campaign Antetokounmpo's current 27.0% three-point percentage is his lowest since the 2018-19 . You can try again. What type of offensive play has Antetokounmpo failed to showcase at this stage of his remarkably young basketball career? Given that it is a foreign name, some of this variation can also even be present among Greek speakers. The k is pronounced like the k in kick. In any case, an interesting thing happened as a result of this change. ", Giannis unsure of 'Greek Freak' roots but loves it, NBA Power Rankings: Kevin Durant's return could rock the West, V. Bryant settles crash photos suit for $28.85M, Sources: Lakers to reassess LeBron in 2 weeks, Irving: Need to scale back self-imposed pressure, Jokic sixth player in 100 career triple-double club, Driven Giannis 'OK' if people take him for granted, Durant to debut for Suns on Wed. vs. Hornets, Pels say injured Zion progressing, set for imaging, What NBA Finals runs from LeBron, Giannis can teach Jayson Tatum, Meet the man scouring Nigeria for the next generation of NBA and NFL talent, Roundtable: Early takeaways from Kyrie Irving joining Luka Doncic in Dallas, Hacking of Giannis' accounts being investigated. Record the pronunciation of this word in your own voice and play it to listen to how you have pronounced it. The digraph
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