Basenotes › Basenotes Forums › Fragrance Discussion › Male Fragrance Discussion › MFD Archive › Pronunciation of Millésime
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Pronunciation of Millésime

post #1 of 21
2/26/08 at 11:08am
Thread Starter 
What is the correct pronunciation of the word Millésime?
Reply
Reply

Features on Basenotes

Basenotes Reader Awards 2013 - Finalists Announced.
Greatest Hits: Annick Menardo
Petals Falling From The Sky - A Report From The Cote d'Azur's Bataille De Fleurs
post #2 of 21
2/26/08 at 11:09am
I think it's:

Mia-Seem
Me-ah-Seam

not:
Mill-ah-syme

I speak no French tho...
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 21
2/26/08 at 11:11am
This question has been asked before, and from what I could understand, the closest I can come is

Mih - leh - zeem

I guess the question is about whether or not the "L"s are voiced at all.

I don't speak french either, so it might sound weird if I actually did pronounce all of these fancy names correctly! - Like when someone at a Mexican resturaunt rolls their "r"s when pronouncing a food name!
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 21
2/26/08 at 11:17am
In French, when you have double "L"s it's pronounced like a Y.

So I think it's mee-yeh-szeem. But my French has gotten rusty over the years, and I've never actually heard the word being said so someone may correct me.

Where's JaimeB? I heard he teaches French
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 21
2/26/08 at 11:37am
Mee-lay-seem

Usually the double-L is a Y sound indeed, as in french "village" or "bataille," but there are some exceptions and I don't know what the rule is for when they happen, but in the case of millésime there is an L sound, although it isn't stressed. I also like what Scentronic has done using the z in -zeem, that's not too bad at mirroring pronounciation, but there's a sort of cross between s and z that would be most accurate.
--Chris
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 21
2/26/08 at 11:53am
In that case, I stand corrected.
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 21
2/26/08 at 11:57am
The L's in "village" are actually pronounced in French as L's. There are rules and exceptions but they tend to become a Y when after an "ai" or when they're towards the end of a word followed by an "e" like Bastille or volaille,

The correct pronunciation is Mee-Leh-zeem

Millésime means the year of the vintage. Like a vintage wine from 1877 has a millesime of 1877.
Creed uses it to imply that their lines are fine classy vintage gems.

http://littre.reverso.net/dictionnai...3%A9sime/48274
You'd have to read french to undersatnd this, but it says what I just said, and it has the pronunciation syllables,
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 21
2/26/08 at 1:08pm
I'd always assumed it was Mee-lez-i-may.
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 21
2/26/08 at 1:09pm
Milly seem
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 21
2/26/08 at 2:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by GAIVS IVLIVS CAESAR View Post

The L's in "village" are actually pronounced in French as L's. There are rules and exceptions but they tend to become a Y when after an "ai" or when they're towards the end of a word followed by an "e" like Bastille or volaille,

I stand corrected as well!
--Chris
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 21
2/26/08 at 2:14pm
Miley-cyruss...I'm sorry. That's a weak attempt at humor for the Hannah Montana fans.
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 21
2/26/08 at 2:19pm
I speak French but continue to find that language as hard to understand as the people speaking it:

- 'mille' (which means 'thousand') is pronounced [mil]
- 'fille' (which means 'girl') is pronounced [fij]

Perhaps there's some rule that explains this, but I never learned it, just memorized the words one by one...
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 21
2/26/08 at 2:51pm
Couple years ago I talked to a SA at Neiman Marcus who pronounced it

melissa may (phonetically)
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 21
2/26/08 at 3:09pm
In this case it is the é after the ll's that make a big difference.

Millésime = Meeleh zeem. But the leh is not like lay but like luh (almost).
However, you might see or hear millésimé which is an adjective and then you would hear the "e" at the end.
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 21
2/26/08 at 3:14pm
mee-lay-ZEEM. The word "millésime" refers to the date on a monument or a coin.

The "-ille" combination in French is pronounced "eey" at the end of some words and "eel" at the end of others. The first pronunciation is the more usual one, but in some common words, such as "mille" (a thousand) and "ville" (town or city), it's the latter. Because "millésime" is derived from "mille," the "l" sound is preserved in the derived word.

In the combination "-aille" at the end of words, it's pronounced like the English word "eye." Examples are words like "Versailles" (the place name), "fiançailles" (engagement, betrothal), and "canaille" (scoundrel, riffraff).

Isn't French fun?
Reply
Reply
post #16 of 21
2/26/08 at 3:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by GAIVS IVLIVS CAESAR View Post


The correct pronunciation is Mee-Leh-zeem

This is they way it is pronounced, now depending on where you are from in France, the accented é could either be pronounced as e in 'peck', or, e as in there. I say it closer to the e in there, but never harsh; in french we don't stress any of the syllables in a word.

Also, most SA's do not know the correct pronunciation for the products. When I worked with Dior, the trainer told the whole group "With the exception of Francoise and Gabrielle, please just say the names in english, you WILL mispronounce it. Just leave the french pronunciation to the two french women." It was funny, she explained the difference between Poison, and poisson, and had me say the two words. When no one could tell the difference, she said that is why they should just use english.
Reply
Reply
post #17 of 21
2/26/08 at 3:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brielle87 View Post

This is they way it is pronounced, now depending on where you are from in France, the accented é could either be pronounced as e in 'peck', or, e as in there. I say it closer to the e in there, but never harsh; in french we don't stress any of the syllables in a word.

Also, most SA's do not know the correct pronunciation for the products. When I worked with Dior, the trainer told the whole group "With the exception of Francoise and Gabrielle, please just say the names in english, you WILL mispronounce it. Just leave the french pronunciation to the two french women." It was funny, she explained the difference between Poison, and poisson, and had me say the two words. When no one could tell the difference, she said that is why they should just use english.

FYI: "Poison" = poison; "poisson" = fish. Some fish are poisonous, that is, "vénéneux." Go figure!
Reply
Reply
post #18 of 21
2/26/08 at 3:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by JaimeB View Post

FYI: "Poison" = poison; "poisson" = fish. Some fish are posionous, that is, "vénéneux." Go figure!

Oh, I love my language, it is so complicated. But I have to say english is complicated also. Just like english speakers not understanding the slight difference in the pronunciation of poisson vs poison, I always found then vs than to be quite tricky. Actually I still do, I really have to listen to context. Language is such fun.
Reply
Reply
post #19 of 21
2/26/08 at 3:45pm
http://www.oddcast.com/home/demos/tt...le.php?sitepal

Type the word then hear it pronounced. Many languages and different voices.
Reply
Reply
post #20 of 21
2/26/08 at 3:50pm
In fact most languages are tame compared to English when it comes to irregularities in spelling.

Take for example words that end with "-ough" in English. You have "cough" (pronounced coff) "rough" (ruff), "though" (thow) etc...

Part of the reason I love Korean and Arabic - you can read as it is written and you know you're saying it right.
Reply
Reply
post #21 of 21
2/26/08 at 5:40pm
it's milleh-seem

where are all these people getting the "z" sound?
--------------------------------------
oh.....ma bad...
JamieB already clarified that
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: MFD Archive

Features on Basenotes

Basenotes Reader Awards 2013 - Finalists Announced.
Greatest Hits: Annick Menardo
Petals Falling From The Sky - A Report From The Cote d'Azur's Bataille De Fleurs
Basenotes › Basenotes Forums › Fragrance Discussion › Male Fragrance Discussion › MFD Archive › Pronunciation of Millésime