» Mon Nov 28, 2011 4:10 pm
In the game Oblivion, it's pronounced both ways by various NPCs. I consider it in the same manner that I regard the various Western interpretations of the pronunciation of China's capital (Peking, Beijing, Beiping, etc.): the exact sounds aren't available in the local language, so something "similar" is used, and any pronunciation of "Daedra" in Cyrodiilic is going to be no more than a rough approximation.
A few historic examples:
The name of the famed conqueror "Alexander" is pronounced something along the lines of "el Iksendar" in portions of the Middle East. Which is correct? Most likely, neither.
Caesar is spelled or pronounced as "Kaiser", "Czar", "shezzar", 'seezer", and various other ways in different languages. According to the few shreds of Latin that I know, the German pronunciation is probably fairly close.
One of the medieval generals was called "Clovis" in English. Some evidence suggests that his Germanic name was actually "Schlodwig", with the "w" pronounced as a "v".
"Steven" is "Stefan" in German, and in Hungarian it's "Istvan", with the "s" pronounced as "sh", which may also be related to the Spanish "Estefan".
It's also apparent that many of the traditional "biblical" names have been so Westernized as to be almost unrecognizable from their original forms. The early Judean names "Jehu", "Jereboam", and others with the "Je" prefix ("J" did not exist at the time, so "I" was used) may have had the same origin as the "Ya" or "Ia" in the early form of "Yaweh" for god, which may have been pronounced the same as "Jehu", or perhaps even as "Yahoo".
Languages evolve, and it's difficult to figure out how something may have been pronounced at one time. The alphabet in Tamriel is supposed to have originated from Daedric, and the spoken form may have had similar roots, but has evolved into something totally different. Most likely, most mortals can't properly pronounce "Daedra", so there's some question about the "proper" form even in Tamriel.
As for hostility, wouldn't you be hostile too if somebody kept calling you a "gzchooomunnng"?