SER-nun-nos or Ser-NUN-nos? KER-nun-nos or Ker-NUN-nos?

The Old Gaulish antlered god Cernunnos is hot these days. (Ask me, He's always been hot.) So how do you pronounce His Name?

SER-nun-nos or Ser-NUN-nos? KER-nun-nos or Ker-NUN-nos?

Well, how you pronounce your god's name is up to you and certainly none of my business. But if you'd like to know the historic pronunciation—how, for instance, the sculptor that carved the famous Paris Cernunnos relief (shown here in full modern reconstruction) would have articulated the god's name, there historical linguistics can help you.

Historically speaking, we can rule out the first two pronunciations immediately. In Gaulish, C was always “hard” (i.e. pronounced as K).

So, KER-nun-nos or Ker-NUN-nos? One hears both pronunciations these days. (I've never heard anyone attempt Ker-nun-NOS, bless His Horns.)

Well, we can't say with absolute certainty that it's one or the other, since Gaulish has been a dead language for considerably more than a millennium. According to Dutch linguist Peter Schrijver (Schrijver 20), however, available evidence indicates that, as a rule, the Gaulish language favored stress on the penultimate (next-to-the-last) syllable.

So, if by some chance you should happen to find yourself transported back through time to Roman era Lutetia (Paris) and happen to ask passers-by in the street after Ker-NUN-nos, chances are that they'll understand you well enough to be able to point you to His nearest temple.

Which, under the circumstances, might not be a bad place to start.

Peter Schrijver (1995), Studies in British Historical Phonology. Amsterdam: Rodopi