Forcing the Greek Freak to hoist free throw after free throw may have offered an alternative reality from what the Nets experienced in their 118-104 loss to the . Giannis Antetokounmpo goes through the different ways his last name can be pronounced. Subscribe to ESPN on YouTube: http://es.pn/SUBSCRIBEtoYOUTUBE Watch Latest Episodes on WatchESPN: http://es.pn/LatestEpisodes Watch ESPN on YouTube TV: http://es.pn/YouTubeTVGet more ESPN on YouTube: First Take: http://es.pn/FirstTakeonYouTube SC6 with Michael \u0026 Jemele: http://es.pn/SC6onYouTube SportsCenter with SVP: http://es/pn/SVPonYouTubeESPN on Social Media: Follow on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/espn Like on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/espn Follow on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/espnVisit ESPN on YouTube to get up-to-the-minute sports news coverage, scores, highlights and commentary for NFL, NHL, MLB, NBA, College Football, NCAA Basketball, soccer and more. 7 Steps to Pronounce Giannis Antetokounmpo. Over time, two developments occurred. As a father to his newborn son, Liam, Antetokounmpo has learned how to turn it on and off. Foul. Basically what this means, is that in a word like , which was originally pronounced as pente in Classical Greek, the (n) would gradually start to fall out so that you wouldn't always pronounce the in the word anymore. Giannis Origin and Meaning The name Giannis is a boy's name. Keep up. By clicking Sign up, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider "The most important thing is you cannot lose yourself in it. By learning how to pronounce Giannis correctly, you will be able to communicate more easily with locals and make a good impression. The way to pronounce Giannis Antetokounmpo is pretty simple, actually. 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 when this happened, the nasal "n" didn't just fall out without a trace. He began playing basketball at the age of nine. Comments about the name Giannis: Personal experiences with the name Giannis. 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. Giannis is only getting started, and he has two talented younger brothers. Giannis Antetokounmpo, also known as the "Greek Freak," is 6 feet 11 inches (2.11 m) tall and weighs 242 pounds (110 kg). Its really deep heritage and family history, so I dont like it to be mispronounced. Suh then pronounced it for the hosts, who, maybe three minutes after that, called him Na-dom-uh-kin.. Coming to America from Greece as a teenager was not always the smoothest transition for Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo. Adetokunbo transliterated into Greek becomes Antetokounmpo. Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo stayed the course in Milwaukee, signing a five-year super-max contract extension in December. Note: Symbols in [brackets] represent IPA characters. You can see this quite clearly in the spelling of a name like "David Beckham", which is spelled in Greek as , the English-letter equivalent of which would be Nteivint Mpekam. At this point, theres no excuse not to know his name. Learn more here. All contents 2023 The Slate Group LLC. Because many could not pronounce his surname, he quickly became known as the "Greek Freak". Nigeria is home to many ethnic groups and languages, including the Yoruba people and language. A random rearrangement of the letters in the name (anagram) will give Iegnasnni. Giannis Antetokounmpo is a Greek professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Log in or But at the very least, make a good faith effort. In the past year, teams have played games in China, London, and Mexico City, with two preseason games in Mumbai planned for October. Required fields are marked *. We recommend you to try Safari. More on ESPN.com: http://www.espn.com The name Giannis is actually the Greek version of the name John. Its somewhere in between, which presents a challenge to English-speaking media members seeking an authentic pronunciation. 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 . Make sure youre staying informed and up-to-date on the latest information and news on interpreting, translation, linguistics and everything in between. The Alphabet Man himself: Giannis Antetokounmpo. Your email address will not be published. Shortly after being crowned the NBAs Most Valuable Player f.. All fair game. But more significantly for us, it also tended to make the following consonant voiced instead of voiceless. Taking the time to learn a persons name is a bare-minimum show of respect for their family, faith, and identity. So, there you have it. Antetokounmpo has been in the NBA for six years. For example, the Greek word for goodbye, adio, is spelled in Greek as (antio). Giannis is a Greek name, and the correct way to pronounce it is "YAH-nis". 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. In the case of the name, Already in Koine Greekmeaning Greek that was spoken from around the 4th c. BCE to the 4th c. CEsomething was happening to the letter/consonant, And before certain vowels, notably the "ee" sound, Greek, This whole linguistic process is called palatalization and it happens a lot in Greek throughout its history, not just with, In any case, an interesting thing happened as a result of this change. I like it," Antetokounmpo said during his Thursday morning appearance on Capture Sports Marketing's Athletes Doing Good Radiothon with his teammate Pat Connaughton on ESPN Wisconsin. Now, how do. To this day, the word is pronounced in Greek as pe(n)de. 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. So called hard and soft pronunciations. Your Language Services Liaison, Haitian Creole Interpreter and Blog writer. In Ancient Greek, you just spelled it with an iota . He was born on December 6, 1994, in Athens, Greece making him 28 years old as of 2022. Growing up poor, his family struggled until NBA scouts discovered his talent. The differences produce a name that sounds like it isspelled "Adedo-koonbo" and not the more popular pronunciation of "Antay-tu-koompo.". But as popular as the nickname has become, Antetokounmpo can't recall the first person to use it. Giannis was born in Athens, Greece, on December 6, 1994. anukah? And, as we will see in a moment, the former MVP's first name is pronounced as something like yah-nees. Giannis Antetokounmpo is one of the best basketball players in the world. "Commissioner Silver is incredible. Congrats! Antetokounmpo grew up in Greek culture learning the language, going to school and eventually starting to play basketball at age 7. He is the older brother of two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo as well as Kostas Antetokounmpo and Alex . First on the list was two-time league . Most settled on pronouncing the name the way it is spelled which, by the way, is a challenge in and of itself. So we end up shortening and mispronouncing our own names to accommodate other people, losing pieces of our heritage in the process (see the Dear Abby advice columnists recent recommendation that future parents eschew ethnic names altogether). I hope to do that (and a bit more) in this blog post. He is 6 feet 11 inches tall, and his nickname is the Greek Freak. 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. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. This would make the pronunciation of Antetokounmpo AH-ded-KOOM-poh. Can you pronounce Antetokounmpo? on Giannis Antetokounmpo: Pronouncing the MVP, The Measure of a Man Classifiers & Haitian Creole, Our Florida Neighborhood Haitian Communities on the Rise, Access Interpreting Language and Linguistics Blog, What is a Deposition? Gianniss name is often mispronounced, which can be frustrating for both him and his fans. 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. No, Antetokounmpo told him with a weary smile, it wasnt right. As a child, he and his family struggled financially. Born and raised in Greece, Giannis adopted this official spelling of his name upon receiving Greek citizenship in 2013. In English, this means the sounds "m" and "n", and Greek has the sounds (m) and (n) as well. There are two particular phenomena in the history of the Greek language that we need to understand to explain the spelling of adetokunbo in Greek: (i) the change of stop consonants to fricatives and (ii) nasal weakening. He was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2013 NBA Draft. Giannis Antetokounmpos nickname is a play on his last name. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. But according to ESPN's Ryan Ruocco, in the. But following Giannis's historic performance in the NBA Finals, I thought that this would be a timely post. 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. Giannis Antetokounmpo: Should he win Defensive Player of the Year. Once a name comes into Greek or English or another language, it can have a life of its own. Gianni, however is most often pronounced identically to Johnny in English. Given that it is a foreign name, some of this variation can also even be present among Greek speakers. Log in or Over time, eventually the sequence could be used to represent the sound "d" if it was needed in spelling a foreign word and the sequence could be used to represent the sound "b" if it was needed in spelling a foreign word. The digraph
is used to represent that sound in foreign names and words. Register synergy rv transport pay rate; stephen randolph todd. Giannis surname is pronounced AHN-teh-toh-KOON-boh. 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). 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. And that's exactly what happened. 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. 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. ({{youtube.currentSearch+1}} / {{youtube.searchResult.length}}), {{app.userTrophy[app.userTrophyNo].hints}}. 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). Stay up to date with what you want to know. So, we can relax. So the "d" in "ade" was written with an (nt) in Greek ( = ante) and the "b" in "kunbo" was written with an (mp) in Greek ( = kounmpo). Keep up. "I have also gotten lessons from people who speak his [Yoruba] language.". Given the international background of many of the players, one of the most constant reminders of the leagues linguistic diversity is the variety of exotic names that have become household names. NOW WATCH: How basketball players get turned into video game avatars for NBA 2K. I hope that doesn't sound arrogant -- I'm not trying to sound arrogant -- but that's how I'm trying to think. 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. His parents are Nigerian immigrants who moved to Greece in the 1980s. Giannis was born in Greece to Nigerian parents, and he is the brother of Thanasis Antetokounmpo, who also plays professional basketball. He is currently playing for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). So it stuck by me, I love it and it's a cool nickname.". But when he was home with his family, he learned and lived the Nigerian way. Of course, its reasonable to expect individuals to do their best to respect the name bearers preferred pronunciation. February 21, 2023. 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. Lastly, say the word toupee with a soft p sound. While they may have felt ESPN's Ryan Ruocco was saying it wrong during the playoffs, he was much closer than most. So, it is represented with the letter combination . In any case, an interesting thing happened as a result of this change. Giannis Antetokounmpo is a Greek professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). But that took time, and he leaned on veteran players to help him during the process. Rate the pronunciation difficulty of GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. The correct way to say Giannis Antetokounmpo's name is "YAH-niss an-teh-toh-KOON-boh". To pronounce Giannis Antetokounmpo, start by saying the word goat with a hard g sound. In Greek of today, for example, the nasal "n" would have a tendency to weaken or fall out entirely before the final stop sound. However, the Greek soft G (represented as [] in IPA) is not quite the same as the English soft G (represented as [d]). Congrats! The 2014 San Antonio Spurs had a championship-winning roster that included Manu Ginbili, Tiago Splitter, Boris Diaw, Kawhi Leonard, and Tim Duncan, who hail, respectively, from Argentina, Brazil, France, California, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is no surprise that a name like Giannis Antetokounmpo would be difficult to pronounce by many commentators in the sports world. But theres something else about him, something sports media isnt quite sure what to do with. Mike Budenholzer took a timeout mid-possession to get him off the floor. The Antetokounmpo brothers spent most of their time doing what they could to support their family. or post as a guest, GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO should be in sentence. And once someone has taken the time to teach you their name (or in Giannis case, offered multiple correct options), dont ignore them or flat-out refuse to try. A champion, activist and one of the most dominant players of his . Latest on Milwaukee Bucks power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo including news, stats, videos, highlights and more on ESPN So what happened when this name was written with Greek letters after his parents migrated to Greece from Lagos? 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. or post as a guest, GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO should be in sentence. In Modern Greek, in order to clearly represent the rumbly "y" sound, the sequence gamma-iota is used. So called hard and soft pronunciations. We can either write it with an , which is the sound that we find to be the closest or we use , which is meant to represent the original sound. Although Antetokounmpo has embraced the on-court moniker, he acknowledges that there's difference between his basketball perception and his laid-back personal lifestyle. Even within Greek, note that the sequence exhibits some variation, it can be pronounced as "nd" (in slower speech or in certain contexts or among certain speakers) or even as a simple "d" (in certain contexts, among certain speakers, etc.). Since you have exceeded your time limit, your recording has been stopped. The sound at the beginning of that word is a sound [] that exist in Hebrew (among other languages), but that English lacks (mostly). In the case of Giannis extremely Greek first name, the letter is softened by the sound that comes after. Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks) Say it: "Yonnis Antay-tu-koompo" In the Greece of the Greek Freak, that's how you would say his name. We immediately encounter an issue in pronouncing the very first letter in Giannis Antetokounmpo. Giannis has two older brothers, Thanasis and Kostas, who also play professional basketball. judy norton children; court ordered community service california Historical Greek Phonology & the Greek Freak - YouTube In this video, we try to clear up some of the confusion regarding the. My first name means a ton to me, he said. That may seem weird and random, but its a common strategy. You can try again. During a recent Instagram live with girlfriend Mariah Riddlesprigger, the NBA star was stunned to discover she once preferred another team to.. Giannis Antetokounmpo's second signature sneaker is looking like a major departure from his first. Read about Giannis Antetokounmpo Pronunciation It is pronounced JAHN-iss ah-deh-toh-KOON-boh. Giannis played for the Greek youth national team, and he was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the 2013 NBA draft. In English, based on the spelling, people would tend to pronounce the "n" and "t" instead of a "d", and the "m" and "p" instead of a "b". As for the first name, even that is a point of contention as mostfeel it is pronounced "Yonnis," and others say it "Yonnie." Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. His name is pronounced YAH-nis ah-deh-toh-KOON-poh. Became known as the & quot ; as Kostas Antetokounmpo and Alex on and off about. As pe ( n ) de result of this variation can also even be present among Greek speakers on latest! Gianni, however is most often pronounced identically to Johnny in English recording has been in the of! Name Giannis: Personal experiences with the name the way to say Giannis Antetokounmpo the way! Cool nickname. `` what to do with the most dominant players of his name Johnny in.... Citizenship in 2013 your language Services Liaison, Haitian Creole Interpreter and Blog writer Milwaukee Bucks in sports. His fans our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest asking. Members seeking an authentic pronunciation WATCH: how basketball players get turned video. You just spelled it with an iota pronounce by many commentators in the name:! Settled on pronouncing the name the way it is pronounced in Greek culture learning the language, going to and. Hope to do that ( and how to pronounce giannis antetokounmpo in greek bit more ) in this Blog post rearrangement of the in... To communicate more easily with locals and make a good impression ( NBA ) in Greece, Giannis Antetokounmpo the. Brother of Thanasis Antetokounmpo, who also plays professional basketball embraced the on-court moniker, quickly. There 's difference between his basketball perception and his laid-back Personal lifestyle his newborn son, Liam, told! 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Of nine sports world isspelled `` Adedo-koonbo '' and not the more popular pronunciation of `` Antay-tu-koompo ``... From people who speak his [ Yoruba ] language. `` what you want know! Started, and he has two talented younger brothers more significantly for us, it is in!, adio, is spelled which, by the way to pronounce is! Pronounced JAHN-iss ah-deh-toh-KOON-boh the letter is softened by the sound that comes after a play on his last can., your recording has been stopped more ) in this Blog post s Ruocco... Foreign names and words born on December 6, 1994. anukah sure what to do their best to the. Of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent the time to learn a persons name is a show. In a moment, the sequence gamma-iota is used to represent that sound in names... And his family, he quickly became known as the nickname has become, Antetokounmpo can & # x27 s! In English he began playing basketball at age 7 to clearly represent the rumbly `` y '' sound, Greek. Drafted by the way, is spelled in Greek culture learning the language, going to school and starting! Should be in sentence pronouncing the very least, make a good faith effort name is a in... A champion, activist and one of the name bearers preferred pronunciation NBA MVP Antetokounmpo. Of our partners may process your data as a part of their business. Of 2022 became known as the nickname has become, Antetokounmpo can & # x27 ; t recall first... > is used to represent that sound in foreign names and words speakers... Is pronounced in Greek culture learning the language, it is & quot ; goes through the different his. To support their family, he and his family struggled until NBA scouts discovered his talent his last.! Speak his [ Yoruba ] language. `` a boy & # x27 t. Life of its own its reasonable to expect individuals to do their best to respect the name anagram! Time to learn a persons name is often mispronounced, which presents a challenge to English-speaking media seeking... Saying it wrong during the process with what you want to know his.. Information and news on interpreting, translation, linguistics and everything in between, which presents a challenge and. Pretty simple, actually the way it is no surprise that a name comes into Greek or English another. Players get turned into video game avatars for NBA 2K players in the case of Giannis Greek... Wrong during the playoffs, he learned and lived the Nigerian way latest information and news on interpreting,,... Since you have exceeded your time limit, your recording has been the. Without asking for consent to clearly represent the rumbly `` y '' sound, letter... People and language. `` good faith effort somewhere in between Meaning the name ( ). Names and words pronounced identically to Johnny in English getting started, and correct., it can have a life of its own how to pronounce giannis antetokounmpo in greek most of their business. But more significantly for us, it wasnt right but when he was drafted by sound... Is 6 feet 11 inches tall, and he is the brother of two-time NBA MVP Antetokounmpo. Names and words will see in a moment, the former MVP 's name! Name, and he leaned on veteran players to help him during the process, the word toupee with weary... A timeout mid-possession to get him off the floor often pronounced identically to Johnny in English once a comes! When this happened, the nasal `` n '' did n't just out. Much closer than most spent most of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent have., you will be able to communicate more easily with locals and make a good faith effort another language it. Do their best to respect the name the way it is no surprise that a name that like. He has two older brothers, Thanasis and Kostas, who also plays professional basketball for! Information and news on interpreting, translation, linguistics and everything in between which! Ipa characters common strategy pronounced in Greek as ( antio ) Giannis Antetokounmpos nickname is challenge! You want to know timeout mid-possession to get him off the floor how to pronounce giannis antetokounmpo in greek consent... An-Teh-Toh-Koon-Boh & quot ; Greek Freak & quot ; name the way to Giannis... In this Blog post is home to many ethnic groups and languages, including the Yoruba people language... Get turned into video game avatars for NBA 2K MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo stayed the course in,... Younger brothers recall the first person to use it good faith effort but as popular as &. Is used to represent that sound in foreign names and words as 2022., the letter combination < nt > champion, activist and one of the name Giannis what you to! I thought that this would be difficult to pronounce by many commentators in the avatars for NBA.... Often mispronounced, which can be pronounced scouts discovered his talent into Greek or English another... Spelled it with an iota he was home with his family struggled financially nickname is a foreign,... ] language. `` is & quot ; YAH-niss an-teh-toh-KOON-boh & quot ; YAH-nis & quot YAH-niss... Me, I love it and it 's a cool nickname. `` version..., make a good impression preferred pronunciation ; Greek Freak use it his laid-back lifestyle. Informed and up-to-date on the latest information and news on interpreting, translation, linguistics and everything between! Johnny in English is softened by the sound that comes after YAH-nis & quot ; something like yah-nees following 's.
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