J.K. Rowling clears things up about how to pronounce Hermione
By Callum Gunn
How to pronounce Hermione properly has officially been cleared up by J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter author even confirmed a popular fan theory in the process.
Debates amongst Potterheads about the Wizarding World are constantly going on. We have them on a daily basis at Wizards and Whatnot. Yet after 20 years since the first Harry Potter book was published you think we would have learned everything there is to know. Nope! J.K. Rowling just cleared up the whole Hermione pronunciation debate and the popular fan theory that goes with it.
How we pronounce Hermione has been settled for some time now. Ever since the first Harry Potter movie came out the pronunciation debate was pretty much done and dusted.
More from Harry Potter
- Tom Felton is the star of the new Harry Potter x CASETiFY collection
- Create a magical event worthy of Hogwarts with this new Harry Potter-themed party planning book
- Can Fantastic Beasts hold up to the Harry Potter franchise?
- Show off your Wizard’s Chess skills with this Harry Potter set that’s now over half off
- Harry Potter continues to inspire generations – including Jack Harlow
However, before the movies were released, the debate was not settled and was a regularly visited topic. This is where the fan theory comes in.
Watch your favorite shows on fuboTV: Watch over 67 live sports and entertainment channels with a 7-day FREE trial!
Many fans suspected that J.K. Rowling attempted to clear up the issue over how to pronounce Hermione in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. While Hermione was seeing Victor Krum, the Drumstrang student who competed in the Triwizard Tournament against Harry, she tried to teach him how to pronounce her name.
The passage in the book goes like this.
"“Hermione was now teaching Krum to say her name properly; he kept calling her ‘Hermy-own’.‘Her – my – oh – nee,’ she said, slowly and clearly.‘Herm – own – ninny.’‘Close enough,’ she said, catching Harry’s eye and grinning.”"
Fans have long speculated that this was J.K. Rowling’s way of telling book readers how to say Hermione correctly. Rowling has never confirmed, or denied, that this was the case until today.
One Twitter user put the question of the theory to her and Rowling stepped up to confirm the theory.
Theory: @jk_rowling included that passage on how to pronounce Hermione's name in Goblet of Fire just to school all of us who were saying HER-MY-OWN like Viktor Krum.
— Atulaa (@atulaak) September 17, 2018
Theory correct. https://t.co/Q46h56ljuU
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 18, 2018
This just goes to show how much in-depth planning went into every single Harry Potter story; but not only just that, it shows how much she listened to what her fans were saying about her books.
Next. Rowling told us Dumbledore would die in Prisoner of Azkaban. dark
Where you one of the fans who spotted this theory long ago? What do you think, now that it has been confirmed? Share your thoughts, and how you pronounced Hermione when you started reading Harry Potter, below.