Why do many characters in American Gods pronounce Zorya as Zo-ra-yah
In American Gods, most of the characters pronounce the slavic name of Zorya (Vechernyaya/Utrenyaya) strangely.
- [S1E2, 36:59] Wednesday says Zo-ra-ya Vyo-chen-ya-ya
- [S1E2, 38:07] Zorya Vechernyaya calls her sister Zo-ra-ya Ut-re-ne-ya-ya
- [S1E2, 44:58] Czernobog calls Zorya Vechernyaya as Zo-ra-ya Ver-che-nya-nya
And so on. In later episodes, they keep pronouncing Zo-ra-ya with different variations of the name Vechernyaya (always far off from how it should sound).
I wanted to assume that it is a deliberate choice, but in [S2E4, 21:17] Bilquis pronounces Zo-rya (how it is expected to be pronounced). And later in the same episode Mr. Nancy calls her again Zo-ra-ya.
Is it just a lazy production? Is it likely, that they did not notice? Or they did notice, but didn't think it is important?
Best Answer
It is a bit of a speculative answer:
"Zorya" is definitely a two syllables word, so most likely it should be pronounced "ZOR -ya"
However, the reason for the mispronunciation most likely comes from her full name: Zorya Vechernyaya (Evening Star). The second part of her name, pronounced "ve-chEr-na-ya" (please, could a native Russian speaker correct me), begs to rhyme with "zo-ra-ya". It is called "forced rhyme" and people might make it subconsciously when they deal with unfamiliar words.
There might be also an in-story reason for it: the "forced rhyme" phenomenon might be actually happening in the world of the Zoria's sisters - Americans that live near them might have also problem with pronouncing their names correctly, hence with time "Zor-ya" changed her name into "Zo-ra-ya". Please notice, that the youngest sister pronounces her name correctly:
[Shadow] "You are Zo-ra-ya Pol... The sister that was sleeping?
[Zoria] "I am Zor-ya Polunochnaya, yes"
Zorya Polunochnaya would have the least contact with outside people, since she is sleeping during the day, so she wouldn't have to (or feel that she has to) change the pronunciation of her name.
On the other hand, she is played by the Polish actress, who would have less problems pronouncing Russian name.
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What God is Zorya in American Gods?
Chapter Four. Shadow and Wednesday arrive in Chicago and meet Zorya Vechernyaya, a Russian Slav, outside her brownstone. She tells Shadow about his name that "when the shadows are long, that is my time.What gods are the Zorya sisters?
Who are the Zorya sisters? In Slavic mythology, the Zorya (or Zorja) are actually two guardian goddesses, the Morning Star (Utrennyaya, associated with Venus) and the Evening Star (Vechernayaya, associated with Mercury).What does Zorya mean?
In Slavic mythology, Zorya (pronounced ZOR-yah and spelled in myriad ways, Zaryi, Zoria, Zorza, Zory, Zore) is the Goddess of the Dawn and the daughter of the sun god Dazbog.Episode 3 Clip: Rooftop Fortune | American Gods
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