The Ur-Quan Masters Discussion Forum

Recently, I've been refreshing my knowledge of Linux and learning about it from the ground up because, frankly, my ability to use Linux is a bit spotty.  I found out that Linus personally pronounces it Lih-nux, but I'm wondering how you guys say it.  Personally I say "Lainux" so I hope I'm not sounding like an idiot in front of Linux users.

I pronounce it lee-nooks.

Since it's based on "Linus", the third pronunciation is most "correct", but I hear most people (including myself) use the first one. It just rolls off the tongue a lot better in English.

It's definitely not the second one, though.

But the second is how you pronounce 'Linus'... in English, at least.

That's a different "Linus" (which comes from Greek). Linus Torvalds's name is Swedish.

This doesn't necessarily make the second pronunciation of "Linux" incorrect (especially because Torvalds himself pronounces his "Linus" with that "i" sound), but I've never heard of anyone pronouncing "Linux" in that way (until I read this topic).

As far as I can tell, the Greek name Λῖνος is the basis for both the Swedish and English names (via "Linus" in Latin). The English pronunciation has apparently been mangled with the rest of the language by the Great Vowel Shift; the Swedish version more or less preserves the first vowel (assuming ancient Greek sounded the way it's usually thought to).

For the record, I pronounce Linux the way Linus used to do it (http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/linus/swedish.au) (in the original Swedish): /ˈlɪnʊks/, which I guess is more or less the first choice. Similarly, I say something like [ˈliːn.ɵs ˈtuːr.valds] in Swedish. However, Linus doesn't really care how you pronounce his name, as long as pronounce Linux correctly (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IfHm6R5le0).

I pronounce it Lie-nix (close enough to the second option that I picked it).  I've been told (often) that I should pronounce it Lin-nix.   :-\

Lin-nix

I guess I should start saying Lih-nix from now on , hehe.  ;D