Pronouncing "Cthulhu"

Today, the most common way of pronouncing "Cthulhu" is Kah-thoo-loo, or some subtle variation. However, this pronunciation attained dominance only after fan circulation and endorsement by Lovecraftian-popularizing projects like Chaosium's "Call of Cthulhu" Role Playing Game. That isn't to say other mouthings of the Great Old One's name are very well documented. And moreover, it's clear uncertainty over the proper pronunciation--if there can be such a thing--has always been common, and will continue to be.

The history of the name begins on shaky ground. In S.T. Joshi's edition of The Selected Letters: Volume V, Lovecraft wrote, "the first syllable [of Khlul'-hloo is] pronounced gutturally and very thickly. The u is about like that in full; and the first syllable is not unlike klul in sound, hence the h represents the guttural thickness." This is by far the clearest instance of HPL describing the proper pronunciation of his elder monstrosity. Yet, Joshi rightly noted that Lovecraft himself gave somewhat differing accounts of pronunciation in other correspondences, and in person, according to secondhand accounts from colleagues. As a result, an uncertain written record of correct pronunciation is further obscured by apparent vacillation on the part of HPL himself.

This throws open a difficult paradox for Lovecraft purists. If there never really was a truly "correct" pronunciation of Cthulhu recorded--written or otherwise spoken by HPL--then how should one call the dreamer in R'lyeh? As with most issues in language, it seems this one is tentatively solved, effectively or not, by the vocalized votes of the majority. For the past twenty years, a significant number of readers stumbling upon Cthulhu are likely to have come upon it not from Lovecraft's writings, but from other sources. Video games, films, the internet, music, and casual mention by other horror writers are far more probable mediums for initial exposure to Cthulhu than Lovecraft's 1928 tale. And most of these divergent mediums adopted the "Kathooloo" pronunciation. As mentioned in the Cthulhu wiki entry, probable majority usage, alongside help from Cutethulhuvian internet phenomena and "big guns" like Chaosium, the "Kathooloo" pronunciation has achieved dominance.

Of course, when compared to the debatably more authentic root pronunciation recorded by HPL, "Khlûl'hloo," there is the matter of ease and propriety concerned. This rendition exists with explicit mention by Lovecraft that it is supposed to represent an inhuman, guttural, and imperfect rendering by humans of an alien thing. Considering this, trying to snort out Cthulhu in casual conversation or a gaming session yields to distraction and disruptive silliness. Thus, the humanized "Kathooloo," which rolls off the tongue with comparative ease, looks set to remain the most proper and widely used by English speakers for the foreseeable future.

-Grim Blogger