In the Trilogy, I've heard 3 different ways to say it:

"Cor-leon"

"Cor-leon-nee"

"Cor-leon-nay"

Which one is correct?

Ask Senator Geary

I think it's Cor-leon-nee. But anyone would do.

Although I think all are acceptable, I would say it's Corleonee!!

TIS

FFC says "Cor-leon". Al Pacino says "Cor-leon-nee". What gives?

Evidently, all three, since Mary Corleone says it all three ways during her speech at the beginning of III.

Evidently, all three, since Mary Corleone says it all three ways during her speech at the beginning of III.

I've seen that everyone says she said it three times. When I watched III, she said it twice... or maybe I'm missing a time.

My guess is that the Italian pronunciation includes the vowel at the end, as with most words ending with vowels. Senator Geary's snide "Cor-le-on-neee" mocks Italianisms. I don't know if leaving the vowel off at the end is a dialect or Americanized Italian, or both. In New York, you hear "provolone" without the final vowel, but my Grandma Carmela, from Calabria, included it. Yet she also referred to her favorite singer as "Perry Com'". I always wondered about that!

Any dialecticians in the room?

Carmella's Grandaughter

My Sicilian parents and grandparents also pronounce Provolone as Provlonee as well, a say Corleonee too. That's why I think the "ee" sound would be the Sicilian pronounciation.

TIS

All the italians in the movie say corl-leonee so maybe thats how they prnoune it but others dont!

well, lets not all lose to much sleep over it...Americans say it one way, europeans say it another and midwesterners or southerners would say it somewhat strange...

I seriously doubt an Italian speaking Italian would say CorleonEE or something. An American Italian like Mike was for instance, might say that, but then they are talking English like most persons in the movies.

You hear it best when Calo The Bodyguard points the town of Corleone to Michael. You will hear no EEEE or AAAAYYY but more something of an EAHH as in "yes" (the e-part in yes). I think Carmella's Granddaughter was right.
So it depends not on who (Italian or an American) is saying it, but which language they are speaking.

Listen to the Don when he tells Michael, "...Senator Corleone, Govenor Corleone..." in the garden scene just before his death. He probably knew how to say it correctly.

That's true BK! He should know his own name right?? However, just a thought, remember when he first came to America and the official at Ellis Island gave him the name "Corleone". Perhaps that pronounciation "stuck". Plus dropping the "ee" sound didn't make it quite as Italian. Do people pronouce the city of Corleone both ways?

TIS

TIS, the Don pronounced it in that scene with the "e" as in the e-part in "yes" as Pherdy said. Like 'Corleon-eh", not the americanized version.

Yea that's right BK, he did! You think too, maybe it has something to do with dialect as well?

btw, have you been scarce lately on the board, or have I just been missing your posts??? Anyway, good to see you again!

TIS

Thanks TIS, we probably are posting on different thread, but I've read yours...you were funny when you said something like "I'm not trying to be Turnbull". I cracked up. But never belittle your posts, you've always had a unique way to see things.

Thanks for asking.

You know, doesn't Don Michel live in Sicily? He would be able to give us the answer!!!


TIS

In most languages definitive pronounciation depends on where you were brought up. Ask Family Honour how she would pronounce the word "bath" and how someone from the North of England would pronounce it. I asked my Italian friend over the weekend. Now he was brought up near Ancona in the Marche region of Italy. He pronounces it "Kor-lay-own-ay". But he did stress that there are many regional differences in Italy. He offered "Kor-lay-own-eh" for a Sicilian and "Kor-lay-on-uh" for a Neapolitan.

As for Vito's pronounciation, maybe he adopted the American pronounciation having spent over 50 years in the USA.

I've always wanted to ask this question, but always forget until now.

What does Neapolitan refer to? I'm guessing it literally means "new city/state"? But, from how people had used it, I'm guessing it refers to Italians or Northern Italians? I took Latin, but forgot everything. I know "polis" in Greek means "state" or something like that.

Thanks!

Puppeteer, Neapolitan refers to someone or something from Naples. And you're right the Italian name of Naples "Napoli" does come from the Greek "Neo=New" and "Polis=City"

cur-lee-on

Geary: cur-le-oneeeeee

Obviously it is all three ways, but it is interesting that Michael says it both ways depending on whom he is speaking to. When he speaks to Carlo right before Carlo is killed he says "Ahhh that farce you played with my sister, did you think you could fool a Corlee-own? But when he is speaking Sicilian to Frankie Pentangeli, he says "anch'e tua nome e Corleone."
I also like how Senator Geary deliberately mispronounces it when he gives his speech and then says it with great Italian emphasis in Michael's office.

I pronounce it with a short e on the end - something like "eh". It's funny though. English speaking peoples seem to expect that there is always a right way and a wrong way to pronounce words in other languages. To a large extent there is. But, the peoples who speak those other languages sometimes pronounce them differently from each other.

If you want to pronounce it the Italian way, I'm afraid the only correct way is pronouncing the -e at the end of the word "Corleone" as you pronounce the vowel "e" in the word "yes", as someone most accurately already said.

All the other ways that have been previously proposed are definitely NOT the way the surname (or the city of) Corleone would be pronounced in Italy (or in Sicily itself). They are Americanized forms of pronounciation, so thay may be more appropriate in America, but they sound somehow extravagant to an authentic Italian (or even Sicilian) ear.

Ciao Bella!!

I seem to recall that the Sicilian dialect sometimes chops off the last letters of certain words Italian words. For example in Florence, and Rome they say "prosciutto and fagioli" as you would expect, but in the South, and expecially Sicily they will say something like "pro-joot" and ""Fah-zool." So is it possible this dialect might affest the final e in Corleone as well?

You're right. I don't say Mozzarella; I shorten it to Mozzarel. Lavinnia is right. The "e" on the end of Corleone should be pronounced as a short vowel like you say the "e" in yes.

Corr - lee - oh - nee.
But English is really a strange language. They pronounce vowels totally different than other European languages.
In Dutch, we pronounce the E like an English I, and a Dutch ei/ij, is an English A. A Dutch ai, is an English I. Nothing so ugly as an American saying Italian, or Belgian names, buth with the American way to pronounce vowels.
Like Cor li own for instance. Ahh, I can't explain it.
Or maybe Kim Clijsters. Anybody know her? For the Americans: you should say Clasters. With an A like in baby.

i think it would be Cor-leon-ay, becuase that how many italians i know say it, like that speak italian. And thats how Fabrizio (Micheal's bodygaurd) says it when they see the town