I have encountered this mainly in From Software's games so far, and as an example I'll be using Elden Ring. In the recent DLC there's a boss whose title is 双月の騎士, how would one read the "twin moons" part? Is it そうげつ or ふたつき? Not considering がつ reading since I haven't seen it used except for names of months.
Another example could be the main magic realted word – glintstone, which in Japanese is 輝石, which when I search it up actually tells me it's the name for pyroxene minerals and read as きせき, but an average person doesn't really know that, so why should I assume the reading as きせき and not かがやきいし?
The worst culprit is from the souls series – titanite, which is 楔石, meaning "keystone", but also an actual mineral called titanite (dictionary called it a sphene, but it seems to be an archaic term) and read as くさびいし. So it seems fantasy words can use kunyomi readings, if you can call that fantasy, because I don't consider geologists to be real.
My gut feeling tells me to default to onyomi readings when encountering fantasy words, since they are easier to read, but then there are words like the third example. Is this a correct way to go about doing this?
by Older_1
6 comments
just choose a reading that seems plausible and move on. obsessing over the reading of fantasy words is pretty much just a waste of time.
this was a memorable moment for me of a guy not knowing how to read a word and giving multiple attempts for none of them to be right
https://youtu.be/tlG1cMDAAAI?t=302
I’ll watch Let’s Plays on YouTube and the dude I watch usually throws out a few guess readings says “idk” and moves on after choosing one.
It is often fine to prioritize 音読み unless there is 送り仮名.
As you said, however, there are exceptions. 楔石 is pronounced with [訓読み](https://jisho.org/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&keyword=%E8%A8%93%E8%AA%AD%E3%81%BF) because is it [和語](https://jisho.org/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&keyword=%E5%92%8C%E8%AA%9E). On the other hand [漢語](https://jisho.org/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&keyword=%E6%BC%A2%E8%AA%9E) should be pronounced with [音読み](https://jisho.org/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&keyword=%E9%9F%B3%E8%AA%AD%E3%81%BF).
There are even words with mixed readings such as “onyomi” where “on” is onyomi while “yomi” being kunyomi.
For words coined by authors, you might have to guess or ask search engines. It is really just cultural.
Pick one that feels right and move on. Look up the official readings later. I usually just stick with the most common 音読み. You can never truly know for sure. Given the genre, the creators could’ve used an obscure reading, a transliterated Chinese word from a different dialect, or god forbid, a kirakira name, and you (nor native Japanese speakers ) would have no way to get it right. There is no point in obsessing whether it’s つき or げつ if the author intended ライト.
If in doubt, use Engrish: “Kunaito obu za tsuiin muunsu”
If it’s any consolation most casual JP streamers seem to encounter the same issues you do and go to nerds in chat to be like how the hell do I read this. Think of it like not knowing how to correctly pronounce a Greek word from mythology or something.