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Originally Posted by davem
Well, if one's first encounter with Tolkien was via the movies or an audio book/radio dramatisation, one wouldn't make that mistake, but when one first experiences the names as words on the page its different. Tolkien, as a calligrapher, understood that the 'shape' of a word on the page was as important as its sound - hence his replacement of K by C - as in Keleborn>Celeborn - done even at the risk of readers mispronouncing the name as Seleborn, because 'Celeborn' looks more attractive & less 'harsh' than Keleborn.
Hence, on the page, the 'identity' of 'Naz-' in both Nazgul & Nazi is bound to strike many readers.
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Yes, that makes sense. You might be right. I was speaking only for myself though, and in my mother language even the written form of "Nazi" is "Nacisté"
Of course, the original is English... but every time I hear "Seleborn" or "Feenor" (I can't believe some people are even able to pronounce it like this with the
ä there!) I feel like I am going to jump out of my skin.
