Pronouncing 'Byzance'

Coldhardsteel

Gold Member
The landscape that gave birth to the modern Turkish cymbal (that is, discs with domed cups in the center made of various alloys, mostly bronze) was the Ottoman Empire, an Islamic sultanate that ruled the Middle East, the Balkans, and Northern Africa.

The capital of this empire was Istanbul, or as the Romans called it, Constantinople (named after one of the many emperors that the Roman Empire saw in its lifetime). The city, in its time as Constantinople, was part of the remnants of the Roman Empire, and was in turn the capital of yet another empire that preceded the Ottomans, the Byzantine Empire. This is why Meinl named their popular cymbal line 'Byzance', because of its roots founded in Turkish cymbal making.

Now that that's out there, here's how you pronounce 'Byzantine':

BEE-zehn-teen

Therefore, the name of the cymbal line is pronounced as such:

BEE-zehnss

Just sayin'.
 
I always proniunce the empire as Biz an teen like business. So then biz ance cymbals.But I have heard all kinds just like Paiste and Tama
 
Yeah, Paiste originally is from Estonia and Russia. The word should be pronounced
like pie-stay, to try to give some syllables that sound alike.
I think Americans pronounce it pie-stee though. The wrongest would be payst.

As far as I've heard the word is actually Finnish and means something like radiance or splendor.
 
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