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Lord + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Roman Pronunciation of Latin + +Author: Frances E. Lord + +Posting Date: July 8, 2010 [EBook #7528] +Release Date: February, 2005 +First Posted: May 14, 2003 +Last Updated: May 24, 2007 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROMAN PRONUNCIATION OF LATIN *** + + + + +Produced by Louise Hope, David Starner, Ted Garvin and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned +images of public domain material from the Google Print +project.) + + + + + + +</pre> + +<div class = "mynote"> +<p><a name = "start" id = "start">This text</a> includes characters that +require UTF-8 (Unicode) file encoding, including a handful of Greek +words and letters:</p> + +<p class = "inset"> +ā ē ī ō ū (vowels with macron or “long” mark)<br> +ă ĕ ĭ ŏ ŭ (vowels with breve or “short” mark)<br> +φ χ π ϝ<br> +μύσται, Πελιγνόι, κεστός</p> + +<p>If any of these characters do not display properly—in +particular, if the diacritic does not appear directly above the +letter—or if the apostrophes and quotation marks in this paragraph +appear as garbage, you may have an incompatible browser or unavailable +fonts. First, make sure that the browser’s “character set” or “file +encoding” is set to Unicode (UTF-8). You may also need to change your +browser’s default font.</p> + +<p>Typographical errors are shown in the text with <ins class = +"correction" title = "like this">mouse-hover popups</ins>. +Transliterations of Greek words are shown similarly.</p> +</div> + +<div class = "titlepage"> + +<h1 class = "four">THE</h1> + +<h1 class = "smallcaps">Roman Pronunciation of Latin</h1> + +<h2 class = "smallcaps">Why we use it and How to use it</h2> + +<h3 class = "six">BY</h3> + +<h3>FRANCES E. LORD</h3> + +<h4 class = "smallcaps">Professor of Latin in Wellesley College</h4> + +<p> <br> </p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/decline2.png" width = "100" height = "7" +alt = "----"> +</p> + +<p> <br> </p> + +<h5>BOSTON, U.S.A.<br> +<span class = "extended">PUBLISHED BY GINN & COMPANY</span><br> +1894</h5> + +</div> + +<hr> + +<div class = "titlepage"> + +<h6 class = "smallcaps">Copyright, 1894<br> +By FRANCES E. LORD</h6> + +<hr class = "micro"> + +<h6><span class = "smaller">ALL RIGHTS RESERVED</span></h6> + +<p> <br> </p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/publogo.png" width = "82" height = "125" +alt = "Publisher’s Device: The Athenæum Press / Ginn and Company" +title = "Publisher’s Device: The Athenæum Press / Ginn and Company"> +</p> + +</div> + +<hr> + +<div class = "contents"> + +<p class = "center"><a name = "contents" id = "contents"> +<span class = "larger"><b>Contents</b></span></a><br> +(added by transcriber)</p> + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<p><a href = "#intro">Introduction</a></p> +<p><a href = "#partI"><b>PART I. Why We Use It.</b></a></p> + +<div class= "inset"> +<p><a href = "#why_sounds">Sounds of the Letters.</a></p> +<div class= "inset"> +<p><a href = "#vowels">Vowels.</a></p> +<p><a href = "#diphthongs">Diphthongs.</a></p> +<p><a href = "#consonants">Consonants.</a></p> +</div> +<p><a href = "#why_quantity">Quantity.</a></p> +<p><a href = "#why_accent">Accent.</a></p> +<p><a href = "#why_pitch">Pitch.</a></p> +</div> + +<p><a href = "#partII"><b>PART II. How To Use It.</b></a></p> + +<div class= "inset"> +<p><a href = "#how_elision">Elision.</a></p> +<p><a href = "#how_quantity">Quantity.</a></p> +<p><a href = "#how_accent">Accent.</a></p> +</div> + +</div> + + +<div class = "chapter"> + +<span class = "pagenum">iii</span> +<h3><a name = "intro" id = "intro">INTRODUCTION.</a></h3> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/decline.png" width = "67" height = "7" +alt = "----"></p> + +<p><span class = "firstword">The</span> argument brought against the +‘Roman pronunciation’ of Latin is twofold: the impossibility of perfect +theoretical knowledge, and the difficulty of practical attainment.</p> + +<p>If to know the main features of the classic pronunciation of Latin +were impossible, then our obvious course would be to refuse the attempt; +to regard the language as in reality dead, and to make no pretence of +reading it. This is in fact what the English scholars generally do. But +if we may know substantially the sounds of the tongue in which Cicero +spoke and Horace sung, shall we give up the delights of the melody and +the rhythm and content ourselves with the thought form? Poetry +especially does not exist apart from sound; sense alone will not +constitute it, nor even sense and form without sound.</p> + +<p>But if it is true that the task of practical acquisition is, if not +impossible, extremely difficult, ‘the work of a lifetime,’ as the +objectors say, do the results justify the expenditure of time and +labor?</p> + +<p>The position of the English-speaking peoples is not the same in this +as that of Europeans. Europeans have not the same necessity to urge them +to the ‘Roman pronunciation.’ Their own languages represent the Latin +more or less adequately, in vowel sounds, in accent, and even, to some +extent, in quantity; so that with them, all is not lost +<span class = "pagenum">iv</span> +if they translate the sounds into their own tongues; while with us, +nothing is left—sound, accent, quantity, all is gone; none of +these is reproduced, or even suggested, in English.</p> + +<p>We believe a great part of our difficulty, in this country, lies in +the fact that so few of those who study and teach Latin really know what +the ‘Roman pronunciation’ is, or how to use it. Inquiries are constantly +being made by teachers, Why is this so? What authority is there for +this? What reason for that?</p> + +<p>In the hope of giving help to those who desire to know the Why and +the How this little compendium is made; in the interest of +time-and-labor-saving uniformity, and in the belief that what cannot be +fully known or perfectly acquired does still not prevent our perceiving, +and showing in some worthy manner and to, some satisfactory degree, how, +as well as what, the honey-tongued orators and divine poets of Rome +spoke or sung.</p> + +<p>In the following pages free use has been made of the highest English +authorities, of Oxford and Cambridge. Quotations will be found from +Prof. H. A. J. Munro’s pamphlet on “Pronunciation of Latin,” +and from Prof. A. J. Ellis’ book on “Quantitative Pronunciation of +Latin”; also from the pamphlet issued by the Cambridge (Eng.) +Philological Society, on the “Pronunciation of Latin in the Augustan +Period.”</p> + +<p>In the present compendium the chief points of divergence from the +general American understanding of the ‘Roman’ method are in respect of +the diphthong <b>ae</b> and the consonantal <b>u</b>. In these +cases the pronunciation herein recommended for the <b>ae</b> is that +favored by Roby, Munro, and Ellis, and adopted by the Cambridge +Philological Society; for the <b>v</b>, or <b>u</b> consonant, that +advocated by Corssen, A. J. Ellis, and Robinson Ellis.</p> + +</div> + +<hr> + +<div class = "chapter"> + +<span class = "pagenum">1</span> +<h2>THE ROMAN PRONUNCIATION OF LATIN.</h2> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/decline.png" width = "67" height = "7" +alt = "----"></p> + +<h3><a name = "partI" id = "partI">PART I.</a><br> +<b>WHY WE USE IT.</b></h3> + + +<p><span class = "firstword">In</span> general, the greater part of our +knowledge of the pronunciation of Latin comes from the Latin +grammarians, whose authority varies greatly in value; or through +incidental statements and expressions of the classic writers themselves; +or from monumental inscriptions. Of these three, the first is inferior +to the other two in quality, but they in turn are comparatively meagre +in quantity.</p> + +<p>In the first place, we know (a most important piece of knowledge) +that, as a rule, Latin was pronounced as written. This is evident from +the fact, among others, that the same exceptions recur, and are +mentioned over and over again, in the grammarians, and that so much is +made of comparatively, and confessedly, insignificant points. Such, we +may be sure, would not have been the case had exceptions been numerous. +Then we have the authority of Quintilian—than whom is no higher. +He speaks of the subtleties of the grammarians:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Quint. I. iv. 6.</small>] Interiora velut sacri hujus adeuntibus +apparebit multa rerum subtilitas, quae non modo acuere ingenia puerilia +sed exercere altissimam quoque eruditionem ac scientiam possit. +</blockquote> + +<p>And says:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Id. ib. iv. 7.</small>] An cujuslibet auris est exigere +litterarum sonos? +</blockquote> + +<p> +<span class = "pagenum">2</span> +But after citing some of those idiosyncrasies which appear on the pages +of all the grammarians, he finally sums up the matter in the following +significant words:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Id. ib. vii. 30, 31.</small>] Indicium autem suum grammaticus +interponat his omnibus; nam hoc valere plurimum debet. Ego (note the +<i>ego</i>) nisi quod consuetudo obtinuerit sic scribendum quidque +judico, quomodo sonat. Hic enim est usus litterarum, ut custodiant voces +et velut depositum reddant legentibus, itaque id exprimere debent quod +dicturi sumus. +</blockquote> + +<p>This is still a characteristic of the Italian language, so that one +may by books, getting the rules from the grammarians, learn to pronounce +the language with a good degree of correctness.</p> + +<p>On this point Professor Munro says:</p> + +<p>“We see in the first volume of the Corpus Inscr. Latin. a map, as it +were, of the language spread open before us, and feel sure that change +of spelling meant systematical change of pronunciation: <i>coira</i>, +<i>coera</i>, <i>cura</i>; <i>aiquos</i>, <i>aequos</i>, <i>aecus</i>; +<i>queicumque</i>, <i>quicumque</i>, etc., etc.”</p> + +<p>And again:</p> + +<p>“We know exactly how Cicero or Quintilian did or could spell; we know +the syllable on which they placed the accent of almost every word; and +in almost every case we already follow them in this. I have the +conviction that in their best days philological people took vast pains +to make the writing exactly reproduce the sounding; and that if +Quintilian or Tacitus spelt a word differently from Cicero or Livy, he +also spoke it so far differently.”</p> + +<p>Three chief factors are essential to the Latin language, and each of +these must be known with some good degree of certainty, if we would lay +claim to an understanding of Roman pronunciation.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">3</span> +<p>These are:</p> + +<p>(1) Sounds of the letters (vowels, diphthongs, consonants);</p> + +<p>(2) Quantity;</p> + +<p>(3) Accent.</p> + + +<h4><a name = "why_sounds" id = "why_sounds"> +<b>SOUNDS OF THE LETTERS.</b></a></h4> + +<h4 class = "smallcaps"><a name = "vowels" id = "vowels"> +Vowels.</a></h4> + +<p>The vowels are five: <b>a</b>, <b>e</b>, <b>i</b>, +<b>o</b>, <b>u</b>.</p> + +<p>These when uttered alone are always long.</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Pompei. <i>Comm. ad Donat.</i> Keil. v. V. p. 101 et +al.</small>] Vocales autem quinque sunt: <b>a</b>, <b>e</b>, <b>i</b>, +<b>o</b>, <b>u</b>. Istae quinque, quando solae proferuntur, longae +sunt semper: quando solas litteras dicis, longae sunt. <b>A</b> sola +longa est; <b>e</b> sola longa est. +</blockquote> + +<p><b>A</b> is uttered with the mouth widely opened, the tongue +suspended and not touching the teeth:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Ars Gram. Mar. Vict. de orthographia et de metrica ratione, I. +vi. 6.</small>] <b>A</b> littera rictu patulo, suspensa neque impressa +dentibus lingua, enuntiatur. +</blockquote> + +<p><b>E</b> is uttered with the mouth less widely open, and the lips +drawn back and inward:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Id. ib. vi. 7.</small>] <b>E</b> quae sequitur, de represso +modice rictu oris, reductisque introrsum labiis, effertur. +</blockquote> + +<p><b>I</b> will voice itself with the mouth half closed and the teeth +gently pressed by the tongue:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Id. ib. vi. 8.</small>] <b>I</b> semicluso ore, impressisque +sensim lingua dentibus, vocem dabit. +</blockquote> + +<p><b>O</b> (long) will give the “tragic sound” through rounded opening, +with lips protruded, the tongue pendulous in the roof of the mouth:</p> + +<blockquote> +<span class = "pagenum">4</span> +[<small>Id. ib. vi. 9.</small>] <b>O</b> longum autem, protrusis labiis, +rictu tereti, lingua arcu oris pendula, sonum tragicum dabit. +</blockquote> + +<p><b>U</b> is uttered with the lips protruding and approaching each +other, like the Greek <span class = "greek" lang = "el" title = +"ou">ου</span>:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Id. ib. vi. 10.</small>] <b>U</b> litteram quotiens enuntiamus, +productis et coeuntibus labris efferemus . . . quam nisi per +<span class = "greek" lang = "el" title = "ou">ου</span> conjunctam +Graeci scribere ac pronuntiare non possunt. +</blockquote> + +<p>Of these five vowels the grammarians say that three (<b>a</b>, +<b>i</b>, <b>u</b>) do not change their quality with their quantity:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Pompei. <i>Comm. ad Donat.</i> Keil. v. V. +p. 101.</small>] De istis quinque litteris tres sunt, quae sive +breves sive longae ejusdemmodi sunt, <b>a, i, u</b>: similiter habent +sive longae sive breves. +</blockquote> + +<p>But two (<b>e</b>, <b>o</b>) change their quality:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Id. ib.</small>] <b>O</b> vero et <b>e</b> non sonant breves. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<p><b>E</b> aliter longa aliter brevis sonat. Dicit ita Terentianus (hoc +dixit) ‘Quotienscumque <b>e</b> longam volumus proferri, vicina sit ad +<b>i</b> litteram.’ Ipse sonus sic debet sonare, quomodo sonat <b>i</b> +littera. Quando dicis <i>evitat</i>, vicina debet esse, sic pressa, sic +angusta, ut vicina sit ad <b>i</b> litteram. Quando vis dicere brevem +<b>e</b> simpliciter sonat. <b>O</b> longa sit an brevis. Si longa est, +debet sonus ipse intra palatum sonare, ut si dices <i>orator</i>, quasi +intra sonat, intra palatum. Si brevis est debet primis labris sonare, +quasi extremis labris, ut puta sic dices <i>obit</i>. Habes istam +regulam expressam in Terentiano. Quando vis exprimere quia brevis est, +primis labris sonat; quando exprimis longam, intra palatum sonat.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Ars Gram. Mar. Vict. de Orthog. et de Metr. Rat., I. vi. +9.</small>] <b>O</b> qui correptum enuntiat, nec magno hiatu labra +reserabit, et retrorsum actam linguam tenebit. +</blockquote> + +<p>It would thus seem that the long <b>e</b> of the Latin in its +prolongation draws into the <b>i</b> sound, somewhat as if <b>i</b> were +subjoined, as in the English <i>vein</i> or Italian <i>fedele</i>.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">5</span> +<p>The grammarians speak of the obscure sound of <b>i</b> and <b>u</b>, +short and unaccented in the middle of a word; so that in a number of +words <b>i</b> and <b>u</b> were written indifferently, even by classic +writers, as <i>optimus</i> or <i>optumus</i>, <i>maximus</i> or +<i>maxumus</i>. This is but a simple and natural thing. The same +obscurity occurs often in English, as, for instance, in words ending in +<i>able</i> or <i>ible</i>. How easy, for instance, to confuse the sound +and spelling in such words as <i>detestable</i> and +<i>digestible</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Serg. Explan. Art. Donat. Keil. v. II. +p. 475.</small>] Hae etiam duae <b>i</b> et <b>u</b> +. . . interdum expressum suum sonum non habent: <b>i</b>, ut +<i>vir</i>; <b>u</b>, ut <i>optumus</i>. Non enim possumus dicere +<i>vir</i> producta <b>i</b>, nec <i>optumus</i> producta <b>u</b>; unde +etiam mediae dicuntur. Et hoc in commune patiuntur inter se, et bene +dixit Donatus has litteras in quibusdam dictionibus expressum suum sonum +non habere. Hae etiam mediae dicuntur, quia quibusdam dictionibus +expressum sonum non habent, . . . ut <i>maxume</i> pro +<i>maxime</i>. . . . In quibusdam nominibus non certum +exprimunt sonum; <b>i</b>, ut <i>vir</i> modo <b>i</b> opprimitur; +<b>u</b> ut <i>optumus</i> modo <b>u</b> perdit sonum. +</blockquote> + +<p>Priscian says:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. II. p. 465.</small>] Cur per <b>vi</b> +scribitur (virum)? Quia omnia nomina a <b>vi</b> syllaba incipientia per +<b>vi</b> scribuntur exceptis <i>bitumine</i> et <i>bile</i>, quando +<i>fel</i> significat, et illis quae a <i>bis</i> adverbio componuntur, +ut <i>biceps</i>, <i>bipatens</i>, <i>bivium</i>. Cur sonum videtur +habere in hac dictione <b>i</b> vocalis <b>u</b> litterae Graecae? Quia +omnis dictio a <b>vi</b> syllaba brevi incipiens, <b>d</b> vel <b>t</b> +vel <b>m</b> vel <b>r</b> vel <b>x</b> sequentibus, hoc sono +pronuntiatur, ut <i>video</i>, <i>videbam</i>, <i>videbo</i>: quia in +his temporibus <b>vi</b> corripitur, mutavit sonum in <b>u</b>: in +praeterito autem perfecto, et in aliis in quibus producitur, naturalem +servavit sonum, ut <i>vidi</i>, <i>videram</i>, <i>vidissem</i>, +<i>videro</i>. Similiter <i>vitium</i> mutat sonum, quia corripitur; +<i>vita</i> autem non mutat, quia producitur. Similiter <i>vim</i> mutat +quia corripitur, <i>vimen</i> autem non mutat quia producitur. Similiter +<i>vir</i> et <i>virgo</i> mutant, quia corripiuntur: <i>virus</i> autem +et <i>vires</i> non mutant, quia producuntur. <i>Vix</i> mutant, quia +corripitur: <i>vixi</i> non mutant, quia producitur. +<span class = "pagenum">6</span> +Hoc idem plerique solent etiam in illis dictionibus facere, in quibus a +<b>fi</b> brevi incipiunt syllabae sequentibus supra dictis +consonantibus, ut <i>fides</i>, <i>perfidus</i>, <i>confiteor</i>, +<i>infimus</i>, <i>firmus</i>. Sunt autem qui non adeo hoc observant, +cum de <b>vi</b> nemo fere dubitat. +</blockquote> + +<p>From this it would seem that in the positions above mentioned +<b>vi</b> short—and with some speakers <b>fi</b> short—had +an obscure, somewhat thickened, sound, not unlike that heard in the +English words <i>virgin</i>, <i>firm</i>, a not unnatural obscuration. +As Donatus says of it:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. IV. p. 367.</small>] Pingue nescio quid pro +naturali sono usurpamus. +</blockquote> + +<p>Sometimes, apparently, this tendency ran into excess, and the long +<b>i</b> was also obscured; while sometimes the short <b>i</b> was +pronounced too distinctly. This vice is commented on by the grammarians, +under the name <i>iotacism</i>:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Pompei. Comm. ad Donat. Keil. v. V. p. 394.</small>] +<i>Iotacismum</i> dicunt vitium quod per <b>i</b> litteram vel pinguius +vel exilius prolatam fit. Galli pinguius hanc utuntur, ut cum dicunt +<i>ite</i>, non expresse ipsam proferentes, sed inter <b>e</b> et +<b>i</b> pinguiorem sonum nescio quem ponentes. Graeci exilius hanc +proferunt, adeo expressioni ejus tenui studentes, ut si dicant +<i>jus</i>, aliquantulum de priori littera sic proferant, ut videas +dissyllabam esse factam. Romanae linguae in hoc erit moderatio, ut +exilis ejus sonus sit, ubi ab ea verbum incipit, ut <i>ite</i>, aut +pinguior, ubi in ea desinit verbum, ut <i>habui</i>, <i>tenui</i>; +medium quendam sonum inter <b>e</b> et <b>i</b> habet, ubi in medio +sermone est, ut <i>hominem</i>. Mihi tamen videtur, quando producta est, +plenior vel acutior esse; quando autem brevis est medium sonum exhibere +debet, sicut eadem exempla quae posita sunt possunt declarare. +</blockquote> + +<p>The grammarians also note the peculiar relation of <b>u</b> to +<b>q</b>, as in the following passage:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Serg. Explan. Art. Donat. Keil. v. IV. +p. 475.</small>] <b>U</b> vero hoc accidit proprium, ut interdum +nec vocalis nec consonans sit, hoc est ut non +<span class = "pagenum">7</span> +sit littera, cum inter <b>q</b> et aliquam vocalem ponitur. Nam +consonans non potest esse, quia ante se habet alteram consonantem, id +est <b>q</b>; vocalis esse non potest, quia sequitur illam vocalis, ut +<i>quare</i>, <i>quomodo</i>. +</blockquote> + + +<h4 class = "smallcaps"><a name = "diphthongs" id = "diphthongs"> +Diphthongs.</a></h4> + +<p>In Marius Victorinus we find diphthongs thus defined:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Mar. Vict. Gaisford, I. v. 54.</small>] Duae inter se vocales +jugatae ac sub unius vocis enuntiatione prolatae syllabam faciunt natura +longam, quam Graeci <i>diphthongon</i> vocant, veluti geminae vocis unum +sonum, ut <b>ae</b>, <b>oe</b>, <b>au</b>. +</blockquote> + +<p>And more fully in the following paragraph:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Mar. Vict. Gaisford, I. v. 6.</small>] Sunt longae naturaliter +syllabae, cum duae vocales junguntur, quas syllabas Graeci +<i>diphthongos</i> vocant; ut <b>ae</b>, <b>oe</b>, <b>au</b>, +<b>eu</b>, <b>ei</b>: nam illae diphthongi non sunt quae fiunt per +vocales loco consonantium positas; ut <b>ia</b>, <b>ie</b>, <b>ii</b>, +<b>io</b>, <b>iu</b>, <b>va</b>, <b>ve</b>, <b>vi</b>, +<b>vo</b>, <b>vu</b>. +</blockquote> + +<p>Of these diphthongs <b>eu</b> occurs,—except in Greek +words,—only in <i>heus</i>, <i>heu</i>, <i>eheu</i>; in +<i>seu</i>, <i>ceu</i>, <i>neu</i>. In <i>neuter</i> and +<i>neutiquam</i> the <b>e</b> is probably elided.</p> + +<p>Diphthongs ending in <b>i</b>, viz., <b>ei</b>, <b>oi</b>, <b>ui</b>, +occur only in a few interjections and in cases of contraction.</p> + +<p>While in pronouncing the diphthong the sound of both vowels was to +some extent preserved, there are many indications that +(in accordance with the custom of making a vowel before another +vowel short) the first vowel of the diphthong was hastened over and the +second received the stress. As in modern Greek we find all diphthongs +that end in <i>iota</i> pronounced as simple <b>i</b>, so in Latin there +are numerous instances, before and during the classic period, of the use +of <b>e</b> for <b>ae</b> or <b>oe</b>, and it is to be noted that in +the latest spelling <b>e</b> generally prevails.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">8</span> +<p>Munro says:</p> + +<p>“In Lucilius’s time the rustics said <i>Cecilius pretor</i> for +<i>Caecilius praetor</i>; in two Samothracian inscriptions older than +<span class = "smallroman">B.C.</span> 100 (the sound of <b>ai</b> by +that time verging to an open <b>e</b>), we find <i>muste piei</i> and +<i>muste</i>: in similar inscriptions <span class = "greek" lang = "el" +title = "mustai">μύσται</span> piei, and <i>mystae</i>: <i>Paeligni</i> +is reproduced in Strabo by <span class = "greek" lang = "el" title = +"Pelignoi">Πελιγνόι</span>: Cicero, Virgil, Festus, and Servius all +alike give <i>caestos</i> for <span class = "greek" lang = "el" title = +"kestos">κεστός</span>: by the first century, perhaps sooner, <b>e</b> +was very frequently put for <b>ae</b> in words like <i>taeter</i>: we +often find <i>teter</i>, <i>erumna</i>, <i>mestus</i>, <i>presto</i> and +the like: soon inscriptions and MSS. began pertinaciously to offer +<b>ae</b> for <b>ĕ</b>: <i>praetum</i>, <i>praeces</i>, +<i>quaerella</i>, <i>aegestas</i> and the like, the <b>ae</b> +representing a short and very open <b>e</b>: sometimes it stands for a +long <b>e</b>, as often in <i>plaenus</i>, the liquid before and after +making perhaps the <b>e</b> more open (<span class = "greek" lang = "el" +title = "skênê">σκηνή</span> is always <i>scaena</i>): and it is from +this form <i>plaenus</i> that in Italian, contrary to the usual law of +long Latin <b>e</b>, we have <i>pièno</i> with open <b>e</b>. With +such pedigree then, and with the genuine Latin <b>ae</b> <i>always</i> +represented in Italian by open <b>e</b>, can we hesitate to pronounce +the <b>ae</b> with this open <b>e</b> sound?”</p> + +<p>The argument sometimes used, for pronouncing <b>ae</b> like +<b>ai</b>, that in the poets we occasionally find <b>ai</b> in the +genitive singular of the first declension, appears to have little weight +in view of the following explanation:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Mar. Vict, de Orthog. et de Metr. Rat., I. iii. 38.</small>] +<b>Ae</b> Syllabam quidam more Graecorum per <b>ai</b> scribunt, nec +illud quidem custodient, quia omnes fere, qui de orthographia aliquid +scriptum reliquerunt, praecipiunt, nomina femina casu nominativo +<b>a</b> finita, numero plurali in <b>ae</b> exire, ut <i>Aeliae</i>: +eadem per <b>a</b> et <b>i</b> scripta numerum singularem ostendere, ut +hujus <i>Aeliai</i>: inducti a poetis, qui <i>pictai vestis</i> +scripserunt: et quia Graeci per <b>i</b> potissimum hanc syllabam +scribunt propter exilitatem litterae, <span class = "greek" lang = "el" +title = "Greek letter eta">η</span> autem propter naturalem productionem +jungere vocali alteri non possunt: <i>iota</i> vero, quae est +<span class = "pagenum">9</span> +brevis eademque longa, aptior ad hanc structuram visa est: quam +potestatem apud nos habet et <b>i</b>, quae est longa et brevis. Vos +igitur sine controversia ambiguitatis, et pluralem nominativum, et +singularem genitivum per <b>ae</b> scribite: nam qui non potest +dignoscere supra scriptarum vocum numeros et casum, valde est hebes. +</blockquote> + +<p>Of <b>oe</b> Munro says:</p> + +<p>“When hateful barbarisms like <i>coelum</i>, <i>coena</i>, +<i>moestus</i> are eliminated, <b>oe</b> occurs very rarely in Latin: +<i>coepi</i>, <i>poena</i>, <i>moenia</i>, <i>coetus</i>, +<i>proelia</i>, besides archaisms <i>coera</i>, <i>moerus</i>, etc., +where <b>oe</b>, coming from <b>oi</b>, passed into <b>u</b>. If we +must have a simple sound, I should take the open <b>e</b> sound +which I have given to <b>ae</b>: but I should prefer one like the +German <b>ö</b>. Their rarity, however, makes the sound of +<b>oe</b>, <b>eu</b>, <b>ui</b> of less importance.”</p> + +<p>Of <b>au</b> Munro says:</p> + +<p>“Here, too, <b>au</b> has a curious analogy with <b>ae</b>: The Latin +au becomes in Italian open <b>o</b>: <i>òro òde</i>: I would pronounce +thus in Latin: <i>plòstrum</i>, <i>Clòdius</i>, <i>còrus</i>. Perhaps, +too, the fact that <i>gloria</i>, <i>vittoria</i> and the common +termination <i>-orio</i>, have in Italian the open <b>o</b>, might show +that the corresponding <b>ō</b> in Latin was open by coming between two +liquids, or before one: compare <i>plenus</i> above.” “I should +prefer,” he says, (to represent the Latin <b>au</b>,) “the Italian +<b>au</b>, which gives more of the <b>u</b> than our <i>owl</i>, +<i>cow</i>.”</p> + + +<h4 class = "smallcaps"><a name = "consonants" id = "consonants"> +Consonants.</a></h4> + +<p><b>B</b> has, in general, the same sound as in English.</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Mar. Vict. Keil. v. VI. p. 32.</small>] E quibus +<b>b</b> et <b>p</b> litterae . . . dispari inter se oris +officio exprimuntur. Nam prima exploso e mediis labiis sono, sequens +compresso ore velut introrsum attracto vocis ictu explicatur. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<span class = "pagenum">10</span> +<b>B</b> before <b>s</b> or <b>t</b> is sharpened to <b>p</b>: thus +<i>urbs</i> is pronounced <i>urps</i>; <i>obtinuit</i>, <i>optinuit</i>. +Some words, indeed, are written either way; as <i>obses</i>, or +<i>opses</i>; <i>obsonium</i>, or <i>opsonium</i>; <i>obtingo</i>, or +<i>optingo</i>; and Quintilian says it is a question whether the change +should be indicated in writing or not:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Quint. I. vii. 7.</small>] Quaeri solet, in scribendo +praepositiones, sonum quern junctae efficiunt an quem separatae, +observare conveniat: ut cum dico <i>obtinuit</i>, secundam enim <b>b</b> +litteram ratio poscit, aures magis audiunt <b>p</b>. +</blockquote> + +<p>This change, however, is both so slight and so natural that attention +need scarcely be called to it. Indeed if quantity is properly observed, +one can hardly go wrong. If, for instance, you attempt, in saying +<i>obtinuit</i>, to give its normal sound to <b>b</b>, you can scarcely +avoid making a false quantity (the first syllable too long), while if +you observe the quantity (first syllable short) your <b>b</b> will +change itself to <b>p</b>.</p> + +<p><b>C</b> appears to have but one sound, the hard, as in +<i>sceptic</i>:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Mar. Vict. Keil. v. VI. p. 32.</small>] <b>C</b> etiam +et . . . <b>G</b> sono proximae, oris molimine nisuque +dissentiunt. Nam <b>c</b> reducta introrsum lingua hinc atque hinc +molares urgens haerentem intra os sonum vocis excludit: <b>g</b> vim +prioris pari linguae habitu palato suggerens lenius reddit. +</blockquote> + +<p>Not only do we find no hint in the grammarians of any sound akin to +the soft <b>c</b> in English, as in <i>sceptre</i>, but they all speak +of <b>c</b> and <b>k</b> and <b>q</b> as identical, or substantially so, +in sound; and Quintilian expressly states that the sound of <b>c</b> is +always the same. Speaking of <b>k</b> as superfluous, he says:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Quint. I. vii. 10.</small>] Nam <b>k</b> quidem in nullis verbis +utendum puto, nisi quae significat, etiam ut sola ponatur. Hoc eo non +omisi, quod quidam eam quotiens a sequatur necessariam credunt, cum sit +<b>c</b> littera, quae ad omnes vocales vim suam perferat. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<span class = "pagenum">11</span> +And Priscian declares:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. II. p. 13.</small>] Quamvis in varia figura +et vario nomine sint <b>k</b> et <b>q</b> et <b>c</b>, tamen quia unam +vim habent tam in metro quam in sono, pro una littera accipi debent. +</blockquote> + +<p>Without the best of evidence we should hardly believe that words +written indifferently with <b>ae</b> or <b>e</b> after <b>c</b> would be +so differently pronounced by those using the diphthong and those using +the simple vowel, that, to take the instance already given, in the time +of Lucilius, the rustic said <i>Sesilius</i> for <i>Kaekilius</i>. Nor +does it seem probable that in different cases the same word would vary +so greatly, or that in the numerous compounds where after <b>c</b> the +<b>a</b> weakens to <b>i</b> the sound of the <b>c</b> was also changed +from <b>k</b> to <b>s</b>, as “<i>kapio</i>” “<i>insipio</i>”; +“<i>kado</i>,” “<i>insido</i>.”</p> + +<p>Quintilian, noting the changes of fashion in the sounding of the +<b>h</b>, enumerates, among other instances of excessive use of the +aspirate, the words <i>choronae</i> (for <i>coronae</i>), +<i>chenturiones</i> (for <i>centuriones</i>), <i>praechones</i> (for +<i>praecones</i>), as if the three words were alike in their initial +sound.</p> + +<p>Alluding to inscriptions (first volume), where we have <i>pulcher</i> +and <i>pulcer</i>, <i>Gracchis</i> and <i>Graccis</i>, Mr. Munro says: +“I do not well see how the aspirate could have been attached to the +<b>c</b>, if <b>c</b> had not a <b>k</b> sound, or how in this case +<b>c</b> before <b>e</b> or <b>i</b> could have differed from <b>c</b> +before <b>a</b>, <b>o</b>, <b>u</b>.”</p> + +<p>Professor Munro also cites an inscription (844 of the “Corpus +Inscr.,” vol. I.) bearing on the case in another way. In this +inscription we have the word <i>dekembres</i>. “This,” says Mr. Munro, +“is one of nearly two hundred short, plebeian, often half-barbarous, +very old inscriptions on a collection of ollae. The <b>k</b> before +<b>e</b>, or any letter except <b>a</b>, is solecistic, just as in no. +831 is the <b>c</b>, instead of <b>k</b>, for <i>calendas</i>. From this +I would infer that, as in the latter +<span class = "pagenum">12</span> +the writer saw no difference between <b>c</b> and <b>k</b>, so to the +writer of the former <b>k</b> was the same as <b>c</b> +before <b>e</b>.”</p> + +<p>Again he says:</p> + +<p>“And finally, what is to me most convincing of all, I do not well +understand how in a people of grammarians, when for seven hundred years, +from Ennius to Priscian, the most distinguished writers were also the +most minute philologers, not one, so far as we know, should have hinted +at any difference, if such existed.”</p> + +<p>As to the peculiar effect of <b>c</b> final in certain particles to +“lengthen” the vowel before it, this <b>c</b> is doubtless the remnant +of the intensive enclitic <b>ce</b>, and the so-called ‘length’ is not +in the vowel, but in the more forcible utterance of the <b>c</b>. +It is true that Priscian says:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. II. p. 34.</small>] Notandum, quod ante hanc +solam mutam finalem inveniuntur longae vocales, ut <i>hōc</i>, +<i>hāc</i>, <i>sīc</i>, <i>hīc</i> adverbium. +</blockquote> + +<p>And Probus speaks of <b>c</b> as often prolonging the vowel before +it. But Victorinus, more philosophically, attributes the length to the +“double” sound of the consonant:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Mar. Vict. I. v. 46.</small>] Consideranda ergo est in his +duntaxat pronominibus natura <b>c</b> litterae, quae crassum quodammodo +et quasi geminum sonum reddat, <i>hic</i> et <i>hoc</i>. +</blockquote> + +<p>And he adds that you do not get that more emphatic sound in, for +instance, the conjunction <i>nec</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> +Si autem <i>nec</i> conjunctionem aspiciamus, licet eadem littera +finitam, diversum tamen sonabit. +</blockquote> + +<p>And again:</p> + +<blockquote> +Ut dixi, in pronominibus c littera sonum efficit crassiorem. +</blockquote> + +<p>Pompeius, commenting upon certain vices of speech, says that some +persons bring out the final <b>c</b> in certain words too heavily, +pronouncing <i>sic ludit</i> as <i>sic cludit</i>; while others, on +<span class = "pagenum">13</span> +the contrary, touch it so lightly that when the following word begins +with <b>c</b> you hear but a single <b>c</b>:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. V. p. 394.</small>] Item litteram <b>c</b> +quidam in quibusdam dictionibus non latine ecferunt, sed ita crasse, ut +non discernas quid dicant: ut puta siquis dicat <i>sic ludit</i>, ita +hoc loquitur ut putes eum in secunda parte orationis <i>cludere</i> +dixisse, non <i>ludere</i>: et item si contra dicat illud contrarium +putabis. Alii contra ita subtiliter hoc ecferunt, ut cum duo <b>c</b> +habeant, desinentis prioris partis orationis et incipientis alterius, +sic loquantur quasi uno <b>c</b> utrumque explicent, ut dicunt multi +<i>sic custodit</i>. +</blockquote> + +<p><b>D</b>, in general, is pronounced as in English, except that the +tongue should touch the teeth rather than the palate.</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Pompei. <i>Comm. ad Donat.</i> Keil. v. VI. +p. 32.</small>] <b>D</b> autem et <b>t</b> quibus, ut ita dixerim, +vocis vicinitas quaedam est, linguae sublatione ac positione +distinguuntur. Nam cum summos atque imos conjunctim dentes suprema sui +parte pulsaverit <b>d</b> litteram exprimit. Quotiens autem sublimata +partem, qua superis dentibus est origo, contigerit <b>t</b> sonare vocis +explicabit. +</blockquote> + +<p>But when certain words in common use ending in <b>d</b> were followed +by words beginning with a consonant, the sound of the <b>d</b> was +sharpened to <b>t</b>; and indeed the word was often, especially by the +earlier writers, written with <b>t</b>, as, for instance, <i>set</i>, +<i>haut</i>, <i>aput</i>:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Mar. Vict. I. iii. 50.</small>] <b>D</b> tamen litteram +conservat si sequens verbum incipiat a vocali; ut <i>haud aliter +muros</i>; et <i>haud equidem</i>. At cum verbum a consonante incipit, +<b>d</b> perdit, <i>ut haut dudum</i>, et <i>haut multum</i>, et <i>haut +placitura refert</i>, et inducit <b>t</b>. +</blockquote> + +<p><b>F</b> is pronounced as in English except that it should be brought +out more forcibly, with more breath.</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. VI. p. 31.</small>] <b>F</b> litteram imum +labium superis imprimentibus dentibus, reflexa ad palati fastigium +lingua, leni spiramine proferemus. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<span class = "pagenum">14</span> +Marius Victorinus says that <b>f</b> was used in Latin words as +<b>ph</b> in foreign.</p> + +<p>Diomedes (of the fourth century) says the same:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Diom. Keil. v. I. p. 422.</small>] Id hoc scire +debemus quod <b>f</b> littera tum scribitur cum Latina dictio scribitur, +ut <i>felix</i>. Nam si peregrina fuerit, <b>p</b> et <b>h</b> +scribimus, ut <i>Phoebus</i>, <i>Phaethon</i>. +</blockquote> + +<p>And Priscian makes a similar statement:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Prisc. Keil. v. I. p. 35.</small>] <b>F</b> multis +modis muta magis ostenditur, cum pro <b>p</b> et aspiratione, quae +similiter muta est, accipitur. +</blockquote> + +<p>From the following words of Quintilian we may judge the breathing to +have been quite pronounced:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Quint. XII. x. 29.</small>] Nam et ilia quae est sexta +nostrarum, paene non humana voce, vel omnino non voce, potius inter +discrimina dentium efflanda est, quae etiam cum vocalem proxima accipit +quassa quodammodo, utique quotiens aliquam consonantem frangit, ut in +hoc ipso <i>frangit</i>, multo fit horridior. +</blockquote> + +<p><b>G</b>, no less than <b>c</b>, appears to have had but one sound, +the hard, as in the English word <i>get</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Mar. Vict. Keil. v. VI. p. 32.</small>] <b>C</b> etiam +et <b>g</b>, ut supra scriptae, sono proximae, oris molimine nisuque +dissentiunt. Nam <b>c</b> reducta introrsum lingua, hinc atque hinc +molares urgens, haerentem intra os sonum vocis excludit: <b>g</b> vim +prioris, pari linguae habitu palato suggerens, lenius reddit. +</blockquote> + +<p>Diomedes speaks of <b>g</b> as a new consonant, whose place had +earlier been filled by <b>c</b>:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. I. p. 423.</small>] <b>G</b> nova est +consonans, in cujus locum <b>c</b> solebat adponi, sicut hodieque cum +Gaium notamus Caesarem, scribimus <b>C. C.</b>, ideoque etiam post +<b>b</b> litteram, id est tertio loco, digesta est, ut apud Graecos +<span class = "greek" lang = "el" title = "Greek letter gamma">γ</span> +posita reperitur in eo loco. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<span class = "pagenum">15</span> +Victorinus thus refers to the old custom still in use of writing +<b>C</b> and <b>Cn</b>, as initials, in certain names, even where the +names were pronounced as with <b>G</b>.</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Mar. Vict. I. iii. 98.</small>] <b>C</b> autem et nomen habuisse +<b>g</b> et usum praestitisse, quod nunc <i>Caius</i> per <b>C</b>, et +<i>Cneius</i> per <b>Cn</b>, quamvis utrimque syllabae sonus <b>g</b> +exprimat, scribuntur. +</blockquote> + +<p><b>H</b> has the same sound as in English. The grammarians never +regarded it as a consonant,—at least in more than name,—but +merely as representing the rough breathing of the Greeks.</p> + +<p>Victorinus thus speaks of its nature:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. VI. p. 32.</small>] <b>H</b> quoque inter +litteras obviam grammatici tradiderunt, eamque adspirationis notam +cunctis vocalibus praefici; ipsi autem consonantes tantum quattuor +praeponi, quotiens graecis nominibus latina forma est, persuaserunt, id +est <b>c</b>, <b>p</b>, <b>r</b>, <b>t</b>; ut <i>chori</i>, +<i>Phyllis</i>, <i>rhombos</i>, <i>thymos</i>; quae profundo spiritu, +anhelis faucibus, exploso ore, fundetur. +</blockquote> + +<p>By the best authorities <b>h</b> was looked upon as a mere mark of +aspiration. Victorinus says that Nigidius Figulus so regarded it:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Mar. Vict. I. iv. 5.</small>] Idem (N. F.) <b>h</b> non +esse litteram, sed notam adspirationis tradidit. +</blockquote> + +<p>There appears to have been the same difference of opinion and usage +among the Romans as with us in the matter of sounding +the <b>h</b>.</p> + +<p>Quintilian says that the fashion changed with the age:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Quint. I. v. 19, 20, 21.</small>] Cujus quidem ratio mutata cum +temporibus est saepius. Parcissime ea veteres usi etiam in vocalibus, +cum <i>oedus vicos</i>que dicebant, diu deinde servatum ne consonantibus +aspirarent, ut in <i>Graecis</i> et in <i>triumpis</i>; erupit brevi +tempore nimius usus, ut <i>choronae</i>, <i>chenturiones</i>, +<i>praechones</i>, adhuc quibusdam inscriptionibus maneant, qua de re +Catulli nobile epigramma +<span class = "pagenum">16</span> +est. Inde durat ad nos usque <i>vehementer</i>, et <i>comprehendere</i>, +et <i>mihi</i>, nam <i>mehe</i> quoque pro me apud antiquos tragoediarum +praecipue scriptores in veteribus libris invenimus. +</blockquote> + +<p>In the epigram above referred to Catullus thus satirizes the +excessive use of the aspirate:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Catullus lxxxiv.</small>] +</blockquote> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>Chommoda dicebat, si quando commoda vellet</p> +<p class = "indent">Dicere, et hinsidias Arrius insidias:</p> +<p>Et tum mirifice sperabat se esse locutum,</p> +<p class = "indent">Cum quantum poterat dixerat hinsidias.</p> +<p>Credo sic mater, sic Liber avunculus ejus,</p> +<p class = "indent">Sic maternus avus dixerat, atque avia.</p> +<p>Hoc misso in Syriam requierunt omnibus aures;</p> +<p class = "indent">Audibant eadem haec leniter et leviter.</p> +<p>Nec sibi post illa metuebant talia verba,</p> +<p class = "indent">Cum subito adfertur nuntius horribilis,</p> +<p>Ionios fluctus postquam illuc Arrius isset</p> +<p class = "indent">Jam non Ionios esse, sed Hionios.</p> +</div> + +<p>On the other hand Quintilian seems disposed to smile at the excess of +‘culture’ which drops its <b>h</b>’s, to class this with other affected +‘niceties’ of speech, and to regard the whole matter as of slight +importance:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Quint. I. vi. 21, 22.</small>] Multum enim litteratus, qui sine +aspiratione et producta secunda syllaba salutarit (<i>avere</i> est +enim), et <i>calefacere</i> dixerit potius quam quod dicimus, et +<i>conservavisse</i>; his adjiciat <i>face</i> et <i>dice</i> et +similia. Recta est haec via, quis negat? sed adjacet mollior et magis +trita. +</blockquote> + +<p>Cicero confesses that he himself changed his practice in regard to +the aspirate. He had been accustomed to sound it only with vowels, and +to follow the fathers, who never used it with a consonant; but at +length, yielding to the importunity of his ear, he conceded the right of +usage to the people, and ‘kept his learning to himself.’</p> + +<blockquote> +<span class = "pagenum">17</span> +[<small>Cic. Or. XLVIII. 160.</small>] Quin ego ipse, cum scirem ita +majores locutos esse ut nusquam nisi in vocali aspiratione uterentur, +loquebar sic, ut <i>pulcros</i>, <i>cetegus</i>, <i>triumpos</i>, +<i>Kartaginem</i>, dicerem; aliquando, idque sero, convicio aurium cum +extorta mihi veritas, usum loquendi populo concessi, scientiam mihi +reservavi. +</blockquote> + +<p>Gellius speaks of the ancients as having employed the <b>h</b> merely +to add a certain force and life to the word, in imitation of the Attic +tongue, and enumerates some of these words. Thus, he says, they said +<i>lachrymas</i>; thus, <i>sepulchrum</i>, <i>aheneum</i>, +<i>vehemens</i>, <i>inchoare</i>, <i>helvari</i>, <i>hallucinari</i>, +<i>honera</i>, <i>honustum</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Gellius II. iii.</small>] In his enim verbis omnibus litterae, +seu spiritus istius nulla ratio visa est, nisi ut firmitas et vigor +vocis, quasi quibusdam nervis additis, intenderetur. +</blockquote> + +<p>And he tells an interesting anecdote about a manuscript of +Vergil:</p> + +<blockquote> +Sed quoniam <i>aheni</i> quoque exemplo usi sumus, venit nobis in +memoriam, fidum optatumque, multi nominis Romae, grammaticum ostendisse +mihi librum Aeneidos secundum mirandae vetustatis, emptum in Sigillariis +XX. aureis, quem ipsius Vergilii fuisse credebat; in quo duo isti versus +cum ita scripti forent: +</blockquote> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>“Vestibulum ante ipsum, primoque in limine, Pyrrhus:</p> +<p> Exultat telis, et luce coruscus aëna.”</p> +</div> + +<blockquote> +Additam supra vidimus <b>h</b> litteram, et <i>ahena</i> factum. Sic in +illo quoque Vergilii versu in optimis libris scriptum invenimus: +</blockquote> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>“Aut foliis undam tepidi dispumat aheni.”</p> +</div> + +<p><b>I</b> consonant has the sound of <b>i</b> in the English word +<i>onion</i>.</p> + +<p>The grammarians all express themselves in nearly the same terms as to +its character:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Serg. Explan. in Art. Donat. Keil. v. IV. +p. 520.</small>] <b>I</b> et <b>u</b> varias habent potestates: nam +sunt aliquando vocales, aliquando consonantes, aliquando mediae, +aliquando nihil, aliquando digammae, aliquando duplices. Vocales sunt +quando aut singulae positae syllabam +<span class = "pagenum">18</span> +faciunt aut aliis consonantibus sociantur, ut <i>Iris</i> et <i>unus</i> +et <i>Isis</i> et <i>urna</i>. Consonantes autem sunt, cum aliis +vocalibus in una syllaba praeponuntur, aut cum ipsae inter se in una +syllaba conjunguntur. Nisi enim et prior sit et in una syllaba secum +habeat conjunctam vocalem, non erit consonans <b>i</b> +vel <b>u</b>. Nam <i>Iulius</i> et <i>Iarbas</i> cum dicis, +<b>i</b> consonans non est, licet praecedat, quia in una syllaba secum +non habet conjunctam vocalem, sed in altera consequentem. +</blockquote> + +<p>The grammarians speak of <b>i</b> consonant as different in sound and +effect from the vowel <b>i</b>; and, as they do not say how it differs, +we naturally infer the variation to be that which follows in the nature +of things from its position and office, as in the kindred Romance +languages.</p> + +<p>Priscian says:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. II. p. 13.</small>] Sic <b>i</b> et <b>u</b>, +quamvis unum nomen et unam habeant figuram tam vocales quam consonantes, +tamen, quia diversum sonum et diversam vim habent in metris et in +pronuntiatione syllabarum, non sunt in eisdem meo judicio elementis +accipiendae, quamvis et Censorino, doctissimo artis grammaticae, idem +placuit. +</blockquote> + +<p>It would seem to be by reason of this twofold nature (vowel and +consonant) that <b>i</b> has its ‘lengthening’ power. Probus explains +the matter thus:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. IV. p. 220.</small>] Praeterea vim naturamque +<b>i</b> litterae vocalis plenissime debemus cognoscere, quod duarum +interdum loco consonantium ponatur. Hanc enim ex suo numero vocales +duplicem litteram mittunt, ut cetera elementa litterarum singulas +duplices mittunt, de quibus suo disputavimus loco. Illa ergo ratione +<b>i</b> littera duplicem sonum designat, una quamvis figura sit, si +undique fuerit cincta vocalibus, ut <i>acerrimus Aiax</i>, et +</blockquote> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>“Aio te, Eacida, Romanos vincere posse.”</p> +</div> + +<p>Again in the commentaries on Donatus we find:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. IV. p. 421.</small>] Plane sciendum est quod +<b>i</b> inter duas posita vocales in una parte orationis pro duabus est +consonantibus, ut <i>Troia</i>. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<span class = "pagenum">19</span> +Priscian tells us that earlier it was, as we know, the custom to write +two <b>i</b>’s:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. III. p. 467.</small>] Antiqui solebant duas +<b>ii</b> scribere, et alteram priori subjungere, alteram praeponere +sequenti, ut <i>Troiia</i>, <i>Maiia</i>, <i>Aiiax</i>. +</blockquote> + +<p>And Quintilian says:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Quint. I. iv. II.</small>] Sciat etiam Ciceroni placuisse +<i>aiio Maiiam</i>que geminata <b>i</b> scribere. +</blockquote> + +<p>This doubling of the sound of <b>i</b>, natural, even unavoidable, +between vowels, gives us the consonant effect (as vowel, uniting +with the preceding, as consonant, introducing the following, vowel).</p> + +<p><b>K</b> has the same sound as in English.</p> + +<p>The grammarians generally agree that <b>k</b> is a superfluous, or at +least unnecessary, letter, its place being filled by <b>c</b>. +Diomedes says:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. I. pp. 423, 424.</small>] Ex his quibusdam +supervacuae videntur <b>k</b> et <b>q</b>, quod <b>c</b> littera harum +locum possit implere. +</blockquote> + +<p>And again:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p><b>K</b> consonans muta supervacua, qua utimur quando <b>a</b> +correpta sequitur, ut <i>Kalendae</i>, <i>caput</i>, +<i>calumniae</i>.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Its only use is as an initial and sign of certain words, and it is +followed by short <b>a</b> only.</p> + +<p>Victorinus says:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>I. iii. 23.</small>] <b>K</b> autem dicitur monophonos, quia +nulli vocali jungitur nisi soli <b>a</b> brevi: et hoc ita ut ab ea pars +orationis incipit, aliter autem non recte scribitur. +</blockquote> + +<p>Priscian says:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. II. p. 36.</small>] <b>K</b> supervacua est, +ut supra diximus: quae quamvis scribetur nullam aliam vim habet +quam <b>c</b>. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<span class = "pagenum">20</span> +And Quintilian speaks of it as a mere sign, but says some think it +should be used when <b>a</b> follows, as initial:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Quint. I. iv. 9.</small>] Et <b>k</b>, quae et ipsa quorundam +nominum nota est. +</blockquote> + +<p>And:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Quint. I. vii. 10.</small>] Nam <b>k</b> quidem in nullis verbis +utendum puto nisi quae significat etiam ut sola ponatur. Hoc eo non +omisi quod quidam eam quotiens <b>a</b> sequatur necessariam credunt, +cum sit <b>c</b> littera, quae ad omnes vocales vim suam perferat. +</blockquote> + +<p>This use of <b>k</b>, as an initial, and in certain words, was +regarded somewhat in the light of a literary ‘fancy.’ Priscian says +of it:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. II. p. 12.</small>] Et <b>k</b> quidem +penitus supervacua est; nulla enim videtur ratio cur <b>a</b> sequente +haec scribi debeat: <i>Carthago</i> enim et <i>caput</i> sive per +<b>c</b> sive per <b>k</b> scribantur nullam faciunt nec in sono nec in +potestate ejusdem consonantis differentiam. +</blockquote> + +<p><b>L</b> is pronounced as in English, only more distinctly and with +the tongue more nearly approaching the teeth. The sound is thus given by +Victorinus:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. VI. p. 32.</small>] Sequetur <b>l</b>, quae +validum nescio quid partem palati qua primordium dentibus superis est +lingua trudente, diducto ore personabit. +</blockquote> + +<p>But it varies according to its position in the force and distinctness +with which it is uttered.</p> + +<p>Pliny and others recognize three degrees of force:</p> + +<p>Priscian says:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. II. p. 29.</small>] <b>L</b> triplicem, ut +Plinius videtur, sonum habet: exilem, quando geminatur secundo loco +posita, ut <i>ille</i>, <i>Metellus</i>; plenum, quando finit nomina vel +syllabas, et quando aliquam habet ante se in eadem syllaba consonantem, +ut <i>sol</i>, <i>silva</i>, <i>flavus</i>, <i>clarus</i>; medium in +aliis, ut <i>lectum</i>, <i>lectus</i>. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<span class = "pagenum">21</span> +Pompeius, in his commentaries on Donatus, makes nearly the same +statement, when treating of ‘<i>labdacism</i>’:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. V. p. 394.</small>] <i>Labdacismum</i> vitium +in eo esse dicunt quod eadem littera vel subtilius, a quibusdam, +vel pinguius, ecfertur. Et re vera alterutrum vitium quibusdam gentibus +est. Nam ecce Graeci subtiliter hunc sonum ecferunt. Ubi enim dicunt +<i>ille mihi dixit</i> sic sonat duae <b>ll</b> primae syllabae quasi +per unum <b>l</b> sermo ipse consistet. Contra alii sic pronuntiant +<i>ille meum comitatus iter</i>, et <i>illum ego per flammas eripui</i> +ut aliquid illic soni etiam consonantis ammiscere videantur, quod +pinguissimae prolationis est. Romana lingua emendationem habet in hoc +quoque distinctione. Nam alicubi pinguius, alicubi debet exilius, +proferri: pinguius cum vel <b>b</b> sequitur, ut in <i>albo</i>; vel +<b>c</b>, ut in <i>pulchro</i>; vel <b>f</b>, ut in <i>adelfis</i>; vel +<b>g</b>, ut in <i>alga</i>; vel <b>m</b>, ut in <i>pulmone</i>; vel +<b>p</b>, ut in <i>scalpro</i>: exilius autem proferenda est ubicumque +ab ea verbum incipit; ut in <i>lepore</i>, <i>lana</i>, <i>lupo</i>; vel +ubi in eodem verbo et prior syllaba in hac finitur, et sequens ab ea +incipit, ut <i>ille</i> et <i>Allia</i>. +</blockquote> + +<p>In another place he speaks of the Africans as ‘abounding’ in this +vice, and of their pronouncing <i>Metellus</i> and <i>Catullus</i>; +<i>Metelus</i>, <i>Catulus</i>:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. V. p. 287.</small>] In his etiam agnoscimus +gentium vitia; <i>labdacismis</i> scatent Afri, raro est ut aliquis +dicat <b>l</b>: per geminum <b>l</b> sic loquuntur Romani, omnes Latini +sic loquuntur, <i>Catullus</i>, <i>Metellus</i>. +</blockquote> + +<p><b>M</b> is pronounced as in English, except before <b>q</b>, where +it has a nasal sound, and when final.</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Mar. Vict. Keil. v. VI. p. 32.</small>] <b>M</b> +impressis invicem labiis mugitum quendam intra oris specum attractis +naribus dabit. +</blockquote> + +<p>But this ‘mooing’ sound, in which so many of their words ended, was +not altogether pleasing to the Roman ear. Quintilian exclaims +against it:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Quint. XII. x. 31.</small>] Quid quod pleraque nos illa quasi +mugiente littera cludimus <b>m</b>, qua nullum Graece verbum cadit. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<span class = "pagenum">22</span> +The offensive sound was therefore gotten rid of, as far as possible, by +obscuring the <b>m</b> at the end of a word. Priscian speaks of three +sounds of <b>m</b>,—at the beginning, in the middle, and at the +end of a word:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Prisc. Keil. v. II. p. 29.</small>] <b>M</b> obscurum +in extremitate dictionum sonat, ut <i>templum</i>, apertum in principio, +ut <i>magnus</i>; mediocre in mediis, ut <i>umbra</i>. +</blockquote> + +<p>This ‘obscuring’ led in verse to the cutting off of the final +syllable in <b>m</b> when the following word began with a +vowel,—as Priscian remarks in the same connection:</p> + +<blockquote> +Finales dictionis subtrahitur <b>m</b> in metro plerumque, si a vocali +incipit sequens dictio, ut: +</blockquote> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>“Illum expirantem transfixo pectore flammas.”</p> +</div> + +<p>Yet, he adds, the ancients did not always withdraw the sound:</p> + +<blockquote> +Vetustissimi tamen non semper eam subtrahebant, Ennius in X Annalium: +</blockquote> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>“Insigneita fere tum milia militum octo</p> +<p> Duxit delectos bellum tolerare potentes.”</p> +</div> + +<p>The <b>m</b> was not, however, entirely ignored. Thus Quintilian +says:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Quint. IX. iv. 40.</small>] Atqui eadem illa littera, quotiens +ultima est et vocalem verbi sequentis ita contingit ut in eam transire +possit, etiamsi scribitur tamen parum exprimitur, ut <i>multum ille</i> +et <i>quantum erat</i>; adeo ut paene cujusdam novae litterae sonum +reddat. Neque enim eximitur, sed obscuratur, et tantum aliqua inter duas +vocales velut nota est, ne ipsae coeant. +</blockquote> + +<p>It is a significant fact in this connection that <b>m</b> is the only +one of the liquids (semivowels) that does not allow a long vowel before +it. Priscian, mentioning several peculiarities of this semivowel, thus +speaks of this one:</p> + +<blockquote> +<span class = "pagenum">23</span> +[<small>Priscian. Keil. v. II. p. 23.</small>] Nunquam tamen +eadem <b>m</b> ante se natura longam (vocalem) patitur in eadem syllaba +esse, ut <i>illam</i>, <i>artem</i>, <i>puppim</i>, <i>illum</i>, +<i>rem</i>, <i>spem</i>, <i>diem</i>, cum aliae omnes semivocales hoc +habent, ut <i>Maecenas</i>, <i>Paean</i>, <i>sol</i>, <i>pax</i>, +<i>par</i>. +</blockquote> + +<p>That the <b>m</b> was really sounded we may infer from Pompeius +(on Donatus) where, treating of <i>myotacism</i>, he calls it the +careless pronunciation of <b>m</b> between two vowels (at the end +of one word and the beginning of another), the running of the words +together in such a way that <b>m</b> seems to begin the second, rather +than to end the first:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. V. p. 287.</small>] Ut si dices <i>hominem +amicum</i>, <i>oratorem optimum</i>. Non enim videris dicere <i>hominem +amicum</i>, sed <i>homine mamicum</i>, quod est incongruum et +inconsonans. Similiter <i>oratorem optimum</i> videris <i>oratore +moptimum</i>. +</blockquote> + +<p>He also warns against the vice of dropping the <b>m</b> altogether. +One must neither say <i>homine mamicum</i>, nor <i>homine +amicum</i>:</p> + +<blockquote> +Plerumque enim aut suspensione pronuntiatur aut exclusione. +. . . Nos quid sequi debemus? Quid? per suspensionem tantum +modo. Qua ratione? Quia si dixeris per suspensionem <i>homimem +amicum</i>, et haec vitium vitabis, <i>myotacismum</i>, et non cades in +aliud vitium, id est in hiatum. +</blockquote> + +<p>From such passages it would seem that the final syllable ending in +<b>m</b> is to be lightly and rapidly pronounced, the <b>m</b> not to be +run over upon the following word.</p> + +<p>Some hint of the sound may perhaps be got from the Englishman’s +pronunciation of such words as Birmingham (Birminghm), Sydenham +(Sydenhm), Blenheim (Blenhm).</p> + +<p><b>N</b>, except when followed by <b>f</b> or <b>s</b>, is pronounced +as in English, only that it is more dental.</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Mar. Vict. Keil. v. VI. p. 32.</small>] <b>N</b> vero, +sub convexo palati lingua inhaerente, gemino naris et oris spiritu +explicabitur. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<span class = "pagenum">24</span> +Naturally, as with us, it is more emphatic at the beginning and end of +words than in the middle (as, <i>Do not give the tendrils the wrong +turn. Is not the sin condemned?</i>)</p> + +<p>Priscian says:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. II. p. 29.</small>] <b>N</b> quoque plenior +in primis sonat, et in ultimis, partibus syllabarum, ut <i>nomen</i>, +<i>stamen</i>; exilior in mediis, ut <i>amnis</i>, <i>damnum</i>. +</blockquote> + +<p>As in English, before a guttural (<b>c</b>, <b>g</b>, <b>q</b>, +<b>x</b>), <b>n</b> is so affected as to leave its proper sound +incomplete (the tongue not touching the roof of the mouth) while it +draws the guttural, so to speak, into itself, as in the English words +<i>concord</i>, <i>anger</i>, <i>sinker</i>, <i>relinquish</i>, +<i>anxious</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Nigidius apud Gell. XIX. xiv. 7.</small>] Inter litteram +<b>n</b> et <b>g</b> est alia vis, ut in nomine <i>anguis</i> et +<i>angaria</i> et <i>anchorae</i> et <i>increpat</i> et <i>incurrit</i> +et <i>ingenuus</i>. In omnibus enim his non verum <b>n</b> sed +adulterinum ponitur. Nam <i>n</i> non esse lingua indicio est. Nam si ea +littera esset lingua palatum tangeret. +</blockquote> + +<p>Not only the Greeks, but some of the early Romans, wrote <b>g</b>, +instead of <b>n</b>, in this position, and gave to the letter so used a +new name, <i>agma</i>. Priscian says:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. II. p. 29.</small>] Sequente <b>g</b> vel +<b>c</b>, pro ea (<b>n</b>) <b>g</b> scribunt Graeci et quidam tamen +vetustissimi auctores Romani euphoniae causa bene hoc facientes, ut +<i>Agchises</i>, <i>agceps</i>, <i>aggulus</i>, <i>aggens</i>, quod +ostendit Varro in <i>Primo de Origine Linguae Latinae</i> his verbis: Ut +Ion scribit, quinquavicesima est littera, quam vocant “<i>agma</i>,” +cujus forma nulla est et vox communis est Graecis et Latinis, ut his +verbis: <i>aggulus</i>, <i>aggens</i>, <i>agguilla</i>, <i>iggerunt</i>. +In ejusmodi Graeci et Accius noster bina <b>g</b> scribunt, alii +<b>n</b> et <b>g</b>, quod in hoc veritatem videre facile non est. +</blockquote> + +<p>This custom did not, however, prevail among the Romans, and Marius +Victorinus gives it as his opinion that it is +<span class = "pagenum">25</span> +better to use <b>n</b> than <b>g</b>, as more correct to the ear, and +avoiding ambiguity (the <b>gg</b> being then left for the natural +expression of double <b>g</b>).</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Mar. Vict. I. iii. 70.</small>] Familiarior est auribus nostris +<b>n</b> potius quam <b>g</b>, ut <i>anceps</i> et <i>ancilla</i> et +<i>anguia</i> et <i>angustum</i> et <i>anquirit</i> et <i>ancora</i>, et +similia, per <b>n</b> potius quam per <b>g</b> scribite: sicut per duo +<b>g</b> quotiens duorum <b>g</b> sonum aures exigent, ut +<i>aggerem</i>, <i>suggillat</i>, <i>suggerendum</i>, <i>suggestum</i>, +et similia. +</blockquote> + +<p><b>N</b> before <b>f</b> or <b>s</b> seems to have become a mere +nasal, lengthening the preceding vowel.</p> + +<p>Cicero speaks of this as justified by the ear and by custom, rather +than by reason:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Cic. Or. XLVIII.</small>] Quid vero hoc elegantius, quod non fit +natura, sed quodam institute? <i>indoctus</i> dicimus brevi prima +littera, <i>insanis</i> producta: <i>inhumanus</i> brevi, <i>infelix</i> +longa: et, ne multis, quibus in verbis eae primae litterae sunt quae in +<i>sapiente</i> atque <i>felice</i>, producte dicitur; in ceteris +omnibus breviter: itemque <i>composuit</i>, <i>consuevit</i>, +<i>concrepit</i>, <i>confecit</i>. Consule veritatem, reprehendet; refer +ad aures, probabunt. Quaere, cur? Ita se dicent juvari. Voluptati autem +aurium morigerari debet oratio. +</blockquote> + +<p>In Donatus we have the same fact stated, with the same reason:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. IV. p. 442.</small>] Quod magis aurium +indicio quam artis ratione colligimus. +</blockquote> + +<p>Thus we find numeral adverbs and others ending either in <i>iens</i> +or <i>ies</i>, as <i>centiens</i> or <i>centies</i>, <i>decies</i> or +<i>deciens</i>, <i>millies</i> or <i>milliens</i>, <i>quotiens</i> or +<i>quoties</i>, <i>totiens</i> or <i>toties</i>. Other words, in like +manner, participles and nouns, are written either with or without the +<b>n</b> before <b>s</b>, as <i>contunsum</i> or <i>contusum</i>, +<i>obtunsus</i> or <i>obtusus</i>, <i>thesaurus</i> or <i>thensaurus</i> +(the <i>ens</i> is regularly represented in Greek by <span class = +"greek" lang = "el" title = "ês">ης</span>); <i>infans</i> or +<i>infas</i>, <i>frons</i> or <i>fros</i>. In late Latin the <b>n</b> +was frequently dropped in participle endings.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">26</span> +<p>Donatus says that this nasal sound of <b>n</b> should be strenuously +observed:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. IV. p. 442.</small>] Illud vehementissime +observare debemus, ut <i>con</i> et <i>in</i> quotiensque post se habent +<b>s</b> vel <b>f</b> litteram, videamus quemadmodum pronuntientur. +Plerumque enim non observantes in barbarismos incurrimus. +</blockquote> + +<p><b>Gn</b> in the terminations <i>gnus</i>, <i>gna</i>, <i>gnum</i>, +has, according to Priscian, the power to lengthen the penultimate +vowel.</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Prisc. I.</small>] <i>Gnus</i> quoque, vel <i>gna</i>, vel +<i>gnum</i>, terminantia, longam habent vocalem penultimam; ut a +<i>regno</i>, <i>regnum</i>; a <i>sto</i>, <i>stagnum</i>; a +<i>bene</i>, <i>benignus</i>; a <i>male</i>, <i>malignus</i>; ab +<i>abiete</i>, <i>abiegnus</i>; <i>privignus</i>; <i>Pelignus</i>. +</blockquote> + +<p>(Perhaps the liquid sound, as in <i>cañon</i>.)</p> + +<p><b>P</b> is pronounced as in English.</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Mar. Vict. Keil. v. VI. p. 32.</small>] <b>E</b> +quibus <b>b</b> et <b>p</b> litterae . . . dispari inter se +oris officio exprimuntur. Nam prima exploso e mediis labiis sono; +sequens, compresso ore, velut introrsum attracto vocis ictu, explicatur. +</blockquote> + +<p><b>Q</b> has the sound of English <b>q</b> in the words <i>quire</i>, +<i>quick</i>.</p> + +<p>Priscian says:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. II. p. 12.</small>] <b>K</b> enim et +<b>q</b>, quamvis figura et nomine videantur aliquam habere +differentiam, cum <b>c</b> tamen eandem, tam in sono vocum, quam in +metro, potestatem continent. +</blockquote> + +<p>And again:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Id. ib. p. 36.</small>] De <b>q</b> quoque sufficienter +supra tractatum est, quae nisi eandem vim haberet quam <b>c</b>. +</blockquote> + +<p>Marius Victorinus says:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. VI. p. 5.</small>] Item superfluas quasdam +videntur retinere, <b>x</b> et <b>k</b> et <b>q</b> . . . Pro +<b>k</b> et <b>q</b>, <b>c</b> littera facillime haberetur; <b>x</b> +autem per <b>c</b> et <b>s</b>. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<span class = "pagenum">27</span> +And again:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Id. ib. p. 32.</small>] <b>K</b> et <b>q</b> supervacue +numero litterarum inseri doctorum plerique contendunt, scilicet quod +<b>c</b> littera harum officium possit implere. +</blockquote> + +<p>The grammarians tell us that <b>k</b> and <b>q</b> are always found +at the beginning of a syllable:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Prise. Keil. v. III. p. 111.</small>] <b>Q</b> et +<b>k</b> semper initio syllabarum ponuntur. +</blockquote> + +<p>They say also that the use of <b>q</b> was more free among the +earlier Romans, who placed it as initial wherever <b>u</b> +followed,—as they placed <b>k</b> wherever <b>ă</b> +followed,—but that in the later, established, usage, its presence +was conditioned upon a vowel after the <b>u</b> in the same +syllable:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Donat. Keil. v. IV. p. 442.</small>] Namque illi +<b>q</b> praeponebant quotiens <b>u</b> sequebatur, ut <i>quum</i>; nos +vero non possumus <b>q</b> praeponere nisi ut <b>u</b> sequatur et post +ipsam alia vocalis, ut <i>quoniam</i>. +</blockquote> + +<p>Diomedes says:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. I. p. 425.</small>] <b>Q</b> consonans muta, +ex <b>c</b> et <b>u</b> litteris composita, supervacua, qua utimur +quando <b>u</b> et altera vocalis in una syllaba junguntur, ut +<i>Quirinus</i>. +</blockquote> + +<p><b>R</b> is trilled, as in Italian or French:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Mar. Vict. Keil. v. VI. p. 32.</small>] Sequetur +<b>r</b>, quae, vibratione vocis in palato linguae fastigio, fragorem +tremulis ictibus reddit. +</blockquote> + +(This proper trilling of the <b>r</b> is most important.) + +<p><b>S</b> seems to have had, almost, if not quite, invariably the +sharp sound of the English <b>s</b> in <i>sing</i>, <i>hiss</i>.</p> + +<p>In Greek words written also with <b>z</b>, as <i>Smyrna</i> (also +written <i>Zmyrna</i>), it probably had the <b>z</b> sound, and possibly +in a few Latin words, as <i>rosa</i>, <i>miser</i>, but this is not +certain.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">28</span> +<p>Marius Victorinus thus sets forth the difference between <b>s</b> and +<b>x</b> (cs):</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. VI. p. 32.</small>] Dehinc duae supremae, +<b>s</b> et <b>x</b>, jure junguntur. Nam vicino inter se sonore +attracto sibilant rictu, ita tamen si prioris ictus pone dentes +excitatus ad medium lenis agitetur, sequentis autem crasso spiritu +hispidum sonet, quia per conjunctionem <b>c</b> et <b>s</b>, quarum et +locum implet et vim exprimit, ut sensu aurium ducemur, efficitur. +</blockquote> + +<p>Donatus, according to Pompeius, complains of the Greeks as sounding +the <b>s</b> too feebly:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. V. p. 394.</small>] Item <b>s</b> litteram +Graeci exiliter ecferunt adeo ut cum dicunt <i>jussit</i> per unum +<b>s</b> dicere existimas. +</blockquote> + +<p>This would indicate that the Romans pronounced the sibilant +distinctly,—yet not too emphatically, for Quintilian says, ‘the +master of his art (of speaking) will not fondly prolong or dally +with his <b>s</b>’:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Quint. I. xi. 6.</small>] Ne illas quidem circa <b>s</b> +litteram delicias hic magister feret. +</blockquote> + +<p><b>T</b> is pronounced like the English <b>t</b> pure, except that +the tongue should approach the teeth more nearly.</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Pompei. <i>Comm. ad Donat.</i> Keil. v. VI. +p. 32.</small>] <b>D</b> autem et <b>t</b>, quibus, ut ita dixerim, +vocis vicinitas quaedam est, linguae sublatione ac positione +distinguuntur. Nam cum summos atque imos conjunctim dentes suprema sua +parte pulsaverit <b>d</b> litteram exprimit. Quotiens autem sublimata +partem qua superis dentibus est <i>origo</i> contigerit, <b>t</b> sonore +vocis explicabit. +</blockquote> + +<p>From the same writer we learn that some pronounced the <b>t</b> too +heavily, giving it a ‘thick sound’:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. V. p. 394.</small>] Ecce in littera <b>t</b> +aliqui ita pingue nescio quid sonant, ut cum dicunt <i>etiam</i> nihil +de media syllaba infringant. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<span class = "pagenum">29</span> +By which we understand that the <b>t</b> was wrongly uttered with a kind +of effort, such as prevented its gliding on to the <b>i</b>.</p> + +<p><b>Th</b> nearly as in <i>then</i>, not as in <i>thin</i>.</p> + +<p><b>U</b> (consonant) or <b>V</b>.</p> + +<p>That the letter <b>u</b> performed the office of both vowel and +consonant all the grammarians agree, and state the fact in nearly the +same terms. Priscian says that they (<b>i</b> and <b>u</b>) seem quite +other letters when used as consonants, and that it makes a great +difference in which of these ways they are used:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. II. p. 13.</small>] Videntur tamen <b>i</b> +et <b>u</b> cum in consonantes transeunt quantum ad potestatem, quod +maximum est in elementis, aliae litterae esse praeter supra dictis; +multum enim interest utrum vocales sint an consonantes. +</blockquote> + +<p>The grammarians also state that this consonant <b>u</b> was +represented by the Greek digamma, which the Romans called <i>vau</i> +also.</p> + +<p>Marius Victorinus says:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>I. iii. 44.</small>] Nam littera <b>u</b> vocalis est, sicut +<b>a</b>, <b>e</b>, <b>i</b>, <b>o</b>, sed eadem vicem obtinet +consonantis: cujus potestatis notam Graeci habent <span class = "greek" +lang = "el" title = "Greek letter digamma">ϝ</span>, nostri <i>vau</i> +vocant, et alii <i>digamma</i>; ea per se scripta non facit syllabam, +anteposita autem vocali facit, ut <span class = "greek" lang = "el" +title = "wamaxa, wekêbolos">ϝάμαξα, ϝεκήβολος</span> et <span class = +"greek" lang = "el" title = "welenê">ϝελήνη</span>. Nos vero, qui non +habemus hujus vocis nomen aut notam, in ejus locum quotiens una vocalis +pluresve junctae unam syllabam faciunt, substituimus <b>u</b> litteram. +</blockquote> + +<p>Now it is contended by some that this <i>digamma</i>, or <i>vau</i>, +was merely taken as a symbol, somewhat arbitrarily perhaps, and that it +did not indicate a particular sound, but might stand for anything which +the Romans chose to represent by it; and that therefore it gives us no +certain indication of what the Latin <b>u</b> consonant was.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">30</span> +<p>But we are expressly told that it had the force and sound of the +Greek <i>digamma</i>.</p> + +<p>In Marius Victorinus we find:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. VI. p. 23.</small>] <ins class = "correction" +title = "printed as capital F, not digamma">F</ins> autem apud Aeolis +dumtaxat idem valere quod apud nos <i>vau</i> cum pro consonante +scribitur, vocarique <span class = "greek" lang = "el" title = +"bau">βαυ</span> et <i>digamma</i>. +</blockquote> + +<p>Priscian explains more fully:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. II. p. 15.</small>] <b>U</b> vero loco consonantis +posita eandem prorsus in omnibus vim habuit apud Latinos quam apud +Aeolis <i>digamma</i>. Unde a plerisque ei nomen hoc datur quod apud +Aeolis habuit olim <span class = "greek" lang = "el">ϝ</span> +<i>digamma</i>, id est <i>vau</i>, ab ipsius voce profectum teste +Varrone et Didymo, qui id ei nomen esse ostendunt. Pro quo Caesar hanc +<ins class = "correction greek" lang = "el" title = "upside-down digamma">[ϝ]</ins> +figuram scribi voluit, quod quamvis illi recte visum +est tamen consuetudo antiqua superavit. Adeo autem hoc verum est quod +pro Aeolico <i>digamma</i> <span class = "greek" lang = "el">ϝ</span> +<b>u</b> ponitur. +</blockquote> + +<p>What then was the sound of this Aeolic <i>digamma</i> or <span class += "greek" lang = "el" title = "bau">βαυ</span>?</p> + +<p>Priscian says:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. II. p. 11.</small>] <span class = "greek" +lang = "el">ϝ</span> Aeolicum <i>digamma</i>, quod apud antiquissimos +Latinorum eandem vim quam apud Aeolis habuit. Eum autem prope sonum quem +nunc habet significabat <b>p</b> cum aspiratione, sicut etiam apud +veteres Graecos pro <span class = "greek" lang = "el" title = +"Greek letters phi, pi">φ π</span> et <span class = "greek" lang = "el" title = +"archaic Greek letter Heta">Ͱ</span>; unde nunc quoque in Graecis +nominibus antiquam scripturam servamus, pro <span class = "greek" lang = +"el" title = "Greek letter phi">φ</span> <b>p</b> et <b>h</b> ponentes, +ut <i>Orpheus</i>, <i>Phaethon</i>. Postea vero in Latinis verbis +placuit pro p et h, f scribi, ut fama, filius, facio, loco +autem <i>digamma</i> <b>u</b> pro consonante, quod cognatione soni +videbatur affinis esse <i>digamma</i> ea littera. +</blockquote> + +<p>The Latin <b>u</b> consonant is here distinctly stated to be akin to +the Greek <i>digamma</i> (<span class = "greek" lang = "el" title = +"Greek letter digamma">ϝ</span>) in sound.</p> + +<p>Now the office of the Greek <i>digamma</i> was apparently manifold. +It stood for <span class = "greek" lang = "el" +title = "Greek letters sigma, beta">ς, β</span> +(Eng. <b>v</b>), <span class = "greek" lang = +"el" title = "Greek letters gamma, chi, phi">γ, χ, φ</span>, and for the +breathings ‘rough’ and ‘smooth.’ Sometimes the sound of the +<i>digamma</i> is given, we are told, where the character itself +<span class = "pagenum">31</span> +is not written. It is said that in the neighborhood of Olympia it is +to-day pronounced, though not written, between two vowels as <span class += "greek" lang = "el" title = "Greek letter beta">β</span> (Eng. +<b>v</b>). Which of these various sounds should be given the digamma +appears to have been determined by the law of euphony. It was sometimes +written but not sounded (like our <b>h</b>).</p> + +<p>The question then is, which of these various sounds of the digamma is +represented by the Latin <b>u</b> consonant, or does it represent all, +or none, of these.</p> + +<p>Speaking of <b>f</b>, Priscian says:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. II. p. 35.</small>] Antiqui Romanorum Aeolis +sequentes loco aspirationis eam (<b>f</b>) ponebant, effugientes ipsi +quoque aspirationem, et maxime cum consonante recusabant eam proferre in +Latino sermone. Habebat autem haec <b>f</b> littera hunc sonum quem nunc +habet <b>u</b> loco consonantis posita, unde antiqui <b>af</b> pro +<b>ab</b> scribere solebant; sed quia non potest <i>vau</i>, id est +<i>digamma</i>, in fine syllabae inveniri, ideo mutata in <b>b</b>. +<i>Sifilum</i> quoque pro <i>sibilum</i> teste Nonio Marcello <i>de +Doctorum Indagine</i> dicebant. +</blockquote> + +<p>And again:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Prisc. Keil. v. II. p. 15.</small>] In <b>b</b> etiam +solet apud Aeolis transire <span class = "greek" lang = "el" title = +"Greek letter digamma">ϝ</span> <i>digamma</i> quotiens ab <span class = +"greek" lang = "el" title = "Greek letter rho">ρ</span> incipit dictio +quae solet aspirari, ut <span class = "greek" lang = "el" title = +"rhêtôr, brêtôr">ῥήτωρ, βρήτωρ</span> dicunt, quod <i>digamma</i> nisi +vocali praeponi et in principio syllabae non potest. Ideo autem locum +transmutavit, quia <b>b</b> vel <i>digamma</i> post <span class = +"greek" lang = "el" title = "Greek letter rho">ρ</span> in eadem syllaba +pronuntiari non potest. Apud nos quoque est invenire quod pro <b>u</b> +consonante <b>b</b> ponitur, ut <i>caelebs</i>, caelestium vitam ducens, +per <b>b</b> scribitur, quod <b>u</b> consonans ante consonantem poni +non potest. Sed etiam <i>Bruges</i> et <i>Belena</i> antiquissimi +dicebant, teste Quintiliano, qui hoc ostendit in primo <i>institutionum +oratoriarum</i>: nec mirum, cum <b>b</b> quoque in <b>u</b> euphoniae +causa converti invenimus; ut <i>aufero</i>. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Quint. I. v. 69.</small>] Frequenter autem praepositiones quoque +copulatio ista corrumpit; inde <i>abstulit</i>, <i>aufugit</i>, +<i>amisit</i>, cum praepositio sit <b>ab</b> sola. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<span class = "pagenum">32</span> +It is significant here that Cicero speaks of the change from <b>du</b> +to <b>b</b> as a contraction. He says:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Cic. Or. LXV.</small>] Quid vero licentius quam quod hominum +etiam nomina contrahebant, quo essent aptiora? Nam ut <i>duellum</i>, +<i>bellum</i>; et <i>duis</i>, <i>bis</i>; sic <i>Duellium</i> eum qui +Poenos classe devicit <i>Bellium</i> nominaverunt, cum superiores +appellati essent semper <i>Duellii</i>. +</blockquote> + +<p>One cannot but feel in reading the numerous passages in the +grammarians that treat of the sound of <b>u</b> consonant, that if its +sound had been no other than the natural sound of <b>u</b> with +consonantal force, they never would have spent so much time and labor in +explaining and elucidating it. Why did they not turn it off with the +simple explanation which they give to the consonantal +<b>i</b>—that of double <b>i</b>? What more natural than to speak +of consonant <b>u</b> as “double <b>u</b>” (as we English do +<b>w</b>). But on the contrary they expressly declare it to have a sound +distinct and peculiar. Quintilian says that even if the form of the +Aeolic <i>digamma</i> is rejected by the Romans, yet its force pursues +them:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Quint. XII. x. 29.</small>] Aeolicae quoque litterae qua +<i>servum cervum</i>que dicimus, etiamsi forma a nobis repudiata est, +vis tamen nos ipsa persequitur. +</blockquote> + +<p>He gives it as his opinion that it would have been well to have +adopted the <i>vau</i>, and says that neither by the old way of writing +(by <b>uo</b>), nor by the modern way (by <b>uu</b>), is at +all produced the sound which we perceive:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Quint. I. vii. 26.</small>] Nunc <b>u</b> gemina scribuntur +(<i>servus</i> et <i>cervus</i>) ea ratione quam reddidi: neutro sane +modo vox quam sentimus efficitur. Nec inutiliter Claudius Aeolicam illam +ad hos usus litteram adjecerat. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<span class = "pagenum">33</span> +And again still more distinctly:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Id. ib. iv. 7, 8.</small>] At grammatici saltem omnes in hanc +descendent rerum tenuitatem, desintne aliquae nobis necessariae +literarum, non cum Graeca scribimus (tum enim ab iisdem duas mutuamur) +sed propriae, in Latinis, ut in his <i>seruus</i> et <i>uulgus</i> +Aeolicum digammon desideratur. +</blockquote> + +<p>This need of a new symbol, recognized by authorities like Cicero and +Quintilian, is not an insignificant point in the argument.</p> + +<p>Marius Victorinus says that Cicero adds <b>u</b> (consonant) to the +other five consonants that are understood to assimilate certain other +consonants coming before them:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Mar. Vict. I. iv. 64.</small>] Sed propriae sunt cognatae +(consonantes) quae simili figuratione oris dicuntur, ut est <b>b</b>, +<b>f</b>, <b>r</b>, <b>m</b>, <b>p</b>, quibus Cicero adjicit <b>u</b>, +non eam quae accipitur pro vocali, sed eam quae consonantis obtinet +vicem, et interposita vocali fit ut aliae quoque consonantes. +</blockquote> + +<p>He proceeds to illustrate with the proposition <b>ob</b>:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Id. ib. 67.</small>] <b>Ob</b> autem mutatur in cognatas easdem, +ut <i>offert</i>, <i>officit</i>; et <i>ommovet</i>, <i>ommutescit</i>; +et <i>oppandit</i>, <i>opperitur</i>; <i>ovvertit</i>, <i>ovvius</i>. +</blockquote> + +<p>Let any one, keeping in mind the distinctness with which the Romans +uttered doubled consonants, attempt to pronounce <i>ovvius</i> on the +theory of consonant <b>u</b> like English (<b>w</b>) (!).</p> + +<p>By the advocates of the <b>w</b> sound of the <b>v</b> much stress is +laid upon the fact that the poets occasionally change the consonant into +the vowel <b>u</b>, and <i>vice versa</i>; as Horace, Epode +VIII. 2:</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>“Nivesque deducunt Jovem, nunc mare nunc siluæ̈;”</p> +</div> + +<p> +<span class = "pagenum">34</span> +Or Lucretius, in II. 232:</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>“Propterea quia corpus aquae naturaque tenvis.”</p> +</div> + +<p>Such single instances suggest, indeed, a common origin in the +<b>u</b> and <b>v</b>, and a poet’s license, archaistic perhaps; but no +more determine the ordinary value of the letter than, say, in the +English poets the rhyming of wĭnd with mīnd, or the making a distinct +syllable of the <i>ed</i> in participle endings.</p> + +<p>Another argument used in support of the <b>w</b> sound is taken from +the words of Nigidius Figulus.</p> + +<p>He was contending, we are told, that words and names come into being +not by chance, or arbitrarily, but by nature; and he takes, among other +examples, the words <i>vos</i> and <i>nos</i>, <i>tu</i> and <i>ego</i>, +<i>tibi</i> and <i>mihi</i>:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Aul. Gell. X. iv. 4.</small>] <i>Vos</i>, inquit, cum dicimus +motu quodam oris conveniente cum ipsius verbi demonstratione utimur, et +labias sensim primores emovemus, ac spiritum atque animam porro versum +et ad eos quibuscum sermonicamur intendimus. At contra cum dicimus +<i>nos</i> neque profuso intentoque flatu vocis, neque projectis labiis +pronunciamus; sed et spiritum et labias quasi intra nosmetipsos +coercemus. Hoc idem fit et in eo quod dicimus <i>tu</i> et <i>ego</i>; +et <i>tibi</i> et <i>mihi</i>. Nam sicuti cum adnuimus et abnuimus, +motus quidem ille vel capitis vel oculorum a natura rei quam +significabat non abhorret; ita in his vocibus, quasi gestus quidam oris +et spiritus naturalis est. +</blockquote> + +<p>But a little careful examination will show that this passage favors +the other side rather.</p> + +<p>The first part of the description: “labias sensim primores emovemus,” +will apply to either sound, <i>vos</i> or <i>wos</i>, although better, +as will appear upon consulting the mirror, to <i>vos</i> than to +<i>wos</i>; but the second: “ac spiritum atque animam porro versum et ad +eos quibuscum sermonicamur intendimus,” +<span class = "pagenum">35</span> +will certainly apply far better to <i>vos</i> than to <i>wos</i>. In +<i>wos</i> we get the “projectis labiis” to some extent, although not so +marked as in <i>vos</i>; but we do not get anything like the same +“profuso intentoque flatu vocis” as in <i>vos</i>.</p> + +<p>The same may be said of the argument drawn from the anecdote related +by Cicero in his <i>de Divinatione</i>:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Cic. de Div. XL. 84.</small>] Cum M. Crassus exercitum Brundisii +imponeret, quidam in portu caricas Cauno advectas vendens “Cauneas!” +clamitabat. Dicamus, si placet, monitum ab eo Crassum <i>caveret ne +iret</i>, non fuisse periturum si omini paruisset. +</blockquote> + +<p>Now when we remember that Caunos, whence these particular figs came, +was a Greek town; that the fig-seller was very likely a Greek himself +(Brundisium being a Greek port so to speak), but at any rate probably +pronounced the name as it was doubtless always heard; and that <b>u</b> +in such a connection is at present pronounced like our <b>f</b> or +<b>v</b>, and we know of no time when it was pronounced like our +<b>u</b>, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the fig-seller +was crying “Cafneas!”—a sound far more suggestive of +<i>Cave-ne-eas!</i> than “<i>Cauneas!</i>” of <i>Cawe ne eas!</i></p> + +<p>But beyond the testimony, direct and indirect, of grammarians and +classic writers, an argument against the <b>w</b> sound appears in the +fact that this sound is not found in Greek (from which the <i>vau</i> is +borrowed), nor in Italian or kindred Romance languages.</p> + +<p>The initial <b>u</b> in Italian represents not Latin <b>u</b> +consonant, but some other letter, as <b>h</b>, in <i>uomo</i> (for +<i>homo</i>). On the other hand we find the <b>v</b> sound, as +<i>vedova</i> (from <i>vidua</i>),—notice the two <b>v</b> +sounds,—or the <b>u</b> sometimes changed to <b>b</b>, as +<i>serbare</i> from <i>servare</i>; <i>bibita</i> and <i>bevanda</i>, +both from <i>bibo</i>.</p> + +<p>In French we find the Latin <b>u</b> consonant passing into <b>f</b>, +as <i>ovum</i> into <i>œuf</i>; <i>novem</i> into <i>neuf</i>.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">36</span> +<p>It seems not improbable that in Cicero’s time and later the consonant +<b>u</b> represented some variation of sound, that its value varied in +the direction of <b>b</b> or <b>f</b>, and possibly, in some Greek words +especially, it was more vocalized, as in <i>vae!</i> (Greek <span class += "greek" lang = "el" title = "ouai">ουάι</span>). Yet here it is worthy +of note that the corresponding words in Italian are not written with +<b>u</b> but with <i>gu</i>, as <i>guai!</i></p> + +<p>In considering the sound of Latin <i>u</i> consonant we must always +keep in mind that the question is one of time,—not, was <i>u</i> +ever pronounced as English <i>w</i>; but, was it so pronounced in the +time of Cicero and Virgil. Professor Ellis well says: “Any one who +wishes to arrive at a conclusion respecting the Latin consonantal u must +learn to pronounce and distinguish readily the four series of sounds: +<b>ŭa ŭe ŭi ŭo</b>, <b>wa we wi wo wu</b>, <b>v’a v’e v’i v’o v’u</b>, +<b>va ve vi vo vu</b>.”</p> + +<p>Now the question is: At what point along this line do we find the +<b>u</b> consonant of the golden age? Roby, though not agreeing with +Ellis in rejecting the English <b>w</b> sound, as the representative of +that period, declares himself “quite content to think that a labial +<b>v</b> was provincially contemporary and in the end generally +superseded it.”</p> + +<p>But ‘provincialisms’ do not seem sufficient to account for the use of +<span class = "greek" lang = "el" title = "Greek letter beta">β</span> +for <b>u</b> consonant in inscriptions and in writers of the first +century. For instance, <i>Nerva</i> and <i>Severus</i> in contemporary +inscriptions are written both with <span class = "greek" lang = "el" +title = "ou">ου</span> and with <span class = "greek" lang = "el" title += "Greek letter beta">β</span>: <span class = "greek" lang = "el" title += "Neroua, Nerba">Νέρουα, Νέρβα</span>; <span class = "greek" lang = +"el" title = "Seouêros, Sebêros">Σεουῆρος, Σεβῆρος</span>. And in +Plutarch we find numerous instances of <span class = "greek" lang = "el" +title = "Greek letter beta">β</span> taking the place of <span class = +"greek" lang = "el" title = "ou">ου</span>.</p> + +<p>It is true that the instances in which we find <span class = "greek" +lang = "el" title = "Greek letter beta">β</span> taking the place of +<span class = "greek" lang = "el" title = "ou">ου</span> in the first +century, and earlier, are decidedly in the minority, but when we +recollect that <span class = "greek" lang = "el" title = "ou">ου</span> +was the original and natural representative of the Latin <b>u</b>, the +fact that a +<span class = "pagenum">37</span> +change was made at all is of great weight, and one instance of <span +class = "greek" lang = "el" title = "Greek letter beta">β</span> for +<b>u</b> would outweigh a dozen instances of the old +form, <b>ou</b>. That the letter should be changed in the Greek, +even when it had not been in the Latin, seems to make it certain that +the ‘Greek ear,’ at least, had detected a real variation of sound from +the original <b>u</b>, and one that approached, at least, their <span +class = "greek" lang = "el" title = "Greek letter beta">β</span> (Eng. +<b>v</b>).</p> + +<p>Nor, in this connection, should we fail to notice the words in Latin +where <b>u</b> consonant is represented by <b>b</b>, such as +<i>bubile</i> from <i>bovile</i>, <i>defervi</i> and <i>deferbui</i> +from <i>deferveo</i>.</p> + +<p>In concluding the argument for the labial <b>v</b> sound of +consonantal <b>u</b>, it may be proper to suggest a fact which should +have no weight against a conclusive argument on the other side, but +which might, perhaps, be allowed to turn the scale nicely balanced. The +<b>w</b> sound is not only unfamiliar but nearly, if not quite, +impossible, to the lips of any European people except the English, and +would therefore of necessity have to be left out of any universally +adopted scheme of Latin pronunciation. Professor Ellis pertinently says: +“As a matter of practical convenience English speakers should abstain +from <b>w</b> in Latin, because no Continental nation can adopt a sound +they cannot pronounce.”</p> + +<p><b>X</b> has the same sound as in English.</p> + +<p>Marius Victorinus says:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. t. VI. p. 32.</small>] Dehinc duae supremae <b>s</b> +et <b>x</b> jure jungentur, nam vicino inter se sonore attracto sibilant +rictu, ita tamen si prioris ictus pone dentes excitatus ad medium lenis +agitetur; sequentis autem crasso spiritu hispidum sonet qui per +conjunctionem <b>c</b> et <b>s</b>, quarum et locum implet et vim +exprimit, ut sensu aurium ducamur efficitur. +</blockquote> + +<p>Again:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Id. ib. p. 5.</small>] <b>X</b> autem per <b>c</b> et +<b>s</b> possemus scribere. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<span class = "pagenum">38</span> +And:</p> + +<blockquote> +Posteaquam a Graecis <span class = "greek" lang = "el" title = +"Greek letter xi">ξ</span>, et a nobis <b>x</b>, recepta est, abiit et illorum +et nostra perplexa ratio, et in primis observatio Nigidii, qui in libris +suis <b>x</b> littera non est usus, antiquitatem sequens. +</blockquote> + +<p><b>X</b> suffers a long vowel before it, being composed of the +<b>c</b> (the only mute that allows a long vowel before it) and +the <b>s</b>.</p> + +<p><b>Z</b> probably had a sound akin to <b>ds</b> in English. After +giving the sound of <b>x</b> as <b>cs</b>, Marius Victorinus goes on to +speak of <b>z</b> thus:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. VI. p. 5.</small>] Sic et <b>z</b>, si modo +latino sermoni necessaria esset, per <b>d</b> et <b>s</b> litteras +faceremus. +</blockquote> + + +<h4 class = "smallcaps"><a name = "why_quantity" id = "why_quantity"> +Quantity.</a></h4> + +<p>A syllable in Latin may consist of from one to six letters, as +<i>a</i>, <i>ab</i>, <i>ars</i>, <i>Mars</i>, <i>stans</i>, +<i>stirps</i>.</p> + +<p>In dividing into syllables, a consonant between two vowels belongs to +the vowel following it. When there are two consonants, the first goes +with the vowel before, the second with the vowel after, unless the +consonants form such a combination as may stand at the beginning of a +word (Latin or Greek), that is, as may be uttered with a single impulse, +as one letter; in which case they go, as one, with the vowel following. +An apparent exception is made in the case of compound words. These are +divided into their component parts when these parts remain intact.</p> + +<p>On these points Priscian says:</p> + +<blockquote> +Si antecedens syllaba terminat in consonantem necesse est et sequentem a +consonante incipere; ut <i>artus</i>, <i>ille</i>, <i>arduus</i>; nisi +fit compositum: ut <i>abeo</i>, <i>adeo</i>, <i>pereo</i>. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +Nam in simplicibus dictionibus necesse est <b>s</b> et <b>c</b> ejusdem +esse syllabae, ut <i>pascua</i>, <i>luscus</i>. +</blockquote> + +<span class = "pagenum">39</span> +<blockquote> +<p><b>M</b> quoque, vel <b>p</b>, vel <b>t</b>, in simplicibus +dictionibus, si antecedat <b>s</b>, ejusdem est syllabae, ut +<i>cosmos</i>, <i>perspirare</i>, <i>testis</i>.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +In semivocalibus similiter sunt praepositivae aliis semivocalibus in +eadem syllaba; ut <b>m</b> sequente <b>n</b>, ut <i>Mnesteus</i>, +<i>amnis</i>. +</blockquote> + +<p>Each letter has its ‘time,’ or ‘times.’ Thus a short vowel has the +time of one beat (<i>mora</i>); a long vowel, of two beats; +a single consonant, of a half beat; a double consonant, of one +beat. Theoretically, therefore, a syllable may have as many as +three, or even four, <i>tempora</i>; but practically only two are +recognized. All over two are disregarded and each syllable is simply +counted ‘short’ (one beat) or ‘long’ (two beats).</p> + +<p>Priscian says:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. II. p. 52.</small>] In longis natura vel +positione duo sunt tempora, ut <i>do</i>, <i>ars</i>; duo semis, quando +post vocalem natura longam una sequitur consonans, ut <i>sol</i>; tria, +quando post vocalem natura longam duae consonantes sequuntur, vel una +duplex, ut <i>mons</i>, <i>rex</i>. Tamen in metro necesse est +unamquamque syllabam vel unius vel duorum accipi temporum. +</blockquote> + + +<h4 class = "smallcaps"><a name = "why_accent" id = "why_accent"> +Accent.</a></h4> + +<p>The grammarians tell us that every syllable has three dimensions, +length, breadth and height, or <i>tenor</i>, <i>spiritus</i>, +<i>tempus</i>:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. Supp. p. XVIII.</small>] Habet etiam unaquaeque +syllaba altitudinem, latitudinem et longitudinem; altitudinem in tenore; +crassitudinem vel latitudinem, in spiritu; longitudinem in tempore. +</blockquote> + +<p>Diomedes says:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. I. p. 430.</small>] Accentus est dictus ab +accinendo, quod sit quasi quidam cujusque syllabae cantus. +</blockquote> + +<p>And Cicero:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Cic. Or. XVIII.</small>] Ipsa enim natura, quasi modularetur +hominem orationem, in omni verbo posuit acutam vocem, nec una plus, nec +a postrema syllaba citra tertiam. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<span class = "pagenum">40</span> +The grammarians recognize three accents; but practically we need take +account of but two, inasmuch as the third is merely negative. The +syllable having the grave accent is, as we should say, unaccented.</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Diom. Keil. v. I. p. 430.</small>] Sunt vero tres, +acutus, gravis, et qui ex duobus constat circumflexus. Ex his, acutus in +correptis semper, interdum productis syllabis versatur; inflexus +(or ‘circumflexus’), in his quae producuntur; gravis autem per se +nunquam consistere in ullo verbo potest, sed in his in quibus inflexus +est, aut acutus ceteras syllabas obtinet. +</blockquote> + +<p>The same writer thus gives the place of each accent:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. I. p. 431.</small>] (Acutus) apud Latinos duo +tantum loca tenent, paenultimum et antepaenultimum; circumflexus autem, +quotlibet syllabarum sit dictio, non tenebit nisi paenultimum locum. +Omnis igitur pars orationis hanc rationem pronuntiationis detinet. Omnis +vox monosyllaba aliquid significans, si brevis est, acuetur, ut +<i>ab</i>, <i>mel</i>, <i>fel</i>; et, si positione longa fuerit, acutum +similiter tenorem habebit, ut <i>ars</i>, <i>pars</i>, <i>pix</i>, +<i>nix</i>, <i>fax</i>. Sin autem longa natura fuerit, flectetur, ut +<i>lux</i>, <i>spes</i>, <i>flos</i>, <i>sol</i>, <i>mons</i>, +<i>fons</i>, <i>lis</i>. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +Omnis vox dissyllaba priorem syllabam aut acuit aut flectit. Acuit, vel +cum brevis est utraque, ut <i>deus</i>, <i>citus</i>, <i>datur</i>, +<i>arat</i>; vel cum positione longa est utraque, ut <i>sollers</i>; vel +alterutra positione longa dum ne natura longa sit, prior, ut +<i>pontus</i>; posterior, ut <i>cohors</i>. Si vero prior syllaba natura +longa et sequens brevis fuerit, flectitur prior, ut <i>luna</i>, +<i>Roma</i>. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +In trisyllabis autem et tetrasyllabis et deinceps, secunda ab ultima +semper observanda est. Haec, si natura longa fuerit, inflectitur, ut +<i>Romanus</i>, <i>Cethegus</i>, <i>marinus</i>, <i>Crispinus</i>, +<i>amicus</i>, <i>Sabinus</i>, <i>Quirinus</i>, <i>lectica</i>. Si vero +eadem paenultima positione longa fuerit, acuetur, ut <i>Metellus</i>, +<i>Catullus</i>, <i>Marcellus</i>; ita tamen si positione longa non ex +muta et liquida fuerit. Nam mutabit accentum, ut <i>latebrae</i>, +<i>tenebrae</i>. Et si novissima natura longa itemque paenultima, sive +natura sive positione longa fuerit, paenultima tantum acuetur, non +inflectetur; sic, natura, ut <i>Fidenae</i>, +<span class = "pagenum">41</span> +<i>Athenae</i>, <i>Thebae</i>, <i>Cymae</i>; positione, ut +<i>tabellae</i>, <i>fenestrae</i>. Sin autem media et novissima breves +fuerint, prima servabit acutum tenorem, ut <i>Sergius</i>, +<i>Mallius</i>, <i>ascia</i>, <i>fuscina</i>, <i>Julius</i>, +<i>Claudius</i>. Si omnes tres syllabae longae fuerint, media acuetur, +ut <i>Romani</i>, <i>legati</i>, <i>praetores</i>, <i>praedones</i>. +</blockquote> + +<p>Priscian thus defines the accents:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. III. p. 519.</small>] Acutus namque accentus +ideo inventus est quod acuat sive elevet syllabam; gravis vero eo quod +deprimat aut deponat; circumflexus ideo quod deprimat et acuat. +</blockquote> + +<p>Then after giving the place of the accent he notes some disturbing +influences, which cause exceptions to the general rule:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. III. pp. 519-521.</small>] Tres quidem res +accentuum regulas conturbant; distinguendi ratio; pronuntiandi +ambiguitas; atque necessitas. . . . +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +Ratio namque distinguendi legem accentuum saepe conturbat. Siquis +pronuntians dicat <i>poné</i> et <i>ergó</i>, quod apud Latinos in +ultima syllaba nisi discretionis causa accentus poni non potest: ex hoc +est quod diximus <i>poné</i> et <i>ergó</i>. Ideo <i>poné</i> dicimus ne +putetur verbum esse imperativi modi, hoc est <i>pōne</i>; <i>ergó</i> +ideo dicimus ne putetur conjunctio rationalis, quod est <i>érgo</i>. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +Ambiguitas vero pronuntiandi legem accentuum saepe conturbat. Siquis +dicat <i>interealoci</i>, qui nescit, alteram partem dicat +<i>interea</i>, alteram <i>loci</i>, quod non separatim sed sub uno +accentu pronuntiandum est, ne ambiguitatem in sermone faciat. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +Necessitas pronuntiationis regulam, corrumpit, ut puta siquis dicat in +primis <i>doctus</i>, addat <i>que</i> conjunctionem, dicatque +<i>doctusque</i>, ecce in pronuntiatione accentum mutavit, cum non in +secunda syllaba, sed in prima, accentum habere debuit. +</blockquote> + +<p>He also states the law that determines the kind of accent to be +used:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Id. ib. p. 521.</small>] Syllaba quae correptam vocalem +habet acuto accentu pronuntiatur, ut <i>páx</i>, <i>fáx</i>, <i>píx</i>, +<i>níx</i>, <i>dúx</i>, <i>núx</i>, quae etiam tali accentu pronuntianda +est, quamvis sit longa positione, quia +<span class = "pagenum">42</span> +naturaliter brevis est. Quae vero naturaliter producta est circumflexo +accentu exprimenda est ut, <i>rês</i>, <i>dôs</i>, <i>spês</i>. +Dissyllabae vero quae priorem productam habent et posteriorem correptam, +priorem syllabam circumflectunt, ut <i>mêta</i>, <i>Crêta</i>. Illae +vero quae sunt ambae longae vel prior brevis et ulterior longa acuto +accento pronuntiandae sunt, ut <i>népos</i>, <i>léges</i>, <i>réges</i>. +Hae vero quae sunt ambae breves similiter acuto accentu proferuntur, ut +<i>bonus</i>, <i>melos</i>. Sed notandum quod si prior sit longa +positione non circumflexo, sed acuto, accentu pronuntianda est, ut +<i>arma</i>, <i>arcus</i>, quae, quamvis sit longa positione, tamen +exprimenda est tali accentu quia non est naturalis. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +Trisyllabae namque et tetrasyllabae sive deinceps, si paenultimam +correptam habuerint, antepaenultimam acuto accentu proferunt, ut +<i>Túllius</i>, <i>Hostílius</i>. Nam paenultima, si positione longa +fuerit, acuetur, antepaenultima vero gravabitur, ut <i>Catúllus</i>, +<i>Metéllus</i>. Si vero ex muta et liquida longa in versu esse constat, +in oratione quoque accentum mutat, ut <i>latébrae</i>, <i>tenébrae</i>. +Syllaba vero ultima, si brevis sit et paenultimam naturaliter longam +habuerit ipsam paenultimam circumflectit, ut <i>Cethêgus</i>, +<i>perôsus</i>. Ultima quoque, si naturaliter longa fuerit, paenultimam +acuet, ut <i>Athénae</i>, <i>Mycénae</i>. Ad hanc autem rem arsis et +thesis necessariae. Nam in unaquaque parte oratione arsis et thesis +sunt, non in ordine syllabarum, sed in pronuntiatione: velut in hac +parte <i>natura</i>, ut quando dico <i>natu</i> elevatur vox, et est +arsis intus; quando vero sequitur <i>ra</i> vox deponitur, et est thesis +deforis. Quantum autem suspenditur vox per arsin tantum deprimitur per +thesin. Sed ipsa vox quae per dictiones formatur donec accentus +perficiatur in arsin deputatur, quae autem post accentum sequitur in +thesin. +</blockquote> + +<p>In the matter of exceptions to the rule that accent does not fall on +the ultimate, we find a somewhat wide divergence of opinion among the +grammarians. Some of them give numerous exceptions, particularly in the +distinguishing of parts of speech, as, for instance, between the same +word used as adverb or preposition, as <i>ánte</i> and <i>anté</i>; or +between +<span class = "pagenum">43</span> +the same form as occurring in nouns and verbs, as <i>réges</i> and +<i>regés</i>; and in final syllables contracted or curtailed, as +<i>finīt</i> (for <i>finivit</i>).</p> + +<p>But since on this point the grammarians do not agree among +themselves, either as to number or class of exceptions, or even as to +the manner of making them, we may treat this matter as of no great +importance (as in English, we please ourselves in saying +<i>pérfect</i> or <i>perféct</i>). And here it may be said that due +attention to the quantity will of itself often regulate the accent in +doubtful cases; as when we say <i>doce</i>, if we duly shorten the +<b>o</b> and lengthen the <b>e</b> the effect will be correct, whether +the ear of the grammarian detect accent on the final syllable, or not. +For as Quintilian well says:</p> + +<blockquote> +Nam ut color oculorum indicio, sapor palati, odor narium dinoscitur, ita +sonus aurium arbitrio subjectus est. +</blockquote> + + +<h4 class = "smallcaps"><a name = "why_pitch" id = "why_pitch"> +Pitch.</a></h4> + +<p>But besides the length of the syllable, and the place and quality of +the accent, another matter claims attention.</p> + +<p>In English all that is required is to know the place of the accent, +which is simply distinguished by greater stress of voice. This +peculiarity of our language makes it more difficult for us than for +other peoples to get the Latin accent, which is one of pitch.</p> + +<p>In Latin the acute accent means that on the syllable thus accented +you raise the pitch; the grave indicates merely the lower tone; the +circumflex, that the voice is first raised, then depressed, on the same +syllable. To quote again the passage from Priscian:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Keil. v. III. p. 519.</small>] Acutus namque accentus +ideo inventus est quod acuat sive elevet syllabam; gravis vero eo quod +deprimat aut deponet; circumflexus ideo quod deprimat et acuat. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<span class = "pagenum">44</span> +In conclusion of this part of the work the following anecdotes from +Aulus Gellius are given, as serving to show that to the rules of classic +Roman pronunciation there were exceptions, apparently more or less +arbitrary, some—perhaps many—of which we may not now hope to +discover; and as serving still more usefully to show, by the stress laid +upon points of comparative insignificance, that exceptions were rare, +such as even scholars could afford to disagree upon, and not such as to +affect the general tenor of the language. So that we are encouraged to +believe that, as the English language may be well and even elegantly +spoken by those whose speech still includes scores, if not hundreds, of +variations in pronunciation, in sounds of letters or in accent, so we +may hope to pronounce the Latin with some good degree of satisfaction, +whether, for instance, we say <i>quiêsco</i> or <i>quiésco</i>, +<i>ăctito</i> or <i>āctito</i>:</p> + +<blockquote> +[<small>Aul. Gell. VI. xv.</small>] Amicus noster, homo multi studii +atque in bonarum disciplinarum opere frequens, verbum <i>quiescit</i> +usitate <b>e</b> littera correpta dixit. Alter item amicus homo in +doctrinis, quasi in praestigiis, mirificus, communiumque vocum respuens +nimis et fastidiens, barbare eum dixisse opinatus est; quoniam producere +debuisset, non corripere. Nam <i>quiescit</i> ita oportere dici +praedicavit, ut <i>calescit</i>, <i>nitescit</i>, <i>stupescit</i>, +atque alia hujuscemodi multa. Id etiam addebat, quod <i>quies</i> +<b>e</b> producto, non brevi, diceretur. Noster autem, qua est omnium +rerum verecunda mediocritate, ne si Aelii quidem Cincii et Santrae +dicendum ita censuissent obsecuturum sese fuisse ait, contra perpetuam +Latinae linguae consuetudinem. Neque se tam insignite locuturum, absona +aut inaudita ut diceret. Litteras autem super hac re fecit, item inter +haec exercitia quaedam ludicra; et <i>quiesco</i> non esse his simile +quae supra posui, nec a <i>quiete</i> dictum, sed ab eo <i>quietem</i>; +Graecaeque vocis <span class = "greek" lang = "el" +title = "eschon kai eskon">ἔσχον καὶ ἔσκον</span>, +Ionice a verbo <span class = "greek" lang += "el" title = "eschô ischô">ἔσχω ἴσχω</span>, et modum et originem +verbum illud habere demonstravit. Rationibusque haud sane frigidis +docuit <i>quiesco</i> <b>e</b> littera longa dici non convenire. +</blockquote> + +<span class = "pagenum">45</span> +<blockquote> +[<small>Aul. Gell. IX. vi.</small>] Ab eo, quod est <i>ago</i> et +<i>egi</i>, verba sunt quae appellant grammatici frequentativa, +<i>actito</i> et <i>actitavi</i>. Haec quosdam non sane indoctos viros +audio ita pronuntiare ut primam in his litteram corripiant; rationemque +dicant, quoniam in verbo principali, quod est <i>ago</i>, prima littera +breviter pronuntiatur. Cur igitur ab eo quod est <i>edo</i> et +<i>ungo</i>, in quibus verbis prima littera breviter dicitur, +<i>esito</i> et <i>unctito</i>, quae sunt eorum frequentativa prima +littera longa promimus? et contra, <i>dictito</i>, ab eo verbo quod est +<i>dico</i>, correpte dicimus? Num ergo potius <i>actito</i> et +<i>actitavi</i> producenda sunt? quoniam frequentativa ferme omnia eodem +modo in prima syllaba dicuntur, quo participia praeteriti temporis ex +iis verbis unde ea profecta sunt in eadem syllaba pronuntiantur; sicut +<i>lego</i>, <i>lectus</i>, <i>lectito</i> facit; <i>ungo</i>, +<i>unctus</i>, <i>unctito</i>; <i>scribo</i>, <i>scriptus</i>, +<i>scriptito</i>; <i>moneo</i>, <i>monitus</i>, <i>monito</i>; +<i>pendeo</i>, <i>pensus</i>, <i>pensito</i>; <i>edo</i>, <i>esus</i>, +<i>esito</i>; <i>dico</i>, autem, <i>dictus</i>, <i>dictito</i> facit; +<i>gero</i>, <i>gestus</i>, <i>gestito</i>; <i>veho</i>, <i>vectus</i>, +<i>vectito</i>; <i>rapio</i>, <i>raptus</i>, <i>raptito</i>; +<i>capio</i>, <i>captus</i>, <i>captito</i>; <i>facio</i>, +<i>factus</i>, <i>factito</i>. Sic igitur <i>actito</i> producte in +prima syllaba pronuntiandum, quoniam ex eo fit quod est <i>ago</i> et +<i>actus</i>. +</blockquote> + +</div> + + +<div class = "chapter"> + +<span class = "pagenum">46</span> + +<h3><a name = "partII" id = "partII">PART II.</a><br> +<b>HOW TO USE IT.</b></h3> + +<p><span class = "firstword">The</span> directions now to be given may +be fittingly introduced by a few paragraphs from Professor Munro’s +pamphlet on the pronunciation of Latin, already more than once quoted +from. He says—and part of this has been cited before:</p> + +<p>“We know exactly how Cicero or Quintilian did or could spell; we know +the syllable on which they placed the accent of almost every word; and +in almost every case we already follow them in this. I have the +conviction that in their best days philological people took vast pains +to make the writing exactly reproduce the sounding; and that if +Quintilian or Tacitus spelt a word differently from Cicero or Livy, he +also spoke it so far differently. With the same amount of evidence, +direct and indirect, we have for Latin, it would not, I think, be +worth anybody’s while to try to recover the pronunciation of French or +English; it might, I think, be worth his while to try to recover +that of German or Italian, in which sound and spelling accord more +nearly, and accent obeys more determinable laws.”</p> + +<p>“I am convinced,” he says in another place, “that the mainstay of an +efficient reform is the adoption essentially of the Italian vowel +system: it combines beauty, firmness and precision in a degree not +equalled by any other system of which I have any knowledge. The little +ragged boys in the streets of Rome and Florence enunciate their vowels +in a style of which princes might be proud.”</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">47</span> +<p>And again:</p> + +<p>“I do not propose that every one should learn Italian in order to +learn Latin. What I would suggest is, that those who know Italian should +make use of their knowledge and should in many points take Italian +sounds for the model to be followed; that those who do not know it +should try to learn from others the sounds required, or such an +approximation to them as may be possible in each case.”</p> + +<p>We may then sum up the results at which we have arrived in the +following directions:</p> + +<p>First of all pay particular attention to the vowel sounds, to make +them full and distinct, taking the Italian model, if you know Italian, +and always observing strictly the quantity.</p> + +<p>Pronounce</p> + +<div class = "list"> +<p><b>ā</b> as in Italian <i>fato</i>; or as final <b>a</b> in aha!</p> + +<p><b>ă</b> as in Italian <i>fatto</i>; or as initial <b>a</b> in aha! +or as in fast (not as in fat).</p> + +<p><b>ē</b> as second <b>e</b> in Italian <i>fedele</i>; or as in fête +(not fate); or as in vein.</p> + +<p><b>ĕ</b> as in Italian <i>fetta</i>; or as in very.</p> + +<p><b>ī</b> as first <b>i</b> in Italian <i>timide</i>; or as in +caprice.</p> + +<p><b>ĭ</b> as second <b>i</b> in Italian <i>timide</i>; or as in +capricious.</p> + +<p><b>ĭ</b> or <b>ŭ</b>, where the spelling varies between the two (e.g. +<i>maximus</i>, <i>maxumus</i>), as in German Müller.</p> + +<p><b>ō</b> as first <b>o</b> in Italian <i>orlo</i>; or as in more.</p> + +<p><b>ŏ</b> as first <b>o</b> in Italian <i>rotto</i>; or as in wholly +(not as in holly).</p> + +<p><b>ū</b> as in Italian <i>rumore</i>; or as in rural,</p> + +<p><b>ŭ</b> as in Italian <i>ruppe</i>; or as in puss (not as in +fuss).</p> +</div> + +<p>Let <b>i</b> in <b>vĭ</b> before <b>d</b>, <b>t</b>, <b>m</b>, +<b>r</b> or <b>x</b>, in the first syllable of a word, be pronounced +quite obscurely, somewhat as first <b>i</b> in virgin.</p> + +<p>In the matter of diphthongs, be sure to take always the correct +spelling, to begin with, and thus avoid what Munro +<span class = "pagenum">48</span> +justly terms “hateful barbarisms like <i>coelum</i>, <i>coena</i>, +<i>moestus</i>.” Much time is wasted by students and bad habits are +acquired in not finding, at the outset, the right spelling of each word +and holding to it. This each student must do for himself, consulting a +good dictionary, as editors and editions are not always to be depended +on. Here it is the diphthongs that present the chief difficulty and call +for the greatest care.</p> + +<p>In pronouncing diphthongs sound both vowels, but glide so rapidly +from the first to the second as to offer to the ear but a single sound. +In the publication of the Cambridge (Eng.) Philological Society on +“Pronunciation of Latin in the Augustan Period,” the following +directions are given:</p> + +<p>“The pronunciation of these diphthongs, of which the last three are +extremely rare, is best learnt by first sounding each vowel separately +and then running them together, <b>ae</b> as ah-eh, <b>au</b> as ah-oo, +<b>oe</b> as o-eh, <b>ei</b> as eh-ee, <b>eu</b> as eh-oo, and <b>ui</b> +as oo-ee.”</p> + +<p>Thus:</p> + +<table summary = "pronunciations"> +<tr> +<td class = "letter">ae</td> +<td> +<p>(ah-éh) as in German <i>näher</i>; or as <b>ea</b> in pear; or +<b>ay</b> in aye (ever); (not like <b>ā</b> in fate nor like <b>ai</b> +in aisle).</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">ai</td> +<td> +<p>(ah-ée) as in aye (yes).</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">au</td> +<td> +<p>(ah-óo) as in German <i>Haus</i>, with more of the <b>u</b> sound +than <b>ou</b> in house.</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">ei</td> +<td> +<p>(eh-ée) nearly as in veil. (In <i>dein</i>, <i>deinde</i>, the +<b>ei</b> is not a diphthong, but the <b>e</b>, when not forming a +distinct syllable, is elided.)</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">eu</td> +<td> +<p>(eh-óo) as in Italian <i>Europa</i>. (In <i>neuter</i> and +<i>neutiquam</i> elide the <b>e</b>.)</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">oe</td> +<td> +<p>(o-éh) nearly like German <b>ö</b> in <i>Goethe</i>.</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">oi</td> +<td> +<p>is not found in the classical period. (In <i>proin</i>, +<i>proinde</i>, the <b>o</b> is either elided or forms a distinct +syllable. <b>ou</b> in <i>prout</i> is not a diphthong; the <b>u</b> is +either elided or forms a distinct syllable.)</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">ui</td> +<td> +<p>(oo-ée) as in cuirass.</p> +</td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<span class = "pagenum">49</span> +<p>In the pronunciation of consonants certain points claim special +attention. And first among these is the sounding of the doubled +consonants. Whoever has heard Italian spoken recognizes one of its +greatest beauties to be the distinctness, yet smoothness, with which its +<b>ll</b> and <b>rr</b> and <b>cc</b>—in short, all its doubled +consonants—are pronounced. No feature of the language is more +charming. And one who attempts the same in Latin and perseveres, with +whatever difficulty and pains, will be amply rewarded in the music of +the language.</p> + +<p>A good working rule for pronouncing doubled consonants is to hold the +first until ready to pronounce the second: as in the words <i>we’ll lie +till late</i>, not to be pronounced as <i>we lie till eight</i>.</p> + +<p>Next in importance, and, in New England at least, first in +difficulty, is the trilling of the <b>r</b>. There can be no +approximation to a satisfactory pronunciation of Latin until this +<b>r</b> is acquired; but the satisfaction in the result when +accomplished is well worth all the pains taken.</p> + +<p>Another point to be observed is that the dentals <b>t</b>, <b>d</b>, +<b>n</b>, <b>l</b>, require that the tongue touch the teeth, rather than +the palate. Munro says: “<b>d</b> and <b>t</b> we treat with our usual +slovenliness, and force them up to the roof of our mouth: we should make +them real dentals, as no doubt the Romans made them, and then we shall +see how readily <i>ad at</i>, <i>apud aput</i>, <i>illud illut</i> and +the like interchange.” This requires care, but amply repays the +effort.</p> + +<p>It is necessary also to remember that <b>n</b> before a guttural is +pronounced as in the same position in English, e.g., in <i>ancora</i> as +in anchor; in <i>anxius</i> as in anxious; in <i>relinquo</i> as in +relinquish.</p> + +<p>Remember to make <b>n</b> before <b>f</b> or <b>s</b> a mere nasal, +having as little prominence otherwise as possible, and to carefully +lengthen the preceding vowel.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">50</span> +<p>Studiously observe the length of the vowel before the terminations +<i>gnus</i>, <i>gna</i>, <i>gnum</i>.</p> + +<p>Remember that the final syllable in <b>m</b>, when not elided, is to +be pronounced as lightly and rapidly as possible, the more lightly and +indistinctly the better.</p> + +<p>Remember that <b>s</b> must not be pronounced as <b>z</b>, except +where it represents <b>z</b> in Greek words, as Smyrna (Zmyrna), +Smaragdus (Zmaragdus), otherwise always pronounce as in sis.</p> + +<p>Remember in pronouncing <b>v</b> to direct the lower lip toward the +upper lip, avoiding the upper teeth.</p> + +<p>In general, in pronouncing the consonants conform to the following +scheme:</p> + +<table summary = "pronunciations"> +<tr> +<td class = "letter">b</td> +<td> +<p>as in blab.</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">b</td> +<td> +<p>before <b>s</b> or <b>t</b>, sharpened to <b>p</b>, as <i>urbs = +urps</i>; <i>obtinuit = optinuit</i>.</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">c</td> +<td> +<p>as sceptic (never as in sceptre).</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">ch</td> +<td> +<p>as in chemist (never as in cheer or chivalry).</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">d</td> +<td> +<p>as in did, but made more dental than in English.</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">d</td> +<td> +<p>final, before a word beginning with a consonant, in particles +especially, often sharpened to <b>t</b> as in tid-bit (tit-bit).</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">f</td> +<td> +<p>as in fief, but with more breath than in English.</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">g</td> +<td> +<p>as in gig (never as in gin).</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">gn</td> +<td> +<p>in terminations <i>gnus</i>, <i>gna</i>, <i>gnum</i>, makes preceding +vowel long.</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">h</td> +<td> +<p>as in hah!</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">i</td> +<td> +<p>(consonant) as in onion.</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">k</td> +<td> +<p>as in kink.</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">l</td> +<td> +<p>initial and final, as in lull.</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">l</td> +<td> +<p>medial, as in lullaby, always more dental than in English.</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">m</td> +<td> +<p>initial and medial, as in membrane.</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">m</td> +<td> +<p>before <b>q</b>, nasalized.</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">m</td> +<td> +<p>final, when not elided, touched lightly and obscurely, somewhat as in +tandem (tandm); or as in the Englishman’s pronunciation of Blenheim +(Blenhm), Birmingham (Birminghm).</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">n</td> +<td> +<span class = "pagenum">51</span> +<p>initial and final, as in nine.</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">n</td> +<td> +<p>medial, as in damnable, always more dental than in English.</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">n</td> +<td> +<p>before <b>c</b>, <b>g</b>, <b>q</b>, <b>x</b>, as in concord, anger, +sinker, relinquish, anxious, the tongue not touching the roof of the +mouth.</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">n</td> +<td> +<p>before <b>f</b> or <b>s</b>, nasal, lengthening the preceding vowel, +as in <i>renaissance</i>.</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">p</td> +<td> +<p>as in pup.</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">q</td> +<td> +<p>as in quick.</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">r</td> +<td> +<p>as in roar, but trilled, as in Italian or French. (This is most +important.)</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">s</td> +<td> +<p>as in sis (never as in his).</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">t</td> +<td> +<p>as in tot, but more dental than in English (never as in motion).</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">th</td> +<td> +<p>nearly as in then (never as in thin).</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">v</td> +<td> +<p>(<b>u</b> consonant) nearly as in verve, but labial, rather than +labio-dental; like the German <b>w</b> (not like the English <b>w</b>). +Make English <b>v</b> as nearly as may be done without <ins class = +"correction" title = "text reads ‘touch-’ at line-end">touching</ins> +the lower lip to the upper teeth.</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">x</td> +<td> +<p>as in six.</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class = "letter">z</td> +<td> +<p>nearly as <b>dz</b> in adze.</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td></td> +<td> +<p>Doubled consonants to be pronounced each distinctly, by holding the +first until ready to pronounce the second.</p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>As Professor Ellis well puts it: “No relaxation of the organs, no +puff of wind or grunt of voice should intervene between the two parts of +a doubled consonant, which should more resemble separated parts of one +articulation than two separate articulations.”</p> + +<p>“Duplication of consonants is consequently regarded simply as the +energetic utterance of a single consonant.”</p> + + +<h4 class = "smallcaps"><a name = "how_elision" id = "how_elision"> +Elision.</a></h4> + +<p>Professor Ellis believes that the <b>m</b> was always omitted in +speaking and the following consonant pronounced as if doubled (<i>quorum +pars</i> as <i>quoruppars</i>). Final <b>m</b> at the end +<span class = "pagenum">52</span> +of a sentence he thinks was not heard at all. Where a vowel followed he +thinks that the <b>m</b> was not heard, the vowel before being slurred +on to the initial vowel of the following word.</p> + +<p>The Cambridge (Eng.) Philological Society, however, takes the view +that “final vowels (or diphthongs) when followed by vowels +(or diphthongs) were not cut off, but lightly run on to the +following word, as in Italian. But if the vowel was the same the effect +was that of a single sound.”</p> + +<p>Professor Munro says:</p> + +<p>“In respect of elision I would only say that, by comparing Plautus +with Ovid, we may see how much the elaborate cultivation of the language +had tended to a more distinct sounding of final syllables; and that but +for Virgil’s powerful influence the elision of long vowels would have +almost ceased. Clearly we must not altogether pass over the elided vowel +or syllable in <b>m</b>, except perhaps in the case of <b>ĕ</b> in +common words, <i>que</i>, <i>neque</i>, and the like.”</p> + +<p>This view, held by the Cambridge Philological Society and by +Professor Munro, is the one generally accepted; the practice recommended +by them is the one generally in use, and that which seems safe and +suitable to follow. That is: Do not altogether pass over the elided +vowel or syllable in <b>m</b>, except in cases of very close connection, +in compound words or phrases, or when the final and initial vowel are +the same, or in the case of <b>ĕ</b> final in common words, as +<i>que</i>, <i>neque</i>, and the like; but let the final vowel run +lightly on to the following vowel as in Italian, and touch lightly and +obscurely the final syllable in <b>m</b>. The <b>o</b> or <b>e</b> +of <i>proin</i>, <i>proinde</i>, <i>prout</i>, <i>dein</i>, +<i>deinde</i>, <i>neuter</i>, <i>neutiquam</i>, when not forming a +distinct syllable, are to be treated as cases of elision between two +words.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">53</span> +<h4 class = "smallcaps"><a name = "how_quantity" id = "how_quantity"> +Quantity.</a></h4> + +<p>In the pronunciation of Latin the observance of quantity and of pitch +are the two most difficult points of attainment; and they are the +crucial test of good reading.</p> + +<p>The observance of quantity is no less important in prose than in +verse. A little reflection will convince the dullest mind that the +Romans did not pronounce a word one way in prose and another in verse; +that we have not in poetry and prose two languages. Cicero and +Quintilian both enjoin a due admixture of long and short syllables in +prose as well as verse; and any one who takes delight in reading Latin +will heartily agree with Professor Munro when he says: “For myself, by +observing quantity, I seem to feel more keenly the beauty of +Cicero’s style and Livy’s, as well as Virgil’s and Horace’s.”</p> + +<p>Therefore until one feels at home with the quantities, let him +observe the rule of beating time in reading, to make sure that the long +syllables get twice the time of the short ones. In this way he will soon +have the pronunciation of each word correctly fixed in mind, and will +not be obliged to think of his quantities in verse more than in prose. +A long step has been taken in the enjoyment of Latin poetry when +the reader does not have to be thinking of the ‘feet.’</p> + +<p>Young students particularly should be especially careful in the final +syllable of the verse. Since, so far as the measure is concerned, there +is no difference there between the long and the short syllable, the +reader is apt to be careless as to the length of the syllable itself, +and to make all final syllables long, even to the mispronouncing of the +word, thereby both making a false quantity and otherwise injuring the +effect of the verse, by importing into it a monotony foreign to the +original. Does not Cicero himself say that +<span class = "pagenum">54</span> +a short syllable at the end of the verse is as if you ‘stood’ (came to a +stand), but a long one as if you ‘sat down’?</p> + +<p>It is, in fact, in the pronouncing of final syllables everywhere that +the most serious and persistent faults are found, <i>būs</i> for +<i>bŭs</i> being one of the worst and most common cases. How much of the +teacher’s time might be spared, for better things, if he did not have to +correct <i>būs</i> into <i>bŭs!</i></p> + +<p>The disposition to neglect the double and doubled consonants is +another serious fault, as well as the slovenly pronunciation of two +consonants, where the reader fails to give the time necessary to speak +each distinctly, making false quantity and mispronunciation at the same +time.</p> + +<p>In general, if two symbols are written we are to infer that two +sounds were intended. The only exception to this is in the case of a few +words where the spelling varies, as <i>casso</i> or <i>caso</i>. In such +cases we may suppose that the doubled consonant was only designed to +indicate length.</p> + +<p>Another, apparent, exception is in the case of a mute followed by a +liquid; but the mute and liquid are regularly sounded as one, and +therefore do not affect the length of the preceding vowel. Sometimes, +however, for the sake of time, the verse requires them to be pronounced +separately. In this case each is to be given distinctly; the mute and +liquid must not coalesce. For it must not be forgotten that, as a rule, +the vowel before a mute followed by a liquid is short, in which case it +must on no account be lengthened. Thus, ordinarily, we say +<i>pă-tris</i>, but the verse may require <i>pat-ris</i>.</p> + +<p>Although the vowel before two consonants is generally short, we find, +in some instances, a long vowel in this position. For example, it +would appear that the vowel of the supine and cognate parts of the verb +is long if the vowel of the present indicative, though short, is +followed by a medial (<b>b</b>, <b>g</b>, <b>d</b>, <b>z</b>), as +<i>āctus</i>, <i>lēctus</i>, from <i>ăgo</i>, <i>lĕgo</i>.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">55</span> +<p>Let it be remembered in the matter of <i>i</i> consonant between two +vowels, that we have really the force of two <b>ii</b>’s, as originally +written, one, vowel, making a diphthong with the preceding, the other, +consonant, introducing the new syllable; and that the same is true of +the compounds of <i>jacio</i>, which should be written with a single +<b>i</b> but pronounced as with two, as <i>obicit</i> +(<i>objicit</i>).</p> + + +<h4 class = "smallcaps"><a name = "how_accent" id = "how_accent"> +Accent.</a></h4> + +<p>The question of accent presents little difficulty as to place, but +some as to quality, and much as to kind.</p> + +<p>As to quality, it must be remembered that while the acute accent is +found on syllables either short or long (by nature or position), +and on either the penult or the antepenult, the circumflex is found only +on long vowels, and (in words of more than one syllable) only on +the penult, and then only in case the ultima is short. Thus, +<i>spês</i>, but <i>dúx</i>; <i>lûnă</i>, but <i>lúnā</i>; +<i>legâtus</i>, but <i>legáti</i>. In these examples the length of the +syllable is the same and of course remains the same in inflection, but +the quality of the accent changes. In the one case the voice is both +raised and depressed on the same syllable, in the other it is only +raised. As Professor Ellis puts it: “If the last syllable but one is +long, it is spoken with a raised pitch, which is maintained throughout +if its vowel is short, as: <i>véntōs</i>, or if the last syllable is +long, as: <i>fāmāe</i>; but sinks immediately if its own vowel is long, +and at the same time the vowel of the last syllable is short, as +<i>fâmă</i>, to be distinguished from <i>fā́mā</i>.”</p> + +<p>But when we come to the question of the <i>kind</i> of accent, we +come upon the most serious matter practically in the pronunciation of +Latin, and this because of a difficulty peculiar to the English speaking +peoples. The English accent is one of <i>stress</i>, whereas the Roman +is one of <i>pitch</i>.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">56</span> +<p>No one will disagree with Professor Ellis when he “assumes,” in his +Quantitative Pronunciation of Latin, “that the Augustan Romans had +<i>no</i> force accent, that is, that they did not, as we do, +distinguish one syllable in every word <i>invariably</i> by pronouncing +it with greater force, that is, with greater loudness, than the others, +but that the force varied according to the feeling of the moment, or the +beat of the timekeeper in singing, and was used for purposes of +expression; just as with us, musical pitch is free, that is, just as we +may pronounce the same word with different musical pitches for its +different syllables, and in fact are obliged to vary the musical pitch +in interrogations and replies. The fixity of musical pitch and freedom +of degrees of force in Latin, and the freedom of musical pitch and +fixity of degrees of force in English sharply distinguish the two +pronunciations even irrespective of quantity.”</p> + +<p>But this pitch accent, while alien to us, is not impossible of +acquisition, and it is essential to any adequate rendering of any Latin +writer, whether of prose or verse. Nor will the attainment be a work of +indefinite time if one pursues with constancy some such course as the +following, recommended by Professor Ellis:</p> + +<p>“The place of raised pitch,” he says, “must be strictly observed, and +for this purpose the verses had better be first read in a kind of +sing-song, the high pitched syllables being all of one pitch and the low +pitched syllables being all of one pitch also, but about a musical +‘fifth’ lower than the other, as if the latter were sung to the lowest +note of the fourth string of a violin, and the former were sung to the +lowest note of its third string.”</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>In the foregoing pages an effort has been made to bring together +compactly and to set forth concisely the nature of +<span class = "pagenum">57</span> +the ‘Roman method’ of pronouncing Latin; the reasons for adopting, and +the simplest means of acquiring it. No attempt has been made at a +philosophical or exhaustive treatment of the subject; but at the same +time it is hoped that nothing unphilosophical has crept in, or anything +been omitted, which might have been given, to render the subject +intelligible and enable the intelligent reader to understand the points +and be able to give a reason for each usage herein recommended.</p> + +<p>The main object in view in preparing this little book has been to +help the teachers of Latin in the secondary schools, to furnish them +something not too voluminous, yet as satisfactory as the nature of the +case allows, upon a subject which the present diversity of opinion and +practice has rendered unnecessarily obscure.</p> + +<p>To these teachers, then, a word from Professor Ellis may be fitly +spoken in conclusion:</p> + +<p>“To teach a person to read prose <i>well</i>, even in his own +language, is difficult, partly because he has seldom heard prose well +read, though he is constantly hearing prose around him, intonated, but +unrhythmical. In the case of a dead language, like the Latin, which the +pupil never hears spoken, and seldom hears read, except by himself or +his equally ignorant and hobbling fellow-scholars, this difficulty is +inordinately increased. Let me once more impress on every teacher of +Latin the <i>duty</i> of himself learning to read Latin readily +according to accent and quantity; the <i>duty</i> of his reading out to +his pupils, of his setting them a <i>pattern</i>, of his hearing that +they follow it, of his correcting their mistakes, of his <i>leading</i> +them into right habits. If the quantitative pronunciation be adopted, no +one will be fit to become a classical teacher who cannot read a simple +Latin sentence decently, with a strict observance of that +<span class = "pagenum">58</span> +quantity by which alone the greatest of Latin orators regulated his own +rhythms.”</p> + +<p>“All pronunciation is acquired by imitation, and it is not till after +hearing a sound many times that we are able to grasp it sufficiently +well to imitate. It is a mistake constantly made by teachers of language +to suppose that a pupil knows by once hearing unfamiliar sounds, or even +unfamiliar combinations of familiar sounds. When pupils are made to +imitate too soon, they acquire an erroneous pronunciation, which they +afterward hear constantly from themselves actually or mentally, and +believe that they hear from the teacher during the small fraction of a +second that each sound lasts, and hence the habits of these organs +become fixed.”</p> + +<p>The following direction is of the utmost importance (Curwen’s +“Standard Course,” p. 3): “The teacher never sings (speaks) +<i>with</i> his pupils, but sings (utters, reads, dictates) to them a +brief and soft <i>pattern</i>. The first art of the pupil is to +<i>listen well</i> to the pattern, and then to imitate it exactly. He +that listens best sings (speaks) best.”</p> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Roman Pronunciation of Latin, by +Frances E. 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