|
Latin Pronunciation |
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The pronunciation of Latin in the first
century has been determined with a fair degree of certainty from the
evidence of ancient authorities and inscriptions and inferences from
the romance languages. The following guide is somewhat simplified but
can be accepted as a reasonably accurate description of the sounds of
Latin as spoken by educated Romans. The accent falls as in English,
on the second to last syllable of the word if that syllable is long,
or on the third to last syllable if the second to last is short. The
stress was weaker than in English and may have had an element of pitch
in it. In the following list, long vowels are marked with a line.
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A
|
RAT (inclining towards RUT) |
EI
|
PAYEE | |
|
A-
|
RATHER |
EU
|
AY-oo | |
|
AE
|
TRY |
F
|
As in English | |
|
AU
|
TOWN |
G
|
GO | |
|
B
|
As in English |
GN
|
HANGNAIL | |
|
BS
|
APSE |
H
|
As in English, but faint | |
|
BT
|
APT |
I
|
(consonant) YES | |
|
C
|
CAR |
T
|
KEEN | |
|
CH
|
EMPHATIC |
I
|
KIN | |
|
D
|
As in English |
K
|
As in English | |
|
E
|
PEN |
L
|
LET | |
|
E-
|
PAIN |
M
|
MAN (hardly sounded) | |
|
N
|
As in English |
S
|
SISTER (never ROSE) | |
|
NC
|
FINGER |
T
|
STOP | |
|
O
|
ROB |
TH
|
TAKE | |
|
O-
|
ROBE |
U
|
FULL | |
|
OE
|
TOY |
U-
|
FOOL | |
|
P
|
APT |
V
|
WIN | |
|
PH
|
PILL |
X
|
SIX | |
|
QU
|
QUITE |
Y
|
French U (a greek sound) | |
|
R
|
Scottish trilled R |
Z
|
ZERO | |
This makes our mispronunciation of a well known word like 'CAESAR', become 'KYSSARR'