Latin Pronunciation

December 1st, 2010 by | No Comments | Filed in Latin Pronunciation

Latin Pronunciation – How Latin Was Spoken And Spelled

latin pronunciation

Since English borrowed its alphabet from Latin, the Latin Pronunciation of individual Latin letters is close to that of English. One of the best guides to Latin pronunciation is the slim, technical volume entitled Vox Latina: A Guide to the Pronunciation of Classical Latin, by William Sidney Allen. Allen reviews how the ancient writers wrote and what the grammarians said about the Latin language, and he examines the changes the Latin language underwent over time.

Other Guides to the Pronunciation of Classical Latin

Basic Latin Pronunciation guides in Wheelock and other Latin grammars should help.

1 The reconstructed ancient Roman,

2 The northern Continental European,

3 Church Latin and

4 The “English Method.”

He provides the following chart of how to pronounce Latin (Julius Caesar) according to each:

YOO-lee-us KYE-sahr (reconstructed ancient Roman)

YOO-lee-us CHAY-sahr (“Church Latin” in Italy)

JOO-lee-us SEE-zer (“English method”)

Some Latin Pronunciation Guidelines

Latin Consonants

Basically, Classical Latin is pronounced the way it is written, with a few exceptions — to our ears: v is pronounced as a w, i is sometimes pronounced as a y.

Latin Dipthongs

The first vowel sound in “Caesar,” ae is a diphthong pronounced like “eye”; au, a diphthong pronounced like the exclamation “Ow!”; oe, a diphthong pronounced like the English diphthongoi, as in “hoity-toity”.

Latin Vowels

Vowels may simply be pronounced as shorter and longer in duration or there may be some difference in sound. Assuming a difference in sound, the vowel i (long) is Latin Pronunciation like the letter e (not the sound [e]), the vowel e (long) is pronounced like the ay in hay, a long u is prounounced like the doubleo in moon. Short

are pronounced pretty much as they are pronounced in English:

  • i,
  • e, and
  • u

are pronounced pretty much as they are pronounced in English:

  • bit,
  • bet, and
  • put.

Special Sounds

Each of doubled consonants is pronounced.

Latin Pronunciation is generally easier than English to pronounce since Latin does not have silent letters nor has the peculiar diphthong shifts of English.

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