A couple of times recently I've heard announcers pronounce Latin in ways I wasn't expecting. In particular "O magnum mysterium" was pronounced as "O manyum mysterium", with the "gn" sounding much more like a Spanish "n tilde". What is the basis for this? Is it commonly accepted? if so, why?
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It's Italian rather than Spanish, because the Italian pronunciation of Latin is standard for liturgical use in this country.
This has been discussed at length here - I'll try to find the threads. -
Wasn't it Julius Caesar who was Weeny Weedy and Weaky ?Comment
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Dave, if you want to get a bit of guide on Latin Pronunciation, Bob's yer man!Originally posted by Dave2002 View Post
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No, that apparently is what he called the Britons, who still used the old pronunciation.Originally posted by Ferretfancy View Post
See 1066 And All That for further details.Comment
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I normally pronounce it Lat-In.Originally posted by Dave2002 View Post
(As a matter of interest, Jean, are there any "ium" words where the stress is like "colosseum"?)Comment
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Lat - where do you think the stress in colosseum should be? It is, of course, ultimately a Greek word...Originally posted by Lateralthinking1 View PostComment
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Schooling was in the "creative" 1960s/70s. I have the stress on the second syllable for "ium" - De-lear-ium etc - and on the third for "eum" - Colos-seeum. The grammar I have is from O'level French/German (and a year of Latin) - English, is "by (reliable) ear"? I have O'levels in English Language and Literature and an A'level in English Literature, among others, but hardly anything of Classics.Originally posted by vinteuil View PostLast edited by Guest; 24-12-12, 16:29.Comment
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Looking for something else entirely, I came upon these few scraps of powerful evidence for the traditional English pronuncialtion of Latin:
The Prince Bishop muttered a curse and a prayer,
Which his double capacity hit to a nicety;
His Princely, or Lay half induced him to swear,
His Episcopal moiety said 'Benedicite!'
-- A Lay of St. Gengulphus
(Richard Harris Barham, Ingoldsby Legends)
Have you heard of the Widow O'Reilly
Who esteemed her late husband so highly
That in spite of the scandal,
Her umbrella handle
Was made of his membrum virile.
(Anon.)Comment
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Like!!
(But I won't do the one about the Bishop of Birmingham.)Comment
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Why would you? There's no Latin in that at all IIRC.Comment
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No. Logic deserted me. But there was a Bishop. However, there's a whiff of Latin in:
The once was a curate from Salisbury
Whose manners were all halisbury scalisbury.
He roared around Hampshire
In bright purple pampshire
'Til his Bishop forbade him to walisbury.
On the subject of the Bishop of Birmingham, we were on a coach on a choir tour in Europe [still nothing to do with Latin, I fear] and rude limericks were being bandied about, including that one. A small voice from the back seat piped up, "By the way, my brother is the Bishop of Birmingham".
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If the pronunciation of English varies so much depending on county, or French even within the Hexagon, why would we expect the pronunciation of Latin to be unvaried from Byzantium to Eboracum?Comment
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I don't think we do expect that, but the purpose of this and similar threads was not to establish the fact that Latin was pronounced differently in different countries after the Classical period, but to investigate exactly how it was pronounced in this country at different times and in different contexts.Comment
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