Tuesday, April 2, 2024

19.02.24: notes on the pronunciation of Latin [2] diphthongs

A diphthong is two vowels that are pronounced together as one sound e.g. English bOY, hOW; in Latin there are six diphthongs:

[1] ae ¦ like i in high or y in cry: caelum (sky)

[2] au ¦ like ow in how: nauta (sailor)

[3] ei ¦ like ey in hey: deinde (then)

[4] eu ¦ Latin /e/ and /u/ said rapidly together: seu (or)

[5] oe ¦ like oy in boy: foedus (treaty)

[6] ui ¦ Latin /u/ and /i/ said quickly (rather like English gooey; Spanish muy): cui (to whom)

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