19.02.04: Notes on the pronunciation of Latin [4] stressed syllables

19.02.04: Notes on the pronunciation of Latin [4] stressed syllables

When a syllable is stressed, it is pronounced a little more strongly than the other syllables in the word. Consider the following English words that have been divided into syllables, the stressed syllable indicated in block capitals:

[1] PHO-to-graph [stress on first syllable]

[2] pho-TO-grapher [stress on second syllable]

[3] pho-to-GRA-phic [stress on third syllable]

Were we to pronounce the above words with a stress on the wrong syllable, it would sound odd, although it would still be comprehensible

The same applies to Latin. However, the rules for stressed syllables in Latin are far less random than they are in English.

Latin has words of 1 syllable, 2 syllables and more than 2 syllables.

[1] One syllable words are not an issue since the stress can only be on that syllable:

ab (from; away from)

at (but)

dē (down from)

et (and)

ex (out of)

quis (who)

in (in; on)

ōs (mouth)

nōn (not)

cum (when)

tū (you sg.)

[2] No Latin word is stressed on the final syllable. Therefore, words of 2 syllables are always stressed on the first syllable:

AT-que (and)

AR-bor (tree)

AE-tās (age): the diphthong /ae/ is a single sound)

SAE-pe (often)

CAE-lum (sky)

CĒ-na (dinner)

E-quus (horse) remember that /qu/ is pronounced /kw/ i.e. the first /u/ is not a vowel)

TEM-plum (temple)

DO-mus (house)

FOE-dus (treaty): again, the diphthong /oe/ is regarded as a single sound

IN-ter (between)

Ī-ra (anger)

UL-trā (beyond)

UM-bra (shade)

When a Latin word comprises more than 2 syllables, you need to look at the PENULTIMATE (second last) syllable:

[i] (a) If the penultimate syllable has a long vowel, then the stress is on that vowel:

ha-BĒ-re (to have)

au-DĪ-re (to hear)

na-vi-GĀ-re (to sail)

vul-ne-RĀ-tus (wounded)

ae-di-fi-CĀ-tus (built)

(b) The penultimate syllable is also considered long if it has:

vowel + two consonants (including double consonants):

lī-BER-tus (freedman; a former slave)

fun-dā-MEN-tum (foundation)

pu-EL-la (girl)

vowel + /x/ [ks]: di-LEX-it (s/he loved)

[ii] If the penultimate syllable has a short vowel, then the stress goes back one step to the ANTEPENULTIMATE (third last) syllable:

DĪ-cĕ-re (to say): the symbol above the /e/ is not used in Latin but is here to show that the penultimate vowel is short

FĒ-mĭ-na (woman)

SA-cĕr-dōs (priest; priestess)

SI-mĭ-lis (similar)

PRAE-mĭ-um (reward)

COR-nŭ-a (horns)

AU-rĕ-us (made of gold): the diphthong /au/ is a single sound

sen-TEN-tĭ-a (opinion)

in-ter-FIC-ĭ-ō (I kill)

19.02.04: Notes on the pronunciation of Latin [3] consonants

19.02.04: Notes on the pronunciation of Latin [3] consonants

The pronunciation of Latin consonants is very similar to English, with only a few differences to note.

Sounds that are the same as in English:

b ¦ bibo (I drink)

d ¦ domus (house)

f ¦ forum (market place)

h ¦ pronounced softly: hīc (here)

k ¦ (rare; pronounced the same way as C [see below]: Kalendae (the calends, the first day of the month)

l ¦ liber (book)

m ¦ manus (hand)

p ¦ poculum (wine cup)

r ¦ trilled as in Spanish ‘perro’ or in Scots pronunciation of /r/: rosa (rose)

s ¦ always as /s/, never as /z/: spēs (hope)

t ¦ always as /t/, never as /sh/ as in Engl. nation: nātiō [/ˈnaː.Ti.oː/] (birth; nation)

x ¦ /ks/: ex (out of)

***

Points to note:

[1] c ¦ /c/ in Classical Latin is always pronounced as a hard c [= /k/]: circus [/ˈkir.kus] (racecourse); over the centuries the pronunciation changed which is evident in Ecclesiastical / Mediaeval Latin, but for the purposes of studying CL, /c/ = /k/

[2] g ¦ always pronounced as a hard /g/ as in good, never as in Engl. ‘age’: gladius (sword)

[3] m ¦ is essentially the same as in English. However, after a vowel at the end of a word, it was pronounced as a nasal sound as in French main or bain. But this is only for information because most students of Latin simply pronounce the /m/ without a nasal sound.

[4] q ¦ is always followed by /u/, the pronunciation being /kw/: quid? (what?)

[5] z ¦ appears only in Greek loanwords as a rendering of zeta (ζ); pronounced like English z or dz

The following needs careful study:

[6] i ¦ this letter has a double function [i] as a vowel (see previous post) and [ii] equivalent to English /y/ before another vowel e.g. Iūlius [/ˈi̯uː.li.us/] Caesar (Julius Caesar); note: some Latin textbooks differentiate between [i] /i/ as a vowel and [ii] /i/ as /y/ by using /j/ for the latter, but that was not the practice in CL. Both /i/ and /y/ were written as /i/: Iūlius [YoolIoos]; there was no letter /j/ in CL, nor was there a sound equivalent to Engl. /j/ as in ‘jump’

[7] u / v: the original Latin alphabet had no separate letter U which is why in inscriptions you will only see V e.g. GAIVS IVLIVS CAESAR (Gaius Iulius Caesar). However, there was a difference in pronunciation: sometimes the letter V represented /w/, and sometimes /u/, and those pronunciations stayed distinct in the Romance languages derived from Latin, leading to the difference between modern V and U. Therefore, modern editors of, for example, dictionaries, course books and editions of the Ancient Roman authors often show this distinction by writing the consonant sound /w/ as V, and the vowel sound as U. Therefore, if you are reading a modern edition of a CL work and you see /v/ it is pronounced as a /w/. The pronunciation of Latin /v/ as Modern English /v/ is only a convention of Ecclesiastical Latin (the Latin of the church).

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)

19.02.24: notes on the pronunciation of Latin [1] vowels

How a language was pronounced by diverse ethnicities of different levels of education throughout a massive empire 2000 years ago cannot be determined with 100% certainty. Even the English language today in the UK can be pronounced differently in different towns let alone worldwide. However, there is a standard Classical Latin pronunciation which is used when learning the language.

Latin has five vowels: /a/ /e/ /i/ /o/ /u/ and one borrowed vowel /y/; the /y/, similar to German ü or French 'tu', was not a sound native to Latin speakers and initially used in the spelling of foreign words.

These vowels can be either short or long; in Latin text books the long vowels are marked by a line above them which is known as a macron: ā ē ī ō ū

The first point to note is that the macron sign was not used in Classical Latin writing; it is a feature added to assist in correct pronunciation, and you should not be too concerned at the outset about differentiating between the long and short vowels; that will come with practice by saying the words aloud.

[1] long Ā ¦ like a in father: māter (mother)

[2] short A ¦ like u in cup, but: casa (cottage)

[3] long Ē ¦ like a in save: cēna (dinner)

[4] short E ¦ like e in bed: penna (feather)

[5] long Ī ¦ like ee in bee: : sīdus (star)

[6] short I ¦ like i in pig: vēritās (truth)

[7] long Ō ¦ like o in drove: nōn (not)

[8] short O ¦ like o in pot: collis (hill)

[9] long Ū ¦ like oo in food: mūs (mouse)

[10] short U ¦ like u in put: portus (harbour)

[11] long Ȳ ¦ like u in French tu or German ü: Dionȳsus (name: Dionysus)

[12] short Y ¦ same as long ȳ, just slightly shorter: Aegyptus (Egypt)