Latin pronunciation

[boxlodge]

When I was at school in the 40's our headmaster was the music teacher and he insisted that the pronunciation of the letter 'c' in Latin words in Christmas carols was hard and not the Italian 'ch' sound, so should be 'In Dulki Jubilo' for example. I believe this was based on the idea that the modern Italian language is NOT related to Latin. Apparently this view was held by a small number of scholars and I wondered if anyone still holds this view?

[MarkRae]

That was certainly how I was taught it in the 70s.

ventosa viri restabit

[Delaval]

Oh, what memories. Say Sisero instead of Kikero and you were heading for a beating. Similarly if you pronounced V as V instead of U. Apparently it came from Greek texts, in which Cicero was written as Kikero. When it came to carols, the rule was relaxed.

[Prudie]

When I failed Latin in the 70s my teacher certainly went for the hard c. Kickero never sounded right to me. I thought it was a phase that has now reverted to the soft C?

[sandyRoe]

Is it Dul che et decorum est or dul key?

[horseshoes]

I was taught Latin in the 1960s and it was pronounced In DulCHi Yubilo, so quite different then.

[MarkRae]

As a linguist by degree, I find the whole thing utterly fascinating. As you might imagine, there's a whole slew of information on this available...

[Prudie]

I'm sure this topic could be widened considerably. I grew up knowing of Bo-di-seah. Isn't it Boodicker now.

[MarkRae]

It's also important to remember that written classical Latin was not how the language was spoken in the street, and was more of a lingua franca much the same as classical Arabic is these days.

There's a school of thought which holds that modern Romanian is the closest living language to vulgar Latin...

[Delaval]

Some cod Latin there. Meaningless, but when pronounced you hear,'When toes are weary, rest a bit'

like: ITIS APIS POTANDA TINO NE'

[The Builder]

... I've just remembered this ..........

What is this that roareth thus?
Can it be a Motor Bus?
Yes, the smell and hideous hum
Indicat Motorem Bum

I wish I could remember the rest ;o(

[Delaval]

I don't remeber that but it is quite clever in demonstrating the difference between the nominative and accusative cases.

[woofgang]

its a fino ne :-)

[slaney]

We were taught to use the hard pronunciation of 'c', as we were told this was 'classic Latin'; use of the soft 'c' was referred to as 'church Latin'.

[Delaval]

I saw more tears at school over mispronunciation than bad grammar. As a Latin scholar I gave up arguing with my teachers; as a dead language it is the written word which is important, not how it might have been spoken.

[brionon]

In Italian the 'ch' is hard !!

[SueMoneyRowley]

Here you go The Builder:
What is this that roareth thus?
Can it be a Motor Bus?
Yes, the smell and hideous hum
Indicat Motorem Bum!
Implet in the Corn and High
Terror me Motoris Bi:
Bo Motori clamitabo
Ne Motore caedar a Bo---
Dative be or Ablative
So thou only let us live:---
Whither shall thy victims flee?
Spare us, spare us, Motor Be!
Thus I sang; and still anigh
Came in hordes Motores Bi,
Et complebat omne forum
Copia Motorum Borum.
How shall wretches live like us
Cincti Bis Motoribus?
Domine, defende nos
Contra hos Motores Bos!

[MichaelZZ]

When out Latin master taught us this silly poem -

Caesar adsum iam forte
Brutus aderat
Caesar sic in omnibus
Brutus sic inat -

he insisted that Caesar was pronunced kai-sar.

[Chinajan]

The pronunciation of the 'C' depends upon the letters[s] following it.

C is hard before a, o, u, au
C is 'ch' before e ae, e, oe, i

Cicero therefore [I was taught] would be pronounced 'Chichero'

[Delaval]

Interesting. I used to travel to school on the bus with a boy from the local catholic grammar school. One morning we were discussing principal parts of verbs; "facio, facere, feci, factum". I pronounced it as "fakio, fakere, feki, faktum" whilst he said that he had been taught,"fatchio, fatchere, fetchi, facktum"

[boxtops]

I was taught that too, boxlodge - In Dulki Yubilo - I sang it in the school choir