The Portland daily press., 1879-01-18
Latin Pronunciation.

The latest number of the North American
Recieu contains a paper from Mr.. W. W.
Story, artist and author, upon the question,
so much mooted of late, of the correct pro-
nunciatlon of Latin. Mr.. Story's opinions
are usually sensible, always vigorously and
gracefully expressed, and in this instance en-
titled to weight because of the breadth and
soliditY of his scholarship.
In his article objection is at the start taken
to what is commonly known as the English
method of pronouncing Latin. Mr.. Story
assumes it to be entirely wrong. Nor does
the new syllabus of the English Universities
meet with his appreciation. He complains
that while it is correct in recognizing the
identity of sound between Latin and modern
italian vowels it does not follow out its own
rule; and when it reaches the consonants
forsakes the Italian entirely and betakes it.
self to the German method. The Germans,
he contends, are singularly unsafe guides in
the pronunciation of foreign languages, and
confuse, confound and mispronounce half the
consonants of any language they attempt.
In support of this assertion the familiar illus
trations and p, d t and til, g and gu,
and ch, . and u, and are given. You haf
only to dransbozs desc ledders ant you haf de
former times, when Latin was universal
language the German pronunciation of it was
always considered barbarous.
Mr.. Story argues that the Italian pronun-
citation of Latin, though perhaps incorrect in
some particulars, is the best general rule to
follow. The old language has naturally
changed less in their mouths than In those
of strangers. 1t has been in constant utter
auce in the offices and ritual of the Church,
and so has never really ceased to be a living
tongue. He contends that the Italian pro-
nunciation of c, g, and . is the Latin, and
would have us say Chichero as the Italians,
to whom 1t has always been living name,
do, and not Kikero. as the Oxford men de-
sire. The argument that the name when
written in Greek was spelled with kappa has
no weight with him. He says the Greek al
phabet had no other character with which to
represent it, the Chi being deep cultural.
For similar reasons he favors the sottening of
the before the and !, according 10 the Ital-
ian, and not the hardening of it according to
the German. To his mind it is not probable
that the proper sounds of these letters have
been lost in the large number of pure Latin
words in constant use to this day in Italy,
while the original pronunciation has been
preserved by foreigners. The German sound
rf bo itza Tta1io nr
French ou is also condemned. He thinks it
clear that the Romans though having only
one character for u and D., had two totally
different sounds for it. This Is made clear
to his mind by many authorities, and he
cannot bring himself to believe that
the Italians have corrupted the in
all the names Of persons and places that
have come down to them from the ancents,
or that thsy should use or the Romans did
use the cacophonous Octawia or Waleria
or Liwla instead of Octavia or Valeria or
Livia.
In regard to the Mr., Story differs with
both Italian and German, and argues that
| the confusion in the Italian pronunciation OF
is due to the fact that Latin had but one
letter to express two sounds: one was the
sound of i as vowel, and the other that Of
as consonant. 1 as a consonant had neavly
the sound of the Englsh j, a fact which is
indicated by the elision of vowels before 1
used as vowel, and not before used as a
consonant. Ifj had possessed the siguid
canoe Of long or q las in modern Itaian Oh
GERMANY there would in verse be an el:sion
Of the preceding vowel. But any page Of
Virgil will show that such elsion does moi
take place. Mr.. Story's explanation of the
wrong pronunciation of the Latin in Italian
is that they have no single character repre-
senting thej in English. They lost the ar
Of reading and writing and when they regain
ed it they mstook the Latin j for a souni
with which they are familiar. 1t is re
markable fact iha. all the Latin proper
names and other words beginning with j il
the original transferred into Italian are writ
ten with gi, and sounded hard, like th'
English j. This could hardly be, il tn,
ancient Latin j had the sound of q. Thu
among names Julius becomes Giulio: Johan
nes, Giovanni; Jnlianus, Giuliano; Josephus
Giuseppe; Juno, Giunone; Jupiter OIL
Jovis, Glove; Jason, Giasone; Jeremias
Geremia, and so on. Take also such com
mon words as judex, giudice ;jurore, glurore
justus, giustc; jam, gia; juvenis, g!ovane
juvare, giovare. jugun, giogo, and so on
Invariably they have the hard sound of con
/ sonants.
Finally he complains that cur accents ar,
entirely wrong. That branch of the topic be
proposes to further discuss In continuation
of the article here briefly treated.