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Latin Pronunciation Essentials

This document provides a pronunciation guide for Latin vowels and consonants. It explains that Latin has long and short vowels that impact pronunciation, and distinguishes between their sounds. It also notes some rules for determining vowel length and provides examples of vowel and consonant pronunciations. The guide highlights some consonants that have non-English sounds, such as 'b', 'c', 'g', 'i', 'v', 'x', 'ch', 'ph', and 'th'. It concludes with brief notes on syllable division in Latin words.

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31 views3 pages

Latin Pronunciation Essentials

This document provides a pronunciation guide for Latin vowels and consonants. It explains that Latin has long and short vowels that impact pronunciation, and distinguishes between their sounds. It also notes some rules for determining vowel length and provides examples of vowel and consonant pronunciations. The guide highlights some consonants that have non-English sounds, such as 'b', 'c', 'g', 'i', 'v', 'x', 'ch', 'ph', and 'th'. It concludes with brief notes on syllable division in Latin words.

Uploaded by

magistramccawley
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Pronunciation Guide

The Good News: There arent any silent letters in Latin. However, . . .
Nota Bene: It is important to distinguish the long and short vowels in Latin to
avoid confusion such as we would have in English if we
mispronounced din as dean or debt as date. Therefore, it is
imperative that you learn the length of the vowels along with the
spelling of the word. In addition, although you may be more
familiar with Church Latin pronunciation (which is closer to Italian,
French, English, Spanish pronunciations), we will be focusing on
the Vulgate Latin pronunciation.
Vowels
In Latin, as in English, the vowels are a, e, i, o, u.
Each of the Latin vowels may be pronounced long or short, the difference being
one of time. This is called quantity.
There is also a difference of sound between the long and the short vowels,
except a. This is called quality.
Long Vowels

Short Vowels

as in fther:

fm clr

a as in ah

as in thy

rgina stlla

e as in let

as in polce

vta

i as in sit

as in nte

frma nn

o as in for

as in rle

dra

u as in full

amcus

cra

Some Helpful Hints


I) Long Vowels are usually marked with a macron ( ), whereas short vowels are
left unmarked.
II) A vowel is usually short before another vowel or h (because h is weakly
sounded).
III) A vowel is short before nt, nd, final m and t, and usually final r.
IV) A vowel is long before a double consonant (except nt and nd) as in magister.
Diphthongs
The first three of the following diphthongs (two vowels making one sound) are
the most common ones.
ae like ai in aisle: praeda

ei like ei in freight

au like ou in out: nauta

eu like eh-oo (pronounced quickly)

oe like oi in oil:

ue like oo-ee (pronounced quickly)


only in cui and huic

poena

Consonants
Nota Bene: Basically, consonants are pronounced in Latin as they are in
English. However, . . .
b before s or t has the same sound as p: subscribo subterraneus
c is always hard as in cat (never soft as in city): carrus
g is always hard as in go (never soft as in gem): magna
i (consonant) has the sound of y in year; (i is a consonant when it occurs
between vowels and at the beginning of a word before a vowel. In essence, it
evolved into the modern j: ieiunus iniuria Iuppiter
s always has the sound of s in sin (never the s in these): insula
t always has the sound of t in ten (never the t in motion): gratus

v has the sound of w in will (never the v in vigor): via


x has the sound of x in extra (never the x in exaggerate): expecto
ch has the sound of k in Christina (never the ch in child): Magna Charta
ph has the sound of p in pillow (never the ph in phone): philosophia
th has the sound of t in thyme (never the th in thing): theatrum
Nota Bene: I Double consonants are pronounced separately, i.e., bel-lum.
II qu forms a single consonant and the u is not a vowel in this
combination
Syllables
Every Latin word has as many syllables as it has vowels or diphthongs: vir-tute, proe-li-um.
A single consonant between two vowels or diphthongs is pronounced with the
second: fi-li-us, a-git.
Usually, when two or more consonants occur between vowels or diphthongs, the
division is made before the last consonant: por-tus, vinc-ti

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