Latin Pronunciation

Latin IMagister Henderson

The Roman Alphabet

• The Roman alphabet is the same as the alphabet we use today, with a couple of slight modifications.

• The Romans borrowed their alphabet from their neighbors to the north, the Etruscans, who in turn borrowed their alphabet from the Greeks.

• The word “alphabet” is derived from the first two letters in the Greek alphabet (alpha beta).

Consonant Pronunciation

• The consonants in Latin are mostly the same as they are in English with the following exceptions:

• “c” always has a hard pronunciation, as in “cake”, never soft as in “citation”.

• “g” is always hard as in “gate”, never soft as in “gentle”.

• “s” is always voiceless as in “sound”, never voiced as in “rose”.

Consonant Pronunciation

• “v” is pronounced like the English “w”.• “x” is always pronounced “ks” even when it

comes at the beginning of a word, never like “z” as in “xylophone”.

• “ph” is pronounced separately as in “tophat”, never together as in “physics”.

• “th” is pronounced separately as in “potholder”, never together as in “thin”.

Xiphias (swordfish)

• So how is the Latin word for “swordfish” pronounced?

• According to the logical English prononciation, we would be tempted to say: “zi-fee-as”.

• But the more authentic Latin pronunciation is: “ksip-hyas”.

• This is because “x” doesn’t sound like “z” and the “ph” can’t be pronounced together.

The Missing Letters• The Latin language has no “j” or “w”.• The letter “j” was born out of the letter “i”, which at

one point could be a vowel or consonant (like the letter “y” in English).

• When “i” comes before a consonant it is a vowel, but when it comes before a vowel it is a consonant and is pronounced like “y”.

Vowel: intrā (inside), ille (that), sīc (thus)Consonant: iam (now), iacere (to throw), iuvēns (young man)

The Missing Letters

• The letter “w” was originally two “u”s (or “v”s) written together that eventually merged into one letter.

• Sometimes we still write it that way in English even today:

In French they make this “w” sound by using “ou” instead of “uu” (as in the French word for “yes”: oui).

Veni, Vidi, Vici

• Julius Caesar said this after his battle with Pharnaces II in Asia Minor. The quote means: “I came, I saw, I conquered”.

• The last word is often pronounced “vichy”, which is how it would be pronounced in Italian.

• But a more authentic Latin pronunciation would be: “weni, widi, wiki”.

Vowel Pronunciation

• In Latin vowel length is marked by a line over the vowel called a “macron”.

• In English a long vowel sounds different, this difference is called “vowel quality”.

• But in Latin a long vowel is actually sounded for a longer time than a short vowel, this called “vowel quantity”.

• In Latin the letter “y” is always a vowel, never a consonant.

Vowel PronunciationVowel Short As in Long As In

a ab (away) about Flāvia father

e legit (she reads) met Cornēlia they

i scribit (she writes) hit vīlla (countryhouse) machine

o quod (because) off Rōmāna (Roman) note

u caput (head) drum ūnus (one) rude

The letter “y” appears only in words borrowed from Greek, like peristylum (“colonnade”). It is pronounced like “i”.

Latin also has a few vowel combinations (called diphthongs) that you need to know.

Vowel CombinationsDiphthong Latin Word Sounds Like

ae aestās (summer) aisle

au laudere (to praise) house

oe coepit (it begins) oil

ui huius (of that) gooey

All vowel combinations are considered to be long in quantity.

If two vowels that would form a combination are meant to be pronounced separately, they will be marked with a dieresis on the second of the two vowels: Menelaüs.