“A clear conscience is often the sign of a bad memory.” – Unknown
LIVING WITH LATIN
Archive Living with Latin
August 2009
Pronunciation Guide
Learning the Latin names of plants is one thing. Learning how to pronounce them properly is another thing altogether. So here’s a simple (and somewhat abbreviated) guide to Latin pronunciation.
First, the vowels.
A is pronounced “ah” as in “father.”
E is pronounced “ay” as in “they.” But (sed), the words et (and), est (is), and sed (but) are pronounced like “bet,” “best,” and “said.” And the word ending em should be pronounced like “stem.”
I is pronounced “ee” as in machine, but id (it) and in (in, on) are pronounced like “did” and “din.” (I can also be a consonant – see below.)
O is pronounced, well, like “oh.”
U is pronounced “oo” as in “dude,” with a few exceptions. Words ending in us and um are pronounced like “cuss” and “room.” And finally, the word ut (how, so that) is pronounced like “put.”
There are three dipthongs (vowel combos) in Latin. AE is pronounced “eye.” So Caesar becomes “KYE-sahr.” AU is pronounced “ow” as in “owl.” And OE is pronounced “oy.”
And now, the consonants.
B, D, F, H, K, L, M, N, P, and Z all sound the same as they do in English. J, W, and Y don’t exist in Latin.
C and Ch always have a “K” sound. (I go nuts when I hear people pronounce the “ch” in bruschetta as an “sh.” It’s brusketta, not brushetta!)
G has a hard “G” sound, as in “get.”
Gu is pronounced “Gw.”
I is a consonant pronounced like “Y” when it’s the first letter in a word and is followed by a vowel. For example, the Latin word iam (now) is pronounced “Yahm.”
Qu is pronounced “Kw.”
R can be (and often is) rolled.
S always has a hissing sound.
T always has a hard “t” sound, as in “tack.”
V is always pronounced as a “W.” Thus, vino would be wee-no.
X is always pronounced “Ks.”
So, put it all together and you get what is on the one hand a dead language, but one that’s kept alive as the language of plants.
Die dulci fruere!
(Have a nice day!)
