LLC/1/001-1. § 1. John Edmund Barss: “Beginning Latin, Lesson 1”.

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§ 1. Beginning Latin, Lesson 1

John Edmund Barss

(1906)

PRONUNCIATION

1. The Alphabet. The Latin Alphabet is the same as the English, without j or w.

2. Letter Sounded as in English. The following letters have the same sounds as in English: 

p, b, t, d, k, l, m, n, r, f, h, x, qu.

3. Long and Short Vowels. The vowels are a, e, i , o, u, y. When plenty of the time is taken to pronounce a vowel, the vowel is said to be long. When the pronunciation is hurried a little, the vowel is said to be short. Long vowels are marked thus: ā ē ī ō ū ȳ. Short vowels are marked thus: ă ĕ ĭ ŏ ŭ ŷ, or left unmarked. The latter is the metod regularly followed in this book.

4. Sounds of the Vowels. The sounds of the vowels are as follows:

ā like the second a in aha’.
ǎ like the first a in aha’.
ē like ey in they.
ĕ like e in then.
ī like i in machine.
ǐ like i in pin.
ō like o in holy.
ŏ like o in obey.
ū like oo il pool.
ǔ like u in pull.
ȳ and y (breve) have a sound  with may be uttered by shaping the lips as if to say oo, and then making the sound ee.

5.  Exercise. Pronounce the following words according to the rulles in §§ 2-4.

1. Amā´bam; petē´bam; lī´ber;  li´ber.
2. Ōrā´tor; quod; ūtēbā´minī; quō´rum.
3. Tyran´n; mī´litem; rēx; īn´ferō.

6. Diphthongs. The diphtongs and their sounds are as follows:

ae like ai in aisle.
au like ou in house.
ei like ei in eight.
eu like eu in feud¹.
oe like oi in oil.
ui like ooée (or we).

Other combinations of vowels, as ai, eo, etc., do not form diphtongs, each vowel being pronounced separately, as in aulāī (= au-lāī)

1. More exactly, like eyóo pronounced rapidly, the ey being sounded as in they.

7. Exercise. Prounounce the following.

1. Hae; au´tem; dein´de. 2. Heu; poe´na; huīc.

(segue)