Sunday, September 19, 2010

Pronunciation Cheat Sheet

HOW TO PRONOUNCE ECCLESIAL LATIN

Vowels
A as in father
E as in egg
I as in ski
O as in for
U as in truth

Y is always a vowel as in jelly

AE, OE, treated as E above

AU as in Maui. When sung, hold the
ah sound as long as possible, adding oo
right before the next syllable.
(la—udamus)


Consonants
C as in car (before a, o, u); else ch as in cello
CC t-ch before soft vowels (ecce = et-che)
CH as in chaos
G as in got (before a, o, u); else as in gem
GN as in monsignor
H is always silent, as in honor
J sounds like y as in yuk.  The J takes the place of the I in some words (Iesu, Ioannes).
R quick flip of tongue and no more.
PH as in photo.
S as in song; between 2 vowels soften, i.e. more z-like (miserere)
SC as in scandal (before a, o, u); else sh
TH as in Thomas
TI tsi when followed by vowel (gratia), unless
preceded by S, X, or, T (hostiam)
X as in foxy;
XC as in Excalibur before (a, o, u); else k-sh as in (excelsis)
Z soft & dental, like dz, (azymus = a-dzy-mus)