Carolus Raeticus wrote:And these are only a few examples for such disagreements.
Where you have uncertain vowel quantities (vowels before two or more consonants in the absense of other evidence) you can always have debate. Uncertain vowel quantities are few comparatively.
Non magnus comparatè est numerus vocalium quantitatis incertae. Ubi est incertitudo (cum vocalis ante duas consonantes aliis indiciis de syllabae magnitudine absentibus), ibi est controversia.
Carolus Raeticus wrote:Therefore I am wondering whether it makes any sense at all to provide macrons.
Printed dictionaries have always tended usually to mark the vowel lengths, of course. And this is very important to understand Roman poetry and nice pronunciation.
Certè omnibus temporibus lexica impressa generaliter quantitatem syllabarum longarum denotare solent. Quod mangi momenti est ut rectè vocabula sonentur et prosodia romana teneatur.
[quote="Roland G. Kent, "On the Pronunciation of Vowel Quantities in Latin", The Classical Weekly, Vol. 41, No. 6 (Dec. 15, 1947), p. 91,"]ON THE PRONUNCIATION OF VOWEL QUANTITIES IN LATIN Early in March, 1942, E. H. Sturtevant of Yale University wrote me some inquiries as to the history of marking and pronouncing as long the long vowels of Latin; he gave his own impressions of the origin of the practice, which were frankly only impressions, and asked me if I could get from my retired colleague John Carew Rolfe (born Oct. 15, 1859) some definite information. I wrote at once to Rolfe, who was then living in Alexandria, Va., and had an immediate reply, dated March 16, of which I quote the relevant portions:
'As to the correct reading of Latin with regard to vowel quantity, I owed what little I knew in the early days (1885-90) to Professor W. G. Hale, who was then Profesor of Latin at Cornell, and I was instructor in Latin under him for a year or two. Minton Warren [of Harvard University] was a stickler for accurate pronunciation, but he was much less militant than Hale. Inspired by Hale, I narrowly escaped being the first to publish a Latin text-book with the long vowels marked. Two men in Chicago, whose names I have forgotten, brought out an edition of Caesar (also inspired by Hale) with the long vowels marked, which was published a few weeks before my edition of Viri Romae (Allyn and Bacon, about 1896, or a year or two earlier). From D'Ooge (I suppose you mean the Latin D 'Ooge, not the Greek teacher, then at Ypsilanti, Michigan) I got nothing. On the contrary, he soon got out an edition of the Viri Romae which not only marked the long vowels but closely imitated my own edition in appearance. 'Haec prius fuere-so long that my recollection of some details is uncertain. I think little attention was given to careful vowel-pronunciation at Harvard in my time, 1877-81, and I feel sure that W. G. Hale was a pioneer in that respect. I certainly got more inspiration and instruction from him than from anyone else, and I was led by his example and instruction to give attention to the subject, and to pronounce as carefully as I did in those days. It soon became more or less of a fad and was given attention by many.'
This letter has an obvious value for the history of Latin studies, and well deserves publication. But to me, as Rolfe's student from 1902-04 and his colleague until his final retirement in 1936, it is also a matter of loving pietas to present it to a wider circle; for John Rolfe died just ten days after he penned this letter. ROLAND G. KENT UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA [/quote]
I am also wondering about the proper pronunciation of the Latin words, e.g. in the "LATINUM"-podcast by Evan Millner - hats off to THAT man, by the way.
Hâc de re, ut sententiam meam habeas, vide
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10272&start=20&st=0&sk=t&sd=a
(all the earlier posts are missing from this thread //
Omnes epistulae priores à filo carent)
I'm writing in Latin hoping for correction, and not because I'm confident in how I express myself. Latinè scribo ut ab omnibus corrigar, non quod confidenter me exprimam.