Traditional Pronunciation of Latin in Spain

Since you speak Estonian vowel lengths aren’t much of a big deal for you, you even have trimoraic syllables I hear?

unless your a Cockney in which case you will aspirate the beginning /heich/ (and other people will snicker at your for doing it)

The Irish do too; and some of us relatively recently independent former colonials. :stuck_out_tongue: Although we do on the whole aspirate the "h"s.

Three vowel/syllable lengths have helped me in Latin. The good thing is that the 2nd and 3rd vowel lenght (long and longest) are sometimes confused in Estonian, especially by Russians whose vowel lengths are like in Italian - dynamic, depending on the stress.

Di boni! Necesse est nos omnia componere:

Estimado Gonzalo,

Sí, la ‘h’ de Latín se dice, exactamente como en inglés. Pero no se dice como la ‘j’ de español — tal sonido no existe en Latín.

The ‘h’ respresents aspiration. (Keep in mind that Spanish ‘j’ is not an “aspirant” so much at a “fricative” — like Spanish ‘f’, ‘z’, &c.). There is an important difference between “t” and “th” in Latin, and between “p” and “ph,” and “c” and “ch.” This specifically is that ‘c’ is exactly like the ‘c’ in “acomodar” — and “ch” = ‘c’ + ‘h’; so Latin/Greek “charta” is different from Spanish “carta.” Latin ‘t’ is just like in Spanish “terminar” — and Latin ‘th’ is ‘t’ + ‘h’; so, again, “Thessalia” differs from Spanish “Tesalia,” in that there is the sound of an ‘h’ following that ‘t’. And “ph” is ‘p’ + ‘h’ (NOT LIKE ‘F’ !!), making “triumphus” identical in quality to two hypothetical words: “triump hus.”

Alatius’s youtube videos should be instructive on these examples.

¿Todo tiene sentido ahora, amigo?

Hi, Luke!

?λλ’ἔγωγε ἤδη οἶδα, φίλτατ΄ἄναξ μου! I was really confused about that subject. I learn a lot form the stuff produced by the Textkit Triumvirat (Alatius, Metrodorus and yourself) and specially in what concerns to pronunciation and other matters about one cannot figure out alone. I am waging a war with th, ph and ch because I finally begun to read Virgil (Æneid I:1-600 and the early three eclogues). Thanks again for your help and things are now much more clear.


Please, since you are checking old posts, might you perchance give me any response or thought regarding to this query?

Regards,
Gonzalo

Done, good sir. :slight_smile: