According to people i have talked to practically all ‘us’ and ‘um’ in latin are long. My talking dictionary does the same thing. Antiquus sounds like ‘Antiquoos’ and Dominus sounds likes ‘Dominoos’. This is the long vowel for u or the macron. However, when i look in the back of my textbook every single word including the already mentioned words antiquus and dominus are written ‘us’ without the macron or long vowel, so they would not be pronounced ‘oos’. They are written in the textbook to be prounounced ‘us’. People have told me the 90% of ‘us’ in latin are ‘oos’. The talking latin dictionary pronounces 90% of these words with an ‘oos’. Why is the appendix in the textbook simply writing ‘us’ and not with a macron over the letter u?
Thanks.
C?re amīce,
I understand your confusion very well. It is very difficult to answer, though, without having you hear the intended sounds. I encourage you to get Skype and e-mail me when you would like to have a brief conversation going over these and other aspects to pronunciation. My Skype name is “SignorAmadeo.” I look forward to hearing from you.
Valē,
LV·EQ
he does it in private so as not to have whiteoctave make fun of his pronounciation
arches an eyebrow
. . . quidnam?
I’d be happy to talk with anyone on Skype, one at a time or in conference calls.
The English ‘us’ sounds more like the English ‘as’ than the Latin ‘-us’. Long Latin ‘u’ sounds like the English ‘oo’, and short Latin ‘u’ sounds like the English ‘oo’, but shorter (lasting less time).
In Latin, all vowels have the same sound whether they are short or long, what changes is for how long they are pronounced; whereas in English you call long ‘a’ to what is the Latin diphthong ‘ei’, long ‘e’ to what is a Latin long ‘i’, long ‘i’ to what is the Latin diphthong ‘ai’, long ‘o’ to what is the Latin diphthong ‘ou’, and long ‘u’ to what is the Latin diphthong ‘iu’. So:
Long Latin ‘a’ sounds like the vowel sounds in the English ‘aha’, long.
Short Latin ‘a’ sounds like the vowel sounds in the English ‘aha’, short.
Long Latin ‘e’ sounds like the vowel sound in the Canadian ‘eh’, long.
Short Latin ‘e’ sounds like the vowel sound in the Canadian ‘eh’, short.
Long Latin ‘i’ sounds like the vowel sound in the English ‘me’, long.
Short Latin ‘i’ sounds like the vowel sound in the English ‘me’, short.
Long Latin ‘o’ sounds like the vowel sound in the English ‘all’, long.
Short Latin ‘o’ sounds like the vowel sound in the English ‘all’, short.
Long Latin ‘u’ sounds like the vowel sound in the English ‘do’, long.
Short Latin ‘u’ sounds like the vowel sound in the English ‘do’, short.
ha!
But Lucus used quidnam very appropriately I believe!