Latin Pronunciation

How should Latin be pronounced?  It depends...  There are a number of schemes in use.  Unless you are taking a Latin class, reading Latin poetry, or using Latin liturgically, it doesn't matter very much so long as you are in reasonable agreement with the people that you will be speaking Latin with.

• Classical Latin pronunciation.  If you are reading classical Latin poetry (e.g. Vergil,) you will probably want to use classical pronunciation, reflecting the usage of educated Latin speakers of the classical period.  Features of classical Latin: c always hard like ck in hacker, never soft like c in centennial or cello, similarly g hard like the first g in garage and never soft like the second one.  (Links:)
  • [AG0] Classical Latin pronunciation from Allen and Greenough's New Latin Grammar archived at the University of Pennsylvania.  (Try [AG1] and [AG2] for better links.)
  • [AG1] The "Perseus" project version: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0001
  • [AG2] Version provided by Professor William Harris of Middlebury College: http://www.middlebury.edu/~harris/AG_1.html.  NOTE (2 January, 2003): [AG2] has an html problem which causes it to render as a blank page in Netscape 4.79. )
• Ecclesiastical usage.  For Roman Catholic liturgical usage or for singing Adeste Fideles, ecclesiastical Latin pronunciation is recommended over classical pronunciation.  Some features of ecclesiatical pronunciation: (consonants) c before e or i or certain diphthongs pronounced like ch in English cherry; g before e or i or certain diphthongs pronounced like dg in English judge; consonantal v like v in English avarice; (vowels) the first vowel in a diphthong is often silent; length is not normally distinguished in speaking; (stress) is more pronounced (no pun intended) than in classical Latin. (The following links were graciously suggested by Eduard Eberbach:)
  • www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/ecclesiastical_latin.htm
  • members.aol.com/stlmetros/latin.html
  • raven.cc.ku.edu/~cmed/rehnotes/latin.html
• Anglo-Latin.  Anglo-Latin is a generic name for the pronunciation schemes for using Latin phrases or mottos in non-liturgical English.  A few guidelines: c before e or i or diphthongs ending in e like c in incense; g in similar settings like dg in judge; vowels like their long or short counterparts in English; diphthongs ending in e like ee in English see...  For example, "annuit coeptus" on the reverse of the dollar bill is rendered in Anglo-Latin as "an'-yew-it sep'-tus", with stress as in classical Latin.