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PRONUNCIATION OF ECCLESIASTICAL LATIN
This is an attempt to show an outline of Ecclesiastical pronunciation. It must be remembered that the more common form is the “reconstructed” pronunciation used currently by Classics departments. Ecclesiastical pronunciation is sometimes called ‘Italian’, while the classicists many times refer to theirs as ‘Roman’. Both are valid! Historically Ecclesiastical pronunciation was the one, and continuous to be used, by the Church, while the other has come to dominate the academic sphere. However, both do crossover the so-called line of demarcation, which is quite arbitrary in the first place. This is NOT effort to place superiority of one over the other, but rather a description of Ecclesiastical pronunciation commonly used by the Church.
The alphabet consists of the following 25 letters: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, x, y, and z. There is no letter for w, which was a Medieval invention to represent /w/. Two of the letters serve both as vowels and consonants, e.g. i -> j and u -> v.
Vowels
The vowels do not vary in length as in the “reconstructed” pronunciation, but do approach the vowel sounds of Spanish. The e and o do not have open and closed sounds like Italian.
A has the sound of a in father (pater).
E is pronounced as e in pen (penna).
I has the i (ee) sound in machine (machina).
O like the o in Rome (Roma).
U is pronounced as u in lunar (luna).
Y has the same value as i, e.g. system (systema).
Diphthongs
The diphthong represents to vowel sounds coming together.
AE has the sound of the vowel e, e.g. encyclopaedia.
AU is identical to the au in German Paulus (or English ow in cow).
EI as the sound of ei in eight (deinde).
EU has an ‘eh- oo’ sound, e.g. Europa.
OE has the same sound as e, e.g. Oedipus.
UI is pronounced like French oui, e.g. cuius (pronounced kwiyus).
Consonants
The following consonants have the equivalent pronunciation as in English: B, D, F, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, V, and X. Double consonants are pronounced separately, e.g. bel-lum (not belum) for bellum.
C before e, ae, oe, i, or y has a ch sound like ‘cherry’, coepit. It should be noted that the double cc sounds like t + ch, e.g. ecce (pronounced etche).
CH is pronounced like a k, e.g. Christus.
G before e, ae, i, or y, has the g sound as in ‘gem’ (regina).
GN has the sound of ny as in ‘canyon’ (magnus is pronounced manyus).
H is silent, except between two letters, where it is pronounced like a k, e.g. mihi (pronounced miki).
J has the same sound as the German j, e.g. Jakob.
SC before e, ae, oe, i, or y has a sh sound, e.g. scio (pronounced sheeo).
TI when standing before vowel or letter (except s,t, or x) has the sound tsi, this is similar to the German pronunciation, e.g. national.
TH is the same as t.
XC when it occurs before a, ae, oe, i, or y has ksh sound.
Z has the same sound like Italian z, e.g. dz sound, e.g. zebra.
