Can someone help with the pronunciation of this legal latin term?:
Ejusdem generis
Can someone recommend an online pronunciation resource?
Thanks.
Ejusdem generis
Can someone recommend an online pronunciation resource?
Thanks.
Pronunciation of ejusdem generis
- Thread starter lionrampant
- Start date
Re: Need pronunciation help
1. I've noticed that Latin legal terms imported into English are often pronounced, in legal contexts, in a way that Latinists in general view as incorrect. And if you do use a "correct" pronunciation you may sound incorrect or pedantic to your hearers. But on that we can't help you here.
2. To consider the easier of your two words first:
Classical: GEH-neh-riss (hard G)
Ecclesiastical: JE-neh-riss (soft G)
3. Now the tough one:
ejusdem is a form (genitive singular) of idem, one of Latin's several demonstrative pronouns. Because idem is stressed on its first syllable there is a strong tendency for beginners to stress ejusdem in the same place. I think there would be general agreement among contemporary Latinists that this is WRONG.
There are 3 syllables: e-jus-dem. All three vowels are short. But because of the two consonants falling together, the second syllable from the right, the penult, is "heavy by position", and therefore takes the stress:
eh-YUSS-demm
Believe it or not, we are not done. That j is, strictly speaking, a consonant, but it is in many ways vowel-like ("semivocalic"). That Latin often uses an i interchangeably with j (eiusdem) does nothing to alleviate the potential confusion. What I'm getting to is that sometimes the first two syllables of eiusdem fuse into one, in a process known as synizesis, something like
eYUSS-demm
This is usual, but not invariable, in classical poetry (and pretty much whenever a poet needs a two-syllable rather than a three syllable word, or so it looks to me).
I would have felt my answer incomplete without mentioning this conventional synizesis. But you can probably dismiss it as a poetic convention, something like "'tis" in English.
Bottom line:
Classical: eh-YUSS-demm GEH-neh-riss (hard G)
Ecclesiastical: eh-YUSS-demm JE-neh-riss (soft G)
Hope this is helpful. I invite comments (especially disagreements) from any of my colleagues on the Forum.
Oh my. This is going to require some explanation.lionrampant dixit:Can someone help with the pronunciation of this legal latin term?:
Ejusdem generis
Thanks.
1. I've noticed that Latin legal terms imported into English are often pronounced, in legal contexts, in a way that Latinists in general view as incorrect. And if you do use a "correct" pronunciation you may sound incorrect or pedantic to your hearers. But on that we can't help you here.
2. To consider the easier of your two words first:
Classical: GEH-neh-riss (hard G)
Ecclesiastical: JE-neh-riss (soft G)
3. Now the tough one:
ejusdem is a form (genitive singular) of idem, one of Latin's several demonstrative pronouns. Because idem is stressed on its first syllable there is a strong tendency for beginners to stress ejusdem in the same place. I think there would be general agreement among contemporary Latinists that this is WRONG.
There are 3 syllables: e-jus-dem. All three vowels are short. But because of the two consonants falling together, the second syllable from the right, the penult, is "heavy by position", and therefore takes the stress:
eh-YUSS-demm
Believe it or not, we are not done. That j is, strictly speaking, a consonant, but it is in many ways vowel-like ("semivocalic"). That Latin often uses an i interchangeably with j (eiusdem) does nothing to alleviate the potential confusion. What I'm getting to is that sometimes the first two syllables of eiusdem fuse into one, in a process known as synizesis, something like
eYUSS-demm
This is usual, but not invariable, in classical poetry (and pretty much whenever a poet needs a two-syllable rather than a three syllable word, or so it looks to me).
I would have felt my answer incomplete without mentioning this conventional synizesis. But you can probably dismiss it as a poetic convention, something like "'tis" in English.
Bottom line:
Classical: eh-YUSS-demm GEH-neh-riss (hard G)
Ecclesiastical: eh-YUSS-demm JE-neh-riss (soft G)
Hope this is helpful. I invite comments (especially disagreements) from any of my colleagues on the Forum.