How do I pronounce "alea iacta est", "piscem natare doces"

[maximilianus]

Hi folks, sorry to bother again but here I am.
The following proverbs are amongst my favorite, and I'd love to know their correct pronunciation. If you can give some idea, here they are:

Alea iacta est.
Picem natare doces.
Tanquam tabula rasa in qua nihil est scriptum.

I hope I've spelled them correctly. Thanks beforehand.

 

[Decimvs]

Re: How do I pronounce these?

http://www.txclassics.org/pronunciation2004.pdf

 

[Quasus]

Re: How do I pronounce these?

Hi folks, sorry to bother again but here I am.
The following proverbs are amongst my favorite, and I'd love to know their correct pronunciation. If you can give some idea, here they are:

Alea iacta est.
Picem natare doces.
Tanquam tabula rasa in qua nihil est scriptum.

I hope I've spelled them correctly. Thanks beforehand.

Hello, maximilianus.

You've made only one typo: piscem should stay for picem.

I'm sure you'll find divinityofnumber's link interesting. But still you can't detect the vowel length without a dictionary. So I'll give the full transcription.

There are a number of admissible Latin pronunciations, but below the classic pronunciation is considered (nearly how the Romans themselves would pronounce it).

1. `a:lea y`akt(a) est.
2. p`isken nat`a:re d`oce:s
3. t`aŋkwan t`abula r`a:s(a) in kw`a: n`ihil est scr`itũ

Comments.
1. The sign ` marks the accented vowel.
2. The sign : marks the long vowel.
3. The letter y is read as in English "yes".
3. The letter ŋ is read as English ng.
4. The letter ũ is read as nasalized u (of course, I mean Spanish u, not the English one!)
5. When a vowel an the end of a word meets with another vowel beginning the following word, the first vowel gets reduced and it does not form a syllable any longer. This phenomenon is called synaloepha. Synaloepha is like a diphthong, but Latin diphthongs (ae, oe, etc) have their first component as leading, whereas by synaloepha the second vowel is leading. The (a) denotes the synaloepha. Mind that synaloepha is not elision, that is the first vowel does NOT completely disappear.
6. The letter m in the endings -am, -um, -em, -im disappears nasalizing the precedent vowel unless it is followed by a word beginning with sounds [p, b, m, t, d, n, k, g]; in the latter case the vowel remains clear (not nasalized), and the sound m is assimilated by the following consonant. So p`isken nat`a:re is not a misprint.

 

[Matthaeus]

Re: How do I pronounce these?

Wow, Quasus, I really admire that you have assimilated the knowledge on that link avitus.alcuinus.net as far as pronunciation is concerned.

 

[maximilianus]

Re: How do I pronounce these?

http://www.txclassics.org/pronunciation2004.pdf

Thanks for the pdf, divinity. It's very clear.

 

[maximilianus]

Re: How do I pronounce these?

Hi folks, sorry to bother again but here I am.
The following proverbs are amongst my favorite, and I'd love to know their correct pronunciation. If you can give some idea, here they are:

Alea iacta est.
Picem natare doces.
Tanquam tabula rasa in qua nihil est scriptum.

I hope I've spelled them correctly. Thanks beforehand.

Hello, maximilianus.

You've made only one typo: piscem should stay for picem.

I'm sure you'll find divinityofnumber's link interesting. But still you can't detect the vowel length without a dictionary. So I'll give the full transcription.

There are a number of admissible Latin pronunciations, but below the classic pronunciation is considered (nearly how the Romans themselves would pronounce it).

1. `a:lea y`akt(a) est.
2. p`isken nat`a:re d`oce:s
3. t`aŋkwan t`abula r`a:s(a) in kw`a: n`ihil est scr`itũ

Comments.
1. The sign ` marks the accented vowel.
2. The sign : marks the long vowel.
3. The letter y is read as in English "yes".
3. The letter ŋ is read as English ng.
4. The letter ũ is read as nasalized u (of course, I mean Spanish u, not the English one!)
5. When a vowel an the end of a word meets with another vowel beginning the following word, the first vowel gets reduced and it does not form a syllable any longer. This phenomenon is called synaloepha. Synaloepha is like a diphthong, but Latin diphthongs (ae, oe, etc) have their first component as leading, whereas by synaloepha the second vowel is leading. The (a) denotes the synaloepha. Mind that synaloepha is not elision, that is the first vowel does NOT completely disappear.
6. The letter m in the endings -am, -um, -em, -im disappears nasalizing the precedent vowel unless it is followed by a word beginning with sounds [p, b, m, t, d, n, k, g]; in the latter case the vowel remains clear (not nasalized), and the sound m is assimilated by the following consonant. So p`isken nat`a:re is not a misprint.

My goodness, Quasus, you really speak Latin!. The synaloepha phenomenon seems quite similar to that of Spanish, my mother tongue, so your explanation hasn't been hard to understand. And thanks for such a thorough explanation, it's been very didactic.

 

[maximilianus]

Re: How do I pronounce these?

Wow, Quasus, I really admire that you have assimilated the knowledge on that link avitus.alcuinus.net as far as pronunciation is concerned.

Outstanding site, when you have a thorough knowledge of Latin (not my case yet, though soon I hope). I mean the whole site is in Latin, right? At least it's what it seemed to me at a first glance.

 

[Quasus]

Re: How do I pronounce these?

Unfortunaly, I don't speek Latin so far... I know although how my Latin would sound if I spoke it.

Wow, Quasus, I really admire that you have assimilated the knowledge on that link avitus.alcuinus.net as far as pronunciation is concerned.

Outstanding site, when you have a thorough knowledge of Latin (not my case yet, though soon I hope). I mean the whole site is in Latin, right? At least it's what it seemed to me at a first glance.

Not at all, here is the Spanish page concerning classic pronunciation, if you're interested in it. The site is not in fact devoted to the study of Latin, but it's the site of Schola Latina Universalis (SLU). SLU organizes courses in modern Latin and I'm virtually acquainted to a person who graduated the Schola (you may visit his site), he shared that link. The leader of SLU is Spanish, so you, maximilianus, can enjoy reading about pronunciation in your mother tongue.

In fact, restututed (classic) pronunciation of Latin must be simpler than pronunciation of any modern European lanuguage. Still there are a few nuances which are unfortunately at times neglected.

 

[maximilianus]

Re: How do I pronounce these?

Quasus, you are increasingly becoming one of my biggest heroes. I really appreciate both links you shared with me. I see you are russian; that's fine, beautiful country (the little I have seen of it through movies or tv) and beautiful ladies (the few I have seen, again, in movies or tv). So long, and thanks again.