A
Anonymous
Guest
In our School motto Fons Vitae Sapientia how is the v sounded. Is it V or wee.
Regards Phil
Regards Phil
I don't think the vulgar pronunciation of the classical period was any different in that respect. As far as I know, the pronunciation of the V shifted in post-classical time (as did ae and oe ... and some other sounds) and was then taken up by the church.mattheus dixit:Yes, v in Classical Latin was pronounced like English 'w', so the famous veni, vidi, vici was actually said WEH-nee, WEE-dee, WEE-kee by Caesar, whereas in the vulgar Latin, or ecclesiastical (church Latin) it sounds like our 'v'.
No, I believe he was trying to say that V was probably pronounced as [w] even in the vulgar dialects of classical times, and that it wasn't till quite a bit latter that it shifted to [v]. Since "Vulgar Latin" was never a unified language of any sort, it's likely that the shift occurred at different times in different regions, but it may have begun as early as the first century AD in some places.mattheus dixit:I don't understand, what is the meaning here then? V was always our 'v' even back then? So that's how it stayed, when the Church took over? That's what I'm gleaning from this conversation.
Are you interested in the pronunciation of the classical period or generally in the historical phonetics of the Latin language? The latter subject is treated for example in the book Précis de phonétique historique du latin by Max Niedermann, but I don't know if it has been translated into English neither if it's available online. A Russian translation is available, but this fact must be of little importance for you...mattheus dixit:Do you know of any publication that treats this subject of Latin pronunciation in further detail? I'd be much obliged, because I'd like to get to the bottom of things. It's my quest after truth, if you will.
As far as I know that's the best book. Unfortunately it must be under the copyright, so it's impossible to find it in the Web.mattheus dixit:Nevermind, I have already found this : Vox Latina, by W. Sidney Allen, Cambridge University Press 2004. Any opinions on that one ?
First of all, it is written and pronounced “pronunciation”.PHILIPS dixit:In our School motto Fons Vitae Sapientia how is the v sounded. Is it V or wee.
Regards Phil