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AUTHOR: 
 
 FISHER, MICHAEL 
 
 MONTGOMERY 
 
 TITLE: 
 
 THE THREE 
 PRONUNCIATIONS 
 
 PLACE: 
 
 HE\N YORK 
 
 DA TE : 
 
 1885 
 
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 PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHIC MirROFORM TARHFT 
 
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 Original Material as Filmed - Existing Bibliographic Record 
 
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 Fisher, Michael Montgomery, 1834-1891. 
 
 The three pronunciations of Latin : the claims of each 
 presented, and reasons given for the use of the English 
 mode. By M. M. Fisher ... 3d ed. (rev. and enl.) New 
 York, D. Appleton and company, 1885. 
 
 229 p. 19i- 
 
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 SMbjeciNo. Onpagt I Subject No, 
 
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 THE 
 
 THREE PRONUNCIATIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 LATIN: 
 
 / 
 
 THE CLAIMS OF EACH PRESENTED, 
 
 ▲KD 
 
 SPECIAL REASONS GIVEN FOR THE USE OF THE 
 
 ENGLISH MODE. 
 
 BT 
 
 M. M. FISHER, D. D., LL. D., 
 
 PBOnWSOB OF LATIN IN TH« UNITKBaiTT OF THE STAT. OF WSSOUBI. 
 
 COLUMBIA, MO. 
 
 K 
 
 THIBD EDITION {REVISED AND ENLAEGEDA 
 
 D. 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 APPLETON AND COMPANY, 
 
 1, 8^ AHB 5 BOND STBEET. 
 1886. 
 
. X 
 
 
 
 
 
 \\ 
 
 COPTBIOHT, 1879, 1885, 
 
 bt m. m. fisher. 
 
 
 .^ 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 €0 
 
 Foe more than a score of years my time has been 
 spent in the class-room in the department of Latin. 
 Thousands of young men, within the period named, 
 have received their training, to some extent at least, 
 at my hands. Many of these, in their labors as teach- 
 ers, have under their care the ancient languages. 
 Inquiries as to methods of teaching and pronunci- 
 ation have become so frequent as to call for the pub- 
 lication of an article which might be sent to those 
 interested, and a correspondence be thus avoided, 
 which might otherwise prove burdensome. This 
 state of facts will, in large part, explain the origin 
 and elementary character of this discussion. 
 
 It is natural, too, that persons engaged in teach- 
 ing, adopting to some extent the modes of former 
 instructors, should wish to know somewhat fully 
 the reasons which influenced those instructors in 
 the course they were pleased to pursue.* 
 
 The first edition of "The Three Pronuncia- 
 
 * First edition. 
 
 / 
 
 > 
 
 i 
 
 O 
 
 111334 
 
^ 
 
 / 
 
 4 PREFACE. 
 
 TiONS OF Latin " has been exhausted for some months 
 past. The present enlarged edition has been brought 
 out, to a very considerable extent, from the influence 
 of teachers and scholars in various parts of our coun- 
 try, whose letters on the subject manifest deep in- 
 terest in the pronunciation of the Latin tongue. The 
 hope is indulged, therefore, that the work, in the form 
 now offered, may not only tend to answer inquiries 
 alluded to above, but also that it may not be unac- 
 ceptable to teachers in general, who are engaged in 
 giving instructions in this department of study.* 
 
 ♦ Second edition. 
 
 PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITIOK 
 
 Publishing a new edition has furnished an op- 
 portunity to make some improvement in this work 
 which, through the kindness of scholars and teachers 
 throughout our country, seems, for a third time, to 
 be in demand. 
 
 The following points in the new edition may be 
 noticed : 1. Much new matter that may be deemed 
 of great value has been added ; 2. For convenience 
 of reference, the book has been thrown into sec- 
 tions, which have been numbered ; 3. Some errors 
 which found their way into the second edition have 
 been corrected; 4. As teachers manifest a desire to 
 use the work as a text-book, an attempt has been 
 made to adapt it more perfectly to class-room work ; 
 6. The statistics of American institutions have, as far 
 as possible, been brought down to date, though little 
 change has occurred in five years past ; 6. The latest 
 information touching Latin pronunciation in Eng- 
 land has been embodied. 
 
 The author takes pleasure in acknowledging spe- 
 cial indebtedness to S. S. Laws, LL. D., President of 
 
 \ 
 
6 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 the University of the State of Missouri, whose invent- 
 ive genius, vast erudition, and great executive ability, 
 rank him Among the first men of his day, and whose 
 friendship for a quarter of a century the writer es- 
 teems one of the great blessings of his life. Had it 
 not been for the encouragement given by this dis- 
 tinguished educator, the present unpretending work, 
 and larger works which may soon follow, might never 
 have been undertaken. Sincere thanks are due the 
 eminent Cambridge (England) scholar, E. R. Hum- 
 phreys, LL. D., now of Boston, a gentleman deserved- 
 ly celebrated for his thorough preparation of students 
 for the American and English universities ; a gentle- 
 man, too, who has done high honor both to his native 
 and also to his adopted country. Most valuable sug- 
 gestions and materials have been furnished by some 
 of my colleagues in the university faculty, more es- 
 pecially by Professor J. S. Blackwell, Ph. D., of the 
 chair of Oriental and Modern Languages ; by Pro- 
 fessor D. R. McAnally, A. M., of the chair of Eng- 
 lish Literature ; and by Professor J. C. Jones, A. M., 
 assistant in the Ancient Languages. Cordial thanks 
 are rendered to many scholars throughout the coun- 
 try for their kind interest in the work. In the 
 course of this third edition I have taken the liberty 
 of making brief appropriations from correspondents, 
 with proper acknowledgments. 
 
 Ck)LUlfBU, MissocTii, July j?, 188J^ 
 
 M. M. Fisher. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAcn 
 
 The Three Methods : Continental— Roman—English . .11 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Continental system examined — Its various phases — American 
 Continental — Erasmus — Eschenburg — Professor Everett — 
 J. F. Richardson — ^Pronunciation in Hungary — Professor 
 Haldeman—" Globe-Democrat " 20 
 
 CHAPTER in. ' 
 
 Roman method: Its claims — Its foundation— Evidence— Do 
 we know the true ancient pronunciation of Latin ? — Shall 
 we adopt the so-called Roman mode as now presented ? — 
 Difficulties surrounding the first inquiry— Time— Difficulty 
 of inventing phonetic systems — Brambach on orthography 
 
 Foreign languages in general— French — Greek language 
 
 Erasmus and Professor Blackie — Reuchlin — Kendrick — 
 
 Differences among the Romans themselves — Professor 
 Blackwell— Hebrew— Arabic— C in French, Spanish, Port- 
 uguese, Italian ^ 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Specimen arguments in behalf of the so-called Roman method : 
 Klapp— Roby and Blair— Reply— Professor Tetlow on v— 
 Professors Blackwell and Haldeman on e and ^— Max Miil- 
 ler on c— J. H. Allen on c, ^, t», ^, «e, t> . . . . 69 
 
8 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Schemes of the Roman method : Haldeman and Richardson — 
 Tafcl— Roby— W. G. Richardson— " The International"— 
 PH, TH, CH (Roby) — Want of harmony — Vowel-sounds in 
 general— AK — Twining— Gildersleevc — Blair— oe — Richard- 
 son — V — ^A. J. Ellis — Different opinions — m, ph, th, ch— 
 Haldeman and Jex-Blake — Differences of opinion among 
 the earlier and later writers on the " Roman " side — c be- 
 fore c, t, and y = to , .73 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 What the ablest advocates of the Roman mode claim for it 
 now — Professors Tracy Peck, Tetlow, and others— French 
 from books alone — Latin pronunciation from books alone 
 — ^Blair on oe— Opinion of J. H. Allen— Principal of Eton 
 College — Conclusion from foregoing statements— Class- 
 room differences — ^Princeton — Kentucky University — Johns 
 Hopkins — Prof essorMc Anally— Second question answered 
 in the negative — Cause of want of harmony . . .98 
 
 CHAPTER Vn. 
 
 Usage in America : Professor Richardson and Bureau of Edu- 
 cation — Classification of American universities and colleges 
 as to the mode employed — Phillips Academy — Why the so- 
 called Roman mode has been adopted by some — Professor 
 Thacher*s opinion— Also that of Professor Harrison . . 108 
 
 CHAPTER Vin. 
 
 Usage in England : Letters from European scholars — Rugby 
 —Merchant Taylors* School, London— St. Peter's College, 
 Weatmmster — Shrewsbury School — Harrow— Eton— Ox- 
 ford University— The so-called Roman mode a failure in 
 England— Trinity College, Dublin— Italy— Dr. Hogo— Let- 
 ter from Dr. E. R. Humphreys, June 21, 1884 , . .124 
 
 
 It ' 
 
 CONTENTa 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 9 
 
 PAOB 
 
 The English system: Special reasons for its use — 1. English 
 etymology — 2. Accuracy in pronouncing English — 3. Latin 
 and Greek proper names — i. Law terms, phrases, and 
 maxims — The medical profession — The apothecary — Zool- 
 ogy — Botany — 6. The new pronunciation revolutionary — Dr. 
 E. R. Humphreys — 6. The so-called Roman and the spelling 
 reform — 7. The reformed method would not render Eng- 
 lish-speaking Latinists intelligible all over the world — 8. 
 The reformed method involves a ruinous waste of time — 
 9. The argument in reference to comparative philology an- 
 swered — 10. The Reformation divorces us from scholarly 
 communion with the past — 11. The English mode tends to 
 make the Latin a living language— 12. No living man 
 knows how the Romans pronounced their language — ^The 
 claims of the reformers not allowed— Their system, as it 
 now stands, conventional, and a compromise among schol- 
 ars—The phonetic idea has been sacrificed, at least in 
 part 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Mr. J. H. Allen's skepticism touching the Roman mode— Origin 
 of phrase " Roman method "—Mr. Allen's " query " in f uU— 
 «i 9, V, grty «c, i— Prof essor Tetlow's reply to Mr. Allen, and 
 the latter's rejoinder— Both these scholars have been classed 
 on the "Roman sides'—President Law's letter— "New 
 York School Journal "—" Inter-Ocean "—" New England 
 Journal"— Dr. Fairbairn— Dr. Coit— Mr. Wells— Professor 
 Hopkins— Dr. Orcutt— Conclusion 181 
 
 Appendix. — Pronunciation at Harvard 228 
 
 139 
 
THE 
 
 THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF UTIN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE THEEE PEONUNCIATIOl^S. 
 
 Theee are three methods of pronouncing Latin 
 in use in the United States, all of which are regarded 
 as scholarly — viz., the Continental, the Roman, and 
 the English. 
 
 THE CONTINENTAL METHOD.* 
 
 1. Among the nations of Continental Europe there 
 are great diversities in the pronunciation of Latin, each 
 one pronouncing according to the analogy of its own 
 language. For a fuller discussion of this method, see 
 Chapter IL This system, as usually taught in Amer- 
 ica, differs widely from every variety of the Con- 
 tinental, as taught on the Continent of Europe. 
 
 ♦ Professor Harkness (p. 8, " Standard Grammar ") says that the 
 Continental, as adopted in this country, takes the Roman pronuncia- 
 tion of vowels and diphthongs and the English pronunciation of the 
 consonants. In a foot-note he says ; " Though the pronunciation of 
 the consonants varies somewhat in different institutions.** Might 
 not the same statement be made of the diphthongs, and especially of 
 oet Does the Continental in American institutions give the sound 
 of oi in coin to the diphthong oe ? — Orammar^ sections 6, 6, 13. 
 
12 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 2. The vt)wel sounds alone, or as heard at the end 
 of a syllable, are given in the following table : 
 
 
 VOWELS. 
 
 » 
 
 Long, 
 
 
 SlioH, 
 
 a = a in father. 
 
 
 & = a in hat. 
 
 e = ey in they. 
 
 
 S = e in met. 
 
 i = i in machine. 
 
 
 i = i in sit. 
 
 6 = in go. 
 
 
 6 = in not. 
 
 u = u in rule. 
 
 
 u = in tub. 
 
 DIPHTHONGS. 
 
 ae = ey in they. 
 
 
 oe = ey in they. 
 
 au = ou in our. 
 
 
 eu = eu in feud 
 
 ei = i in ice. 
 
 
 
 A and e have the same sound in all situations. 
 
 The vowels t, o, and u are modified when followed 
 by a consonant in the same syllable, and the sound is 
 the same whether the vowel is long or short. For 
 instance : 
 
 i in mittit = i in sit. o in poterat = o in not, 
 u in fructus = u in tub. 
 
 ^ 
 
 THE CONSONANTS. 
 
 3. These are sounded in the main as in English. 
 
 C and g are hard = c in cat and g in got, before a, 
 0, and u. 
 
 But c = 5, and g =j before c, t, y, ae and oe. 
 
 S invariably has the hissing sound, and never that 
 of z. 
 
 This view of the Continental System is substan- 
 tially that given in the Grammar of Bullions and 
 
 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS. 
 
 13 
 
 I 
 
 Morris, edition of 1869. See also King's " Latin 
 Pronunciation," 1880. 
 
 ROMAN METHOD. 
 
 This is called by some the Latin Method ; by others, 
 the Restored, or the Reformed Method ; and by others 
 still, the Phonetic Method. 
 
 4. Its leading features are as follows : 
 
 SOUNDS OF THE VOWELS. 
 
 ft = a in father. ' o = o in bone, tone. 
 
 e = e in prey. u = u in rude. 
 
 i = i in caprice, ravine, y = u in sur (French). 
 
 Y is found only in Greek words, and it was sound- 
 ed as an intermediate between the u and the i. 
 
 The short vowels differed from the long, not in 
 the quality of the sound, but only in being less pro- 
 longed. The true theory of this method is that the 
 vowels had but one sound. 
 
 Scholars ♦ who attempt to represent the short 
 vowels by English equivalents, do it thus : 
 
 ft = a in past. 5 = o in obey. 
 
 S = e in pet.f u = u in pull, 
 
 i = i in pit, or ratify. J y = u in sur (French).** 
 
 To sound y, put the moT^th in the oo position, and 
 say, ee, 
 
 * Gildersleeve, on page 8 of his Grammar, edition of 187Y, re- 
 marks : " The short sounds are only less prolonged in pronunciation 
 than the long sounds, and have no exact English equivalents.'* 
 
 f " e in met^ lengthened " (Roby). 
 X " ei in deceit " (Haldeman). 
 
 • " y as Gcr. u, but inclining to t — e. g., Muller^ which is nearer 
 to Miller than Muller " (Roby). 
 
14 
 
 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS. 
 
 15 
 
 DIPHTHONGS. 
 
 6. In pronouncing diphthongs, let each vowel 
 have its own sound. Let the utterance be rapid, 
 ae = aye = English i. eu = eh-oo ; or ew in few. 
 au = ou in our. oe = oi in coil, 
 
 ei = ei in rein. ui = ui in suite, or =we (oo-ee). 
 
 Scholars do not agree as to the sounds of some of 
 the diphthongs. This is especially true of ae and oe, 
 Koby says cp = a in bat (lengthened), or bath. 
 Blair says (b = ai in lair, or a in late. 
 Harkness says cb = aye = English i. 
 Gildersleeve says cp = ce in Gramme = a in fame, 
 Blair gives oe = o in world or i in whirl, 
 Gildersleeve, oe = ae in Graeme = a in fame, 
 Harkness, oe = oi in coin .=■ oi in coil. 
 Haldeman, oe = vowel sound in showy ; 
 and says : "If showy and clayey were monosyllables, 
 they would contain the Latin OE and Ei." Among 
 others, he quotes these two lines from ** Living Latin " : 
 
 ** To these wo add that English words like showy 
 Contain the Portuguese and Latin oe." 
 
 CONSONANTS. 
 
 6. The consonants are pronounced as in English, 
 with seven exceptions : 
 
 c = k. t is hard ; = t in hat. 
 
 g = g in get. V = w in wino ; vici = wee-kee.* 
 
 j = y ; jam = yam. r must be trilled ; = r in ferry. 
 8 = s in so. 
 
 * Those who desire to investigate this method further may con- 
 sult chapters iii, i7, and v, of this work ; also Corssen's " Ueber 
 
 There are no silent letters ; psallo, p and s are both 
 Bounded. Consult the grammars of Bartholomew and 
 Gildersleeve. 
 
 ENGLISH METHOD. 
 
 7. By this method the letters are sounded as in Eng- 
 lish. In other words, every Latin word is pronounced 
 as the same combination of letters would be in Eng- 
 lish. This is the general and fundamental principle 
 underlying the system. The above rule is believed to 
 be all that is needed for practical purposes by English- 
 speaking students. 
 
 Those who desire to handle the subject with criti- 
 cal accuracy would do well to fix attention on the fol- 
 lowing particulars : 
 
 I. duantity of the Penult. 
 II. The accented syllables. 
 m. The division of words into syllables. 
 
 8. I. The Penult of a word is the last syllable 
 but one ; the Antepenult is the last but two. In the 
 grammars commonly used throughout the country, 
 long vowels are marked as nos and short vowels as ad, 
 except when the following rules can be applied : 
 
 a, A vowel before another vowel, or a diphthong, 
 or the letter h, is short ; as, u in tua, i in mihi, 
 
 b, A vowel before j, x, z, or any two consonant 
 
 Aussprache, Vokalismus und Betonung der Lateinischen Sprache " ; 
 Roby*8 "Latin Grammar," vol. i; "Syllabus of Latin Pronuncia- 
 tion," by Professors Munro and Palmer; Haldeman's " Latin Pronun- 
 ciation " ; Blair's " Latin Pronunciation " ; J. F. Richardson's " Ro- 
 man Orthoepy " ; " Some Practical Hints on the Quantitative Pro- 
 nunciation of Latin," A. J. Ellis ; King's " Latin Pronunciation." On 
 the letter y, sec Roby, voL i, pp. xliii-lii, 1, chap. iv. 
 
16 
 
 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 Bounds, except the last be I or r, is long ; as, e in rexity 
 a in magna, o in Troja, 
 
 c. A vowel before a mute followed by / or r is 
 common ; as, a in dgri. 
 
 The marks in ordinary use, or the application of 
 the rules just given, will enable the student to deter- 
 mine the* quantity of the Penult. 
 
 9. II. In words of two syllables the Penult is al- 
 ways accented, no matter what the length may be ; 
 as, p^'4r, vo'-lo. In words of more than two sylla- 
 bles, the Penult, if long, is accented ; if the Penult is 
 short, the Antepenult is accented ; as, mm-dV-cus, 
 rus'4i'Cus, d6m'-i-nii8, vdl'-tl-crts. 
 
 There are three exceptions to the rule given : 
 
 1. Genitives of the Second Declension in i for ii, 
 and Vocatives of the same Declension in i for i^, ac- 
 cent a short Penult ; as in-gS'-ni for in-gS'-nii ; Vir- 
 gV'll for Vir-gW-i-L 
 
 2. Fa'-cio retains its own accent when compound- 
 ed with any word except a preposition ; as, com-mdn- 
 S-fd'-ciL 
 
 3. A short final syllable followed by an enclitic 
 receives the accent ; as, quia'-nL This last excep- 
 tion applies to all three systems of pronunciation . 
 
 Here we must be allowed to dissent from the rule 
 laid down by nearly all grammarians — namely, that a 
 short syllable followed by an enclitic should receive 
 the accent ; as, prim&'-qu^. This word would not be 
 so pronounced if simple, and why should it be when 
 compound ? (Roby, p. 75 ; also Chap. XIII, Book L) 
 
 10. III. In Latin words there are as many sylla- 
 bles as there are separate vowels and diphthongs. 
 
 fl. A single consonant after an accented vowel 
 
 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS. 
 
 17 
 
 • 
 
 
 must be joined to it ; as, gen'-^-ri. This law is uni- 
 versal, except in the Penult ; after the vowel u ; and 
 also after a, e, and o, when these vowels precede a 
 consonant followed by e, i, or y before another vowel ; 
 as, Jio'-ra; con'Su'-U-bus ; do'-ce-o, me-di-d'-tor, pa'- 
 tri'US, mo-ne-d'-mus. In all these exceptions, a mute 
 with Z or r falls under the same rule as a singte conso- 
 nant ; as, Oe-no'-tri-a, In iibi and sibi the consonant 
 must be joined to the first vowels ; tib4, sib-i, 
 
 THE VOWELS. 
 
 11. A vowel has the long English sound : 
 
 1. When it ends a word. 
 
 In words of more than one syllable, a final has the 
 sound of a in comma. Some scholars sound final a 
 in monosyllables in the same way. 
 
 2. "When it ends any syllable ; as, mV-hi. 
 
 In tibi and sibi, i in both syllables = i in pity. 
 
 12. DIPHTHONGS. 
 
 ae = e in mete. oe = e in mete. 
 
 au = aw in law. en = eu in neuter. 
 
 Ei and oi are not often diphthongs ; but when 
 they are 
 
 ei = ei in height. oi = oi in coin. 
 
 ui = i in kite. 
 
 A syllable ending with a consonant has the short 
 English sound ; as, his = hiss ; b5nis = boniss. 
 
 1. Es final : 
 
 2. Os final 
 plurals. 
 
 ExceptioM, 
 
 ease ; ru-pes = ru-pez. 
 
 : ose in dose. This applies only to 
 
18 THE THIIEE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 3. Post, alone or in compounds, has the long 
 sound ; but its derivatives the short sound. 
 
 («.) When i follows a, e, o, or y accented and is 
 followed by another vowel, it takes the sound of y in 
 yet ; as, Maia = Md'-ya ; Troia = Trb'-ya. 
 
 {b,) A after qu and followed by dr or rt is pro- 
 nounced as in quarter. 
 
 (c.) Before final r, or r followed by another conso- 
 nant, e, i, and u arc sounded as in her, fir, and purr. 
 
 CONSONANTS. 
 
 13. The consonants in general are pronounced as 
 in English. Attention may be given to the following 
 points : 
 
 a. C and g are soft, like .<r and j, before e, i, y, ac, 
 and oe ; in other situations hard ; as, ce'do = se'-do ; 
 ca'do = ha' do. 
 
 h. C before t, preceded by an accented vowel and 
 followed by another vowel and also before eu and yo, 
 after an accented vowel, takes the sound of sU ; as, 
 socius = so-she-us; caduceus = ca-du'-she-us. 
 
 c. Ch always = k. 
 
 d. 8 at the end of a word after e, ae, au, b, m, n, 
 r, is like z. 
 
 e. S and t before t, after an accented syllable and 
 followed by a vowel, have the sound of sh ; x in the 
 same situation takes the sound of JcsJi ; as par'tium = 
 par'-she-um ; anxius = ank'-she-us. 
 
 f. O before g soft takes the soft sound ; as, ag'ger 
 = af'jer. 
 
 g. X at the beginning of a word has the sound of 
 z; as, Xan'thus = Zan'-thus. 
 
 The rules given above are all that are needed for 
 
 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS. 
 
 19 
 
 v: 
 
 practical purposes by English-speaking students. For 
 further information, reference may be made to "An- 
 drews and Stoddard's Grammar" and to the "Stand- 
 ard Grammar " of Harkness. Strictly speaking, there 
 are no silent letters. 
 
 14. As an example of this new or so-called Roman 
 method, take these words from "Roby's Grammar" : 
 
 exercitui = cks-Srr-kit- f agis = f ah-geese ; a = a in 
 
 oo-ee. father, 
 
 natio = nah-ti-o. obscurior = ops-koo-ri-or. 
 
 r6rum = reh-room = ray- scire = skee-reh ; skee-ray. 
 
 room. sciscitari = skis-ki-tah-ree. 
 
 The same words by the English method : 
 
 exercitui = 6g-zur-sit-u-i. obscurior = ob-sku-re-or. 
 
 natio = nay-she-6. scire = sire-y ; = si-re. 
 
 rerum = ree-rum. sciscitari = sis-si-ta-ri. 
 fagis = fay-jis. 
 
 In the word obsciirior, let the second syllable be 
 Bounded like scu in obscurity. 
 
 The words given above present a fair sample of 
 the practical labors of the class-room in the two sys- 
 tems. 
 
 The three systems have been concisely and, it is 
 hoped, clearly stated, and in such manner as will 
 afford definite information to teachers and scholars, 
 whatever may be the mode of pronunciation adopted. 
 
I 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 THE CONTINEKTAL SYSTEM, 
 
 15. It is very common among the advocates of 
 tlie so-called Roman method of pronouncing Latin 
 to speak of the so-called Continental system as a 
 " natural ally " of the Phonetic mode ; to affirm that 
 "the united forces of the Roman and Continental 
 methods are encroaching on the narrowing domains of 
 the English system." Such statements may create a 
 sympathy between the two systems, but they are not 
 founded on fact, and their tendency is to mislead 
 those who have not examined the subject with some 
 care. Some ardent reformers would make the im- 
 pression that if their system should prevail in Eng- 
 land and America, then the "vexed question " would 
 be settled, and an "international pronunciation" 
 would at once become a reality. The truth in the case 
 will at once make manifest the fallacy. 
 
 16. Harkness says : " Strictly speaking, there is no 
 Continental method."* Bullions and Morris speak 
 of it as the "so-called Continental pronunciation." 
 These statements are in accordance with the facts. 
 For centuries the law of nations has been for each to 
 
 ♦ JQarkness^s " Standard Grammar," p. 8. 
 
 THE CONTINENTAL SYSTEM. 
 
 21 
 
 pronounce Latin after the analogy of its own tongue. 
 As there is such variety on the Continent, some of 
 the ablest scholars in the United States, who use the 
 BO-called Continental mode, to make the matter ex- 
 plicit, state that they nse the sounds of the vowels 
 and diphthongs as heard in the Italian. 
 
 17. One of the chief arguments for the adoption 
 of what scholars strangely enough call the Conti- 
 nental system, has been that it would enable learned 
 men, by means of a common pronunciation, to make 
 themselves intelligible all over Europe. This idea of 
 grammarians and others is founded on a misappre- 
 hension of the facts. There is not now, and there 
 has never been, any international identity in the pro- 
 nunciation of the Latin, and this is especially true of 
 Continental Europe. There is a general agreement 
 in the vowel sounds, but in the consonants, which 
 make articulate speech what it is, there is very 
 great diversity of sound. Each nation has its own 
 phase of what American scholars term the Conti- 
 nental mode. There is the French phase, the Span- 
 ish phase, the Italian phase, the Hungarian phase, 
 the Swedish phase, and the German phase ; and, 
 strange as it may seem, there are sharply defined 
 varieties of the Continental method in use in the 
 different German States. What has just been said is 
 a sample of an actual state of facts as existing on the 
 Continent at this hour. Eschenburg, on page 550 of 
 his " Classical Literature," says : 
 
 18. " It is worthy of remark that the Frenchman, 
 German, and Italian, in pronouncing Latin, each 
 yields to the analogies of his own tongue. Each of 
 them may condemn the others, while each commits 
 
22 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 the same error, or, rather, follows in truth the same 
 general rule, 
 
 19. "Erasmus says he was present at a levee of 
 one of the German princes where most of the Euro- 
 pean ambassadors were present; and it was agreed 
 that the conversation should be carried on in Latin. 
 It was so; but you would have thought, adds he, 
 ' thai all Babel had come together.'" All those speak- 
 ing were using the Continental method. The variety 
 among the nations on the Continent is most graphi- 
 cally sketched in the quotation from Eschenburg, 
 himself among the ablest of European scholars. In 
 the pronunciation of the vowels there may be an ap- 
 proximate agreement, but in the consonants there is 
 the greatest diversity. English-speaking people fur- 
 nish the only anomalous, and we must say the only 
 humiliating, example of a great nation literally ignor- 
 ing its own and seeking across the Atlantic foreign 
 sounds with which to pronounce this grand old lan- 
 guage. There might be reason in the thing if the 
 Continental nations had the true pronunciation, or, 
 putting this supposition aside, if they had even an 
 approximate uniformity among themselves. As mat- 
 ters now stand, the scholar who seeks the Continental 
 mode, without defining accurately what variety of it 
 he wishes, is much like the rustic in his pursuit of 
 the will-o'-the-wisp. 
 
 20. How the native tongues on the Continent pro- 
 nounce Latin, after their own analogies, may be seen 
 from a glance at the Romance languages of Southern 
 Europe, the French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, 
 to which the Latin stands in the relation of a common 
 progenitor. The letters c, g, j, and v will be sufficient : 
 
 THE CONTINENTAL SYSTEM. 
 
 23 
 
 FRENCH. ITALIAN. 
 
 c = B, before e, i, and y. c = ch in cherry, before e, 
 g = s in pleasure, before i, and y. 
 
 e, i, and y. g = g in gem. 
 
 i = z in azure. j = ee in fee (a vowel). 
 
 V = v, as in English. v = v in English. 
 
 PORTUGUESE. 
 
 c = s, as in French, 
 g = s, as in French . 
 j = z, as in French, 
 v = V, as in English, 
 
 SPANISH. 
 
 c = th in pith, before e and i. 
 
 g = ch guttural. 
 
 j = ch guttural, before all 
 
 vowels. 
 V = V, as in English. 
 
 Notice the German also : 
 c = ts before e and i. g = g in go. 
 
 v = f. j =y- 
 
 21. As an example of pronunciation in the lan- 
 guages named, take Cicero : 
 
 French, Cicero = Seesayro. Italian, Cicero = dieechay- 
 Portuguese, Cicero = See- ro, 
 
 sayro, Spanish, Cicero = Thee- 
 
 German, Cicero = Tseet- thayro, 
 
 sayro, 
 
 22. Professor Stengel, of Columbia College, New 
 York, in tracing the history of Latin pronunciation, 
 notices three distinct pronunciations of the word 
 Cicero, as prevailing in Italy, in the centuries named 
 
 below : 
 
 To the sixth century, Cicero = Kik-e-ro. 
 
 From the sixth to the thirteenth century, Cicero 
 =r Ziz-e-ro, 
 
24 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 Since the thirteenth century, Cicero = TsJiit-shero. 
 
 23. One of the most accomplished Latinists of 
 New England uses the following language : 
 
 ** But there is no third, there is no Continental 
 pronunciation — a Frenchman, an Italian, a German, 
 a Spaniard, each pronounces Latin after a way of his 
 own, and when teachers here say they teach the ' Con- 
 tinental ' pronunciation, they differ in many important 
 particulars, and are really adopting English sounds for 
 consonants with semi-Italian vowel sounds. 
 
 24. *' Either the English or the new * Roman ' is 
 consistent with itself, no other that ever I heard from 
 an American is. An Italian, a Frenchman, etc., is 
 consistent when he pronounces Latin, because he does 
 it like his own, 
 
 25. " When the Catholic clergy became illiterate 
 in the Middle Ages, they learned to read their prayer- 
 book with the pronunciation each of his own nation, 
 and so each country got to pronouncing Latin as it 
 did its own tongue. Now, as the Continental nations 
 each differ from each other in pronunciation less than 
 they do from English, an English or an American 
 ear does not readily detect the differences, and lumps 
 them all up as the Continental ; but the Vatican Coun- 
 cil settled that." 
 
 26. J. F. Richardson, one of the ablest of Roman 
 Latinists, uses the following language : 
 
 " In the second place, it is an entire mistake to 
 speak of the * Continental method ' of pronouncing 
 Latin. There is, in fact, no common Continental 
 system, but there are several Continental systems of 
 Latin pronunciation — e. g., German, Italian, French, 
 Spanish. These four agree, to be sure, substantially 
 
 THE CONTINENTAL SYSTEM. 
 
 25 
 
 in regard to the vowels ; but in other important 
 points they differ decidedly both from the English 
 and from each other, most of the diphthongs and 
 some of the most important consonants being sound- 
 ed differently in all five. The idea, therefore, that 
 he who combines the German vowel sounds with the 
 English diphthongal and consonant sounds has the 
 Continental system, or any Continental system of 
 Latin pronunciation, is simply absurd. 
 
 27. " Of the six different systems of Latin pronun- 
 ciation, then, prevailing in Western Europe and our 
 own country, five are strictly national. Their differ- 
 ences find at once an origin and an explanation in the 
 fact that the scholars of each nation have followed, 
 in their pronunciations of Latin, the analogies of 
 their own vernacular. In this way, while making 
 sure of mutual disagreement, all have departed more 
 or less from the true Roman method, and the whole 
 subject has been involved in uncertainty and confu- 
 sion. Meanwhile the pseudo-Continental system, des- 
 titute alike of historical dignity and scientific accu- 
 racy, and lacking even the poor support of national 
 prejudice and pride, is powerless to mediate and 
 compose these differences. Although it undoubtedly 
 avoids some of the grossest absurdities peculiar to the 
 English system, it lacks the elements which command 
 respect, and can never establish a claim to universal 
 adoption and use." 
 
 28. An able writer in the " Globe-Democrat," in 
 April last, in commenting on my pamphlet on the 
 "Three Pronunciations of Latin," says : *^Mr. Fisher 
 cites, for instance, the proper name Cicero, and shows 
 that the Italians, the French, the Spaniards, and the 
 
 \ 
 
26 
 
 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 THE CONTINENTAL SYSTEM. 
 
 27 
 
 Germans differ from one another as widely as from 
 the English. We could wish that the professor had 
 added that of Hungary, wherein, and not exclusively 
 in ecclesiastical affairs, Latin remained a living lan- 
 guage after it had disappeared from general use every- 
 where else in Christendom. In Maria Theresa's time 
 the deliberations of the Diet were in Latin, and with- 
 in the present generation it was spoken freely in the 
 homes of the wealthier and better educated classes. 
 The pronunciation differed in toto from all those 
 cited in the pamphlet, and it is certainly as likely 
 to have been as nearly like that of the old Romans 
 themselves as that of any other, not excepting the 
 Italian or Roumanian." Whatever may be the merits 
 of this extract in other respects, it calls attention to 
 one exceedingly interesting fact not generally remem- 
 bered, even among scholars — viz., the very recent use 
 of the Latin as a medium of communication in Hun- 
 gary. 
 
 29. It is a little remarkable that the space of time 
 from 1700 till 1780 is called the Latin period of the 
 Hungarian nation, in opposition to the Arpadian 
 dynasty. Csink, in his Hungarian Grammar, makes 
 this statement : " The Hungarian language, there- 
 fore, was banished to the home of the shepherd and 
 agriculturist, and the Latin was introduced in schools 
 and all public transactions. In the public meetings 
 of the county-court halls, Latin was the language of 
 transactions and conversations." The same author 
 states further that in the Diet of 1790-'91, the Lower 
 House was saluted by the Vicegerent {locum-tenens) 
 Urm^nyi in the Hungarian language, and that the 
 House proceeded to settle upon the language to be 
 
 nsed in the transactions of the Diet. ** It was re- 
 solved that henceforth the Hungarian language shall 
 be received in parliamentary transactions." In the 
 same year, 1791, the Hungarian language was intro- 
 duced " into all the upper schools (gymnasium, col- 
 leges, and university)." In 1803, Nicolas Revay, Pro- 
 fessor of Hungarian Literature at the University 
 of Pesth, published in Latin his great work enti- 
 tled " Antiquitates Literaturse Hungaricas " (Csink's 
 Grammar, Part II, pages 18, 20, 22). Any one who 
 will examine the first five pages of the grammar just 
 referred to, will find that the Hungarian pronuncia- 
 tion of Latin, a language used in a certain sense by a 
 whole nation in their public affairs, and also exten- 
 sively in private circles, even so late as the beginning 
 of the present century, was quite as peculiar to the 
 nation in question as any one of the five modem 
 tongues before mentioned. 
 
 30. Before passing to the next point, let attention 
 be carefully fixed on several facts indisputably set- 
 tled : 1. That no phase of the Continental system of 
 Europe professes to be the true ancient pronuncia- 
 tion ; 2. That no two of them agree in the sounds of 
 the consonants ; 3. That the so-called Roman pro- 
 nunciation does not agree with a single one of them 
 in either vowels or consonants — as, for instance, 
 Cicero, pronounced Kee-ke-ro, certainly differs from 
 the French See-say-ro, the Italian CTiee-chay-ro, the 
 Spanish Thee-thay-ro, and the German Tseet-say-ro ; 
 4. That the so-called Roman differs more widely from 
 the Italian than from the other Romance tongues — ^a 
 fact not a little significant when we remember that 
 the Italian is spoken ou the very soil rendered almost 
 
28 THE THREE PRONTJNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 sacred to the scholar by the hallowed memories of the 
 Latin language ; 5. That when Americans use the 
 Continental they do not sound the consonants like 
 any nation or tribe on the Continent of Europe. 
 They approximate the yowel-sounds of the Continent, 
 but almost invariably pronounce the consonants as in 
 English. Hence the so-called Continental of Amer- 
 ica is a combination of foreign vowel-sounds with 
 consonants uttered almost universally as in English 
 words. Whatever the theories of teachers may be, 
 this is a stubborn practical fact. We have in this 
 country, therefore, the American phase of the Conti- 
 nental method, the conglomerate variety, differing 
 from every other variety of that system on the globe. 
 Bullions and Morris, in speaking of the Continental, 
 say, **The consonants are pronounced generally as 
 in the English language" (*' Grammar," p. 6). Our 
 college-days were spent in the use of the method of 
 which we are speaking, and the facts, to which atten- 
 tion is here called, are given, with the deepest rever- 
 ence for the able men at whose feet we sat when a 
 student, and with the truest respect for the many dis- 
 tinguished educators who employ the system. 
 
 81. Scholars who adopt the so-called Roman mode 
 do not regard the so-called Continental mode in the 
 same light. For instance. Professor Miller says, " So 
 that the Continental pronunciations are mutually 
 intelligible." This does not agree with the quotation 
 from Erasmus as given in section 19. Again, Pro- 
 fessor Miller says : " Although these Continental pro- 
 nunciations do not differ from each other, yet they 
 differ widely from the English pronunciation of Latin. 
 If our pronunciation were as good as that of the Ital- 
 
 THE CONTINENTAL SYSTEM. 
 
 29 
 
 ian or German, there would not be so much need of 
 reform." This statement does not seem to agree with 
 the facts given above, and certainly differs strikingly 
 from Professor J. F. Richardson, quoted in sections 
 26, 27. Professor Haldeman, in concluding an able 
 defense of the Roman mode, says, "Nevertheless, 
 the institutions adopting the empiric English sistem, 
 or even some Continental one, ar, under the circum- 
 stances, entitld to no consideration in the studi of 
 English." 
 
ROMAN METHOD. 
 
 81 
 
 CHAPTEE m. 
 
 ROMAN METHOD. 
 
 32. Twenty years ago there were only two meth- 
 ods used in the United States, the English and the 
 Continental, and popular fayor was rather with the 
 former. In what is called the Latin, or Keformed 
 mode. Professor Haldeman, of the Uniyersity of 
 Pennsylyania, enjoys, and deservedly, the reputation 
 of being the first explorer. His work was published 
 as early as 1851. That mode now, however, is most 
 intimately associated with the name of CorsSen in 
 Germany, and Eoby in England, whose exhaustive 
 works should be an honor to any nation. Both works 
 have been published in the last twenty-five years. 
 Professor Lane, of Harvard, introduced the Roman 
 pronunciation in New England, and its introduction 
 in the South is largely due to Professor Blair, of 
 Hampden Sidney, Virginia, and Professor Gilder- 
 sleeve, of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore.* 
 Whatever conquests that system has made anywhere 
 in the world, have been achieved within the brief 
 space of twenty years past. 
 
 33. But what does this new mode claim ? It 
 
 • Ellis, Munro, and Palmer in England, and the two Richardsona 
 in America, have written ably in favor of this system. ~ 
 
 claims to be the genuine Latin method, the true an- 
 cient pronunciation restored ; to pronounce words as 
 they fell from the lips of Cicero, Virgil, and Horace. 
 If this claim be well founded, then it is no new doc- 
 trine, but a very old one. Any dissent in this treatise 
 from the opinions of others, however emphatic the 
 dissent may be, is made with the profoundest regard 
 for the distinguished scholars who have written in 
 favor of the Roman method. But a system with such 
 pretensions must abide, aa it professes to do, the re- 
 sults of the crucible. Roby himself in his preface 
 says, " An inquiry into practical Latin is [an inquiry] 
 into a pronunciation which has not been uttered for 
 the last seventeen hundred years " (p. xxx, edition of 
 1871). Yet many able scholars hold that they have 
 gone back and brought down to our day a pronuncia- 
 tion which purports not to differ from that of Cicero 
 " more than the pronunciation of educated men in 
 one part of England would differ from that heard in 
 other parts " (Roby). 
 
 On what are these claims based ? 
 34. 1. The Latin grammarians: beginning with 
 Varro, 64 B. c, and coming down to Priscianus 
 Caesariensis, who taught at Constantinople, 570 A. D. 
 In reference to these grammarians. Professor Blair, 
 in his introduction, says, " To whose instructions 
 we must now turn, in order to gather by inference, 
 and not without great care and pains, the informa- 
 tion which might have been easily and more certainly 
 had by spending an hour with the Roman boys 4n 
 their elementary school." 
 
 2. The information gleaned from grammarians is 
 compared with three sources of probable proof : • 
 
 i 
 
32 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 (a.) The traditions of scholars and the modem 
 Eomanic languages. 
 
 (J.) The Greek mode of rendering Latin sounds 
 into their tongue. The Greeks attempted to indicate 
 the Latin sounds as perfectly as their letters would 
 allow. 
 
 (c.) The third probable proof is '* the face of the 
 language itself, as seen in its records which have been 
 preserved to us." 
 
 For these three i)ositions reference may be made 
 to Professor Blair's work, one of the best yet pub- 
 lished on this subject in America. 
 
 A source of testimony much relied on by Eoman 
 Latinists is the modem Romance languages of South- 
 em Europe — a point which shall receive proper atten- 
 tion as we proceed. 
 
 35. In brief, the means relied on for ascertain- 
 ing the ancient sounds are : 1. Orthography of the 
 language ; 2. Latin grammarians ; 3. Traditions of 
 scholars ; 4. Eepresentation of Latin sounds by the 
 Greeks; 5. Pronunciation of the tongues descended 
 from the Latin ; 6. Principles of phonology in gen- 
 eral. - 
 
 86. But what kind of evidence is it upon which 
 these lofty claims are based ? The answer is, and 
 must in the nature of the case be, " Probable evi- 
 dence." 
 
 It is not at all our design in this discussion to 
 undervalue probable or moral evidence. Far from it. 
 
 The countless facts of history, of the sciences, and 
 of Christianity itself, rest on this kind of proof. 
 
 The human mind is so constituted as to rest with 
 as much confidence in probable evidence of the degree 
 
 ROMAN METHOD. 
 
 33 
 
 of moral certainty as in demonstrative or mathemati- 
 cal evidence. We do not object to the so-called Ro- 
 man method * because its basis is moral evidence, as 
 from the nature of the case it can admit of no other 
 kind, but because it is destitute of that measure of 
 evidence of this kind which would entitle it to our 
 acceptance ; and our critics who drew a contrary 
 meaning from our words fell into very strange misap- 
 prehensions of statements designed to be plain to all 
 
 — ^viz. : 
 
 Probable evidence presents various degrees of 
 strength. In the lowest form, it warrants only pre- 
 sumption ; in the highest degree, it warrants moral 
 certainty. In the face of the conflicting opinions and 
 difficulties to be shown hereafter, no scholar can make 
 the least pretension that the resurrected system rests 
 on any such basis as moral certainty. Far from it. 
 Many points are destitute of even presumptive evi- 
 dence in their support. 
 
 37. If no "accredited representative" has been 
 heard for seventeen hundred years, we have a right 
 to claim that these probabilities shall be to the 
 point, and sufficiently numerous. The following is 
 Professor Twining's way of putting the case as a 
 Romanist : 
 
 38. " The utmost that can be said is that there must 
 be a reasonable conformity in the indications of the 
 
 ♦ Professor Lane, from whom Mr. Allen says, in a foot-note, that 
 he borrowed the term " Roman method," would little fancy being 
 made responsible for this expression. His friends know that he has 
 always earnestly protested against it, as a " gross misnomer and bar- 
 barism."— Professor Tctlow, in " New England Journal," January 
 20, 1881. 
 
84 
 
 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATDT. 
 
 several probabilities, and that they should be nu- 
 merous enough to free their correspondence from the 
 suspicion of mere coincidence" ("Western," July- 
 August, p. 414). 
 
 39. What we object to is the hasty position taken 
 by some enthusiastic scholars that there has already 
 been made out even the lowest grade of probable evi- 
 dence, even a mere presumption, in favor of the so- 
 called Eoman method, as an entire system, over the 
 Continental or English, which at once decides the 
 question, and all, nolens volens, must logically fall 
 into the ranks of the Roman Latinists and flout all 
 who dare to differ and refuse to enter their air-castles, 
 built or un vindicated, as wanting in logic and in re- 
 gard for moral evidence. Such pretensions are hasty 
 and unwarranted. We affirm boldly and explicitly, 
 and hold ourselves responsible to prove, that while 
 some parts of the resurrected system, but not peculiar 
 to it, present a plausible claim to authenticity, other 
 and essential parts are groundless, perplexing, and im- 
 probable. Instead of the new system being established 
 in the judgment of the classic world, as is urged in 
 certain quarters, its ablest advocates in Europe and 
 America concede that some of its features are wholly 
 unsettled. And yet the men who hold this position 
 are the very men who have the right to recognition 
 as the leading spirits in this reform movement. As 
 in other things, some of those who are most positive 
 in their language are least known as classical scholars. 
 In America, two classes of teachers use the Eoman : 
 *' 1. Purists ; and, 2. Those needing the factitious 
 advertisements of latest methods." These words are 
 quoted from one of the ablest educators in our conn- 
 
 ROMAN METHOD. 
 
 35 
 
 try. A man's scholarship does not depend on his 
 
 phonetics. 
 
 40. We now find ourselves face to face with two 
 or three questions which are entirely distinct : 1. Do 
 we know the true ancient pronunciation of Latm ? 
 2 Shall we adopt the so-called Roman system ? 3. 
 A third question also is pertinent : If the new mode 
 rested on a universally a<5knowledged foundation of 
 moral certainty, should it be adopted by English- 
 speaking people ? Most unhesitatingly and unequivo- 
 cally we answer "No" to all three of these interro- 
 gations. These inquiries put the case so plainly before 
 the reader that it is hoped no one will misunderstand 
 it. In regard to the first inquiry. Do we know the 
 true pronunciation ? the distinguished Latinist of 
 Yale College, Professor Thacher, in his preface to 
 Madvig's Grammar, affirms: "How the Romans 
 themselves pronounced their language is not known, 
 nor can it ever be known. Scholars may not agree in 
 opinion in respect to the extent of this ignorance ; 
 but if it were in itself very limited, pertaining, for in- 
 stance, only to the sound of a single letter, it might 
 with reason be made an objection to any attempt to 
 imitate the original pronunciation of the language ; 
 for the number of distinct sounds is so small m such 
 a language as the Latin or our own, that every one of 
 them runs like a thread through every page, and con- 
 stitutes an important element of it. The difficulties 
 which attend this subject are inherent m it, are such 
 that there is no nation in Europe, the classical schol- 
 ars of which agree in claiming that they can repro- 
 duce the pronunciation of the Rx)man forum, or in 
 attempting to do so." Haldeman, on page 18 of his 
 
86 
 
 THE THREE PRONTJNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 " Affixes to English Words," says, " The Latin alpha- 
 bet is composed of the following twenty letters," nam- 
 ing them, and holding that only nine, B, D, F, H, N, 
 P, Q, T, X, had the same power as in English. But 
 suppose there is one sound, like the diphthong m or a?, 
 running "like a thread through every page," and in 
 a multitude of words, which is not known and about 
 which there is a variety of opinions, will any man 
 affirm that we know the pronunciation of a language 
 when this multitude of words contains an unknown 
 or at least a perplexing and unsettled sound, and yet 
 eleven unknown sounds are conceded ? Let us now 
 notice closely some of the difficulties surrounding the 
 inquiries under discussion : 
 
 41. L Time. — Eoby tell us that it is a "pronun- 
 ciation that has not been uttered by an accredited rep- 
 resentative " for seventeen hundred years. The task 
 before the reformers, therefore, is to thread their way 
 back through the phonetic labyrinth of fifty genera- 
 tions, and trace with accuracy the pedigree of the 
 Latin sounds. Let it be borne clearly in mind that 
 in the so-called Koman mode the phonetic element is 
 absolutely vital; the sounds of the vowels differ in 
 quantity y but never in quality. Haldeman holds that 
 "along vowel (or syllable) is twice the length of a 
 short one, and has the same quality " ("Affixes," p. 
 19). 
 
 42. The difficulty here is seen and felt and con- 
 fessed by scholars whose vast researches in the field 
 of philology in the last twenty-five years have been 
 simply amazing, and have crowned with honor the 
 countries to which they belong. Fortunately, there is 
 in the Hebrew language a ready and vivid illustration 
 
 ROMAN METHOD. 
 
 87 
 
 
 of the obstacles to be overcome in determining the 
 true pronunciation of an ancient language. Jews and 
 Christians, of all names and all shades of belief, have 
 stood as sleepless sentinels over this tongue of the 
 old prophets for over eighteen centuries. But what 
 is true to-day ? There are three distinct systems of 
 pronunciation now current among the Jews them- 
 selves, to say nothing of Gentile nations. These are 
 the Polish, German, and Portuguese methods. Dr. 
 Alexander Meyrowitz, of the University of Missouri, 
 a Jew, and one of the greatest Hebrew and rabbinical 
 scholars now living, lays down these systems in the 
 preface to his Hebrew Grammar. Look at the illus- 
 tration thus afforded : 
 
 43. " The orthodox Jew to this day, in the prac- 
 tice of his ritual, repeats the Hebrew prayers, saluta- 
 tions, and grace at meals, as he has learned them 
 from his fathers in unbroken succession." These 
 words are from the pen of Dr. J. S. Blackwell, Pro- 
 fessor of Oriental and Modem Languages in the Uni- 
 versity of Missouri, and one of the most remarkable 
 linguists of his day. In what is known among schol- 
 ars as JudaBO-German, or Judenteusch, the Hebrew 
 letters are in constant use to-day. 
 
 44. The Jews, over seven millions in number, are 
 found in every nation under heaven — clinging, too, 
 with startling tenacity, to the customs, traditions, 
 sacred books, and language of their fathers. In the 
 fifth century, or at the latest in the seventh, Jewish 
 scholars invented the vowel-points, to avoid " losing 
 the correct pronunciation " (Conant's " Gesenius," p. 
 
 38). 
 
 46. Further still. Alongside the Hebrew stands 
 
88 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 its cognate, the Arabic, a tongue spoken by hundreds 
 of millions for untold generations. The Jews are 
 everywhere, their language lives, their sacred oracles 
 are found among every civilized people ; the cognate 
 Arabic is spoken by perhaps a hundred millions at 
 this hour, the vowel-signs are in every Hebrew gram- 
 mar, the whole Israelitish race stands with eyes fixed 
 on Jerusalem ; and, after all, their ancient pronuncia- 
 tion has been lost. This is a truth recognized by Jew- 
 ish scholars everywhere. And this is true, while the 
 opportunities afforded to preserve the true sounds 
 have been, beyond all comparison, better than in 
 either Latin or Greek. An additional item is, that 
 the rabbinical or unpointed Hebrew has hitherto been 
 an enigma to almost all except born Jews. A calm 
 consideration of the admitted truthfulness of the state- 
 ments just made will make manifest the tremendous 
 hindrance in the way of finding the true pronuncia- 
 tion of Latin. There is one word in the Hebrew of 
 peculiar interest. It is the one we call Jehovah. Put 
 this word in Hebrew characters, and no Jew living 
 can tell how it was pronounced ; and yet the anatomy 
 of the word, as it stands before us, is complete : the 
 phonetic element is forever lost. So the Latin words 
 are before us in all their reality, but what Daniel will 
 imfold the phonetic elements that have slept in silence 
 for ages beneath those signs ? 
 
 46. The late Professor S. S. Haldeman, in his 
 searching criticism of a previous edition of this work, 
 in speaking of the Hebrew, says : " A point is made 
 upon Hebrew as pronounst by Poles, Germans, and 
 Portuguese — all Europeans unused to Semitic sounds 
 in the vernacular. But I would rather trust those 
 
 ROMAN METHOD. 
 
 89 
 
 i 
 
 
 Jewish Algerians of Paris, with Arabic signs to their 
 shops, for altho, in their Arabic vernacular they con- 
 found dotted ssad and dotted tta (letters 15th and 
 17th), also t and th, yet they ar competent to giv the 
 sounds of aleph (it occurs in the Wyandot pronuncia- 
 tion of N i a^a r a), gimel, and ain, upon which much 
 of Seme tic filologi rests." 
 
 47. A more complete and able reply to this criti- 
 cism could not be penned than that which we now 
 quote from our colleague and friend Professor Black- 
 well, to whom reference has already been made, whose 
 ability as a Hebraist is well known both in Europe 
 
 and America. 
 
 48. " The position that the Jews wherever found, 
 whether in Europe, America, or Asia, would be the 
 conservators of a pronunciation most nearly like the 
 ancient, appears to me to be a sound one. If an 
 Italian, a German, or a Frenchman emigrates to 
 America, becomes naturalized, begets a family of 
 children, and teaches his own mother-tongue to that 
 family of children, I can see nothing in the character 
 of the child's new surroundings to cause him to devi- 
 ate from his parent's pronunciation and to speak his 
 father's language in the family with a barbarous pro- 
 nunciation. It would be a new dictum in philology 
 to lay down that a new sky made it impossible for one 
 to pronounce one's father's tongue— a dictum contra- 
 dicted by the experience of those who speak English, 
 German, French, or Arabic, under any and all con- 
 ditions. Now, the Jews who emigrated to the Span- 
 ish Peninsula were exiles from Jerusalem, and those 
 who settled in Germany and Poland were emigrants 
 from the northern parts of Palestine (' Languages/ 
 
40 
 
 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 in ^British Encyclopaedia'). There existed an origi- 
 nal difference between the pronunciation of the me- 
 tropolis and that of Galilee. The mispronunciation 
 of their northern neighbors was a constant source of 
 amusement to the wags of the metropolis. 
 
 49. ** The purer pronunciation of the Spanish 
 Jews is acknowledged by the German Jews them- 
 selves (see Mannheimer's * Hebrew Grammar'). The 
 Jews claim that there neyer was a time when the 
 sacred language of the Temple ceased to be taught in 
 the schools of Judea, and afterward in parts of Eu- 
 rope. From the Babylonish captivity, when hardly a 
 tithe of the people was deported, until the Maccabees, 
 and under the different rules of Persians, Greeks, 
 Egyptians, Syrians, and Romans, the studies in the 
 law were not interrupted. Education was compul- 
 sory. * The masters were martyred time after time, 
 the academies were razed- to the ground, the practi- 
 cal and the theoretical occupation with the law was 
 proscribed on pain of death — yet in no instance is 
 the chain of the living tradition broken ' (Deutsch's 
 * Literary Remains,' p. 21). The earlier and the later 
 Jews carried out into actual practice the sayings of 
 Simon the Less, in the Mishna, that at five years the 
 boy must study Scripture, at ten Mishna, at thirteen 
 the Commandments, at fifteen the Talmud. The word 
 study here means to learn by heart (cf. Talmud of 
 Babylon, Shabbath, 63 a). Josephus says that at four- 
 teen he himself was often consulted by the high-priests, 
 so thorough was his knowledge of the law (' Life,' 2). 
 The chief duty of the schools was to make a ' hedge 
 to the law,' and, in order to study it alone, ho was de- 
 clared anathema who should teach his sons Greek let- 
 
 BOMAN METHOD. 
 
 41 
 
 r 
 
 
 I 
 
 ters (Talmud, Baba Kama, 82, 2 ; Sota, 49, 2). Rabbi 
 Levi * (Sota, 21, 2) was indignant at hearing a prayer 
 in Greek at Caesarea. The letters of the Biblical text 
 were counted, every feature of the written and spoken 
 word reviewed under the pressure of but one fear — 
 i, e., that of innovation or change. 
 
 60. " The pronunciation of a language under cir- 
 cumstances here briefly and imperfectly stated, is 
 more likely to have the characteristics of its early 
 enunciation than under any other circumstances I can 
 imagine. If it be urged that the Italians should have, 
 by the same argument, the ancient Roman pronuncia- 
 tion, I reply that the cases thus compared are not 
 parallel. The Italians were conquered and recon- 
 quered again and again by various barbarous hordes, 
 and they fused with their masters. The Jews would 
 have died the most painful of deaths rather than even 
 eat with a man who knew not the law. They never 
 did mingle and never have mingled with the Gentiles. 
 A parallel instance of survival of language may be 
 found in the Sanskrit. In both cases we have a holy 
 tongue, hence to be especially preserved. Now, the 
 Sanskrit is pronounced by the nations of Europe after 
 the mouths of the pandits of to-day, as nearly as 
 may be, with some vowel differences, and the English 
 have endeavored carefully to ascertain the sounds, as 
 the Brahmans make them, of the aspirated consonants, 
 the palatals, the Unguals, and the anusvdra. With- 
 out the assistance of these native helpers, we should 
 have hardly had a start in the pronunciation of that 
 tongue, and even the after-helps of the Frdtisdkhyas 
 
 * Jerusalem Talmud. 
 
42 THE THREE PROXUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 could have settled nothing as to the sounds of the so- 
 called * cerebrals.' So the Jews are the only purvey- 
 ors of the Hebrew pronunciation founded on a perfect 
 phonetic system. If we reject their pronunciation of 
 Hebrew, we have no recourse but to draw conclu- 
 sions from the living and unchanging Arabic of to- 
 day. Professor Haldeman does this for aleph, gimel, 
 and at/in, and thus pays unconscious tribute to the 
 unweakened Semitic instinct, so strong among the 
 Jews, to preserve what has been handed down. Pro- 
 fessor Haldeman's point as to the merging of these 
 sounds in Hebrew is weak. They had become con- 
 fused when Hebrew was a spoken language before the 
 captivity ; and, moreover, the Arab of Algiers, to 
 whom he refers, pronounces ayin differently from the 
 Bedouin of the desert. The amplitude of Semitic 
 change is very small. The Semitic languages are in- 
 organic. 
 
 61. ** The language of the Koran, neither more 
 nor less, with all its niceties, inflections, and desi- 
 nences — not one lost or slurred over — is spoken to-day 
 in Central and Eastern Arabia (Palgrave, p. 63). 
 
 52. *' Professor Haldeman is inconsistent with 
 himself. While implying that Jews are unsafe guides 
 in pronouncing their own dead tongue, the professor 
 wishes to prove the ancient pronunciation of Caesar 
 by appealing to the modem Welsh Caisar and the 
 German Kaiser. It would be as good an argument 
 to say that we pronounce John " Short, ^* because it is 
 so commonly pronounced by untutored Germans. 
 
 63. "And so, isolated instances are picked out 
 from Italian and Wallachian with the hard sound of 
 C to show that the Bomans so pronounced it, but the 
 
 I 
 
 ROMAN METHOD. 
 
 43 
 
 t 
 
 French, Portuguese, Spanish, and usual Italian sound 
 of C go for nothing in his argument It would bo 
 the same as to say that because we sometimes pro- 
 nounce g as /, therefore the Goths so pronounced it, 
 notwithstanding the wide diversity of its pronuncia- 
 tion in English, Dutch, Platt-Deutsch, and Danish. 
 I am not arguing against the Roman method, because 
 I believe in it, but I protest against such unscientific 
 and childish proofs. It looks like special pleading, 
 and indifference to truth for its own sake. 
 
 64, " I prefer to think, in view of all the facts, 
 which I might elaborate easily and arrange in logical 
 order and sequence if, instead of the dashing hurry of 
 the present, time were possible to me, that the Jews, 
 even if they4o live in Europe, are not to be sneered 
 at for having dared to hand down a Hebrew pro- 
 nunciation with the best claim to preference." 
 
 65. Unquestionably, therefore, the European Jews 
 are our best authority for the pronunciation of their 
 sacred tongue, and yet there are among them three 
 distinct pronunciations. If, with such tremendous 
 advantages in favor of the preservation of the MCient 
 pronunciation, the Jews have lost it, what shall be 
 said of the Latin, in which no such favorable condi- 
 tions have ever existed ? 
 
 66 3 The Manifest Difficulties of ikvent- 
 ING A Consistent Phonetic System, even theo- 
 EETicALLT.-No proof of this is needed other than 
 an ordinary acquaintance with the Spelling-Reform 
 Association in America. It may be answered that the 
 purpose of this association is to reform orthography, 
 lot orthoepy. But, in aU their schemes of reform, the 
 essential element in the ideal alphabet is that each 
 
44 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 elementary sound Bhould have its own nnyarying 
 sign, and each sign its own unvarying sound. In all 
 purely phonetic spelling, there is a yital and indissolu- 
 ble connection between the sound and its sign. For 
 over a quarter of a century some of our ablest scholars 
 have given much time and great learning to the prep- 
 aration of such an alphabet. What is the result ? No 
 such alphabet has been agreed on, and there are three 
 ** schemes of reform," each of which finds able advo- 
 cates : 1. Some favor the use of *'new signs" alto- 
 gether; 2. Others, the Roman "letters with Roman 
 values" ; 3. Others still insist on "reform according 
 to English analogies." (See March's address before 
 the International Convention for the Amendment of 
 Orthography, Philadelphia, 1876.) 
 
 67. Professor March says : " For my part, I do not 
 regard it as a wild vision to imagine such an alphabet 
 in the future. But it is obvious that any such system 
 must win its way very slowly, first into co-ordinate 
 use with the Roman alphabet, and, after a struggle 
 of many generations, to its displacement ; so that the 
 improvement of our present alphabet is still to be de- 
 sired while it lasts." This quotation from this dis- 
 tinguished scholar hints at existing obstacles, and 
 indicates his opinion as to the best way of amending 
 English orthography. 
 
 68. Look, again, at the various systems of steno- 
 graphic signs. Those of Mr. Pitman, Bishop Wilkins, 
 and Mr. Bell, are best known. Nobody claims that 
 they are alike. Obviously, they are remarkably un- 
 like, and yet all three are labored, prolonged, and 
 learned attempts to set forth by signs the sounds of 
 our own English. But take the system of Mr. Pit- 
 
 ROMAN METHOD. 
 
 45 
 
 man, which has undergone such radical changes in 
 a quarter of a century that those, I am told, who 
 learned it then, are at sea in the use of the same sys- 
 tem as now taught, and are reduced to the necessity 
 of acquiring it in order to use it. Let any one follow 
 the records of the Spelling Reform, and note the re- 
 sults year by year, let him examine the development 
 of the systems of stenography and their present con- 
 dition, and he will be at no loss to find difficulties in 
 the domain of phonetics as applied to a living language. 
 69. But if the obstacles have proved so far insur- 
 mountable in a living language, and that, too, our 
 own, who can affirm with positiveness, or consistency 
 even, that, leaping over centuries, he has discovered 
 the genuine system of phonetics slumbering in words 
 uttered in the " Eternal City," in her glory ? The 
 question just put is at least full of suggestions. 
 
 60. Brambach is the highest authority extant on 
 Latin orthography. He, in his introduction to Latin 
 orthography, lays down these propositions : 1. The 
 orthography of the Silver Age, when at its highest 
 form-development, is the best model of modem La- 
 tinity. 2. Our Latin forms have been based on this 
 orthography by older grammarians ; to think of set- 
 ting up any other as the standard would be a useless 
 experiment. 3. We know of no earlier period of the 
 Latin tongue so precise in the matter of forms as that 
 which begins with Nero (Nero reigned from 54 to 68 
 A. D.). 4. The form of the language from Nero to 
 Adrian (68-117 A. D.) really exhibits its fullest pho- 
 netic development (Brambach's "Orthography," p. 
 12) . Now let it be granted that the Latin spelling 
 was phonetic, and then examine the case presented. 
 
46 
 
 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 ROMAN METHOD. 
 
 47 
 
 1. The age of form-deyelopment is after the Golden 
 Age, after all the gi-eat writers in common use, ex- 
 cept Tacitus. 2. Our Latin orthography is based on 
 a post- Augustan age. 3. The period of fullest pho- 
 netic deyelopment was between Nero and Adrian (68- 
 117). Necessarily, therefore, we have the best orthog- 
 raphy from 64 to 117 A. D., and of course the best 
 exhibition of the phonetics of the Romans. But this 
 very orthography has caused no little trouble, and the 
 matter is not yet settled, and consequently the pho- 
 netics depending on the spelling can not possibly be 
 determined. What becomes of Cicero, when such 
 changes were made in orthography in a hundred 
 years ? Even if we had the spelling and phonetics of 
 the post^ Augustan age definitely fixed, there may be 
 a serious barrier still between us and the phonetics of 
 the Golden Age. 
 
 61. Brambach says, "At the beginning of this 
 period (100 B. c), the Latin language, as is frequently 
 evidenced by the texts of these authors, was in pro- 
 cess of a rapid development in respect to forms." 
 With a view to distinguish the usage of these writers 
 in the matter of pronunciation and orthography, we 
 may divide them into three groups. 
 
 Taking the whole case as it lies before us, especial- 
 ly in view of the rapid changes in spelling and neces- 
 sarily in the phonetics of words, as indicated above, 
 we can see at a glance that it is no easy matter to de- 
 cide how Cicero, Caesar, and Horace pronounced Latin. 
 
 3. Notice, too, the difficulty of learning a foreign 
 LANGUAGE Under the most favorable circumstances, 
 so as to speak it accurately. Especially mastering the 
 phonetics of any tongue not our own is beset with 
 
 It 
 
 difficulties peculiarly hard to overcome, and which 
 seldom, if ever, are overcome by those who have 
 reached adult years, even when they hear the lan- 
 guage spoken every day for almost a lifetime. Take 
 the French as an illustration. Look at the alphabet 
 It is the Koman alphabet and ours too. The sign is 
 perfectly familiar. The sounds of some of these signs 
 may be uttered in the ear hundreds of times with the 
 keenest accuracy, and yet our lips refuse to produce 
 what we hear. The fact about which we now speak 
 is so notorious that in France it is almost impossible to 
 find any foreigner who speaks the French sans accent 
 until, it may be, after the living teacher has drilled 
 him and French politeness has trailed him for years. 
 
 62. Professor Haldeman and Professor W. G. Rich- 
 ardson tell us that our facilities for learning the true 
 pronunciation of the ancient Latin are equal to those 
 we have for learning the French in the use of books 
 without a living teacher. Grant it. 
 
 63. But, before any argument is founded on this 
 statement, let some American or Englishman be found 
 who, with books alone, has learned to produce with 
 accuracy and clearness, even to the standard of re- 
 spectability, the phonetics of the modern French. 
 Such a thing, it is safe to affirm, never happened. 
 Where is the scholar who has accomplished this with- 
 out the French people around him and without a mas- 
 ter ? Americans may form theories in their studies, 
 as to French sounds, from books ; but the experience 
 of one week in Paris will reduce them to the sober 
 conviction that they must go to work, or cease for- 
 ever all their ridiculous attempts to speak the living 
 French. The trouble is, they have never known the 
 
48 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 real sounds of the language, and with books alone 
 they never will know them. We candidly confess, 
 therefore, that the position taken by the distinguished 
 scholars named above, in regard to one of the Ro- 
 mance tongues, goes very far toward convincing us 
 that finding the true pronunciation of the Latin, as 
 things now are, is an impossibility. The Latin is to 
 us, not only a foreign but a dead language — a fact 
 that deserves to be borne in mind in the discussion of 
 the question, "Do we know how the Romans pro- 
 nounced Latin ? " 
 
 64. Professor Guyot,* of Princeton, and Dr. Mey- 
 rowitz, of the University of Missouri, are two of the 
 most able scholars in America, one a Frenchman and 
 the other a German. With the profoundest respect 
 for these scholars, we must be permitted to write what 
 all personally acquainted with these gentlemen know 
 -—viz., that neither of them can utter the English 
 sounds to perfection, though they have had years of 
 experience in public life in the land of their adoption. 
 
 65. Does any one suppose that, either by word or 
 book, these men, with all their vast researches, could 
 lay down a scheme of English phonetics that would 
 properly represent our sounds to other nations ? We 
 venture that neither of them would feel willing to 
 undertake the task. This, again, most powerfully 
 emphasizes the fact that acquiring the sounds of a 
 language, under circumstances favorable to the ut- 
 most, is attended with the most serious difficulties. 
 
 66. Professor Blackwell calls attention to a mis- 
 pronunciation among the Galilean Jews that is ex- 
 
 ROMAN METHOD. 
 
 49 
 
 Deceased since the second edition was published. 
 
 ceedingly interesting. When, in ancient times, the 
 Galilean wished to purchase in the market ton, he con- 
 fused the gutturals and could not make the trader un- 
 derstand whether he wanted •»?, (wool), "Tfth (wine), 
 *vfii) (a lamb), or "iaDn(an ass). Note the fact that this 
 difficulty was experienced by men who were speaking 
 their own language. 
 
 67. 4. It may not be amiss to bestow a moment's 
 time on the Greek, a language almost universally 
 cited by Roman Latinists, in arriving at the power of 
 the Roman letters. Here we are liable to be misled 
 by the fact that the Greek is a living language. Many 
 unconsciously impose on themselves and others by 
 thinking that, when they compare Latin and Greek 
 letters, one term of the comparison is known. This 
 is a mistake. We have lost the ancient pronuncia- 
 tion of the Greek, as well as the Latin. There are 
 three pronunciations of Greek in use — the English, 
 the modem Greek or Reuchlinian, and the Erasmian, 
 called also the Continental. Of the second method, 
 the modern Greek or Reuchlinian, Professor Boise, 
 in his report to the Bureau of Education, says that, 
 while advocated by some very eminent men, it has 
 been adopted by very few scholars. 
 
 68. When c and g are compared with the corre- 
 sponding letters in Greek, we are comparing things 
 to us unknown, and surely all inferences will be un- 
 reliable. C and g are two letters about which there 
 is as little dispute, perhaps, as any two that could be 
 cited from the two cognate tongues. No two nations 
 have ever had the same system of phonetics. When 
 the Roman Latinist, in his transliteration, puts Latin 
 into Greek letters, or vice versa, there may be a visual 
 
 8 
 
 I 
 
50 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 correspondence, and at the same moment he may 
 make a failure in the phonetic element which is the 
 main point of inquiry. 
 
 69. Modem Greek differs from the ancient in mat- 
 ter as well as in forms, and the pronunciation may 
 differ as widely as the matter and the forms of the 
 modem tongue. We have it on the highest authority 
 that Sophocles, for many years Professor of Greek 
 in Harvard University, held that the modern Greek 
 was of comparatively little service in mastering the 
 ancient, as we have it in Thucydides, Xenophon, aod 
 Demosthenes. It adds greatly to the weight of his 
 testimony when we recall the fact that Sophocles him- 
 self was a modem Greek, with a soul that thrilled with 
 emotion at the associations that hang around the land 
 of his fathers. We fix attention on the fact that the 
 phonetic system of the old Greeks is not known, that 
 the modem does not relieve us of the difficulty, and 
 that Latin orthoepy can not be settled by reference 
 to a system that has been, at least in large part, con- 
 fessedly lost for ages. 
 
 70. There is another fact that may tend to strength- 
 en " right reason " on this point. Erasmus, a scholar 
 of splendid genius and most refined taste, published 
 at Basle, in the year 1528, his famous dialogue en- 
 titled "De recta Latini, GrsBcique sermonis pronun- 
 tiatione." The text on which that masterly review 
 was based, from beginning to end, was, **Nunc tota 
 fere pronuntiatio depravata est tam apud Graecos, 
 quam apud Latinos." Of this text, John Stuart 
 Blackie, Professor of Greek in the University of Edin- 
 burgh, Scotland, one of the most distinguished schol- 
 ars now living, says : " This is proved in ^ very ex- 
 
 ROMAN METHOD. 
 
 61 
 
 haustive style in an argument extending to above two 
 hundred pages. The powers of the different letters 
 are critically discussed, and the relation of accent 
 and quantity illustrated both by leamed rules and by 
 living examples. With regard to the vowel-sounds, 
 which is the first point handled, he had an easy task 
 to prove that the slender sound, the characteristic of 
 the Byzantine Greeks, could not have been the origi- 
 nal sound of so many distinct vowels and diphthongs. 
 Signs of different vowels are certainly not made origi- 
 nally to confound, but to distinguish. The confu- 
 sion in this case is always of a later birth. What 
 Erasmus, however, failed in here, and what, from 
 want of materials, he could not but fail in, was to 
 show at what period this confusion commenced ; . . . 
 and the result was that, by this assault of Erasmus, 
 the faith of scholars in the orthoepic traditions of the 
 Byzantine elders was shaken in all the most leamed 
 countries of Europe, and every nation set up vocaliz- 
 ing Greek according to what seemed good in its own 
 eyes. Hence the motley babblement of Greek which 
 now prevails."* 
 
 71. From the extracts just made, two proposi- 
 tions are evident : 1. That Erasmus in his day did 
 not believe that the Byzantine Greeks possessed the 
 true ancient pronunciation ; 2. That when Professor 
 Blackie speaks of the ^'motley babblement of Greek 
 which now prevails,^' flowing from the influence of 
 Erasmus, he does not indorse the mode of pronounc- 
 ing Greek now common in America and on the Con- 
 tinent 
 
 ♦ Blackie*8 " Horae Hellenicae," p. 850, London, 1874. 
 
52 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 72. The modem Greek pronunciation was taught 
 in Germany by the great theologian Reuchlin, and in 
 his day (1455-1522) was used whereyer Greek was 
 studied. The correctness of the modem Greek pro- 
 nunciation was called in question by Erasmus in his 
 dialogue between a lion and a bear, as already stated, 
 in the year 1528. What is the condition of things 
 now in America ? Two years ago, a large number of 
 letters was collected by General Eaton, Commissioner 
 of Education, and placed in the hands of Dr. James 
 R. Boise, Professor of Greek, Chicago. Dr. Boise ex- 
 amined one hundred and twenty-five letters to ascer- 
 tain the system used by American scholars, and the 
 result was as follows : Two professors, out of the 
 whole number, used the modem Greek mode ; eight- 
 een teach the English system ; four teach a system 
 partly English and partly Continental ; and one hun- 
 dred and one the Erasmian method.* Thus, Erasmus 
 has triumphed, but with how much consistency and 
 uniformity let the *' motley babblement " of Professor 
 Blackie decide. 
 
 73. We are now forced to the conclusion that the 
 ancient pronunciation of Greek, as held by Sophocles, 
 gives us very little assistance. 
 
 " But the most important consideration is that the 
 language of the educated Greeks is not the traditional 
 language of the Greek nation, for in its present form 
 it had no existence a century ago. The modem Greek, 
 properly so called, is in reality the legitimate offspring 
 of the Byzantine Greek, the last and most cormpt 
 stage of the common Attic, and, however ancient some 
 
 "Report of Commissioner of Education for 18'r6-»7'7," p. 480. 
 
 ROMAN METHOD. 
 
 53 
 
 of its peculiarities may be, its chief characteristics can 
 not be critically traced farther back than the times 
 of Theodorus Ptochoprodromus (a. d. 1150), the first 
 Eomaic author of whom we have any definite ac- 
 counts. The modern method began to attract the 
 attention of American scholars upward of thirty years 
 ago. Much has been written in its favor. In general, 
 however, it has been treated with contempt or in- 
 difference, not, as one might hastily suppose, because 
 its sounds are meager and effeminate, nor because it 
 is not the pronunciation of at least four millions of 
 Greeks scattered all over the East, but simply because 
 its defenders have failed to establish its claims to clas- 
 sical antiquity." * 
 
 74. Now, even at the risk of a slight repetition, 
 we would fix attention on the fact that the modem 
 Greeks do not possess the true ancient pronunciation, 
 according to Sophocles, himself a modem Greek ; 
 again, that, on the authority of Professors Blackie, 
 Kendrick, and others, the Erasmian is not the classic 
 pronunciation ; and lastly, that, as shown from the 
 following quotation from Sophocles, the tme ancient 
 pronunciation is not known and can not be known, 
 and that too from the nature of the case : 
 
 76. " It is conceded that the refinements of the 
 classical pronunciation can not be determined with 
 precision, partly because they are not minutely de- 
 scribed by ancient grammarians, but chiefly because 
 the vanishing or obscure sounds of all languages are 
 always perplexing to foreigners. And it must not be 
 forgotten that all modem nations are, with respect to 
 
 Sophocles. 
 
54 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 the ancients, foreigners " (Sophocles's " Alphabet and 
 Pronunciation," pp. 7, 8, 10). 
 
 76. " Bullions's Greek Grammar " by Kendrick, an 
 ardent advocate of the Erasmian system, virtually 
 yields the point that we do not know the ancient pro- 
 nunciation. On page 4 occurs the following passage : 
 
 77. "The ancient pronunciation of the Greek 
 vowels and diphthongs can not now be determined 
 with certainty in all cases. The knowledge we have 
 of it is derived chiefly from Greek words that appear 
 in Latin, and Latin words that appear in Greek, from 
 imitation of natural sounds, as the bleating of sheep 
 or the barking of the dog ; from a play upon words, 
 and other similar hints. Valuable aid may be derived 
 from the pronunciation of the modem Greek, and a 
 study of the euphonic laws which have produced it. 
 
 78. "If uniformity in the pronunciation of the 
 Greek is to be aimed at — and it is certainly desir- 
 able that it should — the Erasmian method, among all 
 others now in use, seems entitled to preference, on 
 account of its simplicity and perspicuity, and as hav- 
 ing largely in its favor the authority of the ancients. 
 It is the pronunciation mainly prevalent in Europe, 
 and to a considerable extent in America." 
 
 79. It is well known by scholars that Sophocles, 
 Packard, Curtius, and Kuhner, not to mention others, 
 do not yet agree as to the sounds of some of the diph- 
 thongs. Erasmus never claimed anything more than 
 that the system indicated in the dialogue was an ap- 
 proximation to the ancient pronunciation. 
 
 80. And, after all, the reformers of Latin pro- 
 nunciation, who wage a war of extermination on 
 nearly every page, parade their transliterations of 
 
 ROMAN METHOD. 
 
 65 
 
 Latin into Greek and Greek into Latin. We repeat 
 that, when they compare Latin and Greek letters, they 
 are comparing two unknown terms. If they mean 
 modern Greek, that has laid aside, as almost univer- 
 sally conceded, its claims to antiquity ever since the 
 days of Reuchlin. If they mean ancient Greek, then 
 we answer that its pronunciation has beep lost, that 
 the most persistent defenders of the Continental mode 
 only claim for it an approximation, and that this ap- 
 proximation hafi as many phases as the so-called Con- 
 tinental pronunciation of Latin— i. e., every nation 
 
 has its own phase. 
 
 81. An advocate for the new mode of pronouncmg 
 Latin says, " And if it could be proved that we are 
 in ignorance in regard to half of the sounds of the 
 Greek alphabet, that would not forbid us to use for 
 purpose of transliteration the other half about which 
 we do know something." The answer has been given, 
 but a short, incisive, and decisive reply is not far to 
 seek. Erasmus (see section 70) says that the pronun- 
 ciation of Greek in his day was almost aa corrupt as 
 that of the Latin ; and Professor Blackie, a splendid 
 Grecian, affirms that he proved it And so did aU 
 Europe believe. It is difficult to illustrate one un- 
 known quantity by another. 
 
 82. 5. Another fact, pretty weU established, is 
 worthy of attention. There were differences among 
 the Romans in their pronunciation of their own lan- 
 guage. This was true in the greatest purity of the 
 Golden Age. There was the refined utterance in the 
 capital ; the " vox rustica," in which certain of the 
 vowels seemed to lose their difference of sound ; an- 
 other pronunciation peculiar to eaxUer days, and used 
 
66 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 by a great number of the people ; foreigners came, 
 whose influence tended to yitiate the pronunciation ; 
 the best-educated circles differed about the quantity 
 of many words, and their quantity of course regulated 
 their spoken language ; and finally, learned men have 
 reasons for insisting that there were differences and 
 defects in the pronunciation of Caesar and of Cicero. 
 
 83. In an able article before the Philological As- 
 sociation in July, 1876, Professor Peck, of Cornell 
 University, who adopts the Roman mode, used this 
 language in substance. In conclusion, the speaker 
 urged that, as the best native speakers of Latin dif- 
 fered among themselves in theory and practice, but 
 labored harmoniously and to the end to come nearer 
 to the ideal pronunciation, so there is no ground for 
 discouragement or for detraction, if those who would 
 restore the ancient pronunciation still differ in many 
 points, and perhaps in all points fall below the true 
 standard. 
 
 84. The preceding paragraphs have been employed 
 in substance by Roman Latinists, to show that their 
 differences were not so much to be wondered at, be- 
 cause the Romans themselves differed in some im- 
 portant particulars. The meaning is not that Caesar, 
 Cicero, and others did not understand how to pro- 
 nounce their vernacular, but the meaning is that 
 the differences among the Romans themselves, even 
 among their most learned men, make it very diflacult 
 for people in our day to find out what the true pro- 
 nunciation was on the part of any of them. No schol- 
 ars are more aware of the state of facts under consid- 
 eration than many of those who have written in favor 
 of the so-called Roman method. 
 
 ROMAN METHOD. 
 
 67 
 
 86. When Latinists, who insist on the reformed 
 system, differ among themselves on so many points, 
 both in theory and practice, and justify their dif- 
 ferences by asserting that the Latins differed among 
 themselves — a thing admitted — the question may be 
 gravely asked whether or not Corssen, Roby, and 
 others have really ever resurrected the ancient pro- 
 nunciation at all. At any rate, does not such a con- 
 dition of things somewhat palliate the offense of those 
 who still prefer to employ what may be termed an 
 *^ old-fashioned" and settled pronunciation? Fur- 
 ther, Brambach's testimony, just under this head, is 
 invaluable : 
 
 86. " With a view to distinguish the usage of these 
 writers in the matter of pronunciation and orthogra- 
 phy, we may divide them into three groups. 
 
 87. "To the first and oldest group belong Cicero, 
 Caesar, and Sallust. Of these, Sallust has a marked 
 fondness for long-established forms, while Caesar lends 
 a very ready ear to the pronunciation just coming into 
 fashion, and, in so far as his philological studies allow 
 it to seem advisable, forwards a general acceptance of 
 the same through his writings. Cicero takes a mid- 
 dle course, by seeking not so much to carry through 
 his own particular notions about the correct system of 
 phonetic spelling, as by accepting the actually received 
 usage in regard to pronunciation and orthography, 
 and by making concessions to it contrary to his own 
 convictions. 
 
 88. " Livy, Virgil, Horace, and Ovid constitute a 
 second group. Livy is no innovator in the matter of 
 spelling and pronunciation. In his simple narrative 
 he clings to the prevailing orthography of his con- 
 
»U«.- "Lm-JBU*! 
 
 68 
 
 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 temporaries, but, as his whole heart is with the past, 
 he has the knack, when treating of grave and venera- 
 ble matters of religion and state, of giving an antique 
 coloring to his narrative, by using words aptly select- 
 ed, whether we regard the words in themselves or 
 their archaic spelling. The same is true of Virgil. 
 
 89. ** On the other hand, Horace and Ovid, gladly 
 turning to the fresh life of the present, prefer to avail 
 themselves of the modes of speech just coming into 
 vogue. Horace, indeed, puts himself into a conscious 
 antagonism to the old-fashioned poetry of the past. 
 
 90. "To the third group belong Quintilian, Cur- 
 tius, and Tacitus. These wrote in a time when the in- 
 novations which had forced their way in since Caesar's 
 day had attained general recognition" (Brambach's 
 " Orthography," pp. 9-11). 
 
 91. This significant passage must be full of sug- 
 gestions to all Latinists, whatever view they may take 
 as to pronunciation. It proves, too, that the differ- 
 ences in pronunciation among the Romans, before 
 mentioned, are not mere matters of fancy in the brains 
 of some English Latinists. 
 
 SPECIMEN 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ARGUMENTS USED 11?^ BEHALF OF THE 
 REFORMED MODE. 
 
 92. How and in what degree these diflBculties, 
 some of which have been mentioned in Chapter lU, 
 have been overcome, and that others, who may not 
 have the means at hand for examination, may see the 
 arguments used by the new " Romans," we here give 
 verbatim extracts from their own works on the sub- 
 ject. 
 
 93. Professor W. H. Klapp, M. D., of Philadel- 
 phia, published last year (1878) "a compend* of 
 what grammarians say on the subject, and the argu- 
 ments used by writers of the present day ... in 
 favor of the phonetic method of pronouncing Latin." 
 Here are his condensed arguments to prove that c was 
 always hard, as k in " kitty. ^* 
 
 94. 1. A large number of forms occur in which 
 the letter following c is changed ; now, if the sound 
 of the c changed too, it would form such a differently 
 sounding word, that no one, not even a poet with all 
 the license allowed him, would dare to use it. For 
 
 * This compend b from the ablest writers in both Europe and 
 America. For fullest discussion, see Corssen and Roby. 
 
 « 
 
 / 
 
 I • * 
 
 1 
 
60 
 
 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 instance, Virgil has "replictus" for ^'replicitus.'* 
 Again, words occur where the final e has been omit- 
 ted, which, if the c had two sounds, would change it 
 from an « to a ^, as in **dic" for "dice," "due" for 
 "duce," "fac" for "face," etc. Then, again, the c 
 would have had to change its sound when ai became 
 ae, as in Kailius, afterward written Caelius. We have 
 adverbs where a letter was dropped out, where, if c 
 had two sounds, it must necessarily have been changed, 
 as in "audacter " for " audaciter." This would have 
 taken place, too, in an enormously large number of 
 other words — e. g., difficulter and difficile, capio and 
 cepi, cano and cecini, acer and acris, locus and loci^ 
 lacus and loci, with the two datives lacibus and lacvr- 
 bus, piscis and piscosus, etc. 
 
 96. 2. Quintilian says (i, 7, 10) : " K quidem in 
 nuUis verbis utendum puto, nisi quae significat, etiam 
 ut sola ponatur. Hoc eo non omisi, quod quidam 
 eam, quotiens A sequatur, necessariam credunt, cum 
 sit C littera, quae ad omnes vocales vim suam perfe- 
 rat." K, we know, was used in certain words, as 
 Elalends, Karthago, etc. Now there was a very ani- 
 mated discussion among grammarians in Quintilian's 
 time as to whether the Koman alphabet needed more 
 letters or already had too many. Vide " Quintilian," 
 i, 4, 7-9. He there instances k and q. 
 
 96, Terent. Maurus (about 300 a. d.) speaks also 
 about these letters, and says that h and q are both use- 
 less, since k, q, or c can be used after any vowel with 
 the same sound (vss. 204-209). I quote merely the 
 last line, "refert nihilum, k prior an q siet an c." 
 Again, Priscian (i, page 12) says, '* k enim et q, quam- 
 vis figura et nomine videantur aliquam habere diffe- 
 
 
 ARGUMENTS FOR THE REFORMED MODE. 61 
 
 rentiam, cum c tamen eadem tarn in sono vocum quam 
 in metio potestatem continent." 
 
 97. 3. In transcribing Greek and Latin words 
 kappa is always written for c, and vice versa; where- 
 as, in some words, as Cicero, for instance, would have 
 been mucli nearer the sound if c had been pronounced 
 soft ; or in many instances could have been used as in 
 the above example of Cicero. 
 
 98. 4. The argument against the pronunciation of 
 c like k, that apparently has the most force, is the 
 confusion in words that end in -do and -Ho ; but this, 
 too, really is groundless, at least for high Latin, be- 
 cause the confusion was not one of sound, but of the 
 different suffixes -cio, -tio ; and this confusion was of 
 a late date. The earliest example we have of -tio for 
 -cio waa in A. d. 192-211 (Corssen, i, 50-67), and 
 there are only seven instances of -ci for -ti in inscrip- 
 tions before the seventh century of our era (Roby's 
 " Latin Grammar," p. 62). 
 
 99. Mommsen, in his notes on Livy, p. 175, says, 
 " Nunquam in libro Veronensi commutatas reperies 
 litterafl c et t, quod qui ante septimum saeculum ob- 
 tinuisse sibi persuadent, ne ii vehementer errant.'* 
 Of these seven inscriptions, three are given by col- 
 lectors who lived when the false spelling had become 
 usual ; one is from a notoriously bad speller ; another 
 is from an inscription containing many misspelled 
 words, and the remaining two are from an African 
 inscription of about A. d. 230. And even if these last 
 two be rightly copied, it is absurd to lay down a rule 
 for the spelling or pronunciation of a word in Cicero's 
 time, from the spelling of the same word in a time 
 when Latin had fallen, and could hardly even be 
 
 V 
 
62 
 
 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OP LATIN. 
 
 called classical ! But eyen supposing this confusion 
 existed, does it really prove anything ? We have ex- 
 amples in many languages where t and k are ha- 
 bitually confounded ; one will suffice : the Canadian 
 French always say mekier and moilcie for mUier and 
 moitie, 
 
 100. The following condensed argument for ^ hard 
 is also from Dr. Klapp : " G^ always hard, as ^ in 
 'give:'' 
 
 1. The vowel following g is continually changed, 
 without any evidence on the part of the grammarians 
 of a desire to change the sound of the ^— e. g., ''ma- 
 lignus" for "maligenus," "gigno" for "gigeno," 
 " tegmen " for " tegimen," etc. 
 
 2. In transcribing from Latin to Greek, and vice 
 versa, g is always represented by y, and y by g, 
 
 3. There is no trace to be found in the gram- 
 marians of ^'s having any but the one sound in high- 
 Latin times. 
 
 4. There is no evidence of g'% having a sound like 
 the English y, before the fifth century A. d. At that 
 time we find "magestates " written for " majestates.'* 
 
 OE. 
 
 101. Take now the discussion of the diphthong oe 
 first from Koby and then from Blair, in full : 
 
 " The sound of oe is somewhat perplexing. Mr. 
 Ellis has suggested (* Transactions of the Philosophi- 
 cal Society,' 1867, Supplement, p. 65, and 'Early 
 English Pronunciation,' p. 529) that Greek oi was 
 originally ui with the first element preponderating. 
 Latin oe was originally ue with the second element 
 preponderating. 
 
 • 
 
 r \ 
 
 i 
 
 ARGUMENTS FOR THE REFORMED MODK 63 
 
 ** This seems possible enough for the Greek, as o 
 had frequently that approximation to our u which is 
 here presented (see Appendix A, XII). 
 
 102. " But the Latin sound is much more doubt- 
 ful. It is true that oe is the successor of Latin oi and 
 the representative of Greek ot, and that both oi and 
 oe passed frequently into u — e. g., coirare, coerare, 
 curare ; moerus, murus ; moenia, munia ; poena, pu- 
 nire, etc. ; but I am not aware of any indication that 
 Latin o had any such approximation to our u ; and 
 oe never alternated with ui. The passage of oi and oe 
 into u seems to imply that at that time the first, not 
 the second, element, the o not the i or e, was in the 
 preponderance. 
 
 103. " In imperial times oe became confused with 
 e and ae, and then the second element may have been 
 preponderant. And this was the case also in the 
 words which in very early times were spelled with oe — 
 e. g., loebertas, oloes (cf. sections 264, 363, 366), and 
 afterward were written with i. I am inclined to 
 think that the diphthongal sound implied by the let- 
 ters and iy or o and e (with their Latin sounds), is 
 the safest conclusion, and that in the words which 
 the ordinary language spells oe (e. g., amoenus, coepi, 
 moenia, foedus, poeni, poena, oboedia), the stress 
 should be laid on the o rather than the e " (Roby, p. 
 
 Ixx). 
 
 104. Professor Blair says : *< The sign oe is repre- 
 sentative of the most unstable and therefore the most 
 nncertain of all the Latin vowel-sounds. If it only 
 marked one stage of the descent oi, oe, e, we might 
 surely infer at least a close approximation to its sound, 
 as we do for that of ae in the scale ai, ae, e. 
 
04 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 105. " But the old Latin oi descended through oe 
 in three directions, namely to u, to i, and to e (or oe). 
 Thus : 
 
 oisus, oesus, 
 
 coiravit, coerayit 
 
 ploira, ploera, 
 
 TToivrj, poena, 
 
 nj 
 
 ARGUMENTS FOR THE REFORMED MODE. 
 
 65 
 
 usus. 
 curavit. 
 plura, 
 punire, etc. 
 
 Also 
 
 foidus, 
 quoi. 
 
 foedus. 
 
 fidus. 
 vicus. 
 cui. 
 
 106. "(While the cases ending in i of stems in o, 
 have in this i the remains of former oi, BspopuH for 
 populoiy Romani for Romanoi, the intervening form 
 oe is said to appear in a few accidentally preserved 
 ancient instances, as Pilumnoe, poploe, nominative plu- 
 ral); and 
 
 moiros, 
 
 'noivrly 
 
 coena, 
 
 obscoenus, 
 
 Coelius, 
 
 coeteri. 
 
 pomoerium, pomerium. 
 
 poena, paenitet (and poenitet). 
 
 caena (and cena, Cato and Terence). 
 
 obscaenus (and obscenus). 
 
 Caelius. 
 
 caeteri (and ceteri), etc. 
 
 107. "From these observations we should be 
 obliged to infer that the sound of oe diverged from 
 that of oi in at least three different ways. And when 
 now we turn to inquire in what order of time those 
 various forms of orthography prevailed, and to what 
 extent respectively, we find in Corssen's exhibition, 
 drawn from inscriptions : 
 
 " 1. That oi (having begun from the earliest times 
 
 \ 
 
 1 
 
 to give way to oe) had ceased- entirely to be written 
 before the classical period. 
 
 " 2. That from an early period % was collaterally 
 with oe a substitute for earlier oi in the terminations 
 of cases of nouns. (In this place oe gave way entirely 
 to % in the classical period.) 
 
 "3. That from the time of Plautus on, oe in the 
 stems of words gave way to u, which became the pre*- 
 vailing orthography after the time of the Gracchi and 
 through the classical age, 
 
 "4. The few words which during this time re- 
 tained the written form oe were pronounced by the 
 later Latins with e, 
 
 108. "The most positive inference which we seem 
 to draw from such evidence is, that along with the 
 sign of oi, the sound also of that diphthong had dis- 
 appeared from the Latin before the classical age. 
 And the proposal, therefore, of some modem scholars 
 to return to that antiquated sound for oe, is not in 
 conflict with the broadly marked general tendency 
 of the Latin toward a reduction of its diphthongal 
 sounds, but singularly at variance with the particu- 
 lar history of the diphthong oe. The zeal of reform 
 has impelled some to deny the existence of any irregu- 
 larity or obscurity in the Latin pronunciation ; but 
 these can not help us here, nor can we adopt any such 
 adventurous dogma as prescribes for our practice a 
 sound which was obsolete for Cicero. 
 
 109. "There is certainly a consolation for our 
 ignorance in the belief that the Romans themselves 
 did not know for any length of time together a cer- 
 tain sound for this diphthong. And if now it be 
 thought necessary for us to fix some uniform sound, 
 
3 
 
 66 
 
 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 by which in our practice to render those words which, 
 in printed texts furnished us, appear written with the 
 sign oe, we must choose between the sounds of e, as 
 in fetuSy French, prStre, or that of German oe (5), in 
 Goethe. The first of these sounds is recommended : 
 
 "1. By considerations of convenience, chiefly in 
 view of the fact that in almost every instance (except, 
 namely, in the word coetus, and possibly a few others) 
 the words which are spelled in our texts sometimes 
 with oe are frequently (some as frequently) found 
 with aCy as, obscoenus, obscaenus, and even obscenus 
 (French, obscine); poenitet, paenitet ; moeror, maeror, 
 
 6 DC* , e tC« 
 
 "2. Where better reasons fail, the authority of 
 the post-classic Latin deserves to be heard ; and thi8 
 speaks for e. On the other hand, the general turn 
 taken by oe into u, in the practice of the cultivated 
 Romans of the classical period, establishes a good de- 
 gree of probability for the prevalence at that time 
 among the educated of a sound which conjecture can 
 represent no better than by that which the German 
 scholars have adopted ; the sound, namely, of their 
 own oe (nearly the French eu in fleur), 
 
 *'Thus the oe mproelium would sound nearly like 
 in English world, or i in English whirl " (Blair, pp. 
 61-64). 
 
 For the TT-sound of F, we quote from Professor 
 Tetlow, of Boston : 
 
 110. — " The W-sound inferred from the Frequent In- 
 terchange of Vowel U and Consonant U, 
 
 ** Consonant u and vowel u were frequently inter- 
 changed. Thus, in Plautus, the dissyllables tuos. 
 
 lam 
 
 i 
 
 ARGUMENTS FOR THE REFORMED MODE. 
 
 67 
 
 1 1. 
 
 t 
 
 suosy puery and fuity become, by hardening of vowel 
 u into consonant w, monosyllables ; thus : twoSy swoSy 
 fwity pwer. In Virgil, genua becomes dissyllabic, 
 genwa. For the earlier miluus, and the adjective re- 
 licuuSy we have, at the close of the first century A. d., 
 and afterward, milvus and reliquus, respectively. On 
 the other hand, consonant u was frequently vocalized. 
 Thus for silYCBy Horace has sUxjcb ; for the dissylla- 
 ble, aqucBy Lucretius, who belongs to the first century 
 B. c, has the trisyllable acuw. The same poet has 
 for solYOy dissolYo, etc., solxjo, dissolvoy etc. All are 
 familiar with the fact that from the presents soIyo 
 and voIyo we have the participles solvtus and volxjtuSy 
 just as from acxio we have acvtus. Now these fre- 
 quent interchanges are natural and intelligible if con- 
 sonant u and vowel u closely resembled each other in 
 sound ; in other words, if consonant u had the sound 
 of English w ; they are unnatural and unintelligible 
 if consonant u was sounded as English v. 
 
 111. — "Argument drawn from Phenomena illustrat- 
 ing the Semi-vocal Power of Consonant U. 
 
 " Consonant u between two vowels fell away, or, as- 
 suming its vowel power, either coalesced with the pre- 
 ceding vowel, forming a diphthong, or gave rise to a 
 single vowel with long quantity. Of the falling away 
 of consonant u between two vowels, we have familiar 
 illustrations in the tenses formed from perfects in aviy 
 eviy and ivL Thus from amaveram we have amaram ; 
 from fleveram we have fleram ; from audiveram we 
 have audieram. Instances in which consonant u as- 
 sumed its vowel power and formed a diphthong with 
 the preceding vowel, are : navta from noYita ; avceps 
 
ARGUMENTS FOR THE REFORMED MODE. 
 
 68 
 
 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 69 
 
 from aviceps; cavtor from ca\itor. Cases in which 
 consonant u between two vowels resumed its vowel 
 power, and gave rise to a simple vowel with long 
 quantity, are mvto from moYito ; prvdens from pr(h 
 Yidens j and jvnior from juYenior, Can the disap- 
 pearance of the letter in the first case, the formation 
 of a diphthong in the second, the production of a 
 simple vowel with long quantity in the third, be ex- 
 plained on the supposition that consonant u had the 
 sound of English v, a sound that is as persistent as 
 its related consonant b, or as any other consonant in 
 the alphabet ? Are not these phenomena, on the other 
 hand, easy of explanation on the supposition that it 
 had the semi- vowel power olwf 
 
 112. — " TJie W'sound inferred from the Absence of 
 Consonant U after Short I, 
 
 '* Consonant u is almost never found in Latin after 
 short I Why ? If it had the sound of w, the reason 
 is obvious. For w following short i gives a combina- 
 tion so difficult to pronounce that, wherever it oc- 
 curred, this consonant would, in obedience to the tend- 
 ency of which I have spoken, have fallen away be- 
 tween two vowels. In vita for vlvita, from vivOy and 
 in (Btas for cBvitas, from cevuniy the v fell away, though 
 the preceding vowel was long. But, if consonant u 
 had the sound of English v, the obstacle to pronunci- 
 ation would vanish at once, for v is easy to pronounce 
 after short i. Witness the English words giving and 
 living. This absence of consonant u, then, in the 
 situation I have mentioned, unimportant, perhaps, in 
 itself, is, in support of other stronger arguments, also 
 entitled to weight." 
 
 ^ w,i 
 
 113. An examination of these extracts from the 
 arguments of those who favor the innovation will 
 show that the position of the writer, as to the basis 
 on which the so-called Roman system is founded, is 
 fact. The reason for pronouncing g * always as ^ in 
 get may be regarded by some as valid and decisive. 
 This letter is ably treated by Roby, Corssen, and 
 others. That c was always like k is not without diffi- 
 culty and difference of opinion. This may be inferred 
 from the quotations already cited. That there is a 
 real difference of opinion among those who favor re- 
 form in England is perfectly clear from a statement 
 made by Professor Max MuUer (" Academy," Decem- 
 ber 15, 1871). He says : " As I looked upon a reform 
 in the English pronunciation of vowels as far more 
 important than any improvement in the pronuncia- 
 tion of certain consonants, my chief object was to 
 show that some compromise might be possible in re- 
 gard to c* ; and that, in allowing their weaker breth- 
 ren some liberty in the pronunciation of this one letter 
 before i and e, thorough-going reformers need not have 
 felt ashamed, as if sacrificing an important principle." 
 The weaker brethren referred to are those who do not 
 feel inclined to pronounce c like k, before e, i, y, cb, ob, 
 and eu. Some of their reasons are given in the con- 
 spectus on the letter c already quoted. 
 
 114. The perplexing and wholly unsatisfactory 
 condition of the diphthong ob is perfectly obvious 
 from the discussion represented by Roby and Blair, 
 and no abler representatives of the subject can be 
 found. 
 
 See sections 68, 354 ; also, 181. 
 
70 
 
 I 
 
 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 C AND G. 
 
 115. C and g are two letters in regard to whicb 
 the reformers seem to think their position impreg- 
 nable. Many English Latinists quietly concede the 
 claim. It would not seem difficult, however, to bring 
 to bear such proofs as will show that their strongest 
 positions may be even successfully assailed by the most 
 powerful arguments. 
 
 116. In reviewing the second edition of this work, 
 Professor Haldeman says : ** But (as I havalreadi pub- 
 lisht), if the ancient Latin grammarians were not cor- 
 rect in assigning to their ' c ' (except that they men- 
 tion that Caius was herd as Gains, and Cnaeus as 
 GnsBus) the power of Ic (which might hav bin inferrd 
 without their evidence), and if cakcer (a crab and 
 an ulcer) was pronounst cantsher, caniser, or canser, 
 the English ' canker ' and Ital. ' canchero ' (which Mr. 
 Story neglected to cite), ar without etimologi. Com- 
 pare ciTHARA, Ital. ' chitarra ' (ch = k) guitar ; gib- 
 Bosus, Wallachian * gheb ' (gh = g in get) gibbous (g 
 in give) ; reugio, WaJlach. ' relighie ' ; sceptrum, 
 Wallach. ' skeptru ' ; sceptici, the sceptics ; and com- 
 pare CELT^ with Welsh 'celtiad,' a 'Celt' — not selt, 
 but helt, 
 
 117. " It will be observd that, besides disgracing 
 Latin sounds by presenting them in a laughabl trav- 
 esti made up of English spellings — obstructionists ar 
 fond of taking the Latin name of Cicero as an illus- 
 tration of tru Latin, the first sillab being easili turned 
 into kick, which must amuse the groundlings in its 
 Welsh form 'cic' They shoud not neglect the Latin 
 name of Csesar (cae like ki in kind, with hissing «), 
 
 ARGUMENTS FOR THE REFORMED MODE. 71 
 
 f 
 
 which gave * Kaisar ' to Greek, ' Kaiser ' (emperor) to 
 German, and the name of their old enemi ' Iwl Caisar ' 
 to the modern Welsh. Even the Hindoos know the 
 name as * Qaisar ' (at in aisle, and pure s), and the 
 Malays as ' Kheitsar.' " 
 
 118. "Professor Haldeman is inconsistent with 
 himself. While implying that Jews are unsafe guides 
 in pronouncing their own dead tongue, the professor 
 wishes to prove the ancient pronunciation of Ccesar 
 by appealing to the modern Welsh Caisar, and the 
 German Kaiser. It would be as good an argument 
 to say that we pronounce John ' Short' because it is 
 so commonly pronounced by untutored Germans. 
 And so isolated instances are picked out from Italian 
 and Wallachian with the hard sound of c to show 
 that the Romans so pronounced it ; but the French, 
 Spanish, Portuguese, and usual Italian sound of c go 
 for nothing in his argument. It would be the same 
 as to say that because we sometimes pronounce g a&j, 
 therefore the Goths so pronounced it, notwithstand- 
 ing the wide diversity of its pronunciation in Eng- 
 lish, Dutch, Platt-Deutsch, and Danish. I am not 
 arguing against the Koman method, because I believe 
 in it, but I protest against such unscientific and 
 childish proofs. It looks like special pleading and 
 indifference to truth for its own sake." So writes 
 Professor Blackwell, who speaks the languages to 
 which he makes reference. 
 
 119. That the reformers do not agree, and vir- 
 tually confess that they do not stand on solid ground 
 in regard to c even, may be inferred from Max Mil- 
 ler's remark (see section 113) " that some compromise 
 might be possible in regard to c" 
 
72 
 
 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 Mr. Allen (well known as an author in the series 
 of text-books by Allen and Greenough), who first 
 wrote the expression " Roman mode,'*^ says : " About 
 the ' Koman ' pronunciation of several of the conso- 
 nants, especially c, g, and v, as to which the usage of 
 every tongue derived from the Latin might suggest 
 a query, I am rather skeptical. Who knows how the 
 Romans pronounced gn, sc, or the initial j f '' 
 
 Again, this distinguished author and scholar says : 
 " I don't, however, believe, for one thing, that the 
 Roman v (consonant u) was the English w, or any- 
 thing much like it ; it may have been near the old- 
 fashioned German w, which has slid naturally into v, 
 just as the Latin did. And I think we can not do 
 better than let it stay so." * 
 
 Such words from such a source will have influ- 
 ence with every candid inquirer after truth. It is not 
 our purpose to discuss what may be called the inter- 
 nal proofs for the so-called Roman mode. As the 
 matter now stands before the world, it is wholly 
 unnecessary. At present we content ourselves with 
 giving the results reached by scholars — more espe- 
 cially the results reached by those who have adopted 
 or advocated the reformed method. We are certainly 
 not called on to disprove what some of the ablest 
 friends of a system concede has never been settled by 
 facts. 
 
 * " The pronunciation of the Latin p is not known with cer- 
 tainty. . . . The letter g is about the hardest sound to master in 
 modem Greek, German, and Danish, and it may have been variable 
 in Latin." — Dr. Blackwell. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 SCHEMES OF THE BEFOBMED MODE. 
 
 131. We append several schemes prepared by some 
 of the ablest defenders of the system, that others may 
 the better judge of the justice and truthfulness of 
 what shall hereafter be said. 
 
 132. It should be borne in mind that those favor- 
 ing a reform in Latin pronunciation have had access 
 to sources of information identically the same, and 
 yet, it is but fair to say, that the results reached are 
 far from being the same. Indeed, it might not be 
 difficult to show that the discrepancies among their 
 various schemes are so great as to discredit the 
 evidence in support of the system and render uni- 
 formity of practice, as things now are, a sheer im- 
 possibility. 
 
 133. I. Scheme of Professor J. F. Richabdson, 
 of Rochester University (1859) : 
 
 & = a in &h. 
 
 ft = a in fate. 
 
 1 = ee in fleet. 
 
 6 = in note. 
 
 ii = 00 in boot. 
 
 ae = ay = i. 
 
 OB = oi in coil (nearly). 
 
 a = a in ah. 
 6 = a in fane. 
 i = ee in flee. 
 6 = o in tone, 
 u = 00 in moon, 
 au = ow in now. 
 
74 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 c = k. 
 
 g = g in get 
 
 QU = k. 
 
 j =y. 
 
 s = s in sin. 
 
 T = t in to. 
 
 V = V in English. 
 
 
 With the sonnds of the vowels here given, Profess- 
 or Haldeman, whose treatise appeared in 1851, sub- 
 stantiallj agrees. He is decided in his opinion that 
 the short vowel never sounded like a in at, e in ebb, 
 i in it, in ox, u in np. 
 
 In these schemes the letter or letters about which 
 there is a difference of opinion are in many cases in 
 small capitals. 
 
 134. II. The Messrs. Tafel, following Corssen, 
 propose " the practical Roman method," as here given 
 (1860) : 
 
 1. SOUNDS OF THE VOWELS. 
 
 A long, as in the English father. A short, the 
 same sound shorter. 
 
 E long, as in the English fate. E short, as in 
 then and dishes. 
 
 1 long, as in machine and caprice. I short, as in 
 sit. 
 
 long, as in hole. short, as in nor. 
 
 U long, as in rude. U short, as in put. 
 
 2. DIPHTHONGS. 
 
 Ae, like ai in aisle. 
 
 Aw, like ou in fowl; before d, like ou in English 
 gout. 
 
 Euy in two syllables, as in Italian eu. 
 Oe, like oi in hoil, or oy in hoy. 
 
 SCHEMES OF THE REFORMED MODK 
 
 75 
 
 Bern. Ai in ain, ais, ei in dein, oi in proin, are 
 to be separated. 
 
 8. THE SEMI-VOWELS. 
 
 / in jacio, like y in year. 
 V, like English v. 
 
 4. THE CONSONANTS. 
 
 A. OUTTUBALS. 
 
 C like k ; before e, i (y), like ts, as in glades, fa- 
 ds, etc. 
 
 Qu, before a and o, like k followed by a mute u 
 (in put) ; before ae, e, and i, like k followed by v. 
 
 O, always as in good and get. H, as in English. 
 
 B. LABIALS. 
 
 P, B, F, and Ph, as in English. 
 
 0. DENTALS. 
 
 T, as in English. Ti, when followed by another 
 vowel, as in natio, like ts ; except when preceded by 
 8, X, or another t, as tristior, mixtio, Bruttii, in old 
 infinitives in er, as nitier, quatier, in Greek words 
 such as Miltiades, Boeotia, Aegyptii, and at the begin- 
 ning of words, as in tiara, in all which cases it is pro- 
 nounced like t. D, as in English. 
 
 D. UQTTIDS. 
 
 L, R, M, N, and NQ, as in English. 
 
 B. SIBILANTS. 
 
 8 and X, as in English. Z like the Italian « — viz., 
 ts or ds. 
 
I 
 
 76 
 
 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 SCHEMES OF THE REFORMED MODE. 
 
 77 
 
 135. III. Scheme of Professor Roby, of Cam- 
 bridge, England (1871) : 
 
 ft = a in father. & = a in chatte (French). 
 
 £ = e in pet (nearly). fi = in pet or met, short- 
 ened. 
 1 = i in machine. f = in pin (practically). 
 
 = Italian open o = o in 6 = Italian open o = o in 
 
 home. dot. 
 
 C = 00 in pool. tJ = u in pnll (nearly). 
 
 f = u in Miiller. au = au in haus (German). 
 
 AE = a in Bath (nearly). 
 OE, let the stress be on the o rather than the e. 
 eu = eu in Europa. ei = ei in feint, 
 
 ui = oui (French). g = g in giye. 
 
 c = k in kitty. r = r in ferry ; always 
 
 j = y in year. trilled. 
 
 8 = ss in hiss. bs = ps. 
 
 X = ks. Ti = te, always. 
 
 QU, as in English = queen, 
 
 PH, CH, TH were not like English /, German ch, 
 English th, but aa p + h, k + h, t + h, sounds some- 
 what difficult to Englishmen, but often heard from 
 Irishmen. (Roby's Grammar.) 
 
 136. IV. The method as presented by Professor 
 W. G. Richardson, of Central University (1876) : 
 
 VOWELS. 
 
 Long and short Yowels generally differ in quantity, 
 not quality of sound. 
 
 a is sounded like a in father. It has the rich Ital- 
 ian sound of that letter, as indicated in the dictiona- 
 ries of Worcester and Webster. The sounds we hear 
 
 in fate and fat are unknown in the Latin a ; so also 
 is that intermediate sound of which some otherwise 
 good speakers are guilty in saying, or trying to say, 
 " Our Father." & has the sound of a in diadem. 
 
 B is French i, which Surenne properly represents 
 as our e in met, very slightly prolonged, e is same 
 quality, differing only in quantity. It is French c, 
 or e in met, still more prolonged than e in tre8. Thus 
 fetCy as rapidly enunciated among the Parisians, is 
 represented in the works of English lexicographers 
 by fate. This is certainly a convenient approximate 
 sound. 
 
 t as t in machine ; i as t in purity. (See site in 
 Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.) 
 
 as in no. For 6 Roby gives dot, not, omit. 
 
 u like 00 in moon ; H short like u in full. 
 
 Y intermediate between i and u. It is French u 
 or German u (Miiller is nearer Miller than Muller). 
 For convenience' sake, then rank y with i. 
 
 A short vowel rendered long by position, as, 
 for instance, e in est and esse, is still pronounced 
 short. 
 
 Great care should be taken as to final short sylla- 
 bles ; e. g., '*ess6," "amatur," "amatiis." 
 
 Distinguish "fructus" and "fructus." 
 
 DIPHTHONGS. 
 
 137. In all these, each element is heard. Let the 
 combination be rapid. 
 
 AE or ai like ay (yes). In rapid utterance, it is 
 nearly our personal pronoun of the first person. I is 
 a compound sound made of ah and ee, (See Walker's 
 Dictionary.) 
 
78 
 
 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIOXS OF LATIN. 
 
 au like ow in now. The analysis is ah-ow. The 
 rapid combination is ow in now. 
 
 ei as in yein^ slightly drawled, and not like the 
 English i in time. 
 
 EU as eh'OO ; many give the sound of eu in feud. 
 
 OE or oi like the oi in oil. 
 
 ui like French oui ; very near our pronoun we. 
 
 The American Philological Association recom- 
 mends the use of the Italian sounds of the vowels and 
 diphthongs. 
 
 CONSONANTS. 
 
 138. d, f, A, k, I, n, p, t, as in English. So b 
 like English b, except that bs=^j>8. Thus urbs, 
 oorps. 
 
 c always hard, like English h (See Bullions's 
 Latin Grammar, § 17, 4, note.) 
 
 g always hard, as in give. 
 
 j like/ in hallelujah ; i. e., like y in yet. 
 
 M at the end of words appears to have been scarcely 
 audible. (Roby.) 
 
 nc is like ngk j as ancora, like anchor. 
 
 ng like ngg ; as frango, like anger. 
 
 QU as in queen (Roby). But the combination quu 
 was odious to the Roman eye and eai*. For quum 
 always write cum. Even equus and loquuntur may 
 be barely tolerated, and were usually written equos or 
 ectis and locuntur, 
 
 r always trilled, as in French. 
 
 s always hissing, as in this ; never like z. Thus, 
 nos, tres, trans. Every English compound with trans 
 should have the hissing sound. (See the English dic- 
 tionaries, Worcester, Webster, and Smart.) 
 
 ti with the pure sound of t always preserved. 
 
 SCHEMES OP THE REFORMED MODE. 
 
 79 
 
 Thus, natio, nah-te-o and not nd-she-o, or nah-she-o. 
 See Bullions's Latin Grammar, § 17, 4. 
 
 V is English w, or French ou in ouL 
 
 X is ksy never gz. 
 
 z occurs only in words of Greek origin, and is pro- 
 nounced like <. Dr. George Curtius, in the " Eluci- 
 dations of his Greek Grammar" (translated by Evelyn 
 Abbott, John Murray, London, pp. 233, 12mo, 12), 
 says, " Z, therefore, which is shown by prosody to 
 be a double consonant, must certainly be pronounced 
 as dzy that is, d with a soft s." 
 
 Ps preserves the sound of both its elements, as in 
 
 psallo. 
 
 139. PH, TH, CH, Roby maintains, are not pro- 
 nounced as in either English or in German, but as 
 p + h,t + h,c + h, or the ordinary p, t, c, immedi- 
 ately followed by a rough breathing. So Curtius as 
 to the Greek (see Elucidations, p. 7). Those who 
 would be annoyed by so much that is foreign to the 
 English will take comfort in Hadley's statement (see 
 « Grammar," section 17). ** The letters 0, 0, x, seem 
 to have had at first the sounds of ph, th, ch, in Eng- 
 lish xiphiW, hothoxxse, blockhead. But afterward they 
 came to sound as in English graphic, pa^Aos, and Ger- 
 man ma^en, the last being a rough palatal sound, no 
 longer heard in English." Many orthoepists set down 
 
 ch as practically k, ^ ^ t^- i. ji 
 
 140. In December, 1877, Professor W. G. Richaxd- 
 Bon published what he is pleased to call " The Inter- 
 
 national." ^ n - 
 
 Vowels : a, ah ; &, diadem ; e, fate ; S, valley ; t, 
 machine ; i, purity ; 5, note ; 6, omit, nor ; ^. ^^^^ > 
 a, full ; y = French u, or German u in Muller. 
 
i 
 
 80 
 
 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 WANT OF HARMONY. 
 
 81 
 
 Diphthongs : ae, ay (yes), nearly I ; au, now ; ei, 
 vein (drawled) ; eu, feud ; OE, oil ; wt, we. Conso- 
 nants : d, f, h, k, I, M, n, p, t, z, as in English ; so 
 b, but bs = ps, urbs, oorps ; c, ch, k ; g, give ; j, hal- 
 lelujah ; ncy nq, anchor ; ng, anger ; ps, both ele- 
 ments heard, psallo ; QU, queen ; r, trilled ; s, this ; 
 a, pure, nahte-o ; v, w ; a;, ks ; ph, f ; th, this. (For 
 details, see Report on Latin Pronunciation.) 
 
 141. It is worth while to notice that this scheme, 
 called " International," does not agree with that of 
 J. G. Richardson, nor that of Tafel, nor that of Roby, 
 nor yet with that of the author of the *' Internation- 
 al " himself, who published the conspectus just given 
 above in 1876. 
 
 As a general conclusion, it is perfectly obvious 
 that what is called the Roman system is, after all, 
 like the so-called Continental, only a general name 
 for a group of different methods of pronouncing 
 Latin ; the difference lies in this, mainly — that the 
 Bo-called Continental system points to actual living 
 schemes of pronunciation, while the so-called Ro- 
 man system points only to various ideal and fanciful 
 schemes. 
 
 WANT OF HARMONY AMONG THE ADVOCATES OF THE 
 
 REFORMED MODE. 
 
 146. That the reformers do not agree among 
 themselves on some very imi)ortant points is univers- 
 ally conceded, and is a matter claiming at the hands 
 of every inquirer the most serious thought. Profess- 
 or Twining (** Western," July-August, p. 417) uses 
 this language : " That the advocates of the reformed 
 pronunciation differ among themselves is of graver 
 
 import, since, if these differences are on vital points, 
 as Professor Fisher claims, they not only discredit 
 the evidence, but render impossible that uniformity 
 of practice which it is one of the chief objects of the 
 reform to secure." The consequence of a difference 
 in vital points is well put by Professor Twining. Let 
 us examine some of these differences. 
 
 146. 1. There is no harmony in their represen- 
 tation of the vowel-sounds in general. Just here it 
 should bo carefully borne in mind that the reformers 
 insist that their system is phonetic. Then "each ele- 
 mentary sound has its own unvarying sign, and each 
 sign its own unvarying sound." This is, according 
 to Professor March, the essential idea of a phonetic 
 alphabet ; this, then, is conceded to be our criterion 
 of judgment. Haldeman, quoting with approval G. 
 Walker, says, "Every letter retained an invariable 
 sound." Quoting from Scheller, he says, " The sounds 
 of the long and short vowels, though elementarily the 
 same, were always distinguished in length " (Halde- 
 man's " Latin Pronunciation," pp. 17, 19). Allen and 
 Greenough say, " By the Roman (or phonetic) method, 
 every letter has always the same sound *^ ("Gram- 
 mar," p. 7). These are explicit statements of what is 
 held by the new " Romans " throughout the world. 
 The vowels did differ in quantity, they did not differ 
 in quality. 
 
 Haldeman holds that — 
 
 & = a in arm. 
 g = ey in they, 
 i = i in marine. 
 5 = in own. 
 u = 00 in food. 
 
 & = a in art. 
 6 = ei in eight, 
 i = i in deceit. 
 6 = o in obey, 
 u = u in fulL 
 
 Jf.' 
 
82 THE THREE PRONTJNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 147. Here, in this ideal scheme, the phonetic the- 
 ory is substantially carried out. 
 
 Compare with this TafePs scheme, which is iden- 
 tical, at least professedly so, with that of Corssen : 
 
 & = same sound shorter. 
 € = e in then, 
 i = i in sit. 
 5 = in nor. 
 u = u in put. 
 
 a = a in father, 
 g = a in fate, 
 i = i in machine. 
 = o in hole, 
 u = u in rude. 
 
 148. A glance at this ideal scheme will show that 
 it is not consistent with the theory in the short sounds 
 of e, i, 0, and u. E in then, % in sity o in nor, and u 
 in put have not the same sound as a in fate, i in ma- 
 chine, in hole, and u in rude. These words, as the 
 least practiced ear can detect, differ not only in quan- 
 tity, but radically in quality. A glance, too, reyeala 
 the obvious truth that Haldeman — and J. F. Richard- 
 son agrees with him — does not agree with Tafel and 
 Corssen, in representing the short sounds of o, i, and 
 «. Who does not see that ei in eight, i in deceit, and 
 in obey, are not the same as 6 in then, i in sit, and 
 in nor f If scholars on the side of the new pronun- 
 ciation believe in the phonetic method and under- 
 stand it alike, then failure to represent it harmoni- 
 ously, even in their ideal schemes, is simply unpar- 
 donable. Roby tells us that o long = o in home, and o 
 short = in dot ; Blair, that o long = o in potent, 
 and short = o in potation, Roby tells us that e long 
 = e in met, lengthened, and that e short = em met; 
 Blair, that long e = a in gate, and short e = a in aerial. 
 
 149. We would fix emphatic attention on two 
 things that are self-evident : 1. That these distin- 
 
 WANT OF HARMONY. 
 
 83 
 
 guished scholars do not agree with each other ; 2. 
 That their exhibition of their favorite pronunciation, 
 as shown in many writers, is not consistent with their 
 oft-repeated theory. Any one who has any doubts as 
 to the correctness of the statements here made is ear- 
 nestly requested and urged to examine the subject for 
 himself. 
 
 150. Before leaving this general want of harmony 
 in regard to vowel-sounds, long and short, it is worth 
 while to notice how the followers of the so-called Ro- 
 man method exhibit to us the long sounds of the 
 vowels. 
 
 Blair afl&rms that e long = a in gate. 
 
 Roby, that e long = e in met, lengthened. 
 
 W. G. Richardson, in the report published by the 
 Bureau of Education, says that e long = the French 
 e, or e in met, still more prolonged than e in tres. 
 He speaks of fate as being " a convenient approxi- 
 mate sound." In his "International," published in 
 December, 1877, he gives e long = a in fate. Now 
 we confess our utter inability to understand how this 
 able scholar, by the prolongation of the sound of e in 
 met, to any extent, can reach as a result a in fate. 
 Any one can test the matter by bringing to bear the 
 organs of speech on the production of the two sounds. 
 Before the speaker, when sounding e in met, can pro- 
 duce the sound of a in fate, he must stop and read- 
 just the organs. The trial will make manifest the 
 truth that there is not only a readjustment, but also 
 a tension of the organs decidedly greater in sounding 
 our genuine long a, which almost all the Romans 
 make the representative of the long e, in their system. 
 It is difficult to escape from the conclusion that Pro- 
 
i 
 
 84 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 fessor Eichardson's mind underwent a change between 
 October, 1876, and December, 1877, not only in refer- 
 ence to the long e, but also in other particulars, as we 
 may show hereafter. 
 
 166. But to descend more to particulars, take the 
 diphthong m, 
 
 Roby says (B = am bat (lengthened), or bath. 
 Blair says cb = ai in lair, or a in late. 
 Harkness says m^ay = English i. 
 Gildersleeve says €B = (b in Grmme = a in fame. 
 
 That the vowel-sounds as heard in bat, late, and 
 aye = i long, are not the same, is simply beyond all 
 controyersy. We venture the assertion that no schol- 
 ar, unless a foreigner, who looks at the case calmly, 
 will risk his reputation as an orthoepist by aflSrming 
 that these words do contain the same sound. 
 
 166. Professor Twining (" Western," July-August, 
 p. 418) attempts to relieve the want of harmony be- 
 tween Gildersleeve and Blair by saying : '* I suspect 
 that Gildersleeve means the same thing by using 
 Qrmme ; certainly, many of the Scotch pronounce 
 this word as Gr^'me." He refers to Blair's use of the 
 word lair. Do Grceme and lair contain the same 
 sound ? This might have been very easily and satis- 
 factorily settled by a reference to Gildersleeve's Prim- 
 er, page 6, where the author gives ® = cp in Ormme 
 = a in fame. 
 
 167. But why undertake to prove a want of har- 
 mony among those who insist on reform, when the 
 fact is not only virtually but really confessed by some 
 of the most enlightened defenders of the new system ? 
 For instance, the writer last quoted makes this admis- 
 
 ^l5 
 
 WANT OF HARMONY. 
 
 85 
 
 eion : " Since, phonetically, e lies between a and i, this 
 difl&culty seems to me to belong to the class of those 
 to be settled by time, much in the same way as the 
 dispute must be decided between English and Ameri- 
 can * half.^ " Make a note of it that he confesses there 
 is a difficulty to be settled by time. This is an ingenu- 
 ous and truthful confession, and one that ought to be 
 made by every Roman Latinist in America. There is 
 no escaping it. Our point is made : there is a hope- 
 less want of harmony upon the above issues which are 
 vital to a phonetic system. The hope of a future har- 
 mony might be allowed were we dealing with an ideal 
 case, but, unfortunately for the Romanists, our busi- 
 ness in this discussion is with the past, to whose crys- 
 tallized forms no additions of importance are likely to 
 be made, and from whose dead organisms the vocaliza- 
 tion of living utterance has forever fled. The confu- 
 sion of those ideal schemes leaves us in a state of be- 
 wilderment from which, it would appear, nothing less 
 ijlian the resurrection of a Roman more perfectly rep- 
 resenting the native language than even Cicero or 
 Varro, if the Latin was settled in its phonetics, would 
 be able to release us. 
 
 168. Again, Professor Blair, on page 56 of his 
 " Latin Pronunciation," takes issue with Professor J. 
 F. Richardson as to the sound of cb. 
 
 Ho says : 
 
 " In the face of these statements, and in spite of 
 all the evidence of a changed orthography, Professor 
 Richardson (* Roman Orthoepy,' New York, 1859) lays 
 down the law, * cb (= ai) sounds like ay, the English 
 adverb of affirmation.' Will he render Virgil's j^cbcb 
 after this fashion ? {yid. ^Eneid, III, 386). And with 
 
I 
 
 86 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 his qu = Jc, will he read, Infemike lacus Ayayayl(^ 
 insula Kirkay " ? The line referred to runs thus : 
 *' Infernique lacus ^ceceque insula CirccB." Rich- 
 ardson wrote in 1859 ; Blair, in 1873. The quotation 
 given carries its own comment as to how far they 
 agreed on the diphthong m. We tender thanks to 
 Professor Blair for the statement which he has put in 
 our possession. The advocates of reformed pronun- 
 ciation, they themselves being the witnesses, do not 
 agree. But enough on the diphthong cb. 
 
 159. When reduced to practice in the class-room, 
 observe how these differences become painfully evi- 
 dent. For illustration, take the nominative plural of 
 
 hora, horcB: 
 
 * Horae = hoe-ray. Blair, Gildersleeve, and others. 
 HorsB = hoe-rye, Harkness, Richardson, and others. 
 B-OTdB = hoe-rah, A = a in. half = a in father. 
 
 Roby. 
 
 Professor W. G. Richardson, in criticising the 
 •'Three Pronunciations of Latin," makes this signifi- 
 cant admission : ''^ is rather bad, but by no means 
 a Cannse." Coming from such a careful and accom- 
 plished scholar as he is, this means something. 
 
 160.f Blair gives oe = o in world or i in whirl. 
 
 X Gildersleeve, oe = ae in Graeme = a in fame. 
 
 * Harkness, oe = oi in coin = oi in coil. 
 
 I Haldeman, oe = vowel-sound in showy ; 
 and says : " If showy and clayey were monosyllables. 
 
 * Who can tell whether the old Romans (according to the re- 
 formed mode) pronounced the pronoun " Aa«, Aay, highy or hUS "f 
 f Blair's Latin Pronunciation, p. 127. % Grammar. * Ibid. 
 I AflBxes to English Words, pp. 19, 20. 
 
 WANT OF HARMONY AMONG THE REFORMERS. 87 
 
 they would contain the Latin oe and Ei." Among 
 others, he quotes these two lines from " Living Latin " : 
 
 " To these we add that English words like showy 
 Contain the Portuguese and Latin oe." 
 
 161. Is the vowel-sound in world, fame, coil, and 
 showy the same ? Surely not. The differences thrust 
 themselves on even a casual observer. But what do the 
 advocates of the new system say about this ? Koby 
 says, comparing the Latin and Greek oe and oi, " But 
 the Latin sound is much more doubtful."* Again, 
 " The sound of oe is somewhat perplexing." f He 
 finally concludes that the stress should be laid on the o 
 rather than on the e. X Peile says, " The nearest sound 
 we have is perhaps that of ' boy.' " The word is per- 
 haps."^ Professor Twining is still more to the purpose 
 when he uses this language : " I do not wish to under- 
 rate the differences in these two cases {ae and oe), es- 
 pecially as I have within a few years changed my own 
 practice and accepted probably archaic but distinctive 
 sounds as having better claims in theory than the past 
 classical corruptions, and as being preferable in prac- 
 tice to such intermediate sounds as English organs do 
 not easily make. " || Here the want of harmony insisted 
 on is confessed, and a change in practice is frankly 
 admitted. How does Professor W. G. Eichardson 
 meet the difficulty ? Here is his answer : " Oe is not 
 worth a pinch of Napoleon's snuff, especially since our 
 revised orthography has expunged it from those oft- 
 recurring words coelum, poenitet, coena, etc." Truly, 
 
 * Roby's Grammar, p. Ixx. \ Ibid. 
 
 * Peile's Greek and Latin Etymology, p. 266. 
 I " The Western," July-August, p. 418. 
 
 I Ibid. 
 
88 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OP LATIN. 
 
 this modem Alexander wields a Damascus blade in 
 cutting his Gordian knots in the Latin pronunciation. 
 If the reformers can only eliminate oe from the lan- 
 guage, then truly this one difficulty has been remoyed. 
 Will Mayor and Roby, Haldeman and Blair, and others, 
 meet a difficulty in this way ? We yenture a decisive 
 negative. But Professor Richardson ('* Courier- Jour- 
 nal," April) says, "A brand-new typo of philology 
 haa been let loose on this planet, a thing of life and 
 joy forever." Yes, and an infinite pity it has been let 
 loose at all, if it proposes to remove difficulties in the 
 way indicated above. This accomplished linguist does 
 not propose to settle all disputed questions in this man- 
 ner. It may be, however, that this is a philological 
 pleasantry. The truth of history entitles us to expect 
 of antiquarians that the monuments of the past shall 
 not be mutilated or transmuted so as to respond to 
 modem notions, as thereby their actual value as teach- 
 ing monuments is destroyed. 
 
 162. Schliemann does not venture to change the 
 relics he finds in Hissarlik or MycenaB, but simply re- 
 ports them as they are, whether he understands them 
 or not. Were these diphthongs transmitted from the 
 ancient Latin as unintelligible as the whorls Schlie- 
 man finds, as viewed in their relation to ancient Aryan 
 customs, still historic piety must dictate their literal 
 preservation. 
 
 163. The enigmas of the past are not to be trampled 
 under our feet, nor mdely pushed aside, aa we know 
 not what revelations may ultimately be made to us 
 through the very perplexities to which they give rise. 
 
 164. The difference in regard to oe, indicated above, 
 will appear in pronouncing the word coelum. 
 
 WANT OF HARMONY AMONG THE REFORMERS. 89 
 
 Coelum = A;wy-?oow (m = vowel-sound in whirl). 
 
 Blair. 
 
 Coelum = Jcay-loom (a = a in fate). Gildersleeve. 
 
 Coelum = hoy-loom {oy = oi in coil). Tafel, etc. 
 
 Coelum = kowy-loom (pwy = owy in showy). Hal- 
 deman. 
 
 166. Again, notice the difference of opinion and 
 usage in regard to the letter v.* The question among 
 the new " Romans" is whether v shall be pronounced 
 like w or like the labio-dental v. Unquestionably the 
 difference is a wide one, and rests mainly on diverse 
 phonetic theories. The two parties among the Ro- 
 manists, resting on diverse theories, have from the 
 beginning held their ground so tenaciously as to ren- 
 der agreement simply impossible. Difference in the- 
 ory, and also in usage, is confessed by all scholars 
 throughout the world. Hence it seems wholly un- 
 necessary to discuss this point at any length. Those 
 wishing to examine the matter may refer to Roby's 
 ** Grammar," Peile's "Greek and Latin Etymology," 
 and Professor Twining's article in '* The Western," 
 already mentioned. A very brief examination will 
 verify the remark of A. J. Ellis, in his work on 
 " Early English Pronunciation": "The sound of v 
 in ancient Latin is a matter of dispute." 
 
 166. Gildersleeve says the sound was nearer our w 
 than V ; and still more like ou in the French oui (we). 
 Blair gives as a result of his investigations, that 
 V = English v, when it began a word or syllable ; but 
 after a, g, and q, and followed by a vowel, it had the 
 sound of w, e. g. : 
 
 • See sections 376 ; 110-112 ; 167. 
 
90 
 
 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIOXS OF LATIN. 
 
 Validus = vdl'i-dus, 
 
 Vulgus = vul-yus. 
 
 Servus = ser-vus, V = English v. 
 
 But suayis = swa-vis. 
 
 Lingua = lin-gwa. 
 
 Quamquam = qwam-qwam. 
 
 Koby gives v invariably the sound of w. He uses 
 these words by way of illustration : 
 
 Crevi = kreh-wee = cray-wee, 
 
 Jovis = YO'Wees, 
 
 Civitates = kee-wee-tah-tacet 
 
 Veni = weh-nee = way-nee, 
 
 Vidi = wee-dee. 
 
 Vice = wee-kay. (See Blair's " Pronunciation '' 
 and Koby's "Grammar.") 
 
 V = English v. TafeL 
 
 V = w. Bartholomew. 
 
 V = English v. J. F. Richardson. 
 v = w. W. G. Richardson. 
 
 Corssen seems inclined to the belief that v some- 
 times sounds like our v, (Roby, p. 42.) As might 
 be expected, usage m the American schools lays no 
 claim to uniformity. 
 
 167. But pause a moment. Some of the Conti- 
 nental nations can not make the sound of w at all ; 
 hence, if English and American scholars insist on 
 sounding v = w, then the idea that the Reformed 
 Pronunciation is to become universal is worse than 
 Utopian ; ay, it is a physical impossibility over a large 
 part of Continental Europe. If the enthusiastic re- 
 formers are right and have found and resurrected the 
 real Ancient Pronunciation, is it not a pity that whole 
 nations, some of them the most learned on earth, will 
 
 WANT OF HARMONY AMONG THE REFORMERS. 91 
 
 never be able to use it ? In French, Spanish, Portu- 
 guese, and Italian, v = vm English. These languages 
 look back to a common ancestor, the stately and im- 
 perial Latin, but they can never fully utilize the re- 
 sults of this "new philology that has been let loose" 
 in the last twenty-five years. 
 
 168. This perilous condition of affairs is relieved 
 by the proposition of A. J. Ellis {'' Academy," No. 19), 
 who advises that English speakers of Latin shoidd 
 not pronounce v like w, because it is needless to adopt 
 a sound which Continental nations can not produce. 
 Whatever their theories may be, though demonstrated, 
 whatever their arguments may be, even if unanswer- 
 able, those who hold that v = w must abandon their 
 ground, sacrifice the results of laborious research, and 
 adapt themselves to Nature's order of things on the 
 Continent. Thus only can uniformity be attained 
 with the Romanic nations. Is it not a little strange 
 that these nations have lost the power of uttering one 
 of the sounds used by a common progenitor ? Let it 
 be remembered here, that those who urge that v = w 
 tell us that they are producing the sounds as they fell 
 from the lips of Cicero, Virgil, and Horace. 
 
 169. To return to our proposition. At present 
 there is no harmony. If harmony is ever to be real- 
 ized in the future, one party in this controversy over 
 V must abandon their ground, whether right or wrong. 
 As the case now stands, some phases of the discussion 
 are not far removed from the ludicrous. Either Eng- 
 lish and American scholars must abandon v = w, or 
 the Continental nations must learn to pronounce w. 
 
 170. There are other differences, not so striking it 
 may be, but such as demand consideration on the part 
 
I 
 
 92 
 
 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 of those who have adopted the " Eoman reform,'* and 
 especially on the part of those whose faith, under the 
 eloquent and daring intrepidity of the reformers, has 
 been at all shaken as to the comparatiye fixedness and 
 superiority of the English system. 
 
 M. 
 
 171. Lesuer and W. G. Eichardson never suppress 
 m, but insist on pronouncing it softly. Ellis and 
 Haldeman, on the other hand, think it is on a par 
 with the French nasals. Professor Eichardson says, 
 " I don't wish to incorporate any more foreign ele- 
 ments into my system than the truth demands," 
 
 PH, TH, CH. 
 
 172. There are shades of difference very clearly 
 marked in the sound of these letters, but it is not 
 our purpose to pursue to any great extent these minor 
 points. They make some revelations, however, stand 
 out very prominently. One of these revelations is that 
 each reformer seems to feel warranted in warping the 
 New (so-called) System into harmony with his own pe- 
 culiar views as to how it ought to be. Ever since Pro- 
 fessor Haldeman wrote his " Latin Pronunciation " in 
 1851, down to Professor Twining's review in "The 
 Western," in 1878, every Eoman Latinist, who has 
 written at any length on the subject, has felt impelled 
 to make known his "individnalisms," to make it clear 
 that he has views of his own in the matter of how the 
 ancients pronounced Latin. They defer to no com- 
 mon standard. Every man is a "law unto himself." 
 Any science taught in American institutions to-day, 
 that was marred by so many "individualisms," would 
 lose caste, and run the risk of being put at once in the 
 
 WANT OF HARMONY AMONG THE REFORMERS. 93 
 
 *' Index Expurgatorius. " The whole case reminds one 
 of the incisive sentence of Dr. Jex-Blake : "I think 
 reformed Latin pronunciation is a mere waste of time, 
 and if done on a fictitious professor-made plan, ab- 
 surd." How far this remark applies to America, let 
 every scholar determine by an appeal to facts. Some 
 instructors in Latin take up the impression that be- 
 cause the so-called "Eoman" mode is new, bold, and 
 aggressive, numbering among its followers some lin- 
 guists of very great ability, it must necessarily be 
 founded on a rock. Not so. Indeed, it would seem 
 that even among scholars it were possible to have a 
 second confusion of tongues as at Babel. The mutual 
 destruction wrought among the advocates of the so- 
 called Eoman mode, by their differences of opinion, 
 might recall the story of Cadmus and the dragon's 
 teeth. 
 
 173. What has been said is sufficient to show 
 the perplexing diversity in both theory and practice 
 among those favoring the Eestored Method. Take in 
 addition, however, another fact. In 1873, Professor 
 Haldeman read before the American Philological As- 
 sociation an article on " The Pronunciation of Latin 
 as presented in Several Eecent Grammars." Of Eoby 
 he savs : 
 
 " His adoption of o aperto interferes with the law 
 of interchange with u {oo), and turns oe into 'oy' ot 
 boy, instead of * oy,' bs in Portuguese oUo, eight." 
 
 Further, "Bartholomew's Grammar is very near 
 the Eoman standard, but cut (coo-y) is compounded 
 with qui (kwee), oe (oy) is made oi of coil, the long 
 and short e and i have different powers assigned them, 
 and z is given as ds, or »<?." 
 
I 
 
 94 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 Of Blair he remarks : " The diphthongs ae and oe 
 are made vowels, eu has the strange perversion of ew 
 in pew, and ph, etc., are made post-aspirates. The 
 compositions with French and German sounds are 
 contradictory and unreliable." 
 
 174. All the scholars referred to in these quota- 
 tions adopt the Latin method, as does also Professor 
 Haldeman. These criticisms, therefore, reveal the 
 lack of uniformity already noticed. 
 
 175. Here Professor Haldeman takes to task every 
 grammarian or writer who for some years preceding 
 1873 had set forth in detail his views on Roman or- 
 thoepy, and, if he makes any point at all, shows that 
 in some particular every one of them was wrong. 
 Some reformers say that the differences noticed above 
 are ''insignificant." 
 
 176. Professor Haldeman, the learned and accom- 
 plished pioneer of the new method in America, would 
 never have consumed the time of such a body as the 
 American Philological Association by asking atten- 
 tion to mere shades of diversity that were " insignifi- 
 cant." The least that can be said is that there is no 
 phonetic consistency among the scholars on the " Ro- 
 man " side, and even if this argument could be estab- 
 lished, no living man can show that their theoretical 
 phonetics can trace their pedigree back through sev- 
 enteen centuries, until the sounds now called ** Lat- 
 in " are in harmony with the realities of the ancient 
 tongue. 
 
 177. This brings us face to face with rather a sin- 
 gular phenomenon in this discussion, and yet a phe- 
 nomenon that has escaped many teachers not only on 
 the side of reform, but also among those who hold to 
 
 WANT OF HARMONY AMONG THE REFORMERS. 95 
 
 the English method. In " The Western " (page 417) 
 is found this statement : " It may be observed, also, 
 by way of general limitations, that the Roman system, 
 as it is now offered for acceptance, is not to be charged 
 with all the diversities which appeared when the views 
 of scholars were crude and tentative." Surely a coup 
 de grace that, and from a Romanist too. Hear him 
 further : " Ten years ago Professor Thacher might 
 caU attention to the Tafel scheme of pronunciation, 
 as compared with that of J. F. Richardson ; it is rath- 
 er late to reproduce the comparison to-day." Look at 
 it. Richardson wrote in 1859 ; Taiel, in 1860 ; their 
 schemes played havoc with one another. But, says 
 Professor Twining, the system "as now offered for 
 acceptance " is not to be charged with their " diver- 
 sities," their views were " crude " and " tentative:' 
 "Tempora mutantur et in illis mutamur." This, 
 again, is a confession of what we have in hand — a no- 
 torious want of harmony. This is not all yet. W. G. 
 Richardson, one of the best informed Roman Latin- 
 ists in the world, in the spring of 1878, in a letter 
 now in hand, uses these words : " J. F. Richardson's 
 little book was the last ounce that broke the camera 
 back." He is speaking of his change from the Eng- 
 lish to the " Roman " method. He does not consider 
 J. F. Richardson's work "crude" and "tentative." 
 On the other hand, it was the very instrument used 
 in his phonetic conversion ; " it broke the camel's 
 back." It is noteworthy here that two able advocates 
 of the same mode put a totally different estimate on 
 their pioneer writers. According to one, these writers 
 are entitled to the highest consideration ; the other 
 would have us believe that their diversities are not to 
 
96 THE THREE PRONTJNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 be charged home on the system as now offered. " Sub 
 judice lis est." 
 
 178. In the light of the preceding facts, we can 
 see how much credence is to be extended to an asser- 
 tion often used by the advocates of the new mode — 
 viz., that "the Roman mode teaches us how to repro- 
 duce Cicero's sounds, and that German scholars have 
 proved this." And this assumption comes, too, right 
 in the face of conceded and obtrusive diversities ; in 
 the face of the admission that the phonetic method 
 has been tentative and that time is necessary to en- 
 tire harmony ; and confronted on all sides by the 
 well-established fact that all that the ablest reformers 
 pretend to claim is that they are going on to perfec- 
 tion. Some in their ardor evidently undertake quod 
 ferre recusent humeru 
 
 179. The reply made to this want of agreement is 
 ingenious but not tenable. The resurrectionists say 
 it is like the skeptic's answer to the preacher, " You 
 preachers agree among yourselves, and then talk to 
 us, etc." 
 
 180. This would come with some degree of force 
 if the cases were parallel ; but they are not. Evan- 
 gelical ministers, the world over, agree in all funda- 
 mental points ; but " Koman " Latinists do not, and 
 for proof refer to the incontrovertible positions al- 
 ready laid down. Preachers, too, have a common and 
 inspired standard ; the radical reformers have no 
 standard ; each one estimates the probabilities for 
 himself, and then tinges the system with his own 
 personal views. These revolutionists must trace the 
 phonetic pedigree of every letter through seventeen 
 centuries, when none know better than the able schol- 
 
 WANT OF HARMONY AMONG THE REFORMERS. 97 
 
 ars on that side, that if a grammarian seventeen cent- 
 uries ago had made an avowed attempt to indicate to 
 us in writing the difference between th in this, and 
 th in thick, he would have undertaken what every 
 orthoepist feels would have been an impossibility. 
 Learning by imitation is one thing ; by description is 
 quite another thing. There is a wide difference 
 between a preacher and a revolutionary reformer in 
 Latin pronunciation. 
 
 181. It may be noticed that Tafel gives c before 
 
 e, i, and y = ts. 
 
 If this be true, then c did not always have the 
 sound of k. Again, it might be asked why did the 
 Romans spell pulcher with an h, if pulcer had the 
 same sound ? Professor Haldeman replies, " The 
 sounds were different, but the learned in Greek pre- 
 ferd the Greek form which the peopl coud not pro- 
 nounce ." 
 
 182. In the light of what has just been shown, and 
 in the light of what is conceded by those best qualified 
 to judge, we repeat the question, asked in section 40 : 
 Do we know the true ancient pronunciation of Latin ? 
 In view of the differences among the friends of the 
 so-called Latin mode, are we not justified unhesitat- 
 ingly in entering a negative answer ? 
 
OPINIONS OF ADVOCATES OF THE ROMAN METHOD. 99 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE OPINIONS OF THE ADVOCATES OF THE SO-CALLED 
 ROMAN METHOD AS TO THEIR HAVING REACHED 
 THE TRUTH. 
 
 183. Let us turn from argument and hear what 
 the best-informed and most distinguished devotees of 
 the new system claim for it : 
 
 " The above scheme is not claimed to be the exact 
 Roman orthoepy — the nature of the case must always 
 preclude such absolute knowledge." (Professor Tracy 
 Peck, Yale College.) 
 
 " Its supporters do not claim perfection for it." 
 (Klapp, in the Preface to his ** Notes.") 
 
 In speaking of the change in his own case from the 
 English to the phonetic, Professor W. G. Richardson 
 says : " I naturally cast anchor in the Roman sea. 
 Here I find the waters blue, the corals just as in the 
 Bay of Naples, exceedingly beautiful, while there are 
 here and there some sharp ledges of rock. 'Nihil 
 est ab omni parte beatum.' " One of these ledges of 
 rock is given above when he admits ae to be a bad 
 case. 
 
 But let us translate his Latin. Nothing is blessed 
 or perfect on every side — i. e., there is no state or con- 
 dition of life without its disadvantages, and this, too, 
 even in the Roman sea I 
 
 \ 
 
 "The following is a summary statement of the 
 probable prununciation of educated Romans in the 
 period from Cicero to Quintilian, say 70 A. c. to 90 
 p. c." (Roby, p. Ixxvii.) 
 
 184. Professor Twining admits that '' the views of 
 scholars were crude and tentative " ten years ago, and 
 that there are some things that can be settled only by 
 time. (*' The Western," pp. 417, 418.) 
 
 185. '* The existing materials on Latin pronuncia- 
 tion are sufficiently explicit to teach it better than 
 French can be taught by books alone without the aid 
 of oral instruction." (Haldeman's " Latin Pronuncia- 
 tion," p. 6.). 
 
 186. It is a fact known universally among French 
 scholars that a man who learns French from books 
 alone can not lay claim to even the lowest respecta- 
 bility in the use of the language. Such a point needs 
 no discussion. Professor Haldeman's assertion, ad- 
 mitted in its widest extent, proves nothing at all to 
 his purpose. If the followers of the new mode ap- 
 proximate the ancient Romans no nearer than an 
 American, with books alone, can approximate the 
 Parisian French, then the whole attempt at reform 
 ought to be abandoned as an unqualified failure. 
 
 187. Mr. Tetlow, in the "New England Journal 
 of Education" for December 26th, gives an admirable 
 illustration of learning a language from books alone. 
 He says : " Permit me, in this connection, to quote a 
 passage from Hamerton's * Intellectual Life.' The 
 author is speaking of a Frenchman who had studied 
 English from books alone. He says : 
 
 188. " * Most of our great authors were known to 
 him, even down to the close, critical comparison of 
 
100 TOE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 different readings. Aided by the most powerful mem- 
 ory I eyer knew, he had amassed such stores that the 
 acquisitions, even of cultivated Englishmen, would in 
 many cases have appeared inconsiderable beside them. 
 But he could not write or speak English in a manner 
 tolerable to an Englishman ; and although he knew 
 nearly all the words in the language, it was dictionary 
 knowledge, and so different from an Englishman's 
 apprehension of the same words that it was only a 
 sort of pseudo-English that he knew, and not our liv- 
 ing tongue. His appreciation of our authors, espe- 
 cially of our poets, differed so widely from English 
 criticism and English feeling, that it was evident he 
 did not understand them as we understand them. 
 Two things especially proved this : he frequently 
 mistook declamatory versification of the most medio- 
 cre quality for poetry of an elevated order ; while, on 
 the other hand, his ear failed to perceive the music 
 of the musical poets, as Byron and Tennyson. How 
 could he hear their music, he to whom our English 
 sounds were all unknown ? Here, for example, is the 
 way he read 'Claribel.' 
 
 189. **I take the liberty of reading the correct 
 form, line by line, with the distorted, lest in the trav- 
 esty you fail to recognize the original : 
 
 " At eve the beetle boometh 
 Athwart the thicket lone : 
 At ev ze hittle hommesa 
 Azvart ze zeelcet Ion : 
 
 " At noon the wild bee hammeth 
 About the mossed head-stone : 
 At none ze veeld lee ommesi 
 Ahoot ze moat edaton ; 
 
 OPINIONS OF ADVOCATES OF THE ROMAN METHOD. 101 
 
 *» At midnight the moon cometh 
 And looketh down alone. 
 At meedneeg ze mon commeas 
 An lolcez dovn alon, 
 
 " Her song the lint-white swelleth, 
 Ere aongg ze lintveet avelleas^ 
 
 " The clear-voiced mavis dwelleth, 
 Ze clirvoiced mavi dvellesa, 
 
 " The fledgling throstle lispeth, 
 Ze fledgling aroat liapeaa, 
 
 ** The slumbrous wave outwelleth, 
 Ze alonibrooa vav ootvelleaa, 
 
 ** The babbling runnel orispeth, 
 Ze laUlang ronnel creeapeaa^ 
 
 " The hollow grot replieth, 
 Ze ollov grot repleeeas, 
 
 " Where Claribel low lieth. 
 Vere Claribel lov lee-eaa^ 
 
 190. These articles of Mr. Tetlow have been writ- 
 ten within two months past ; they present the new 
 system in its most plausible phase, and furnish us in 
 the quotations made, an answer to Professor Halde- 
 man's plea for the new system, that leaves nothing to 
 be desired in addition. A Frenchman can not learn 
 English from books, and especially its phonetics ; an 
 American can not learn French from books ; and no 
 man living can learn the phonetics of the ancient 
 Latin from books. If not from books, where is he to 
 go ^ Let some New '' Koman " tell us. 
 
 191 Take one more illustration. Prof essor W. 
 G. Richardson, under date of May 3d, in the " Co- 
 
102 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 lumbia Statesman," says : " Professor Leonard must 
 anglicize his speech to corn-men t yowss por-tez towss. 
 ... I have a literary friend who actually pronounces 
 thus. He learned * French without a master.' For- 
 tunately, he is yery deaf, and knows little of the effect 
 of his peculiar phonetics." The reformers are thor- 
 oughly sound when they handle any other language 
 than the Latin. The two illustrations just made ex- 
 hibit vividly how near we can approach the phonetics 
 of a language from books alone. 
 
 192. ^* As the best native speakers of Latin differed 
 among themselves in theory and practice, but labored 
 harmoniously and to the end to come nearer to the 
 ideal pronunciation, so there is no ground for dis- 
 couragement or for detraction, if those who would 
 restore the ancient pronunciation still differ in many 
 points, and perhaps in all points fall below the true 
 standard " (Professor Tracy Peck). 
 
 193. "The sign oe is representative of the most 
 unstable, and therefore the most uncertain of all the 
 Latin vowel-sounds." (Professor Blair, section 104.) 
 " There is certainly a consolation for our ignorance 
 in the belief that the Romans themselves did not 
 know for any length of time together a certain sound 
 for this diphthong " (Blair, section 109). 
 
 194. ** I doubt whether we are likely to come any 
 nearer to such a standard than what would make our 
 reading of Latin a barbarous and painful travesty to 
 a Roman ear — something like the average grammar- 
 school French to a Parisian " (J. H. Allen ; see let- 
 ter, section 353). " But as a method of pronunciation 
 for practical use, I do not believe it is worth one tenth 
 of the trouble, irritation, and ridicule it has cost, even 
 
 1! 
 
 OPINIONS OF ADVOCATES OF THE ROMAN METHOD. 103 
 
 if the end could be attained, and if that end were de- 
 sirable " (Allen's " Query," section 352). 
 
 195. '' Our knowledge is far too meager to enable 
 us really to recover the old pronunciation as it existed 
 (say) in the time of Cicero " (Principal of Eton Col- 
 lege, Windsor, England, section 249). 
 
 196. Let any one calmly read the quotations above 
 given from Roman Latinists,* and he will be made to 
 feel that they do not claim to stand on a satisfactory 
 or firm foundation ; that not one of them holds that 
 the system, in its entirety, rests on an adequately as- 
 certained basis ; that they admit virtually and really 
 •that, while some things are regarded as fixed, others 
 are doubtful, and still others are perplexing and des- 
 titute of proper proof, " and perhaps in all points fall 
 below the true standard." These admissions, made 
 either directly or indirectly, correspond in the main 
 to the positions before enunciated in this discussion. 
 
 THE CLASS-ROOM. 
 
 197. The reply may be made that while gram- 
 marians differ, the universities and colleges adopting 
 the ** Roman " are nearly uniform in class-room. Un- 
 fortunately, however, the want of harmony in a<jtual 
 practice is even more glaring than on the printed 
 page, for many of those who have introduced the sys- 
 tem seem to feel at liberty, in the exercise of an eclec- 
 ticism peculiar to this subject, to accept a part of the 
 theory, or reject a part, just as each one's own judg- 
 ment may dictate. In the University of Kentucky, 
 as we learn by a letter dated December 27, 1878, ae 
 
 * Excepting the Principal of Eton CoUege, section 249. 
 
104 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 and oe are sounded like a in fate; while at Princeton, 
 New Jersey, ae is pronounced like aye = English long 
 t, and oe is pronounced as oi in coil. The same is true 
 of V and other letters already noticed. What Professor 
 Mayor, of Oxford, England, says of his country in 
 speaking of the new system, is emphatically true in 
 America, viz., "In practice there is great diversity." 
 
 198. " Grammatici certant at adhuc sub judice 
 lis est." 
 
 A very accurate scholar, after much experience in 
 the class-rooms of the university, writes : " In pre- 
 paring a new edition of ' The Three Pronunciations,* 
 perhaps the following facts relative to the pronuncia- 
 tion of Latin used at the Johns Hopkins University 
 will be of interest : 
 
 ** The diphthong eu is sounded as the German u, 
 or French u, 
 
 ** The diphthong ae is sounded as a in made. For- 
 merly this was sounded as i in fine. 
 
 *' The letter v* is given the same sound as in Eng- 
 lish." 
 
 199. The facts above given bear the date of June 
 12, 1884. The distinguished scholars in that seat of 
 learning have within two years past changed the pro- 
 nunciation of ae\ from i in fine to a in made. Most 
 writers insist that v has the w-sound, and yet at Johns 
 Hopkins it is uniformly sounded as in English. 
 
 The following, from the pen of the distinguished 
 President of the University of Missouri, is pertinent : 
 " I will venture to express the opinion that professors 
 are not at liberty to teach their unrecognized indi- 
 
 * Sections 165-1 67, 376. 
 
 f Sections 165-169. 
 
 OPINIONS OF ADVOCATES OF THE ROMAN METHOD. 105 
 
 vidualisms as part of a system. Those youth are ex- 
 ceedingly unfortunate who are made the subjects of 
 class-room experimentation, in the interest of empiri- 
 cal novelties. Individual opinions are not properly 
 taught as a part of science ; for when they become a 
 part of science by virtue of the recognition of the 
 great body of specialists or experts, then they cease to 
 be individualisms. The classics are entitled to equal 
 protection against empiricists. Is it not true that the 
 indeterminate and tentative element is in the so-called 
 Roman in excess of every other method ? This is 
 fatal to a preference for it." 
 
 200. In an able address by Professor McAnally, of 
 the Department of English Literature, Missouri Uni- 
 versity, occur the following passages in reference to 
 the mutations constantly going on in language. His 
 remarks are very suggestive as to the German, which 
 is claimed to be a phonetic language : 
 
 " The truth is, that nothing is slower, more in- 
 sidious, or more unnoticed in its action, than the 
 change that is constantly going on in language. One 
 generation of men passes away, another generation 
 comes, and each man believes with all the earnest- 
 ness of conviction that he speaks the language of his 
 fathers, when in truth he does nothing of the kind. 
 He does not even speak the language of his youth, 
 much less that of his father's youth, for in his own 
 mouth and without his knowledge the change is being 
 effected. The pronunciation of words is being con- 
 stantly but slowly changed. No one now says ' greet' 
 for great, yet less than a hundred years ago it was so 
 
 pronounced. i. • a- 
 
 201. *ailustrations of the fact that hnguistic 
 
106 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 changes of a more general character have taken place 
 in the past are furnished by several historical facts. 
 The most curious of these was probably the ' Refugee 
 French.' After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, 
 large numbers of Huguenots fled from France, and, 
 taking refuge in the cities of Holland and England, 
 formed colonies, the members of which associated 
 Bolely with each other, and carried on by means of 
 agents the purchase of material, and sale of the prod- 
 ucts they manufactured. They thus, in many cases, 
 almost isolated themselves from their surroundings, 
 but persisted in speaking the French language. 
 
 202. " This state of things continued for three or 
 four generations, when it was discovered that, while 
 the French language at home had undergone material 
 changes, the French of these refugees had remained 
 in statu quo, with the exception of an occasional and 
 accidental foreign word ; in other words, its growth 
 had ceased, while the growth of the language at home 
 had continued, and when some of these refugee peo- 
 ple went home a century later, their pronunciation 
 and grammatical constructions were as antiquated as 
 would be for us the English of Ben Jonson. 
 
 203. "Another fair illustration is furnished by 
 the history of a party of Germans from a minor state 
 in the empire, who settled in a mountain-valley of 
 Pennsylvania before the American Revolution, and 
 during the French revolutionary wars remained iso- 
 lated from Europe. So remarkable was the result of 
 this isolation that many years ago, when Prince Bern- 
 hard, of Saxe- Weimar, while on a tour through this 
 country, visited the settlement, he found German 
 still spoken, but a similar phenomenon was noticed 
 
 OPINIONS OF ADVOCATES OF THE ROMAN METHOD. 107 
 
 as in the case of the refugee French. The German 
 they spoke was that of a previous age." 
 
 Our having the anatomy of a language does not 
 put us in possession of its physiology. We may have 
 the sign, but not know what it signified. 
 
 The contents of this and the preceding chapter 
 present adequate reasons for answering in the nega- 
 tive the second question contained in section 40, viz. : 
 " Shall we adopt the so-called Roman system as now 
 offered ? " 
 
 Professor Haldeman says, " The want of harmoni 
 is greatli du to the absence of fonetic knowledge, and 
 to a vernacular influence which warps the judgment 
 in reading the ancient grammarians." (Ed. " Weekly," 
 February 19, 1880.) 
 
 This may be very true, but at this point we are 
 mainly concerned with established facts. 
 
 
jr 
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 
 USAGE IN AMEEICA. 
 
 215. Eight years ago the Bureau of Education, 
 at Washington City, made inquiries to ascertain the 
 usage of American universities and colleges. Two 
 hundred and thirty -seyen institutions responded. 
 The results of the correspondence were tabulated by 
 Professor Richardson, of Central University, Ken- 
 tucky. The work was completed in October, 1876 : 
 
 216. Universities and Colleges. 
 
 I. LATIN OR ROMAN. 
 
 KAME. 
 
 Howard College . 
 
 8t. John's College of Arkansas 
 
 University of California 
 
 Columbian University 
 
 University of Georgia . 
 
 Abingdon College 
 
 Illinois Wesleyan University 
 
 Monmouth College 
 
 Northwestern College 
 
 Indiana University 
 
 Indiana Asbury University 
 
 Northwestern Christian University 
 
 Moore's Hill College . 
 
 Ridgeville College 
 
 Upper Iowa University 
 
 Humboldt College 
 
 Cornell College . 
 
 PLA.OX. 
 
 Marion, Ala. 
 Little Rock, Ark. 
 Oakland, Cal. 
 Washington, D. C. 
 Athens, Ga. 
 Abingdon, lU. 
 Bloomington, Hi. 
 Monmouth, HL 
 Naperville, 111. 
 Bloomington, Ind. 
 Greencastle, Ind. 
 Irvington,Ind. 
 Moore's Hill, Ind. 
 Ridgeville, Ind. 
 Fayette, Iowa. 
 Humboldt, Iowa. 
 Mount Vernon, Iowa. 
 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 USAGE IN AMERICA. 
 
 109 
 
 KAMI. PLAGE. 
 
 Oskaloosa College Oskaloosa, Iowa. 
 
 University of Kansas Lawrence, Kan. 
 
 Centre College Danville, Ky. 
 
 Kentucky Military Institute . . . Farmdale, Ky. 
 
 Kentucky University Lexington, Ky. 
 
 Kentucky Wesleyan University . . Millers burg, Ky. 
 
 Central University Richmond, Ky. 
 
 Johns Hopkins Baltimore, Md. 
 
 Bethel College Russellville, Ky. 
 
 Louisiana State University . , . Baton Rouge, La. 
 Western Maryland College .... Westminster, Md. 
 BostonUniversity, College of Liberal Arts. Boston, Mass. 
 University of Michigan .... Ann Arbor, Mich. 
 
 Kalamazoo College Kalamazoo, Mich. 
 
 University of Mississippi .... Oxford, Miss. 
 
 Yale College* New Haven, Conn. 
 
 Central College Fayette, Mo. 
 
 Rutgers College Now Brunswick, N. J. 
 
 College of New Jersey .... Princeton, N. J. 
 Cornell University ..... Ithaca, N. Y. 
 
 Columbia College New York, N. Y. 
 
 University of the City of New York . . New York, N. Y. 
 University of Rochester .... Rochester, N. Y. 
 Union College ...... Schenectady, N. Y. 
 
 Trinity College Trinity, N. C. 
 
 Wake Forest College Wake Forest, N. C. 
 
 Ohio University Athens, Ohio. 
 
 Baldwin University Berea, Ohioi 
 
 University of Cincinnati .... Cincinnati, Ohio. 
 Ohio Wesleyan University .... Delaware, Ohio. 
 
 Hiram College Hiram, Ohio. 
 
 Willoughby College Willoughby, Ohio. 
 
 Wilmington College Wilmington, Ohio 
 
 Antioch College Yellow Springs, Ohio. 
 
 Corvallis College Corvallis, Oregon. 
 
 Pacific University and Tualatin Academy . Forest Grove, Oregon. 
 Pennsylvania Military Academy . . Chester, Pa. 
 
 Haverford College Haverford, Pa. 
 
 University at Lewisburg .... Lewisburg, Pa. 
 Mercersburg College Mercersburg, Pa. 
 
 ■-Ill m ■■■ M III ■ I I I I II _ . ■_ ■ ■■ I 
 
 * 3ee ooDclttsion, sectloD 897. 
 
110 TEE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 NAME. PLACE. 
 
 Westminster College New Wilmington, Pa. 
 
 Swarthmore College Swarthmore, Pa. 
 
 Newberry College Walhalla, S. C. 
 
 Southwestern Presbyterian University . Clarksville, Tenn. 
 
 University of Deseret Salt Lake City, Utah. 
 
 Middlebury College . . . . . Middlebury, Vt. 
 
 Randolph Macon College .... Ashland, Va. 
 
 Emory;, and Henry College .... Emory, Va. 
 
 Hampden Sidney College .... Hampden Sidney, Vo. 
 
 Washington and Lee University . . Lexington , Va. 
 
 University of Virginia . . . . University of Virginia, Va. 
 
 College of William and Mary . . . Williamsburg, Va. 
 
 Bethany College Bethany, West Va. 
 
 Galesville University Galesville, Wis. 
 
 University of Wisconsin .... Madison, Wis. 
 
 Badne College Eacine, Wis, 
 
 217. n. CONTINENTAL. 
 
 Missionary College of St. Augustine . . Bcnicia, Cal. 
 
 St. Vincent's College Los Angeles, Cal. 
 
 St. Mary's College San Francisco, Cal. 
 
 Santa Clara College Santa Clara, Cal. 
 
 Colorado College Colorado Springs, Col. 
 
 Georgetown College Georgetown, D. C. 
 
 Howard University Washington, D. C. 
 
 Bowdon College Bowdon, Ga. 
 
 St. Ignatius College Chicago, 111. 
 
 University of Chicago .... Chicago, 111. 
 
 Eureka College Eureka, HI. 
 
 Wartburg Seminary Mendota, HI. 
 
 St. Joseph's College Teutopolis, UL 
 
 Bedford College Bedlbrd, Ind. 
 
 Concordia College Fort Wayne, Ind. 
 
 Union Christian College .... Merom, Ind. 
 University of Notre Dame du Lao . . Notre Dame, Ind. 
 
 St. Meinrad's College St. Meinrad, Ind. 
 
 St. Bonaventure's College .... Terre Haute, Ind. 
 
 Norwegian Luther College . . . Decorah, Iowa. 
 
 Iowa Wesleyan University . . . Mount Pleasant, Iowa. 
 
 Western College Western College, Iowa. 
 
 Eminence College Eminence, Ey. 
 
 .' 
 * 
 
 I 
 
 USAGE IN AMERICA. 
 
 Ill 
 
 WAMB. PLACE. 
 
 St. Mary's CoUego St. Mary's, Ky. 
 
 St. Charles College Grand Coteau, La. 
 
 Jefferson College (St Mary's) . . .St. James, La. 
 
 Bates College Lewiston, Me. 
 
 Albion College Albion, Mich. 
 
 Hope College Holland City, Mich. 
 
 Shaw University Holly Spring, Miss. 
 
 Christian University Canton, Mo. 
 
 St. Vincent's College Cape Girardeau, Mo. 
 
 Lincoln College Greenwood, Mo. 
 
 Christian Brothers' College . . .St Louis, Mo. 
 
 St. Louis University St. Louis, Mo. 
 
 University of Nebraska . . . . Lincoln, Neb. 
 St. Bonaventure's College .... Alleghany, N. Y. 
 
 Wells College Aurora, N. Y. 
 
 St Joseph's College Buffalo, N. Y. 
 
 Hobart College Geneva, N. Y. 
 
 Vassar College . . ' . . . • Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 
 
 Rutherford College Happy Home, N. C. 
 
 North Carolina College .... Mount Pleasant, N. C. 
 
 Mount St. Mary's Seminary of the West . Cindrmati, Ohio. 
 
 Ohio Central College Iberia, Ohio. 
 
 Mt. Union College Mount Union, Ohio. 
 
 Franklin College New Athens, Ohio. 
 
 New Market College New Market, Ohio. 
 
 Richmond College Richmond, Ohio. 
 
 Heidelberg College Tiffin, Ohio. 
 
 Urbana University Urbana, Ohio. 
 
 Geneva CoUege West Geneva, Ohio. 
 
 University of Wooster .... Wooeter, Ohio. 
 
 Xenia College Xenia, Ohio. 
 
 Willamette University .... Salem, Ore. 
 
 Lincoln University Chester County, Pa. 
 
 Franklin and Marshall College . . . Lancaster, Pa. 
 
 St Vincent's CoUege Near Latrobe, Pa. 
 
 Allegheny College Meadville, Pa. 
 
 Furman University Greenville, S. C. 
 
 East Tennessee Wesleyan University . Athens, Term. 
 
 Beech Grove College Beech Grove, Tenn. 
 
 Christian Brothers' College . . . Memphis, Tenn. 
 
 Mosheim Male and Female Institute . . Mosheim, Tenn. 
 
 Central Texmeasee College .... Nashville, Tenn. 
 
112 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 USAGE IN AMERICA, 
 
 113 
 
 NAME. 
 
 Texas Military Institute 
 University of St. Mary 
 Austin College . 
 Marvin College . 
 Roanoke College 
 West Virginia College 
 West Virginia University 
 St. John's College 
 Northwestern University 
 
 PLACS. 
 
 . Austin, Tex. 
 . Galveston, Tex. 
 . Huntsville, Tex. 
 . Waxahachie, Tex. 
 . Salem, Va. 
 . Flemington, W. Va. 
 . Morgantown, W. Va. 
 . Prairie du Chicu, Wis, 
 . Watertown, Wis. 
 
 iU 
 
 218. III. ENGLISH. 
 
 Cane Hill College Boonsboro', Ark. 
 
 University of the Pacific .... Santa Clara, Cal. 
 Pacific Methodist College .... Santa Rosa, Cal. 
 
 California College Vacaville, Cal. 
 
 Trinity College Hartford, Conn. 
 
 Wesleyan University Middletown, Conn. 
 
 Delaware College Newark, Del. 
 
 Atlanta University Atlanta, Ga. 
 
 Blackburn University Carlinville, III. 
 
 Carthage College Carthage, 111. 
 
 Northwestern University .... Evanston, 111. 
 
 Knox College Galesburg, 111. 
 
 Lombard University Galesburg, 111. 
 
 Hanover College ..... Hanover, Ind. 
 
 Illinois College Jacksonville, 111. 
 
 Lincoln University Lincoln, HI. 
 
 Shurtleff College Upper Alton, HI. 
 
 Westfield College Wcstfield, 111. 
 
 Wheaton College Wheaton, HI. 
 
 Wabash College Crawfordsville, Ind. 
 
 Fort Wayne College Fort Wayne, Ind. 
 
 Franklin College Franklin, Ind. 
 
 Hartsville University Hartsvill^, Ind. 
 
 Smithson College Logansport, Ind. 
 
 Earlham College Richmond, Ind. 
 
 University of Des Moines . . . . Des Moines, Iowa. 
 
 Iowa College Grinnell, Iowa. 
 
 Simpson Centenary College . . . Indianola, Iowa. 
 Iowa State University .... Iowa City, Iowa. 
 Penn College Oskaloosa, Iowa. 
 
 KAinC. PLACE. 
 
 Central University of Iowa. . . . Pella, Iowa. 
 
 Tabor College Tabor, Iowa. 
 
 Lane University Lecompton, Kan. 
 
 Georgetown College Georgetown, Ky. 
 
 Concord College New Liberty, Ky. 
 
 Leland University . . ' . . . New Orleans, La. 
 New Orleans University .... New Orleans, La. 
 
 Straight University New Orleans, La. 
 
 Bowdoin College Brunswick, Me. 
 
 Colby University Waterville, Me. 
 
 Washington College Chestertown, Md. 
 
 Amherst College . . . • . Amherst, Mass. 
 
 Tufts College College Hill, Mass. 
 
 Williams College Williamstown, Mass. 
 
 Adrian College Adrian, Mich. 
 
 OUvet College Olivet, Mich. 
 
 University of Minnesota .... Minneapolis, Minn. 
 
 Carleton College Northfield, Minn. 
 
 Westminster College Fulton, Mo. 
 
 Hannibal College Hannibal, Mo. 
 
 Thayer College Kidder, Mo. 
 
 Washington University . . . .St. Louis, Mo. 
 
 Drury College Springfield, Mo. 
 
 Doane College Crete, Neb. 
 
 Dartmouth College Hanover, N. H. 
 
 St. Stephen's College Annandale, N. Y. 
 
 Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechic Inst. . Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
 St. Lawrence University .... Canton, N. Y. 
 
 Elmira Female College . ■ . . • Elmira, N. Y. 
 
 Madison University HamUton, N. Y. 
 
 Ingham University LeRoy, N. Y. 
 
 Syracuse University Syracuse, N. Y. 
 
 Kenyon College Gambler, Ohio. 
 
 Denison University Granville, Ohio. 
 
 Western Reserve College .... Hudson, Ohio. 
 
 Marietta College Marietta, Ohio. 
 
 Oberlin College Oberlin, Ohio. 
 
 Otterbein University Westerville, Ohio. 
 
 Philomath College Philomath, Ore. 
 
 Muhlenburg College Allentown, Pa. 
 
 Lebanon Valley College .... Annville, Pa. 
 
 Lafayette College Easton, Pa. 
 
 t 
 
114 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 THAilS. PLACE. 
 
 Pennsylvania College Gettysburg, Pa. 
 
 Western University of Pennsylvania . . Pittsburg, Pa. 
 
 College of Charleston Charleston, S. C. 
 
 University of South Carolina . . . Columbia, S. C. 
 
 Wofford College Spartanburg, S. C. 
 
 East Tennessee University . . * . Knoxville, Tenn. 
 Cumberland University .... Lebanon, Tenn. 
 
 MaryvUle College Maryville, Tenn. 
 
 University of the South . . . . Sewanee, Tenn. 
 Southwestern University .... Georgetown, Tex. 
 Henderson Male and Female College . Henderson, Tex. 
 
 Baylor University Independence, Tex. 
 
 Waco University Waco, Tex. 
 
 University of Vermont and State Agricult- 
 ural College Burlington, Vt. 
 
 Norwich University Northfleld, Vt. 
 
 Lawrence University Appleton, Wis. 
 
 Beloit College . . . . • • Beloit, Wis. 
 
 MUton College Milton, Wis. 
 
 Bipon College Ripen, Wis. 
 
 Dniveisity of Missouri .... Columbia, Mo. 
 
 219. Preparatory Schools, 
 
 I. LATIN OR ROMAN. 
 
 Oakland High School Oakland, Cal. 
 
 Franciscan College Santa Barbara, CaL 
 
 Friends* Elementary and High School . Baltimore, Md. 
 
 ChauDcy Hall School Boston, Ma«»8. 
 
 Private Classical School (J. P. Hopkinson) Boston, Mass. 
 
 Public Latin School Boston, Mass. 
 
 Day and Family School for young men 
 
 (Joshua Kendall) .... Cambridge, Mass. 
 
 High School Cambridge, Mass. 
 
 High School Concord, Mass. 
 
 Williston Seminary East Hampton, Mass. 
 
 Mr. Knapp's Home School for Boys . . Plymouth, Mass. 
 
 St. Paul's School . . . • • Concord, N. H. 
 
 Stevens High School Hoboken, N. J. 
 
 Claverack Academy and Hudson River In- 
 stitute Claverack, N. Y. 
 
 Colgate Academy Hamilton, N. Y. 
 
 USAGE IN AMERICA. 
 
 115 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 KAIOS. PLACE. 
 
 Cook Academy Havana, N. Y. 
 
 Ithaca High School Ithaca, N. Y. 
 
 Mr. Kinne's School Ithaca, N. Y. 
 
 Kingston Academy Kingston, N. Y. 
 
 Park Institute Kye, N. Y. 
 
 Union Classical Institute .... Schenectady, N. Y. 
 
 De Veaux College Suspension Bridge, N. Y. 
 
 Rev. M. R. Hooper»s Academy for Boys . Yonkers. N. Y. 
 
 The Brooks School Cleveland, Ohio. 
 
 Milwaukee Academy MUwaukee, Wis. 
 
 220. n. CONTINENTAL. 
 
 Oak Mound School for Boys . . . Napa, Cal. 
 
 California MiUtary Academy . . . Oakland, Cal. 
 
 Jarvis Hall Golden, Col. 
 
 Hopkins Grammar School .... New Haven, Conn. 
 
 Norwich Free Academy .... Norwich, Conn. 
 
 Allen's Academy Chicago, IlL 
 
 Preparatory Department of Griswold Col- 
 let Davenport, Iowa. 
 
 English and Classical School for Boys 
 
 (William N. Eayrs, A. B.) . . • Boston, Mass. 
 
 Greylock Institute South Williamstown, Mass. 
 
 West Newton English and Classical School West Newton, Mass. 
 
 Austin Academy Center Strafford, N. H. 
 
 Princeton College Preparatory School . Princeton, N. J. 
 
 Chariier Institute New York, N. Y. 
 
 Columbia Grammar School . . . New York, N. Y. 
 
 Dabnoy University School .... New York, N. Y. 
 
 Preparatory Scientific School (Alfred Colin, 
 
 ^ E ) New York, N. Y. 
 
 University Grammar School . . . New York, N. Y. 
 
 St. John's School Sing Smg, N. Y. 
 
 Chickering Institute Cincinnati, Ohio. 
 
 Milnor HaU (Kenyon College Grammar 
 
 School) Gambler, Ohio. 
 
 Germantown Preparatory School . . Germantown, Pa. 
 Cumberiand Valley Institute . . . Mechanicsburg, Pa. 
 Fewsmith's Classical and Mathematical 
 
 School Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 Collegiate Institute York, Pa. 
 
I 
 
 116 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 USAGE IN AMERICA. 
 
 117 
 
 KAME. 
 
 Kenmore University High School 
 Bellevue High School 
 Norwood High School 
 Hanover Academy 
 
 PLACX. 
 
 Amherst C. H., Va. 
 Bellevue, Va. 
 Norwood, Va. 
 Taylorsville, Va. 
 
 221. in. ENGLISH. 
 
 Talladega College Talladega, Ala. 
 
 Hartford Public High School . . . Hartford, Conn. 
 
 Connecticut Literary Institution . . Suffield, Conn. 
 
 Woodstock Academy Woodstock, Conn. 
 
 South Georgia Male Institute . . . Dawson, Ga. 
 
 Burlington Collegiate Institute . . . Burlington, Iowa. 
 
 Edward Little High School . . . Auburn, Me. 
 
 Nichols Latin School Lewiston, Me. 
 
 Maine Central Institute .... Pittsfleld, Me. 
 
 Franklin Family School .... Topsham, Me. 
 
 Waterville Ckssical Institute . . . Waterville, Me. 
 
 Lebanon Academy West Lebanon, Me. 
 
 Rockville Academy Rockville, Md. 
 
 Phillips Academy Andover, Mass. 
 
 Private Classical School (G. W. C. Noble, 
 
 A. M.) Boston, Mass. 
 
 Monson Academy Monson, Mass. 
 
 Worcester Academy Worcester, Mass. 
 
 Phillips Exeter Academy .... Exeter, N. H. 
 
 Kimball Union Academy .... Meriden, N. H. 
 
 New London Literary and Scientific Insti- 
 tution New London, N. II. 
 
 Peddie Institute Hightstown, N. J. 
 
 Cazenovia Seminary Cazenovia, N. Y. 
 
 Fort Edward Collegiate Institute . . Fort Edward, N. Y. 
 
 Chambersburg Academy .... Chambers burg. Pa. 
 
 Easton Classical and Mathematical School Easton, Pa. 
 
 Wyoming Seminary Kingston, Pa. 
 
 Select High School (George Eastbum, A.M. )Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 Rogers High School Newport, R. I. 
 
 Lapham Institute North Scituate, R. L 
 
 English and Classical School (William A. 
 Mowry, A. M., and Charles B. Goflf, 
 A.M.) Providence, R. I. 
 
 University Grammar School . . . Providence, R. I. 
 
 CUflin University Orangeburg C. H., S. C. 
 
 Burr and Burton Seminary . . . Manchester, Vt. 
 Wayland University Beaver Dam, Wis. 
 
 222. SUMMARY. 
 
 Preparatory 
 Colleges. Schools. 
 
 KEW ENOLAITD 8TATKB. 
 
 English 10 21 
 
 Contmental I • 
 
 Latin or Roman 2 9 
 
 ICIDDLE STATES. 
 
 English • 1« ^ 
 
 Continental * "■ 
 
 Latin or Roman I* ^^ 
 
 BOUTHEBIf STATES. 
 
 English !• * 
 
 Continental *• * 
 
 Latin or Roman 24 1 
 
 WESTERN STATES. 
 
 English ** 2 
 
 Continental 8^ *> 
 
 Latin or Roman 29 2 
 
 PACIFIC STATES. 
 
 English 4 
 
 Continental ^ * 
 
 Latin or Roman 4 8 
 
 223. The word " Latin " is used of course in the 
 sense of the word ^* Roman." Of the two hundred 
 and thirty-seven, ninety used the English, seventy- 
 five the Continental, and seventy-two the " Roman" ; 
 i. e., thirty-seven per cent use the English, thirty-two 
 per cent the Continental, and thirty-one per cent the 
 ** Roman." Of the preparatory schools reporting, 
 eighty-seven in number, thirty-four use the English, 
 twenty-eight the Continental, twenty-five the " Ro- 
 man." 
 
118 TEE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 224.* (Report of the Bureau of Education, pp. 
 481-497.) 
 
 Professor Richardson has executed his task in a 
 most scholarly manner. His work was attended with 
 difficulties which none but an orthoepist can appre- 
 ciate. Obtaining exact information as to the pronun- 
 ciation in use in the many institutions in America is 
 a matter attended with no small difficulty. A large 
 number pay very little attention to orthoepy ; others 
 take an eclectic course and can scarcely be classed at 
 all (and this, too, when the instructor is not aware of 
 the fact) ; still others avowedly adopt part of one 
 mode and part of another. The Continental has sev- 
 eral varieties, even in our own land ; the mode that 
 may be properly termed the "American Continental " 
 is found in Chapter I. The so-called Latin or Ro- 
 man is much modified by the opinion of the professor 
 in charge of the class. Some institutions of great 
 prominence permit the students to use any method 
 they may choose. 
 
 Carelessness in such matters is almost unpardon- 
 able, especially in view of the fact that information is 
 easily accessible, and even more especially because 
 scholars recognize but three scholarly systems. Why 
 not use either the English, or the Continental, or the 
 Phonetic mode, following some good grammar or other 
 competent authority ? 
 
 Few changes have been made within the last five 
 years, and these have been to the English or the Latin. 
 For instance, Hanover College has adopted the Eng- 
 
 * A letter from General Eaton, written recently (July, 1884), 
 Btates that the Bureau of Education has no information later than 
 what is here ^vcn. 
 
 USAGE IN AMERICA, 
 
 119 
 
 1 
 
 lish by action of the trustees, and Professor Peck has 
 introduced the Roman at Yale. Any important vari- 
 ations from the tables given above may be found in an 
 appendix. 
 
 226. It is but just to say that the report made by 
 the Bureau of Education is only approximately true. 
 The compiler seems to have anticipated this when he 
 says, " As all Latinists are not necessarily orthoepists, 
 and as the terms used are not always well defined, I 
 fear I have made some errors in classification." For 
 instance, Professor Johnson, of the University of the 
 City of New York, under date of January 22, 1879, 
 says, " You will rightly infer from the above that I 
 do not regard the university as fairly belonging to 
 the class of colleges in which the Roman method is 
 adopted." In the same letter Professor Johnson states 
 that he gives Professor Lane's rules for the pronuncia- 
 tion of Latin to the Senior Class while reading Lucre- 
 tius, and that *Hhe whole matter is one of curios- 
 ity rather." Some institutions, since the report was 
 made, have either returned to the English method, or 
 adopted it for the first time. The Missouri University 
 has adopted the English within the past two years. 
 The prediction is made that other changes will take 
 place in some of the schools which now employ the 
 new method, which has made many conquests in the 
 last ten years, chiefly because of the following rea- 
 sons : 1. Its name, the Latin or Roman method; 2. 
 Its high pretensions as producing Latin sounds as 
 they came from the lips of Cicero ; 3. The aggressive- 
 ness of its advocates, coupled often with their celeb- 
 rity as scholars ; 4. The impression sought to be made 
 by its friends, that its use was a kind of synonym for 
 
120 THE THREE PRONTJNCUTIOXS OF LATIN. 
 
 progress and ** advanced scholarship " ; 5. The con- 
 tinuous repetition of the assertion that the new pro- 
 nunciation has been adopted in the universities and 
 great schools of England and Germany — an assertion 
 utterly without foundation, as will be seen by a refer- 
 ence to the chapter on usage in England, an assertion, 
 too, that no Roman Latinist in America can risk his 
 reputation in making again ; 6. The fact that Eng- 
 lish Latinists, feeling generally secure in their posi- 
 tion, have not taken the pains to examine and publish 
 the truth that the new system is largely theoretical, 
 that the defenders do not harmonize m theory and in 
 practice, and that the attempt to introduce it into 
 some of the schools of England has proved a signal 
 failure. As to Germany, the defenders of the inno- 
 vation are challenged to name a single university or 
 gymnasium where the system is adopted in its entire- 
 ty. Everywhere in Germany where Corssen's method 
 has been introduced, it has taken, like the chameleon, 
 its coloring from its surroundings. It is hoped that 
 for the sake of the profound scholarship on the ** Ro- 
 man" side, some celebrated school may be named 
 somewhere within the pale of Christendom which 
 does adopt in practice the whole theoretical system 
 called the "Latin." The conviction is daily becom- 
 ing more deeply fixed that the progress of the new 
 mode will be checked in America just as rapidly as 
 the crucial test shall be applied to its real merits, just 
 as rapidly as its revolutionary and ruinous effects 
 upon our mother-tongue can be appreciated by Ameri- 
 can scholars and teachers. This is established, too, 
 by the very large number of letters received from 
 friends of the old and settled English pronunciation 
 
 USAGE IN AMERICA. 
 
 121 
 
 since the publication of the pamphlet on the " Three 
 Pronunciations of Latin " six years ago. The so-called 
 Roman system is not now making many conquests, 
 and the assertion that its use means " progress and 
 advanced scholarship " has lost its power. 
 
 227. A letter from Professor Thacher, of the Latin 
 Department of Yale College, dated December 28, 1877, 
 says : 
 
 " I am more convinced than ever, if possible, that 
 the attempt to introduce the so-called Roman method 
 of Latin pronunciation will prove a failure." 
 
 Professor Thacher made a thorough investigation 
 of the new system as early as 1861. His opinion re- 
 mains unchanged. 
 
 228. The oldest academy of its kind in America is 
 Phillips Academy, at Andover, Massachusetts. This 
 venerable and justly celebrated school held its centen- 
 nial celebration in June, 1878, when fifteen hundred 
 of its sons returned to its sacred halls to renew the 
 hallowed associations of one hundred years. Such 
 an assembly of distinguished men have rarely come 
 together in the history of any school in the world. 
 That academy has prepared more young men for col- 
 lege than any other in our country, and for an en- 
 tire century has taught the English pronunciation of 
 Latin. The same system is used there to-day. What 
 academy in New England, or out of it, can point to 
 such a roll of illustrious names ? C. F. P. Bancroft, 
 Ph. D., the present principal, a most able scholar 
 and teacher, still clings to a pronunciation that has 
 yielded such magnificent results in profound scholar- 
 ship for generations past. His letter is of interest to 
 teachers. 
 
n 
 
 122 THE THREE PRONUNCUnONS OF LATIN. 
 
 229. 
 
 Phillips Academy, Andover, MASSAcnrsErrs, ) 
 
 January 27, 1879. 
 
 Professor M, M, Fisher, 
 
 My dear Sir : We have not found it necessary 
 to change from the English pronunciation of Latin 
 in preparing pupils for college, as many respectable 
 colleges adhere to the old way, and some of those 
 which '^ adopted" the new have used several meth- 
 ods, under various instructors, during the four-years' 
 course. For most pupils the end proposed in study- 
 ing Latin is not orthoepy nor orthography, and philo- 
 logical skill is not dependent on the accidents of utter- 
 ance. Yours very truly, 
 
 Cecil F. P. Bancroft, Principal, 
 
 230. Among those using the English are : 
 
 Trinity College, Conn. 
 "Wabash College, Ind. 
 Bowdoin College, Me. 
 Williams College, Mass. 
 Washington University, Mo. 
 Madison University, N. Y. 
 Marietta College, Ohio. 
 
 Northwestern University, Ind. 
 Iowa State University. 
 Amherst College, Mass. 
 University of Minnesota. 
 Dartmouth College, N. II. 
 Syracuse University, N. Y. 
 Lafayette College, Pa. 
 
 University of South Carolina. University of East Tennessee. 
 University of Missouri. University of Vermont. 
 
 231, Prominent among the preparatory schools 
 adopting the English are Phillips Exeter Academy, 
 N. H., and University Grammar School, Providence, 
 R. L 
 
 The Continental is found in — 
 
 Yassar College, N. Y. 
 Roanoke College, Ya. 
 Wooster University, Ohio. 
 And in all Catholic institutions. 
 
 University of Nebraska. 
 University of Chicago. 
 
 USAGE IN AMERICA. 
 
 232. The Roman is used in — 
 
 123 
 
 University of Kentucky. 
 University of Michigan. 
 Rochester University, N. Y. 
 
 Harvard University, Mass. 
 University of California. 
 Princeton College, N. J. 
 Central College, Mo. 
 And many others. 
 
 At this time, usage is about equally divided among 
 the three in this country. 
 
 233. The usage of other institutions may be seen 
 by referring to the tables above given. Professor Cas- 
 kie Harrison, of the University of the South, says : 
 
 " I still believe the English position to be the only 
 tenable one." 
 
 The attention of American teachers and scholars 
 is earnestly asked to the next chapter, which sets 
 forth usage in England, as shown by letters just re- 
 ceived (March, 1879) ; section 260. 
 
USAGE IN ENGLAND. 
 
 125 
 
 • . 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 USAGE IN ENGLAND. 
 
 236. Usage in the great schools of England has 
 a special interest for all English-speaking Latinists. 
 E. R. Humphreys, LL. D., formerly of Cambridge 
 University, England, is at this time teaching in Bos- 
 ton, preparing students for Harvard, Boston, and 
 other universities. Within eight years past, Dr. Hum- 
 phreys wrote letters to the leading educators of Eng- 
 land, Italy, and other European countries, asking in- 
 formation as to the mode followed in their schools, 
 and the result was a large collection of letters. Seven 
 of these were published in the ** New England Jour- 
 nal of Education " for April 19, 1877. Two of these 
 letters are given here, one from Oxford and the other 
 from the celebrated Rugby School. 
 
 237. From the Rev. Mandell CEEionTON, A. M., recently for 
 several years Dean and Tutor of Merton College^ 
 Oxford^ now Vicar of Embleton^ England. 
 
 Embleton Vicarage, May 16^ 1S7B. 
 
 My dear Dr. Humphreys : I may at once say 
 that the new system of the pronunciation of Latin 
 does not prevail at aU at Oxford — i. e., is in no way 
 publicly recognized, nor is it used by many, if indeed 
 by any, of the tutors. It has, I believe, made more 
 
 way at Cambridge. One or two of the public schools 
 have taken it up, but, as a rule, the old system pre- 
 vails unchanged. 
 
 The opinions of the professors are merely their 
 j)crsonal opinions, without any official validity. So 
 far as the new system prevails anywhere in England, 
 it prevails merely from the conviction of the indi- 
 vidual teacher, who adopts it himself, and so encour- 
 ages or trains his pupils to adopt it also. 
 
 Really there are two distinct currents of opinion — 
 one in favor of a Continental pronunciation, instead 
 of an insular one ; another in favor of reproducing 
 the Latin pronunciation, according to Corssen's rules. 
 
 Of those who have changed the old pronunciation, 
 some wish only to do the first, others, the second of 
 these things. Consequently, even among those who 
 have changed, there is a great divergence of opinion ; 
 but the great mass of teachers have not changed at alL 
 
 I am, dear Dr. Humphreys, yours very truly, 
 
 M. Creighton. 
 
 E. R. Humphreys, Esq., LL. D , Bostoriy U. S. A, 
 
 238. From the Rev. T. W. Jex-Blake, D. D., Read Master 
 
 qf Rugby School^ England. 
 
 ScHOOLHOusE, RuGBT, May 26y 1876. 
 
 My dear Sir : I think '* reformed Latin pronun- 
 ciation " is mere waste of time, and, if done on a fic- 
 titious, professor-made plan, absurd. The only rea- 
 sonable reform would be to take the existing Italian 
 pronunciation, where you have a living natural guide. 
 
 But cut bono "Reform" ? Not for any practical 
 end ; for any intelligent man, who is driven to use 
 
I 
 
 126 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 Latin as a medium of conversation with Continental 
 scholars, can adopt their pronunciation in five minutes. 
 
 I have had to talk Latin with patois-speaking cures 
 in the Alps, whose French was not French, and whose 
 German was not German, and could do it at once. In 
 Norway, I was for days on a steamer with a Norwegian 
 bishop, and all our talk was in Latin, on his method 
 of pronunciation, and we talked for hours, and have 
 since corresponded in Latin. 
 
 Leave pronunciation as it is, would be my advice, 
 and spend your time in clearer teaching of the idioms 
 and syntax of the flexible, terse old language, and in 
 a higher treatment of its literary wealth. 
 
 The ** curiosafelicitas " of Horace does not depend 
 on pronunciation, and Virgil will not become " nume- 
 rosior " when you made au = ou. 
 
 Yours sincerely, T. W. Jex-Blakb. 
 
 To E. R. Humphreys, Esq. 
 
 239. From another of these letters, written by Pro- 
 fessor Palmer, of the University of Oxford, we learn 
 that in 1874, in response to a request made by " head 
 masters " of schools. Professor Munro, of Cambridge, 
 and Professor Palmer, of Oxford, drew up a " Sylla- 
 bus of Pronunciation." This was not a university 
 document. The syllabus contained the Roman meth- 
 od. Professor Palmer himself, in speaking of it. May, 
 1876, says : 
 
 "I am not aware that individual professors, tu- 
 tors, or lecturers venture upon it in dealing with their 
 classes ; nor have I heard that Cambridge has been 
 more enterprising. I regard our syllabus as having 
 fallen still-bom." 
 
 USAGE IN ENGLAND. 
 
 127 
 
 ^1 
 
 240. Some of the English scholars, however, cher- 
 ish the hope that the reformed method may yet be 
 more prevalent in England. Dr. Humphreys, a pu- 
 pil of Dr. Donaldson, author of '' Varronianus" and 
 " New Cratylus," says : 
 
 " But in Great Britain, the letters read to you are 
 amply sufficient to show that there is no probability 
 of the adoption of the new system, to any material ex- 
 tent, for a very long period of time, if ever." 
 
 241. From letters dated within the present year, I 
 learn that the English system, which still unshaken 
 maintains its place, has prevailed at Oxford and Cam- 
 bridge for '* nearly three hundred years." Up to that 
 time the Continental was in use. As far as there is 
 any desire to change manifested, some prefer to adopt 
 the Continental, and others the new method, after 
 Corssen's rules, whose great work appeared in 1858- 
 '59. The facts cited set English usage definitely at 
 rest. The English system prevails, and is likely to 
 prevail so long as the English language is spoken by 
 English-speaking people. 
 
 242. The condition of things in England eight 
 years ago is distinctly indicated by these letters. 
 Speciarcare has been taken to learn the status of 
 Latin pronunciation as late as January, 1879. Several 
 letters were written two months since (1879) to some 
 of the ablest scholars and teachers in the universities 
 and great schools of England. Answers have been 
 received, with permission to use them as we saw fit. 
 
 243. 
 
 MERCHAirr Taylors' School, 1^^^» j. 
 
 January 8^ 1879. 
 
 My dear Sir : In reply to your letter of the 24th 
 ult., I beg to inform you that at Merchant Taylors', 
 
128 THE THKEE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 the English method of pronunciation of Latin is still 
 maintained. Some time ago I tried for a short time 
 to introduce a reform, but the experiment was nei- 
 ther popular nor successful, and as I found that there 
 was no general acceptance of the reformed method, 
 and especially as it seemed to meet with very little 
 support at the universities, I went back to the old- 
 fashioned English pronunciation. Up to the present 
 time nothing has occurred to induce me to repeat the 
 experiment. I am, my dear sir, faithfully. 
 Professor Fisher. WillIAM Bakeb. 
 
 USAGE IN ENGLAND. 
 
 129 
 
 244. Harrow, January 8y 1879. 
 
 My dear Sir : In reply to your letter, I have to 
 say that we still retain the old English pronunciation 
 of Latin, though I make a point of keeping my own 
 form, the highest in the school, acquainted with the 
 laws of pronunciation laid down a few years back by 
 Professors Munro and Palmer. Among the leading 
 schools which have, I believe, adopted the new meth- 
 od, are Marlborough College, Liverpool College, and 
 the City of London School. The masters of those 
 schools respectively are, the Rev. G. C. Bell, the Rev. 
 George Butler (my elder brother), and the Rev. Dr. 
 Abbott. I am, my dear sir. 
 
 Faithfully yours, 
 
 n. Montagu Butler. 
 
 Professor Fisher. 
 
 245. St. Peter's College, Westminster, ) 
 
 January 8, 1879. ) 
 
 Dear Sir : The attempt to reform the English 
 pronunciation of Latin at Westminster has been but 
 
 I 
 
 partially successful. The Senior Class read (in class) 
 using the Italian vowels, and the hard c and g. The 
 w sound for v, though I am convinced it is right, 
 leads to such ludicrous results to an English ear, that 
 I reject it in practice. Nor can I exact any but the 
 old pronunciation in " repetition " lessons. The Jun- 
 ior forms do not even attempt the innovation. The 
 indolence of our boys has won the day, as it has at 
 other schools. In some, no doubt, the change has 
 been more or less successfully made, but we found the 
 waste of time involved in correcting mispronuncia- 
 tions to be fatal. It is hard enough to teach the vari- 
 ous subjects required, within the hours that are avail- 
 able, and if the Latin hours are to be spent in mere 
 vocal exercise, the language can never be learned in 
 the time, nor the author studied. 
 
 The change has little value for mere boys ; it is 
 when they come to comparative philology, and to 
 tracing the development of the same root in kindred 
 tongues, that the new pronunciation is seen to bear 
 fruit. But of this boys can not easily be convinced ; 
 and accordingly they did not care for a change that 
 seemed to them merely troublesome. If the pronun- 
 ciation could be taught in childhood, the difficulty 
 may disappear ; but of this as yet no great prospect is 
 visible, in England, at least. 
 
 At the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge the 
 new method seems to have taken root. 
 Believe me, my dear sir. 
 
 Very faithfully yours, 
 
 Charles B. Scott, Head Master. 
 
 Professor M. M. Fisher, etc., University of Missouri, 
 
130 THE THREE rRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 246. Shrewsbury School, January 13, 1S79. 
 
 Dear Sir : The reformed method of Latin pro- 
 nunciation has been introduced into this school to 
 only a limited extent. In the sixth — our highest 
 form — the boys are required to conform to the rules 
 drawn up by the Latin professors in the Universities 
 of Oxford and Cambridge, in saying their repetition 
 lessons. With this exception, Latin is pronounced 
 here in the manner which has so long been usual in 
 English schools. I believe that head masters gener- 
 ally in this country, although there was some hesita- 
 tion for a time, have now acquiesced in the continu- 
 ance of the established method of pronouncing Latin. 
 For my own part, I should have been glad to comply 
 strictly with the rules drawn up by the professors of 
 Latin, if other head masters would have agreed to 
 make the change, and if tutors and lecturers at Ox- 
 ford and Cambridge had not adhered to the received 
 method. In a matter of this kind, uniformity of 
 practice is obviously desirable. 
 Believe me, dear sir, 
 
 Yours very faithfully, 
 
 H. W. Moss. 
 
 To t/ie Professor of Latin in the University of Missouri. 
 
 P. S. — You may make any use of this letter that 
 you think fit. 
 
 247. Oxford, England, September Sy 1878. 
 
 Dear Sir : I am ashamed to see that your letter 
 of the 25th of June, in this year, has been so long 
 neglected. I have really nothing to add to my letter 
 of 1876. The subject of Latin pronunciation has at- 
 
 USAGE IN ENGLAND. 
 
 131 
 
 tra<5ted little attention in England during the two 
 past years. The old or English method still reigns 
 unquestioned at the universities, nor am I awaxe that 
 the schools have shown any increased disposition to 
 attempt its reformation. I consider our enterprise a 
 
 coup manque* . . . 
 
 I am, dear sir, yours very faithfully, 
 
 Edwin Palmer, 
 Ex-Professor of Latin in the University of Oxford. 
 
 M. M. FiSH£R, Esq. 
 
 248. No summary of these letters could possibly 
 give any additional interest in the eyes of American 
 scholars. The simple fact that they are of recent date, 
 and penned by some of the ablest scholars and teachers 
 of England, will secure for them a most careful peru- 
 sal. These points, however, may be noted : 1. That the 
 English mode " reigns unquestioned at the universi- 
 ties " This is the testimony of Professor Palmer, one 
 of the authors of the '^ Syllabus." 2. That, while there 
 was some hesitation for a time, head masters generally 
 continue the old method. 3. Some schools have tried 
 to introduce the new system, and have failed. 4. 
 Other schools have found a waste of time involved in 
 using the reformed mode so great as to prove fatal to 
 
 success. 
 
 The following, from the Principal of Eton College, 
 Windsor, dated February 8, 1879, contains informa- 
 tion and arguments of the highest value to all Eng- 
 lish-speaking people : 
 
 249. Eton College, Windsor, February 8, 1879. 
 
 Dear Sir : We have made no change in the pro- 
 nunciation of Latin in Eton. A movement was set 
 
132 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 on foot a few years ago for bringing in a new system 
 of pronunciation ; and the Latin professors at Oxford 
 and Cambridge drew up a syllabus, based on the best 
 knowledge of the day. This attempt to revert to the 
 old pronunciation of their language in its best days 
 has a great interest doubtless for scholars, but its use 
 in the practical teaching of the language to boys is 
 by no means evident ; and though for a time it found 
 some favor, I think it is on the decline in England. 
 It seems open to these objections : 
 
 1. That our knowledge is far too meager to enable 
 us really to recover the old pronunciation of Latin as 
 it existed (say) in the time of Cicero. 
 
 2. That there seems to be but little hope of in- 
 ducing other nations to adopt any such scheme as 
 that proposed by the two professors. 
 
 3. That the introduction of a new pronunciation 
 would add to the difficulties of the early stages in 
 teaching Latin. 
 
 4. That there would be something painfully in- 
 congruous in attempting the pronunciation of Latin 
 without altering that of Greek ; and there seem to 
 be almost insuperable difficulties in adopting the mod- 
 em Greek pronunciation in English schools. 
 
 5. That though, in following the general practice 
 of foreign nations, which is to pronounce these dead 
 languages according to the laws of their own living 
 tongue, we in England are doubtless further from the 
 true pronunciation than the Italians, or even th,e Ger- 
 mans (not to mention others), no practical inconven- 
 ience seems to result from this, except the difficulty 
 of speaking intelligibly to a foreigner in Latin—a 
 difficulty which is not often felt, and which would 
 
 USAGE IN ENGLAND. 
 
 133 
 
 not be obviated or greatly diminished by adopting 
 the new pronunciation. I can not help also feeling 
 that there is a sort of pedantry in having one pronun- 
 ciation of such names as Cicero or Virgil for a school 
 lesson, and another for the intercourse of ordinary 
 life ; and I doubt whether the new system would ever 
 take root in general society. I believe that, on the 
 whole, the more thoughtful and liberal-minded men 
 at Oxford, to speak of my own university, which I 
 know best, are not favorable to the abandonment of 
 our present system. 
 
 Believe me, dear sir, very truly ever, 
 
 J. L Hornby. 
 
 Professor M. M. Fish^ 
 
 Univernty of Missouri^ Columbia^ United Stoics, 
 
 250. This letter mentions the decline of the new 
 system in England, and the writer indicates the be- 
 lief that **the more thoughtful and liberal-minded 
 men at Oxford " do not favor giving up the English. 
 
 As to the condition of things in Italy, the follow- 
 ing letters from the presidents of the University at 
 Rome and the College of the Propaganda, to Dr. 
 Humphreys, of Boston, will be amply sufficient : 
 
 251. From the Most Rev. Gustavus Conbado, Rettore di 
 Propagandd, Collegia Urhano, Boma. 
 
 CoLLiGK OF Propaganda, Rome, June i, 1876. 
 
 SiE : Your letter of May 14th came to hand a few 
 days ago, but I was unable to answer it sooner, as my 
 occupations are numerous, and leave me but little 
 spare time. 
 
 It is, however, with the greatest pleasure that I 
 seize every opportunity of contributing to further the 
 
134 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OP LATIN. 
 
 study of the Latin language, which owes so much to 
 the Catholic Church. 
 
 We pronounce here the comhinations ae and oe 
 precisely in the same way, giving them always the 
 sound of a in the English word mate. This supposes 
 them to be combined, as otherwise each letter receives 
 its full sound. (For example, the "Word aer,) The 
 combination au is so pronounced as to give their na- 
 tive value to each of the concurring vowels, but with 
 a slight stress on the a. The result is a sound almost 
 the same as that given to the ow in the English word 
 how. The letter j has always the sound of y in the 
 English word yes. The letter c is pronounced in the 
 same way as in Italian. Before the combinations ae 
 and ce, it retains the sound it has before i and e. Also 
 the letter g is pronounced here as it is in Italian. Be- 
 fore the combination cb, which is not found in Italian, 
 it retains the softer sound, which it has before e and i. 
 The letter v is pronounced invariably as it is in Italian. 
 The words, then, which you mentioned as examples 
 {vincity Cicero, gengiva) are pronounced, as far as the 
 letters agree, like the Italian words vinciti, Cicerone^ 
 and gengiva, 
 
 I remain, sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 GUSTAVUS CONRADO. 
 £. R. HCMFHBETS, EsQ., LL. D. 
 
 252. From the Hector of the Roman University, 
 R. Unitersita di Roma, II Rettore, Rome, June 7, 1876. 
 
 Sir : As I see by your letter, there is no need of 
 giving you information as to the way, in general, 
 Latin and Greek are pronounced, I limit my explana- 
 
 USAGE IN ENGLAND. 
 
 135 
 
 tion to the way in which we pronounce Latin in our 
 Italian schools, and particularly the letters and com- 
 binations alluded to in your letter. 
 
 Generally, the Italian pronunciation holds good 
 also for Latin ; ae and oe are pronounced as a in fate; 
 au as in German, c in Cicero and vincit, as the Eng- 
 lish ch in choose; gas in gentleman, German. 
 
 I shall be most happy to give you any further in- 
 formation you may require. 
 
 Yours, very obediently, 
 
 PiETTO Blaurna. 
 
 The strictest adherence to the analogy of the Ital- 
 ian is carefully observed. 
 
 IRELAND. 
 
 253. One of the leading institutions of Ireland is 
 Trinity College, Dublin. Rev. M. D. Hoge, D. D., 
 of Richmond, Virginia, one of the most eloquent and 
 scholarly men in America, in the " Central Presby- 
 terian " of October 2, 1878, gives an account of a visit 
 made by him to Dublin during the sessions of the 
 British Association in that city. In speaking of the 
 grand ceremony of conferring Trinity College hono- 
 rary degrees upon some of the distinguished members 
 of the Association, Dr. Hoge says : 
 
 254. ** Among the candidates were Sir John Lub- 
 bock, F. R. S. ; Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, President 
 of the Royal Society (who accompanied Sir James 
 Ross in his visit to the Antarctic regions in 1839) ; Pro- 
 fessor William Henry Flower, Hunterian Professor of 
 Comparative Anatomy in the Royal College of Sur- 
 geons, in London; Sir Charles Thompson, Regius 
 
136 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 Professor of Natural History in the University of 
 Edinburgh ; and the famous Thomas Henry Huxley. 
 
 255. "Each of the twelve candidates was intro- 
 duced in turn, and his name proposed to the society 
 for the highest distinction of Trinity College, that of 
 Doctor of Laws, honoris causa. When Professor Hux- 
 ley's name was proposed there was one negative vote, 
 the rest being elected unanimously. 
 
 256. '• In conferring the degrees a different ad- 
 dress was made by Dr. Webb (Queen's counsel) to 
 each candidate in Latin. They were all brief. I will 
 give you two samples : The address of Professor Jans- 
 sen, of Paris, was this : 
 
 " * Praehonorabilis Pro-Vice-Cancellarie totaque 
 
 XJniversitas : 
 
 " * Praesento vobis virum illustrem Petrum Julium 
 Caesarem Janssen, insignem apud Parisienses Profes- 
 sorem. Hie rerum terrenarum augusto in limite 
 aestuans Solis contemplator exstitit, et 
 
 * extra 
 Processit longe flammantia maeni mundi.' 
 
 257. "And to Professor Huxley as follows : 
 
 " ' Praehonorabilis Pro-Vice-Cancellarie totaquo 
 
 XJniversitas : 
 
 " * Praesento vobis Thomam Henricum Huxley— 
 hominem vere physicum — hominem facundum, festi- 
 vum, et venustum — ^hominum nihil (modo philosophia 
 sua lucem praeferat) reformidantem — ne hercule illud 
 quidem Emranum, 
 
 " * Simia quam similis turpissima hestia nobis! ' 
 
 258. "But one thing in these ceremonies espe- 
 cially arrested my attention. Trinity College, as you 
 
 USAGE IN ENGLAND. 
 
 13T 
 
 know, stands high among European institutions of 
 learning, and, no doubt, keeps step with others in the 
 * advanced ' scholarship of the age ; and yet, in all 
 these Latin addresses and the Latin form used by the 
 Vice - Chancellor in conferring the degrees, the old 
 English pronunciation was uniformly used. I think 
 this fact will be interesting to some of my friends who 
 read this letter." 
 
 The close of the preceding extract gives us intima- 
 tions of Dr. Hoge's well-known preference for "the 
 old English pronunciation." 
 
 259. The insertion of letters more recently written 
 is unnecessary, as the universities and great schools of 
 England adhere closely to the old English mode. 
 
 260. The following letter from an eminent English 
 scholar is confirmatory of the statement just made : 
 
 Boston, June 21^ IS84, 
 
 My DEAR Professor Fisher : Pardon a few days' 
 delay in replying to your letter of the 16th inst., as 
 I am very busy with my candidates for Harvard. . . . 
 I have not time to write you at any length to-night, 
 but I can answer your one important question very 
 distinctly. The " reformed " Latin pronunciation, so 
 far from having gained ground of late in the English 
 universities and public schools, has lost much of what 
 little favor it had received a few years ago at a few 
 of the latter institutions. In the Universities of Ox- 
 ford and Cambridge it has never been acknowledged 
 or adopted, except by a few (certainly eminent) 
 
 scholars. 
 
 I am often made painfully aware of this when 
 reading, in the long vacations, with students from 
 
136 THE THB£E PBONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 Professor of Natural History in the Uniyersity of 
 Edinburgh ; and the famous Thomas Henry Huxley. 
 
 265. "Each of the twelve candidates was intro- 
 duced in turn, and his name proposed to the society 
 for the highest distinction of Trinity College, that of 
 Doctor of Laws, Aonorw ftiiwa. When Professor Hux- 
 ley's name was proposed there was one negative vote, 
 the rest being elected unanimously. 
 
 256. *' In conferring the degrees a different ad- 
 dress was made by Dr. Webb (Queen's counsel) to 
 each candidate in Latin. They were all brief. I will 
 give you two samples : The address of Professor Jans- 
 sen, of Paris, was this : 
 
 " ' Praehonorabilis Pro-Vice-Cancellarie totaque 
 
 Universitas : 
 
 " ' Praesento vobis virum illustrem Petrum Julium 
 Caesarem Janssen, insignem apud Parisienses Profes- 
 sorem. Hie rerum terrenarum augusto in limite 
 aestuans Solis contemplator exstitit, et 
 
 * extra 
 Proces&it longe flammantia maeni mundi.' 
 
 257. " And to Professor Huxley as follows : 
 
 " ' Praehonorabilis Pro-Vice-Cancellarie totaque 
 
 Universitas : 
 
 " ' Praesento vobis Thomam Henrieum Huxley— 
 hominem vere physicum— hominem facundum, festi- 
 vum, et venustum— hominum nihil (modo philosophia 
 sua lucem praeferat) reformidantem— ne hercule illud 
 quidem Emranum, 
 
 " * Simia quam similis turpissima lestia nobis! ' 
 258. "But one thing in these ceremonies espe- 
 cially arrested my attention. Trinity College, as you 
 
 USAGE m ENGLAND. 
 
 137 
 
 know, stands high among European institutions of 
 learning, and, no doubt, keeps step with others in the 
 'advanced' scholarship of the age ; and yet, in all 
 tliflfle Latin addresses and the Latin form used by the 
 Vice -Chancellor in conferring the d^rees, the old 
 English pronunciation was uniformly used. I think 
 this fact will be interesting to some of my friends who 
 read this letter." 
 
 The close of the preceding extract gives us intima- 
 tions of Dr. Hoge's well-known preference for "the 
 old English pronunciation.** 
 
 259. The insertion of letters more recently written 
 is unnecessary, as the universities and great schools of 
 England adhere closely te the old English mode. 
 
 260. The following letter from an eminent English 
 scholar is confirmatory of the statement just made : 
 
 Boston, June 21, 188J^ 
 
 My deak Peofessor Fisher : Pardon a few days' 
 delay in replying to your letter of the 16th inst., as 
 I am very busy with my candidates for Harvard. . . . 
 I have not time to write you at any length to-night, 
 but I can answer your one important question very 
 distinctly. The "reformed" Latin pronunciation, so 
 far from having gained ground of late in the English 
 universities and public schools, has lost much of what 
 little favor it had received a few years ago at a few 
 of the latter institutions. In the TJniversities of Ox- 
 ford and Cambridge it has never been acknowledged 
 or adopted, except by a few (certainly eminent) 
 scholars. 
 
 I am often made painfully aware of this when 
 reading, in the long vacations, with students from 
 
138 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 Oxford ; for having, as you know, been compelled,* 
 (bg elntlv, to adapt my pronunciation to the standard 
 of Harvard, to which university most of my pupils 
 go, I find it diflScult to resume my old English pro- 
 nunciation with these English pupils. ... I am 
 glad to say, in reply to your other question, that some 
 of my pupils have just won high honors at Harvard, 
 and others are ranking high in their classes. . . . 
 I am, dear Professor Fisher, 
 
 Yours, very truly, 
 
 E. K. Humphreys. 
 
 * Section 818. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE ENGLISH SYSTEM. 
 
 265. Special Reasons in Favor of its Use. — 
 Before giving these reasons, it is not inappropriate to 
 call attention to the circumstances which, in part at 
 least, led to the preparation of the present work. In 
 Missouri University there are seventeen associated 
 schools : 
 
 I. the academic schools. 
 
 A. science. 
 
 I. — 1. Physics. 
 II. — 2. Chemistry. 
 
 HI. — 3. Natural History — a, Mineralogy; h, Bot- 
 any ; c. Zoology ; d, Geology and Physi- 
 cal Geography. 
 IV.— 4. Mathematics — Astronomy. 
 V. — 5. Metaphysics. 
 
 B. language. 
 VI. —1. English. 
 VII. — 2. Modem Continental (German, French, 
 
 Spanish). 
 VIII.— 3. Latin. 
 IX. — L Greek. 
 X. — 5. Semitic. 
 
140 THE TimEE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 THE ENGLISH SYSTEM. 
 
 141 
 
 n. THE PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS. 
 
 XI. — 1. Agriculture. 
 
 XII. — 2. Pedagogics. 
 
 XIII.— 3. Law. 
 
 XIV. — 4. Medicine. 
 
 XV. — 5. Mining and Metallurgy. 
 
 XVI.— 6. Civil Engineering. 
 
 XVII.— 7. Art. 
 
 266. Many of these schools come into immediate 
 and vital contact with the Latin. This is especially 
 true of the sciences, pedagogics, agriculture, law, and 
 medicine ; in fact, this remark may be applied to all 
 the professional schools. The hope is entertained that 
 service may be rendered not only to the students in 
 language, but those also in law, medicine, zoology, 
 botany, mineralogy, and the sciences generally, in 
 which Latin terms are so abundantly used. It is 
 true that in many of our law and medical schools, 
 even the oldest and most celebrated, there is no fixed 
 and uniform pronunciation by any method. The 
 pronunciation in the same sentence is sometimes by 
 one mode, then by another, and then perhaps by 
 neither. 
 
 267. Fifteen years ago I entered upon an investi- 
 gation of the so-called Roman method with a view to 
 substituting it for the English, if the new system 
 should be found to rest on a basis of truth. This 
 examination has continued until the present, using 
 all the helps that have come from the pens of able 
 scholars both in Europe and America ; the conclusion 
 reached in these pages, therefore, is the result of care- 
 ful reading and study, and the preference given to 
 
 the settled English pronunciation is the one that has 
 been forced upon me by the stubborn facts on both 
 sides of the question. 
 
 268. Let it be clearly understood that no one claims 
 that the English method is the true ancient pronun- 
 ciation of the Latin language, though it has been used 
 for three hundred years in England. Let it be admit- 
 ted that the so-called Roman system, as advocated by 
 Corssen and Roby, sandy as its basis is, at least in 
 vital parts, is theoretically correct. Let its claims, 
 based largely on probabilities, all be conceded ; still, 
 admitting the correctness of a theory and reducing 
 that theory to practice are radically and vitally dif- 
 ferent. My position is, therefore, most unhesitatingly 
 taken that for English-speaking people the English 
 pronunciation is the best. Some of the reasons will 
 be briefly stated : 
 
 269. 1. The last edition of Webster's "Diction- 
 ary"* claims 120,000 words. Of these, according to 
 the highest authority, only about 23,000 are of Anglo- 
 Saxon origin. De Vere (page 43) says that the Eng- 
 lish is the only European idiom that so combines the 
 classic and Gothic elements as to make the Gothic the 
 basis and the Latin the superstructure. 
 
 270. According to Professor Whitney, in his " Life 
 and Growth of Language," f nearly five sevenths of 
 the words contained in our large dictionaries are of 
 classical derivation, and only about two sevenths na- 
 tive Germanic. Far the greater part are from the 
 Latin. The same author says that our scientific 
 
 * The Imperial Dictionary of England contains about 130,000 
 
 words. 
 
 f Vrhitney*8 " Life and Growth of Language," pp. 89, 117. 
 
142 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 and philosophical Tocabulary comes mainly from the 
 Latin. 
 
 271. The number of words derived from the Greek 
 is considerable, especially in scientific use, but far less 
 than from the Latin. Take some of the richest Latin 
 prefixes found in our language. With co or con as 
 a prefix, we haye 6,600 words ; in or im, 2,900 ; re, 
 2,200; di or dis, 1,800; ady 1,600; de, 1,600; sub, 
 700 ; pre, 700 ; pro, 600 ; per, 350. From the single 
 root fac we have about 604 derivatives, according to 
 Professor Haldeman (see his " AflBxes," pp. 14-16). 
 
 272. The author last quoted is of the opinion that 
 there are not three hundred roots in any language 
 ("Affixes," p. 13). In view of the fact that such a 
 vast majority of our words are from the Latin, either 
 mediately or immediately, in view of the fact that of 
 these three hundred stems very many are from the 
 same classic tongue, we are vitally interested in recog- 
 nizing the prefixes and stems which make our English 
 what it is. It matters not whether the English sys- 
 tem of pronouncing Latin has been used one hundred 
 years, three hundred years, or one thousand years : 
 what we are concerned with is that the English lan- 
 guage, as it now stands, has been founded on the old- 
 fashioned pronunciation of Latin. This is indisputa- 
 bly true. Philologic and antiquarian research is one 
 thing ; the progress of a language, like that of nations, 
 is quite a different thing. 
 
 273. For centuries the Latin has been making its 
 rich contributions to our noble English. These addi- 
 tions to our language are being made to-day, as they 
 will be made in the future, and that from necessity. 
 One thing of inestimable value to every student is a 
 
 THE ENGLISH SYSTEM. 
 
 143 
 
 . 
 
 
 thorough knowledge of his mother-tongue— a matter 
 sadly neglected in many of our colleges and univer- 
 
 si ties. 
 
 274. The question for English-speaking people to 
 settle is, as to which pronunciation leads most directly 
 to a vigorous and thorough use of our mother-tongue. 
 We answer unhesitatingly, the English. Let us have 
 one thing at a time. The bearing of the new pronun- 
 ciation on comparative philology will receive due at- 
 tention hereafter. Now we are concerned with the 
 vernacular. Professor Haldeman says, " Sounds and 
 not letters furnish the material for etymology."* 
 This is true, and we wish no better basis for our pres- 
 ent argument. The English method assists the stu- 
 dent, even in his early Latin course, in his etymology ; 
 and the derivation of words, in a multitude of in- 
 stances, becomes manifest from the very pronuncia- 
 tion itself. Take the word circumjacent, for example, 
 from circumjaceo. Pronouncing this word by the 
 English method, sur-cum-ja-se-o, at once reveals to 
 the pupil the origin of circumjacent. The likeness is 
 clear even to a child. 
 
 275. But pronounce the same word by the Roman 
 system, and circumjaceohecomea keer-koom-yah-kay-o ! 
 The connection can be seen only by advanced scholars, 
 and is very likely not seen then. Take the words rupt- 
 ure,\ rustic, social, rumination, from ruptura, rus- 
 ticus, socialis, and ruminationem.l When these Latin 
 words are pronounced by the English mode, the origin 
 
 « •♦Affixes," p. 17. 
 
 f Skeat's " Etymological Dictionary " ; also Cotgrave. 
 X In all the Romanic tongues substantives, with rare exceptions, 
 are formed from the accusative of the Latin. 
 
144 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 of the word is clear ; but let the Latin be pronounced 
 roop'too-rah, roos-tee-coos, so-kee-ah-leece, and roo-mee- 
 nah'tee-o-ndme, and the origin is obscured by foreign 
 sounds. Try vicinity, vital, citation, equation, civil, 
 and equity, from vicinitatem, vitalis, citationem,\ 
 aequationem,* civilis, and aequitatein.j The English 
 mode reveals the truth, for "sounds furnish the ma- 
 terial for etymology." Apply the so-called Roman 
 and say wee-kee-nee-tah-tdme, wee-tah-leess, kee-ta-tee- 
 o-ndme, aye-kah-tee-o-ndme, kee-wee-leess, and aye-hee- 
 tah-tdme, and English etymology is offered a sacrifice 
 to a revolutionary innovation. Again, look at the 
 common verbal stems jac, val, die, due, pel, and so on 
 through the list. Whenever these stems occur in our 
 language, the English system of pronouncing Latin 
 gives a clew to both the origin and meaning of the 
 words, as, for example, ejaculatory,X valid, diction, 
 induction, compel. It does not require an advanced 
 scholar to verify and apply the statements just made. 
 The most diligent scliolar of any age who has not 
 made the trial, will be surprised to find in how many 
 of our words these Latin verbal stems form the per- 
 manent home of the idea. 
 
 276. The student of Latin can easily be induced 
 to form the habit, from the very start, of tracing up 
 the derivation of words, and the habit thus formed 
 may be of incalculable benefit in other directions. On 
 the other hand, the Roman method confuses the stu- 
 dent in both derivation and signification, or so entirely 
 conceals them, that the beneficial results to genuine 
 
 * Skeat*fl " Etymological Dictionary " ; also Cotgrave. f Ibid. 
 X Here, as elsewhere, the easiest and most obvious illustrations 
 arc used. 
 
 THE ENGLISH SYSTEM. 
 
 145 
 
 English scholarship are almost totally sacrificed. Loy- 
 alty to what some are pleased to call the " demon- 
 strated rights of the Latin " may be a good thing, but 
 loyalty to a masterly understanding of our own tongue 
 is a far better. The Roman mode abandons one of the 
 strongest incentives that can be brought to bear in the 
 class-room — that of enabling the pupil to see and hear 
 at once and easily the intimate relation between the 
 Latin and the English. 
 
 277. The English pronunciation has all the culture 
 of any system, and superadds immense advantages in 
 English etymology. In a certain sense, England is 
 now master of the world, and in one hundred years 
 the English language will, in all probability, be the 
 ruling language of the earth. Robinson's " Univer- 
 sity Algebra " is said to be used now in the University 
 of Japan, and also in the Sandwich Islands. The 
 present and the probable unfolding of the future 
 make loyalty to the masterly understanding of our 
 etymology a duty incumbent on every one who re- 
 gards the rights of his "mother- tongue." 
 
 278. " But," replies Professor W. G. Richardson, 
 *' the eye has quite as much to do as the ear, perhaps 
 more." He virtually admits that the phonetic method 
 of pronouncing Latin is a barren fig-tree in etymology 
 when the sound is considered, but the eye, he thinks, 
 may relieve the case and make his new mode tolerable. 
 From what source do young people learn most of lan- 
 guage in pronunciation, if not also in meaning ? We 
 might answer, by the ear. But in the present case we 
 answer that in the use of the English pronunciation 
 in its relation to our etymology the ear is wholly on 
 our side, and the eye is as much on our side as on his ; 
 
 n 
 
146 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 nay, more, for the hard pronunciation of the Latin 
 makes a chasm between what the ear hears and what 
 the eye sees on the printed page. 
 
 279. Professor Tetlow, coming to the aid of his 
 able friend, says, *' This appeal to the eye, moreover, 
 is quite sufficient to render obvious the derivation." 
 ("New England Journal," November 29th.) He is 
 writing of the derivation of English words. Very well. 
 The eye is sufficient to the task, and if all American 
 and English boys were comparative philologists, there 
 might be force in the argument of Mr. Tetlow. The 
 question is not, what is sufficient to show the deriva- 
 tion of English words ? but, what system of Latin 
 pronunciation is of most value in English etymology ; 
 what system shows the derivation most naturally, 
 easily, and universally ? Asking such a question is at 
 once an emphatic answer in behalf of the system that 
 "reigns unquestioned" at Oxford and Cambridge, 
 
 England. 
 
 280. Against the argument now under discussion 
 in behalf of the English system, Mr. Tetlow urges : 
 
 " Secondly, etymologies of this kind are so obvious, 
 from the twofold identity of form and sound, that they 
 are wholly devoid of interest. They require so little 
 ingenuity on the part of the student, as to be valueless 
 for purposes of philological training. They do not dis- 
 cipline the mind to the quick recognition of kinship 
 in words that have undergone changes of form. What 
 school-boy, for example, does not find his curiosity 
 more stimulated in tracing the connection between 
 the Latin digitus and the French doigt, than in trac- 
 ing the derivation from the Latin digitus of the Eng- 
 lish digit ; or in detecting the tiffinity of frigidus with 
 
 THE ENGLISH SYSTEM. 
 
 147 
 
 froid, than in having thrust at him the relationship 
 between frigidus and frigid ? The kind of etymo- 
 logical training that this argument would recommend 
 is wholly distinct from that which enables the pupil 
 to appreciate the relationship of such forms as the 
 Greek olvog, the Latin vinum, the English wine, and 
 the French vin," 
 
 281. This quotation brings to the surface the con- 
 stantly recurring fact that the reformers forever, in 
 the defense of their theory, turn to comparative phi- 
 lology. Well they may ; for the *' Roman" side, if it 
 has any virtue at all, can lay no claim to assistance in 
 English etymologies. They tell us that " this train- 
 ing is wholly distinct from that which enables the pu- 
 pil to appreciate the relationship of such forms as the 
 Greek olvog, the Latin vinum, the English wine, and 
 the French vin.'' Indeed, it is different, and the dif- 
 ference is founded largely in the plain home-truth 
 that to see the relation readily between our own words 
 and the parent Latin is of first and vital importance. 
 Telling a class that comparative philology is valuable 
 and interesting, does not prove that a thorough and 
 intelligent knowledge of their own etymology is not 
 valuable and interesting. With most students, their 
 own tongue is infinitely the most important. 
 
 282. "But, thirdly, not only is the kind of ety- 
 mological discipline, which Professor Fisher so highly 
 commends, uninteresting in its processes and barren 
 in its results, but it is not seldom positively mislead- 
 ing. It has begotten in the past a tendency to build 
 fanciful and false etymologies on mere superficial 
 resemblances, and has caused works that were once 
 thought to be sacred and permanent repositories of 
 
li 
 
 148 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 philological truth to be looked upon as whited sepul- 
 chres in which philological error lies buried. These 
 are no longer welcomed as trusted guides in classical 
 study ; they are now rejected as dangerous compan- 
 ions." 
 
 283. Here the author last quoted urges that using 
 that system of pronouncing Latin which makes the 
 derivation of our words most obvious is " uninterest- 
 ing and barren in its results." This assertion from 
 an English-speaking scholar is surely both ill-omened 
 and startling. He seems to think that English ety- 
 mology as touching the classic Latin is so easy as to 
 require no skill for such a barren and uninteresting 
 
 field of inquiry. 
 
 284. ** English is not a language which teaches 
 itself by mere unreflecting usage. It can only be 
 mastered, in all its wealth, in all its power, by con- 
 scious, persistent labor ; and therefore, when all the 
 world is awaking to the value of general philological 
 science, it would ill become us to be slow in recog- 
 nizing the special importance of our own tongue." 
 (Marsh's " Lectures of English Language," 18G0.) 
 
 285. If the kind of etymological study now under 
 discussion is barren and uninteresting, why should 
 Professor Marsh say that the wealth and power of the 
 English is not to be mastered without "conscious 
 and persistent labor " ? Mastering English etymology 
 is one of the most difficult duties before the American 
 student and scholar. For inBimce, faction, fiction, 
 efface, imperfect, defective, officer, efficacious, benefi- 
 cial, counterfeit, profit, indefeasible, on the authority 
 of Professor Haldeman, are all built on the root fac. 
 Is this easily seen by a novice in Latin ? Can it be 
 
 THE ENGLISH SYSTEM. 
 
 149 
 
 fi 
 
 
 easily seen by our Latin instructors ? Do such re- 
 sults flash out by intuition ? How many teachers, 
 even in our best schools, have ever known them? 
 Or, if they have known them, obvious as they are, 
 have they ever taught them ? 
 
 286. So far is the etymological study we recom- 
 mend from being " barren and uninteresting," that 
 we may safely affirm that not one hundred scholars in 
 America can lay claim to anything like superior ex- 
 cellence in English etymology. This statement will 
 force itself on every one who cares to examine Halde- 
 man's *' Etymology," and his "Affixes to English 
 Words." Instead of being too easy, tracing our words 
 back correctly often escapes the occupant of the pro- 
 fessor's chair ; instead of being uninteresting, it can 
 be made thrillingly interesting, and that, too, to the 
 highest classes in American colleges and universities ; 
 instead of being barren, it brings the richest offering 
 that can be laid on the altar of genuine scholarship. 
 
 287. The truth is, that the argument we have set 
 forth as the first one in defense of the English system 
 has never been answered in either England or Amer- 
 ica, and that for the simple reason that it can not be 
 answered. We might rest the case with this argu- 
 ment ; but there are others. 
 
 288. 2. Accuracy in pronouncing English. — 
 One of the signs of the times that bodes evil and only 
 evil, is the notorious truth that impatient haste is 
 the bane of real, genuine scholarship in America to- 
 day. English scholarship, true, old-fashioned, accu- 
 rate knowledge of our English, is in many sections 
 below par, and in no place does it receive merited 
 attention. This comes not only from haste, but the 
 
160 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 multiplicity of studies, wrong methods, and last, but 
 not least, the tremendous foreign element in our midst, 
 especially from the Continental nations. Many edu- 
 cated men think it a sign of culture to give a Conti- 
 nental twang to their words. Thus, some say in pro- 
 nouncing quinine, kee-neen', instead of following the 
 only authorities, Webster and Worcester, and saying 
 qui-niney the i having in both syllables the long Eng- 
 lish sound, not the long Continental. The school-boy 
 who is taught the English pronunciation correctly, 
 learns the power of the letters, in general, particularly 
 the sound of the vowels and the division of words into 
 syllables, and more particularly still, the sound of the 
 vowels in all the relations which they may sustain to 
 the consonants. The Koman Latinists tell us to send 
 the boys to the primary school, where they have such 
 superior apparatus for imparting such knowledge. 
 We value these schools as highly as any one, but can- 
 dor compels the expression of what every skillful 
 teacher knows to be true, namely, that no child in a 
 primary school will ever become thoroughly conver- 
 sant with the power of the English alphabet. 
 
 289. The ablest scholars of the day find it neces- 
 sary to study their letters. Let the boy or girl learn 
 all that boys and girls can learn in a primary school, 
 and then, under an able teacher, who understands the 
 English pronunciation of Latin as he ought, let them 
 study the grand old language of Cicero, and we shall 
 have scholars who know how to use their own won- 
 derful language. Every lesson the student learns has 
 a reflex influence on his English. In the so-called 
 Latin mode, every lesson, every sound, every associa- 
 tion leads away from the vernacular. In a case of 
 
 THE ENGLISH SYSTEM. 
 
 151 
 
 I 
 
 k 
 
 this kind the crucible is the place to test the matter, 
 and the crucible in this instance is the experience of 
 our ablest and most successful teachers in the clafis- 
 
 room. 
 
 290. Here we are glad to have at hand a letter 
 from the accomplished scholar and veteran educa- 
 tor. Professor F. T. Kemper, of Boonville, Missouri. 
 This letter has such direct bearing upon the English 
 method of pronouncing Latin for accuracy of Eng- 
 lish scholarship, as to make any additional remarks 
 unnecessary under this head. 
 
 291. "I could under no circumstances be in- 
 duced to abandon our accurate and thorough drill in 
 the English pronunciation of the Latin language, 
 though we teach and value highly the Roman meth- 
 od also. No other exercise so fixes the attention of 
 young and thoughtless minds, and secures such a<5- 
 curacy of mental habits. A few pages of the Latin 
 Reader, analyzed by the rules for pronunciation, se- 
 cures the mastery of the subject ; and then the rules 
 come into use, not only throughout school and college 
 life, but in almost every casual conversation. Why, 
 for example, the first a in Saracen and sardonyx are 
 pronounced so differently, or the second a in Samaria 
 and Samaritan, are but specimens of what is always 
 needed, and what our public speakers often do not 
 
 know." 
 
 292. Professor Kemper's school has been m ex- 
 istence for nearly forty years, and is, in the West, 
 what Phillips Academy is in New England. More 
 accurate training is not found in America. The ex- 
 perience of this able teacher corresponds with that 
 of Arnold of Rugby, and of the accomplished Jex- 
 
152 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 Blake, who now fills Arnold's place. Accuracy in 
 English is in value ahove rubies, and is seldom at- 
 tained. Many who have taught the English method 
 have evidently never mastered the subject. For ex- 
 ample, a writer in the **New England Journal of 
 Education," for December 26, 1878, uses this sen- 
 tence : " Again, diphthongs are long in quantity, but 
 the genitive of Caesar we call Cafisaris (S^zaris)." He 
 gives the s the z sound in an oblique case. Does it 
 not have the hissing sound in the oblique cases ? Do 
 not the authorities say so ? So we think. How many 
 teachers can give the reason why a in Saracen and 
 sardonyx are not alike ? How many can tell why a 
 in Samaria differs from a in Samaritan ? Such ex- 
 amples are of constant recurrence, and while the stu- 
 dent learns carefully the English mode, he at the 
 same time learns the more elegant way to pronounce 
 his own language. Mark you, the English system, at 
 the same time the class learns to pronounce Latin, 
 gives as a necessary consequence the most valuable aid 
 in etymology, and also in English orthoepy. Hence 
 the English method economizes time, while the so- 
 called Roman mode kills the time, sacrifices the ety- 
 mology, and completely revolutionizes the orthoepy. 
 "I am a total stranger to you, but take the liberty of 
 a brother professor to offer you my best thanks for 
 your capital book on the pronunciation of Latin. 
 But one thing I am fully persuaded of, and that is 
 that our would-be classical reformers will not only 
 murder Latin, but slaughter English in the bargain." 
 (T. W. Coit, Professor of Church History, Berkeley 
 Divinity School, Middletown, Connecticut.) 
 
 293. We hear frequently from our best educated 
 
 THE ENGLISH SYSTEM. 
 
 153 
 
 \^ 
 
 public speakers, and from many a teacher's desk, mis- 
 takes which a rigid drilling in the use of the English 
 pronunciation would have prevented. Thus deriva- 
 tion, meaning, and pronunciation favor decidedly the 
 system that has been employed in England since the 
 reign of Elizabeth. 
 
 294. 3. Latin and Greek Proper Names.— -Of 
 these there are not less than fourteen thousand found 
 in our large dictionaries. These names are pro- 
 nounced, not after the Continental method, much 
 less after the doubtfully resurrected method ; but in 
 all cases after the Walkerian or English system. This 
 is a consideration of vast importance. A class taught 
 the " hard " or Roman mode of pronunciation will, in 
 multitudes of instances, call these names wrong. This 
 is daily obvious to any instructor who uses the Latin 
 method, more especially if he thinks it worth while 
 to conform to standard authority. The English pro- 
 nunciation brings with it convenience, consistency, 
 and accuracy in proper names. The student does not 
 need to pronounce Caesar, Ki-sar, when he reads the 
 text and Se-zar when he translates. 
 
 296. It should be borne in mind, too, that several 
 thousand classical words have been omitted in the 
 most recent editions of our great dictionaries. The 
 omission embraces monosyllables, a large number of 
 dissyllables, words of rare occurrence, and many fic- 
 titious names found in the poets. The number of 
 classical names is vastly larger than a mere passing 
 acquaintance might lead scholars to suppose. The 
 best reply to this argument for the English mode is 
 taken from a recent writer on the side of the hard 
 method : 
 
154 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 298. " In the first place, how many of these four- 
 teen thousand proper names are Greek, and not Latin 
 at all? The more troublesome half, probably. Would 
 Dr. Fisher have us reverse his argument, and going 
 back for the sake of these Greek proper names twenty- 
 five years, revive the old pronunciation of Greek, with 
 its English sounds of the vowels and its disregard of 
 the written accents ? Consistency would require this. 
 But we have fought that battle once and won it, and 
 the worthy professor must imitate his Southern breth- 
 ren, and abide by the results of the war. Again, how 
 many of these fourteen thousand proper names are 
 important from their frequent occurrence ? Probably 
 not two hundred. If the pupil, when he meets any 
 of these two hundred in his Latin text, is required, 
 in translating, to use the English pronunciation, and 
 this is at present the prevailing practice, he will, if 
 English analogies aid him, pronounce them correctly 
 without further assistance. If English analogies do 
 not aid him, he will learn the proper pronunciation 
 precisely as he learns the pronunciation of unfamiliar 
 English words— viz., by personal examination, from 
 the dictionary, or by imitation, from his teacher. If 
 he relies on his rules exclusively, he will call the 
 brother of Hector, Pa'-ris, and the city of Alexander, 
 Alexandria. In the case of names that occur but 
 rarely, and that may fairly be assumed to be unfamil- 
 iar to the ordinary pupil, he must either consult his 
 dictionary for the quantity of the penult, or run the 
 risk of giving a false accent. But if he must consult 
 his dictionary to determine the place of accent, what 
 is to prevent him from noting, at the same time, pre- 
 cisely as he does with other unfamiliar words, the 
 
 THE ENGLISH SYSTEM. 
 
 155 
 
 i 
 
 marks that indicate the proper vowel and consonant 
 
 sounds ? " 
 
 297. But what force has this answer to our posi- 
 tion ? Let us see. The first statement is that ** the 
 more troublesome half, probably,'' of these proper 
 names are Greek and not Latin. For the moment, 
 we grant the correctness of the assertion, and sup- 
 pose that even eight thousand of these words are 
 Greek. Now, then, does not the writer know that all 
 these Greek proper names in our lexicons are pro- 
 nounced universally and invariably, in both England 
 and America, according to the old-fashioned Eng- 
 lish ? No one can believe that these able Roman 
 Latinists have allowed the fact here alluded to to 
 escape them. And yet the quotation above might 
 lead a student to suppose that these Greek names 
 were pronounced after the method of pronouncing 
 Greek now commonly received in this country. We 
 mean the Erasmian. The truth is, that not a single 
 proper name in Webster or Worcester is pronounced 
 according to the Erasmian mode, not one. All such 
 replies simply reveal the weakness of the cause they 
 are designed to strengthen. As an illustration, take 
 ^-ga-tes, iE-gis-thus, Delphi, Theophrastus, Ther- 
 mopylae, and Scythopolis. These names are pro- 
 nounced E-gd'-teZy E-gh'-thus, DU'-pU, The-d-phrds'- 
 tUsy Th^r-rndp'-y-lee, and Scy-Mp'-o-lis, according to 
 the English method. And so of the rest. 
 
 298. Again, the author of the quotation makes the 
 wholly gratuitous assumption that " probably not two 
 hundred " of those names are of frequent occurrence. 
 Will it not be hard to induce a thorough scholar, who 
 has taken anything like a thorough course in our best 
 
156 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 schools, to believe that only two hundred names out 
 of a list of over twenty thousand are of importance 
 on account of frequency ? Ooe hour's work in Web- 
 ster's Dictionary, by one who is conversant with the 
 classic tongues, will dissipate quite effectually all such 
 arguments. There are over fifty proper names on the 
 very first page of Webster that are of decided impor- 
 tance to our college classes. But even if compara- 
 tively few were of frequent occurrence, we insist that 
 an accurate knowledge of the English mode puts the 
 student in possession of those that he does meet fre- 
 quently and also of those which are even of rare occur- 
 rence. His accurate habits, learned in the English 
 mode, sweep in every proper name, whether in the 
 lexicon or out of it. But, say the reformers, the pu- 
 pil can learn how these names are pronounced " from 
 the dictionary or by imitation." Are students apt or 
 inclined to consult dictionaries ? Let experience the 
 world over answer. As to imitation, a teacher who 
 knows no pronunciation but the new one, will find it 
 necessary to learn by imitation from somebody else 
 before he will be a safe guide in the class-room. This 
 writer tells us that if a student "relies on his rules 
 exclusively, he will call the city of Alexander, Alex- 
 andria.'' And so he will, for, as a classical word, it 
 has no other pronunciation. To show the vast supe- 
 riority of the English over any other mode, and es- 
 pecially the reformed method, take two students: 
 one has learned the English well, and the other 
 the "Roman." Ask them to see how ^sculapius is 
 pronounced in the dictionary. The English student 
 turns to the page, and needs but one thing to put 
 him in possession of the desired information, and 
 
 THE ENGLISH SYSTEM. 
 
 157 
 
 
 I 
 
 that is the length of the penult. This found, he re- 
 plies, the word is pronounced Es-cu-ld'-pe-us, for his 
 English training has taught him the sounds of the 
 vowels and consonants in their various relations. 
 Then the "Roman" turns to the page, and reports 
 the same word as being Ice-koo-lah'-jpee-oos. He sees 
 the d marked long, but his " Roman" a is ah and not 
 a in fate. His new mode makes him mispronounce 
 the diphthong w, and, in a word, has disqualified him 
 to pronounce fourteen thousand or more words, even 
 with the highest authority in his hands. 
 
 299. But, say the new Romans, if boys must look 
 for the length of the penult in order to fix the accent, 
 why can't they at the same time note "the marks that 
 indicate the proper vowel and consonant sounds " ? 
 We reply that they can't do it, because the diction- 
 aries do not give any such marks to show vowel and 
 consonant sounds in proper names. The place of the 
 accent is marked, and that is all. The English stu- 
 dent does not need them ; the "Roman" student, by 
 his very training, has been disabled and disqualified 
 for his work in interpreting the words in our diction- 
 aries. If such marks were used, students, after the 
 reformed method, could not or would not apply them. 
 This is not all yet. The reformer says, " And I do not 
 believe that our English speech would suffer material- 
 ly, if his whole system should be supplanted by one 
 more rational." 
 
 300. The reference is to the Walkerian or English 
 method of pronouncing proper names. What more 
 rational system do they propose ? Would these schol- 
 ars drag our English language, which forms so large 
 and essential a part of our national development, back 
 
158 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 to the standard of Varro and Plautus ? Under this 
 head we are not discussing either probabilities or pos- 
 sibilities, but living facts, every-day facts. In proper 
 names the English is infinitely to be preferred ; the 
 so-called Roman is misleading and disabling, and then 
 enfeebling in its tendencies. 
 
 301. 4. Law Terms, Phrases, and Maxims. — We 
 go to the Romans for our polity and jurisprudence. 
 The English obtained them from the Romans, we 
 from the English. In Britain, at no remote jieriod 
 in the past, a large part of the laws and all the court 
 records were in the Latin tongue (Bouvier's "Law 
 Dictionary, '* vol. ii, p. 15). Since English was made 
 the language of the courts, a vast number of technical 
 terms and phrases, in the original Latin, have con- 
 tinued in use. The law-books abound with them. 
 Ever since the Tudor age, the great jurists in Eng- 
 land have used the English pronunciation in their 
 pleading. They do it to-day. For generations the 
 same has been true in America. Webster, Everett, 
 Choate, and others knew no other in their practice. 
 If Blackstone were in court to-day, and some jurist 
 should call for a scire facias* and pronounce it skee- 
 ray fah-Jcee-ahs, he would be puzzled ; or if the 
 pleader should quote the maxim vicarius non hahct 
 vicarium, and pronounce it wee-kah-ree-oos none hah- 
 hat wee-kah-ree-oom, he would never recognize the 
 maxim. The Roman pronunciation would confuse 
 every -English court in the world, if for no other 
 
 ♦ These phraaes, and such as follow, were not selected, as some 
 have thought, simply to ridicule the so-called Roman system, but to 
 show that it introduces confusion, wastes time, and sacrifices con- 
 sistency and convenience. 
 
 THE ENGLISH SYSTEM. 
 
 159 
 
 \\ 
 
 
 reason because it is so totally at variance with estab- 
 lished usage. In law, then, consistency requires the 
 
 old mode. 
 
 802. As a further illustration of the change the 
 so-called Roman method would make in the legal pro- 
 fession, take certiorari, which becomes kayer-tee-o- 
 rah-ree ; capias ad satisfaciendum becomes kah-pee- 
 ahs ahd sah-tees-fah-kee'dne-doom. Broom's '' Legal 
 Maxims " : salus populi suprema lex becomes sah-loos 
 pope-oO'lee soo-pray-mah lakes ; necessitas inducit 
 privilegium quoad jura privata, nay-kace-see-tahs 
 een-doo-keet pree-wee-lay-gee-oom ko-ahd yoo-ra pree- 
 wah-tah ; summa ratio est quo pro religione facit, 
 soom-mah rah-tee-o dst kye proh ray-lee-gee-oh-nay 
 fah'keet. Our courts will then hear Dies Dominicus 
 non est juridicus called dee-ace Doe-mee-nee-kooss 
 none dst yoo-ree-dee-kooss ; rex nunquam moritur, 
 rakes noon-cahlm mo-ree-toor ; boni judicis est am" 
 pUare jurisdictionem, bo-nee yoo-dee-keess dst ohm- 
 plee-dh-ray yoo-rees-deec-tee-oh-name ; while actus 
 curia neminem gravabit and volenti non fit injuria 
 must, in the so-called Roman, be pronounced ahk- 
 tooss koo-ree-aye nay-mee-name grah-waJi-beet and 
 woe-lane-tee none feet een-yoo-ree-ah. 
 
 303. The Medical Peofession.— Here the sweep- 
 ing change becomes even more painfully obvious. For 
 example, arteria circumflexa must be called ahr-tay- 
 ree-ah keer-koom-fldkes-ah ; vena jugularis, way-nah 
 yoo-goo-lah-rees ; medulla oblongata, rmy-dooUah obe- 
 lone-gah-tah ; pia mater, pee-ah mah-tayer ; saccus 
 lachrymalis becomes sahc-coos lahch-ree-mah-lees ; 
 nervi ciliares, nayer-wee kee-lee-ah-race ; coccyx, koke- 
 kecx ; ulna, ool-nah ; valvula tricuspis must be called 
 
 / 
 
160 THE THREE PRONXJNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 wahl'WOO'lah tree-hoos-peace ; vertedrw, wayer-tay- 
 brye ; os humeri, oce koo-may-ree ; scapula, scah-poo- 
 lahj tibia, tee-bee-ah ; tympanum, teem-pah-noom ; 
 femur, fay-moor ; biceps flexor cubiti is transformed 
 into bee-kapes flakes-ore coo-bee-tee ; fascia super- 
 ficidlis colli, fahs-kee-ah soo-payer-fee-kee-ah-leess ; 
 and iter a tertio ad quartum ventriculum is at once 
 revolutionized and caricatured by being pronounced 
 ee-tayer ah tayer-tee-oh ahd kahr-toom wane-tree-coo- 
 loom. These words have not been selected for their 
 strangeness, but because they give a fair indication 
 of the confusion that the so-called Roman would in- 
 troduce into this learned profession. Who can believe 
 that physicians in England and America will adopt 
 such an innovation ? 
 
 304. So far for anatomy and physiology ; but ma- 
 teria medica demands a notice. 
 
 There are over six hundred words, all Latin but a 
 very few, used to designate the medicines in ordinary 
 practice. A few samples will suffice to show how the 
 new pronunciation will transform the names of medi- 
 cines in our drug-stores : dnchonidia must be called 
 keen-cho-nee-dee-ah ; gambogia, gahm-bo-gee-ah (g in 
 get) ; jalapa, yahl-ah-pah ; veratria, way-rah-tree-ah ; 
 calcium, kahl-kee-oom ; cinnamomum, keen-nah-mo- 
 moomj cuprum, koo-proom; hydrargyrum, hee-drahr- 
 gee-room ; scrupuJus, scroo-poo-looss ; guttce, goot-tye ; 
 quinia, kee-nee-ah ; plumbum, ploom-boom ; decoctum, 
 day-koke-toom ; asafcetida, ahss-sah-foy-tee-dah. 
 
 805. Write out this prescription : 
 
 Eecipe. 
 
 Extracti colocinthidis compositi, grana xxxij. 
 
 Extracti jalapae. 
 
 THE ENGLISH SYSTEM. 161 
 
 Hydrargyri chloridi mitis, ana grana xxiv. 
 
 GambogisB, grana vi. 
 
 AqusB, quantum sufficit, 
 
 Misce. In pilulas xxiv divide. 
 
 Signa. 
 
 306. Take this to an apothecary, and pronounce it 
 after the reformed mode : 
 
 Ray-kee-pay. 
 
 Akes-trahc-tee co-lo-keen-thee-dees com-po-cee-tee 
 grah-nah xxxij. 
 
 Akes-trahc-tee yahl-ah-pye, 
 
 Hee-drahr-gee-ree chlo-ree-dee mee-tees, ah-ndh 
 grah-nah xxiv. 
 
 Gahm-bo-gee-eye {g in go) grah-nah vi. 
 
 Ah-kye, kahn-toom soof-fee-keet. 
 
 Mees-cay. 
 
 En pee-loo-lahss xxiv dee-wee -day, 
 
 Seeg-nah, 
 
 307. There are perhaps not twenty apothecaries in 
 America who would understand such a prescription 
 when thus read. 
 
 308. A few words will show the transformations in 
 zoology : 
 
 radiata becomes rah-dee-ah-tah. 
 
 articulata 
 
 t( 
 
 ahr-tee-koo-lah-tah. 
 
 mollusca 
 
 it 
 
 mole-looss-cah. 
 
 vertebrata 
 
 (t 
 
 wayer-tay-brah-tah. 
 
 ursidm 
 
 iS 
 
 oor-see-dye. 
 
 carnivora 
 
 tt 
 
 kahr-nee-wo-rah. 
 
 taurus 
 
 t€ 
 
 tow-rooss. 
 
 tigris 
 
 ti 
 
 tee-greess. 
 
162 THE THKEE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 cygnus becomes 
 
 locust CB " 
 
 columhm 
 apivorus 
 hovina 
 
 <( 
 
 (( 
 
 tt 
 
 keeg-nooss, 
 
 lo'koos'tye, 
 
 JcO'loom-hye. 
 
 ah-pee-wo-rooss. 
 
 bo-wee-nah. 
 
 309. Note the revolution the hard method would 
 cause in botany. For example, we must call — 
 
 ranunculacece, 
 
 rosacecB, 
 
 cistacecB, 
 
 crucifercB, 
 
 convolvulacecB, 
 
 violacecB, 
 
 cimicifuga, 
 
 nasturtium, 
 
 rubus, 
 
 foBTiicuIum, 
 
 rah'noon'Jcoo-lah'kay-eye. 
 
 rd-ssah'Jcay-eye. 
 
 kees-tah'Icay-eye, 
 
 kroo-hee-f ay-rye. 
 
 cone'Wole-woo-lah'kay-eye, 
 
 wee-oh'lah'Cay-eye, 
 
 kee-mee-kee-foo-gah, 
 
 nahs'toor-tee-oom, 
 
 roo-booss, 
 
 foy-nee-koo-Ioom, 
 
 310. 5. The sweeping change advocated by the 
 new pronunciation tends to a complete revolution in 
 the pronunciation of our own language. Professor 
 Thacher, of Yale College, uses the following lan- 
 guage : " For, to speak of Latin words which we 
 have adopted, how long will Cicero maintain his 
 place in English pronunciation after the rod shall 
 have banished him from the lips of all Anglo-Saxon 
 boys and girls who thumb the little Latin histories of 
 the men of Rome, and shall have substituted the 
 classical Kee-ka-ro in his place ? How long will Caesar 
 stand against Kaisar, Scipio against Skee-peeo, Fabri- 
 cius against Fah-bree-kee-oos, Cyrus against Keeroos, 
 Tacitus against Taketoos, and so on through a long 
 
 THE ENGLISH SYSTEM. 
 
 163 
 
 list of proper names which make a familiar part of 
 our English language ? Prima facie evidence will be- 
 come pr^emah fahkeeah evidence, the qtiid pro quo, 
 keed pro co ; the genius loci, a * ganeeoos lokee ; the 
 mens conscia, a mans conskeeah (o as in cone) ; scili- 
 cet, skeeleekdt ; et cetera, at katarah." 
 
 311. Let V be pronounced like w, and note the way 
 the most common expressions will be transformed : 
 
 viva voce becomes wee-wah wo-kay. 
 
 per centum 
 jure divino 
 jus civile 
 verbatim 
 vivat regina 
 
 (t 
 
 (C 
 
 a 
 
 
 par kane-toom, 
 yoo-ray dee-wee-no, 
 yoos kee-wee-lay. 
 wayer-bah'teem, 
 wee-waM ray-gee-nafi. 
 
 312. And hopeless confusion is made of the many 
 Latin words incorporated into English, as utile dulce 
 must be oo-tee-lay dool-cay ; 
 
 vale, wah'lay. 
 
 vice versa, wee-kay wayer-sah. 
 
 ceteris paribus, kay-tay-reess pahr-ee-boos. 
 
 statu quo, stah-too koe. 
 
 313. This illustration might be prolonged indefi- 
 nitely, for the material is abundant, but thei*e is no 
 necessity for it. What has been given is a fair sam- 
 ple of the radical change the so-called Roman must 
 introduce to our class-rooms, and, in fact, in all the 
 walks of life where Latin is at all employed. 
 
 ♦ The long a here shows how the e in ffcnius is sounded in the 
 »♦ Roman " mode, and does not refer to the quantity of the Latin 
 vowel. So of many other words. In the " Roman " letters have in- 
 variably the same sound. Section 146. 
 
164 THE THUEE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 314. Allen and Greenough, though they adopt the 
 new method, say: "The English method should be 
 retained in the translation of Roman names, as Julius 
 Caesar ; and in the quoting of familiar phrases, as eplu- 
 ribusunum, viva voce, a fortiori, veni, vidi, via,"* etc. 
 (" Grammar," p. 7.) 
 
 315. Professor W. G. Eichardson says, ** I would 
 moYe to adjourn a body sigh-nee die-ee, same as of 
 yore." This concession on the part of these Ro- 
 man Latinists is an unequivocal recognition of the 
 fact that the system they advocate involves violent 
 changes. They know well that to insist on applying 
 their resurrected system to the people's Latin at once 
 would create a prejudice, not to use a stronger word, 
 against the whole theory so fondly cherished. But 
 we know, and all scholars know, that when the re- 
 formed mode is introduced into our schools, these 
 Latin expressions, which have been for generations 
 part and parcel of our language, must feel the change 
 and soon be uttered in the reformed style. But the 
 revolution does not stop with Latin words. 
 
 316. The able scholar last quoted speaks thus : 
 " But all these proper names and Latin phrases are 
 very few, when compared with the English words 
 which preserve in their composition one or more syl- 
 lables taken from the Latin. Can such words long 
 retain their present pronunciation against the united, 
 though perhaps unconscious and involuntary, inclina- 
 tion of all educated men who speak English ? For 
 we think it must be the tendency of those who be- 
 
 • But if the English is to be retained in proper namesy familiar 
 pkrasety including law, medical, scientific terms, etc., then why waste 
 time over reform in Latin pronunciation ? 
 
 THE ENGLISH SYSTEM. 
 
 165 
 
 come familiar with the proposed pronunciation of 
 Latin, to extend it to English words which are nearly 
 identical in form with Latin words, and are identical 
 with them in meaning ; and the more familiar such 
 persons are with the former, the more inclined will 
 they be to the latter. The word necessity, for in- 
 stance, must follow the lead, of necessitas (nakasse- 
 tahs) ; civil, civilis (keeveelees) ; ludd, lucidus (loo- 
 keedoos) ; invincible, invinciUlis (eenveenkeebeelees) ; 
 conscious, conscius (conskeeoos), and so on through 
 wprds innumerable." The Roman Latinist answers 
 this argument thus : *' The words that belong to the 
 general vocabulary of English speech are not under 
 the dominion of any class of persons ; and their pro- 
 nunciation will remain stationary, or will fluctuate 
 quite independently of special movements among 
 scholars." But scholars are not the only ones who 
 have influence in this case. There are multitudes of 
 students of both sexes whose power will be as effect- 
 ual as that of the writer or teacher. Let the thou- 
 sands of students of Latin in America to-day be taught 
 the new method, and the danger to our own tongue 
 from the harsh and hard sounds of the so-called pho- 
 netic mode would be amazingly increased. This is 
 true not only in the abstract but in the concrete. 
 There are students in this university at this hour 
 whose English is marred by having been taught the 
 innovation. The same is true in other places. 
 
 317. The fears here expressed are shared by some 
 of the ablest scholars and teachers of the present 
 generation. Very recently. Dr. Humphreys delivered 
 a lecture, in Boston, on "Our Mother Tongue ; its 
 Growth, Maturity, and Rights." In this lecture are 
 
lee THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 found the following words, which deserre the calmest 
 and most serious consideration on the part of those 
 who consider it the duty of a scholar to be loyal, not 
 only to his country, but also to his mother-language : 
 318. " Our mother-tongue's rights should not only 
 guard her against injury from the ignorant and care- 
 less and vicious, but also, strange as the remark may 
 seem, from the injudicious zeal of scholars and phi- 
 lologers, who are often led to confound antiquarian 
 learning, most valuable in itself, with living language, 
 the word-fossils of the dead and distant past with the 
 animated forms and utterances of the active, vigor- 
 ous present. This is not the time nor the place to 
 discuss what I allude to at any length ; but it is 
 known to you all that a warm controversy has been 
 going on for some years as to the pronunciation of 
 Latin, a language that enters so largely into our mod- 
 em English. When once Harvard University had de- 
 cided to adopt the new, or, as it is claimed, the old 
 method, I felt it my duty as a classical tutor, prepar- 
 ing pupils for that university (after entering a strong 
 public protest in the interest, as I believed, and still 
 believe, of our mother-tongue, against the change), 
 to submit to the wishes and authority of the leading 
 university of my adopted country. But I have daily 
 proofs among both my own pupils, and yet more 
 among those of some public schools, of the justice of 
 the fears expressed by me two years ago, of the prob- 
 able evil reflex influence of the new Latin pronun- 
 ciation upon our English language. We may lightly 
 laugh at the novel appearance of Keekero and Kaisar 
 in place of the long-familiar Cicero and Caesar, but 
 when we daily hear the same hard and harsh pronun- 
 
 THE ENGLISH SYSTEM. 
 
 167 
 
 ciation extending its sway over hundreds of words 
 familiar to us as household terms, as the works of 
 Shakespeare, Milton, and other great masters of our 
 mother-tongue, it is time for an honest teacher and 
 lover of his native language once more to raise a voice 
 of warning, and especially to entreat our young peo- 
 ple, even while learning Latin in the new style, not 
 to be led by a love of novelty, or by ostentation of 
 * advanced scholarship,' to revolutionize and ruin our 
 grand old English language, by dragging it, as it 
 were, back through the ages of its grand and rich de- 
 velopment, in order to dock and lop it into likeness 
 of the uncouth Latin of two thousand years ago I 
 During nearly twenty years, I have given proofs here 
 of earnest devotion to Greek and Latin scholarship, 
 and to the advocacy of thoroughness in the teaching 
 of those languages ; but now, once again, as often be- 
 fore, I maintain that our love and loyalty are due first 
 and foremost to our Mothee-Tongub 1 " 
 
 319. This distinguished linguist and teacher uses 
 the new pronunciation, though he does it under pro- 
 test, in preparing pupils for Harvard University, and 
 his experience as to the reflex influence of the re- 
 formed method on our English tongue is of the 
 utmost importance in the case before us. What Dr. 
 Humphreys, of Boston, and Professor Thacher, of 
 Yale College, find to be true in actual practice, will 
 very likely prove true with all who will give sufficient 
 attention to the subject to see the real results in the 
 class-room. Every tree is known by its fruits ; every 
 doctrine must be tried by its practical results. This is 
 true in the domain of thought as well as in the domain 
 of action. Testing the new system by this principle. 
 
168 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 THE ENGLISH SYSTEM. 
 
 169 
 
 we have to apprehend the most serious consequences 
 to our own tOngue. To sum up : The English system 
 puts the student in possession of all the proper names, 
 as soon as the quantity of the penult is known ; makes 
 him master at sight of all the Latin expressions that 
 have heen incorporated into English, and makes him 
 more familiar daily with the mother-tongue. The 
 Eoman mode, on the other hand, disables the stu- 
 dent for handling our large lexicons, and introduces, 
 almost of necessity, a new pronunciation of all the 
 proper names, makes confusion of the many Latin 
 words and phrases which have been made part of our 
 own vocabulary, and, what is worse, tends to revolu- 
 tionize the tongue of both England and America. 
 
 320. 6. There is another phase of this threatened 
 REVOLUTION — a phase of which some of the followers 
 of the phonetic mode are fully conscious, and of which 
 others seem at least to be wholly unconscious. Wo 
 mean the Spelling Reform, now so ably advocated 
 by such scholars as Whitney, of Yale College ; Halde- 
 man, of the University of Pennsylvania ; Harris, of 
 St. Louis ; and others. They hold that the Latin was 
 a phonetic language, that every letter had its sound 
 and every sound its sign. But we use the Roman alpha- 
 bet, and if those able teachers can introduce the pho- 
 netic orthography into our English tongue, then the 
 revolution of the Anglo-Saxon is complete. There is 
 no desire whatever to misrepresent the Spelling Re- 
 form Association, and they shall be allowed to present 
 their own case. Professor March, the ablest Anglo- 
 Saxon scholar living, in an address delivered in Phila- 
 delphia, in August, 1876, uses this language : 
 
 321. *^ In behalf of this system it maybe said that 
 
 ( 
 
 it will be easiest to read for all who read French, Ger- 
 man, Latin, Greek, or Anglo-Saxon, and will have all 
 learned associations in its favor. It will be easiest for 
 children and the illiterate to learn. It will make the 
 learning of foreign tongues easy. It will settle the 
 school pronunciation of Latin and Greek. We shall 
 pronounce, of course, as the Romans did, for that will 
 be our natural reading of the letters. No one will 
 think of studying up a pronunciation so remote and 
 diflBcult as our English method will then become, 
 or of making a lingua Franca of good old Latin, 
 after the manner of the so-called Continental 
 method." 
 
 322. That the Reform Association aim at revolu- 
 tion in English orthography is as certain as that two 
 and two make four. This is conceded. That the re- 
 formed Latin pronunciation means revolution in Latin . 
 is just as certain. That too is conceded. Reform in 
 English spelling and reform in Latin pronunciation 
 are natural allies. They logically go hand in hand. 
 The hard method must come into our vernacular as 
 an inevitable necessity. For Professor March says, 
 ** We shall pronounce, of course, as the Romans did, 
 for that will be our natural reading of the letters." 
 Hence, the English and the so-called Continental 
 modes of pronouncing Latin, according to Professor 
 March, will no more be thought of, and, worst of all, 
 and positively sure in process of time, will be the 
 dragging of our noble English tongue, with all its 
 hallowed associations, back to the hard, harsh, and 
 uncouth standard which Roman Latinists insist char- 
 acterized the stately Latin two thousand years ago. 
 
 323. The Reform Association would have us spell 
 8 
 
170 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 thus : " Ardtedy cemistry, carader.^^ (Bulletin Spell- 
 ing Reform Association, July, 1877, No. 2 .) It is amaz- 
 ing that the advocates of the so-called Latin method do 
 not see that the avowed tendency of the spelling re- 
 fonn, and still more amazing that they do not see that 
 their system, by a logic as irresistible as fate, not only 
 displaces what may be called the rival systems of Latin 
 pronunciation, but also forces a revolution upon their 
 native language. This is not simply the cry of an 
 alarmist. It is a consequence that has been published 
 to the world for years. 
 
 324. Look further. This reform in spelling will 
 involve a serious hindrance in etymological studies ; 
 our great dictionaries become comparatively worth- 
 less ; our language becomes a *' rara avis in terris,^^ 
 as foreigners can not, without much difficulty, recog- 
 nize English words akin to their own or other foreign 
 tongues ; printers must get new type ; everybody in a 
 certain sense must again learn to read, etc. These ob- 
 jections are recognized on all sides by the spelling re- 
 formers. They tell us that time will remedy the evils. 
 That is, if people will revolutionize, they will, in the 
 course of generations, become accustomed to the legiti- 
 mate consequences of this fundamental and radical 
 change. Spelling reform means revolution, the re- 
 formed Latin pronunciation is its natural ally ; both 
 mean revolution, the one directly and the other indi- 
 rectly, and that, too, in the English language. 
 
 325. It is sincerely believed that there is no ade- 
 quate reason for abandoning a pronunciation that 
 tends to conserve the English language and to mature 
 English scholarship, and adopting another that works 
 such confusion in all departments pf learning, and 
 
 THE ENGLISH SYSTEM. 
 
 171 
 
 If 
 
 whose hai-d sounds might in time revolutionize the 
 Anglo-Saxon tongue. 
 
 326. It must be obvious, therefore, to any consid- 
 erate mind that the change proposed by the reformers 
 is radical and revolutionary, and none but the most 
 overwhelming reasons can justify any one in acquies- 
 cing in its claims. 
 
 327. 7. But it may be urged that the use of the 
 REFORMED METHOD would render English-speaking 
 Latinists intelligible all over the world. This 
 argument would come with great force if founded on 
 fact. Just here we join issue with the friends of the 
 new pronunciation. What are the facts ? These : no 
 two nations in Europe pronounce Latin alike; the 
 Roman method does not coincide with a single sys- 
 tem in Europe : and the American or Englishman, 
 with the hard sounds, would be as unintelligible on 
 the Rhine, Seine, and Tiber, as if he used the Eng- 
 lish mode. More : in Italy the true pronunciation, as 
 it is called, would add harshness to unintelligibility. 
 For proof of what has just been attested, let the 
 scholar examine the sounds of the modern languages, 
 and particularly the consonants which make articu- 
 late speech what it is. 
 
 328. For instance, there is a wide difference in v, 
 j, c, between the Italian and the reformed system, as 
 taught in England and Germany : 
 
 r = V, in Italian. ' 
 
 v = w, in German. 
 
 y = a vowel, in Italian. 
 
 j = y, in German. 
 
 c is soft before e, i, y, etc., in Italian. 
 
 c is always hard in German. 
 
 ( 
 
/ 
 
 172 THE THREE PBONTJNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 As an illustration of what the Spelling Reform 
 Association wishes to accomplish, take the following :* 
 
 FONETIC PRINTING OV DHI AMERICAN 
 SPELLING REFORM ASSOCIATION. 
 " Anudher objecshun hwich haz censiderabl influons, 
 iz dhat a niu sistem wud ebsciur dhi etimoloji ev 
 wOrdz, hwich iz nau shon in meni cfises bai dhi 
 speling. But az regardz dhis, dhi etimeloji ev wOrdz 
 iz ev litl practical valyu ecsept tu scelarz, hu cud 
 elwez get it aut ev buks ev lexicegrafi; it iz net 
 worth hwail fer dher benefit tu impoz a hevi bordn 
 upen dhi world at larj. But aur cemun speling iz 
 em an untrustwOrdhi gaid tu etimeloji. Tek dhi 
 word sovereign', dhi pipl hu forst spelt it so sup- 
 pozd no daut dhat it had sumthing tu du widh reign : 
 but it sOrtenli haz net. It cumz from Latin super ^ 
 thru Italian sovrano^ etc. But ai wil go fordher, and 
 se dhat dhi wents ev a filelojist recwair a diferent 
 sistem. Hwet iz impSrtant fer him iz dhat hi shud 
 no dhi cendishun ev a langgwej at eni givn piried ev 
 dhi past, dhat hi me bl ebl tu trgs it thru its sucsesiv 
 chenjez tu its Igtest {6rm. Nau in duing dhis hi must 
 depend mgnli en dhi speling and dhi raiting; if dhis 
 bl mentend inveriabl from ej tu ej amid ©1 miuteshunz 
 ev spokn wOrdz, dhi filelojist iz depraivd ev hiz most 
 sorvisabl gaid. Qi wud giv a gud dll tu get a 
 Fonetic Niuz ev Chaucer'z taim,dhat ai mait no hau 
 far sum important fenemena ev dhi modern lang- 
 gwej — az, for instans, dhi chenj ev *a' tu*e,' ev 
 *e' tu *l' and ev *l' tu 'ai' — had establisht dhemselvz 
 faiv senchuriz ago." Prof. J. Hadlky. 
 
 Reformed Latin pronunciation, in Etymology, robs 
 the ear of the sound and the Reformed Spelling robs 
 the eye of sight, in tracing our own words. 
 
 ♦ The types for this page could not be obtained in New York. 
 Thanks are due Prof. F. A. March, LL. D., the distinguished Presi- 
 dent of the Spelling Reform Association in America, through whose 
 kindness the electrotype was prepared. 
 
 THE ENGLISH SYSTEM. 
 
 173 
 
 I 
 
 829. Dr. Humphreys, formerly of Cambridge, Eng- 
 land, speaks as follows : \ 
 
 " As regards the statement dwelt upon by Professor 
 Mayor— of whom I would speak with the utmost re- 
 spect, as well as friendship— that the reform, if carried 
 out thoroughly in England and America, will render 
 < English-speaking Latinists intelligible aU the world 
 over,' I must emphatically dissent " (section 249, 5th). , 
 
 330. If there should arise a necessity for it in con- 
 Tersation, the real scholar (no other one can conyerse 
 in Latin) can adopt the new method at once. On this 
 head consult the letter already quoted from the head- 
 master of Rugby School (section 238). 
 
 331. In view of what has been said of the Con- 
 tinental system in chapter second, nothing further 
 under this head is really necessary. Those who wish 
 to acquaint themselves with the facts in the case are 
 referred to that chapter. There it will be seen that 
 the plausible pretext for the so-called Roman, that it 
 makes us intelligible throughout the world, is wholly 
 removed by the truth in the premises. 
 
 332. 8. The Reformed Method involves a 
 Ruinous Waste of Time in the Class-Room.— In 
 pronouncing Latin, the English and American mouth 
 can easily accommodate itself to the niceties of elocu- 
 tion, and can at least give the sense elegantly with 
 kindred sounds ; but it must take years to do this 
 with such an artificial system as this one has proved 
 itself to be by the various phases of it presented by its 
 friends, and it will be with most persons rough and 
 altogether foreign at last. Appeal to practice, far 
 more valuable in such a case than abstract discussion. 
 Charles B. Scott, head master of the famous St Pe- 
 
174 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 tor's College, Westminster, England, whose letter has 
 been given in» chapter five, says : " In some [schools], 
 no doubt, the change has been more or less success- 
 fully made, but we found the waste of time involved 
 in correcting mispronunciation to be fatal. It is hard 
 enough to teach the various subjects required in the 
 hours which are available, and if the Latin hours are 
 to be spent in mere vocal exercise, the language can 
 never he learned in the time, nor the author studied. 
 The change has little value for mere boys." But, say 
 the reformers, the system is quite easy ; the vowels 
 differ only in quantity, not in quality , of sound, and 
 these sounds are quickly learned by the average boys ; 
 the consonants, with about seven exceptions, are like 
 the English. A conspectus of the new system looks 
 very easy indeed ; but it should be remembered that 
 these boys, to be accurate in the "Roman" in prac- 
 tice, must revolutionize their organs of speech and 
 pronounce the vowels and several of the consonants 
 in a way totally different from that to which they 
 have been accustomed from childhood. Lip-habits, 
 like all others, are changed with extreme diflBculty 
 and after much time has been spent. Even then 
 many of our Latinists, when the test comes, may say 
 sibboleth instead of shibboleth. 
 
 In this age, American and English boys have no 
 time to waste on foreign sounds in uttering Latin, 
 especially when there is a scholarly pronunciation 
 familiar to them already (sections 245, 249, 352). 
 
 833. 9. The stronghold of the reformers is the 
 assistance their system gives in Comparative Phi- 
 lology. When we look at the influence of the new 
 mode on the English tongue, it is positively injurious. 
 
 THE ENGLISH SYSTEM. 
 
 175 
 
 as has been already seen. Viewed in relation to the 
 languages of modern Europe, it does not possess a 
 tithe of the value claimed for it by its friends. What 
 are the facts ? Most students in England and Amer- 
 ica study Latin for the culture it yields, and for its 
 reflex influence on their native language, which has 
 levied such immense contributions on the Latin with- 
 in the past fifty years. Comparative philology is not 
 thought of by the vast majority of students. They 
 have no time for it, and hence every moment spent in 
 learning a system because it is held to be valuable m 
 this inviting field is simply lost by nearly all English- 
 speaking students. Of the five hundred students in 
 Missouri University, how many will devote themselves 
 to philology ? Perhaps not ten, perhaps not five, per- 
 haps not two ; of the sixty thousand students in the 
 colleges in the United States and British Possessions, 
 not including Catholic institutions whose statistics are 
 not at hand, how many wiU devote themselves to philo- 
 logical research ? Take Harvard University, or Yale, 
 or Michigan, and statistics show that comparatively 
 few ever devote themselves directly to a comparison of 
 the languages of the earth. Granting what is claimed 
 by the phonetic method in the direction named, would 
 its advocates have our students waste their time m 
 learning a mode that will benefit not five pupils out 
 of a hundred ? Shall one hundred boys be compeUed 
 to sacrifice their English scholarship and waste their 
 time for a certain benefit that may or may not accnie 
 to five of their number ? If any one has a taste for 
 comparative philology, and the hard mode of pro- 
 nouncing Latin does give aid, then let him learn it. 
 II he is a genuine scholar he can readily do it ; if he 
 
176 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 is not, comparative philology has no attraction for 
 him. This plea of the revolutionists, therefore, may 
 be plausible, when aptly presented, but when sifted is 
 misleading, and really makes more obvious the claims 
 of the old English pronunciation, for this, by uni- 
 versal consent, does assist all in mastering their ver- 
 nacular. 
 
 334. 10. Again, the reformation or revolution, if 
 carried out, would divorce us from scholarly com- 
 munion with all who were educated a generation ago. 
 Our own fathers could not understand us. 
 
 In the words of one of the ablest of our educators : 
 " Certainly, if all American colleges and schools shall 
 be induced to adopt it, the remark will apply to their 
 alumni, who will be able to understand one another 
 when speaking or reading Latin ; but at the same time 
 a strong dividing bar will be thereby placed between 
 them and the communion of scholarship with their 
 fathers and all the old-school Latinists of the coun- 
 try, many of whom have attained a solid fame which 
 the rising generation may be proud to emulate, but 
 can hardly hope to surpass." 
 
 335. In answer to the truth here presented, that 
 the adoption of the so-called Eoman sets the scholar- 
 ship of to-day at variance with that of the generation 
 now passing away, the reformers reply : 
 
 " It appeals on the one hand to the laissez-faire 
 instinct that, in science, would still explain the phe- 
 nomena of heat by the exploded caloric theory ; and 
 on the other, to the instinct of sentimentalism, which 
 deems it sacrilege forsooth to abandon a pronunciation 
 sanctioned by the usage of Everett and Webster." 
 
 836. Is this reply true ? We think not. The 
 
 THE ENGLISH SYSTEM. 
 
 177 
 
 teacher does not call up the caloric theory to explain 
 the phenomena of heat, simply because we rest now on 
 a basis of scientific truth. Just here the new pro- 
 nunciation fails, for nobody knows how the Romans 
 pronounced Latin, and we never can know. We must 
 be excused, therefore, from displacing a system that 
 has yielded such glorious harvests of rich scholarship 
 for three hundred years for one that is founded on 
 theory, not on fact ; one in whose defense no two 
 champions agree. Every one of its belted knights 
 sees the shield from his own side. As to the senti- 
 mentalism, these scholars must excuse us for follow- 
 ing the footsteps of the intellectual giants of the past, 
 rather than joining them in the Quixotic expedition 
 after the unknown and impossible. 
 
 337. 11. The English mode tends to make the 
 Latin a living language. 
 
 There is too much tendency now to make the 
 ancient languages dead languages, a kind of rare ac- 
 complishment, a kind of outside affair that has no 
 real practical value. The new mode, by its oddness 
 and strangeness, greatly increases this tendency. 
 
 338. The student hears foreign sounds constantly, 
 sees the Latin divorced from all direct beneficial effect 
 upon his daily vocabulary, and is consequently made 
 to feel that his Latin is only a relic of a distant age. 
 Nothing should be encouraged by scholars that will 
 make the ancient tongues api)ear less familiar, less 
 practical, less vital than they are now. Let the class 
 feel that their Latin has a vital connection with the 
 active, thrilling scenes of this busy age. The English 
 mode secures this, and does it without trouble and 
 without loss of time. One of New England's great 
 
178 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 teachers says, "I want nothing done to make the 
 ancient languages less familiar than they now are, 
 less a real part of English, less what eyery English- 
 speaking man ought to be acquainted with." As a 
 matter of fact, the new pronunciation would intensify 
 the prejudice against the classic tongues, as studies 
 of little or no practical value. The English mode, in 
 sound and in etymology, stamps the Latin with a 
 perpetual living interest. The " Koman " buries this 
 classic tongue beneath the rubbish of nearly twenty 
 centuries. 
 
 12. There is no hope of inducing other nations to 
 adopt the so-called Roman method. Here no argu- 
 ment is needed. 
 
 13. Let attention be fixed on the fact that the in- 
 troduction of a new pronunciation would add to the 
 difficulties in the early stages in teaching Latin, which 
 is one of the most difficult tongues to master by our 
 American youth. 
 
 14. There would seem to be a painful incongruity 
 in attempting to reform the pronunciation of Latin 
 without at the same time reforming Greek. The dif- 
 ficulties in the way of changing the prevailing pro- 
 nunciation of Greek may be regarded as insuperable. 
 
 339. 15. The preceding reasons for the use of 
 the old English method have proceeded for the mo- 
 ment under the concession that the claims of the 
 so-called Roman were to be allowed. Let it now be 
 explicitly understood that we do not concede its 
 claims. No man living can tell how the Romans 
 pronounced their language. The Romanists tell us 
 we must value truth because it is truth, and that 
 error is pernicious because it is error. Very true. 
 
 THE ENGLISH SYSTEM. 
 
 179 
 
 V' 
 
 340: But what is truth ? Their syllogism is : AU 
 truth must be valued and reduced to practice. The 
 so-called Roman mode, as now offered, is truth ; and 
 therefore it must be valued and reduced to practice. 
 We deny the minor premise in Mo. A class could 
 not have a finer specimen of a non-logical or material 
 fallacy than is furnished by the defenders of the inno- 
 vation. So far from the system resting on a basis of 
 truth, the want of harmony among its supporters dis- 
 credits the evidence adduced in its behalf, and renders 
 uniformity of practice impossible. " But they are 
 going on to perfection," say they. Very well. How ? 
 Is new evidence to be dug up from the phonetic sepul- 
 chres of the past ? They do not expect this, nor claim 
 it How, then, is harmony to be attained ? We answer 
 emphatically it must come, if it come at all, by con- 
 cession, hi compromise. Max Muller proposes a com- 
 promise over c before e, i, y, ae, oe, and eu. A. J. 
 Ellis proposes a compromise over v, as the Romance 
 nations can't say w. Others would compromise over 
 m, over ae and oe, etc. Then harmony is to be gained 
 by each one yielding a little. Now mark the result. 
 This compromised pronunciation is a conventional 
 pronunciation, after all, and the phonetic idea, which 
 is both body and soul of the whole system, is scattered 
 to the winds. A conventional pronunciation, based 
 on theory and compromise, in the nineteenth century, 
 will assuredly not be the pronunciation of the ancient 
 
 Romans. 
 
 341. In Missouri University, for reasons, some of 
 which have been given, the English system is care- 
 fully taught and rigidly followed in the class-room ; 
 at the same time, the advanced classes receive the 
 
180 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 most accurate training practicable, as the system now 
 stands, in the so-called Roman method, for whatever 
 value it may have in philological research, 
 
 842. Some enthusiastic friends of the new method 
 have expressed surprise that a man of middle age 
 should cling to an old-fashioned pronunciation. In 
 reply, allow me to say that there is no reason in logic, 
 nor "in the eternal fitness of things," why any man 
 should sacrifice his experience and judgment and the 
 rich experience of centuries to any new thing, unless 
 it be founded in stubborn facts and indisputable truth. 
 
 343. Whatever mode is used, let there be constant, 
 strict, and conscientious attention paid to quantity. 
 Quantity marks the scholar. There can be no genuine 
 Latin and Greek scholarship without it. 
 
 344. The condition to which the mind is irresisti- 
 bly forced in the review of the whole case is, that 
 every known system of pronunciation is merely con- 
 ventional, and that no method is warranted in putting 
 forth exclusive claims to recognition. 
 
 Note.—" The university has adopted the following system of 
 pronunciation [the Roman], based upon the investigations of Cors- 
 sen and other eminent philologists, and now employed in its essen- 
 tial features in the universities and leading schools of England, and 
 in Harvard, Cornell, and other institutions of this country, as being 
 proved beyond question a close approximation to the Roman pronun- 
 ciation in the time of Cicero." 
 
 The quotation just given is found on page 23 of the Catalogue 
 of the University of Michigan for 1878-"7». It has been repeated 
 for several years. In view of the state of fact in England in regard 
 to pronunciation, the quotation contains a statement not a little sur- 
 prising. For answer to the whole paragraph, reference may be made 
 to the letters from England, in this work, and also to the want of 
 harmony among Roman Latinists, as already shown. The Roman 
 mode is practically dead in England. 
 
 CHAPTER X, 
 
 ALLEN ON THE " ROMAN" MODE. 
 
 860. Mr. J. H. Allen (Allen and GreenougVs 
 books are well known as among the best ever pub- 
 lished in America) was the first scholar who ever em- 
 ployed the phrase '' Roman method," and his " Gram- 
 mar " contains a very clear exhibit of what he prefers 
 to call the *' phonetic" mode. In an able article in 
 the " New Englaud Journal " for December 30, 1880, 
 Mr. Allen gives expression to his skepticism in regard 
 to the new mode, and at least intimates a fear that 
 "we are losing something of the substance in catching 
 at a very empty shadow:' It is but just to this scholar, 
 and also to the question in hand, that he be allowed 
 to speak for himself. This and the reply to it are 
 among the very latest utterances on the subject to be 
 found anywhere. Perhaps Mr. Allen's article may 
 be the unerring arrow that struck the fatal tendon 
 of Achilles. 
 
 MR. ALLEN'S "QUERY." 
 
 361. " I wish to raise a question as to a tendency, 
 of late years, in the teaching and learning of Latin. 
 If it is worth while to keep up the study of that lan- 
 guage at all, in our higher schools— which we need 
 not dispute at present— then, no doubt, it should be 
 
182 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 studied for its literary and historical uses mainly, and 
 not for a few beggarly elements of antiquarianism and 
 scientific philology. To many a bright pupil, Virgil 
 and Ovid are, or may be, the first introduction to the 
 delights of poetry ; and the first wakening of a gen- 
 uine historic sense will be got from reading Caesar or 
 Cicero in their own tongue. But one can not begin 
 in that way, or at that age, to be a learned grammarian 
 or philologist. And I am afraid we are losing some- 
 thing of the substance in catching at a yery empty 
 shadow. I am too ignorant to dogmatize. I only 
 doubt. 
 
 352. " In the first place, is not an enormous dis- 
 proportion of time given to the matter of pronun- 
 ciation ? In this I may have something myself to 
 answer for. So far as I know, I was the first person 
 that ever wrote the phrase, 'Roman method,'* to 
 denote a certain style of pronouncing, to be taught in 
 an elementary text-book, without the smallest sus- 
 picion of the noisy and troublesome revolution im- 
 pending in our parts of speech. Since then I have 
 come to prefer and use the term 'phonetic' Now 
 this method is no doubt very valuable as a help to 
 leam the language in its elements, and in tracing its 
 phonetic changes. It is far easier, for instance^ to 
 explain cecini from cano, with a hard c, than a soft 
 one. But, as a method of pronunciation for practical 
 use, I do not believe it is worth one tenth of the 
 trouble, irritation, and ridicule it has cost, even if 
 the end could be attained, and if that end were de- 
 sirable. There may be reckoned, at any time, a com- 
 
 ALLEN'S "QUERY.*' 
 
 183 
 
 * ** I bad it from Professor Lane." 
 
 munity of (say) half a million educated persons in this 
 country who have a fair acquaintance with at least the 
 easier Latin authors, and a good many more to whom 
 the current Latin phrases are reasonably familiar. 
 What breaks (so to speak) the literary tradition, what 
 makes Latin more distant and strange to the educated 
 class, is an evil far greater than any good from an im- 
 aginary accuracy in reaching the standard of a true 
 * Roman ' pronunciation. 
 
 363. ''Besides, I doubt whether we are likely to 
 come any nearer to such a standard than what would 
 make our reading of Latin a barbarous and painful 
 travesty to a Roman ear— something like the average 
 grammar-school French to a Parisian. What that is 
 we may guess, perhaps, from the specimen Mr. Hamer- 
 ton gives of the reading of English by a tramed and 
 accomplished Frenchman : 
 
 " * At ev ze bittle bommess 
 Azvart ze zeeket Ion ; 
 At none ze veeld be ommess 
 Aboot ze most edston,' 
 
 in which one finds it hard to recognize the delicate 
 music of Tennyson : 
 
 " * At eve the beetle boometh 
 Athwart the thicket lone ; 
 At noon the wild bee hammeth 
 About the mossed headstone.* 
 
 364. "Any one who has given a little study to 
 Ellis's 'Quantitative Pronunciation of Latin' will 
 Bee that the above hardly exaggerates the probable 
 success of our effort to inculcate the Roman pronun- 
 ciation in our schools. It has its uses, as I said above ; 
 
 \ 
 
184 THE THREE PROmiNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 but we need not flatter ourselves that successful imi- 
 tation is one of them. Personally, I have a strong 
 predilection for the Italian sound of the vowels in 
 reading Latin. About the * Koman ' pronunciation 
 of several of the consonants — especially c, g, and v, aa 
 to which the usage of every tongue derived from Latin 
 might suggest a query — I am rather skeptical. Who 
 knows how the Romans pronounced gn, sc, or the 
 initial y ? And, considering the value of easily recog- 
 nizing bg the ear the English derivations from Latin, 
 it seems not very unlikely that, practically, Donald- 
 son's curt rule may prove the best, after all — to read a 
 Latm sentence just as if the words were English, only 
 observing the rules of accent, and bearing in mind 
 that there are no silent letters. At any rate, this 
 would be better than the case I have heard of, where, 
 in a popular address, the phrase vice versa was pro- 
 nounced in a way that the average hearer must have 
 taken for * Weaky — 'ware, sir I ' as if the platform 
 were breaking down under him. Perhaps it was. 
 
 855. "Another question occurs as to some of the 
 later fashions in orthography. We are going through 
 an uncomfortable transition stage, and it is a seriouQ 
 question how to lighten the inconvenience of it to the 
 learner. Certain simplifications, as cetcriy femina, 
 there can be no objection to, perhaps ; and a few rec- 
 tifications, as coBlum, condicio, contio, we need not 
 quarrel with if they are rectifications. But why 
 change the familiar, almost English, humerus and 
 arena into umerus and harena 9 As any editor of a 
 modem text-book knows, these supposed corrections 
 have resulted, so far, in a chaos of usage, in which 
 I have never found any two 'critical' editors alike. 
 
 ALLEN'S "QUERY." 
 
 185 
 
 The real grievance is, that some of these modem im- 
 provements add appreciably, if not seriously, to the 
 difiBculty of the language to the ordinary reader. 
 Now, Latin is a hard language at best — ^harder, I fear, 
 than many of our teachers understand. Whatever 
 adds to its difficulty should be sharply challenged. 
 Whatever destroys or disguises forms in spelling that 
 give an easy clew to its structure, or even alters a 
 recognized and familiar conventional form, is to be 
 looked upon as a prima facie enemy to our learning, 
 and admitted only on sad compulsion — ^not caught at 
 hastily, as some do, as the last new * dodge' or 
 * wrinkle.' 
 
 856. ** For example, it was an evil day to our schol- 
 arship when, with our absurd deference to German cus- 
 tom, we lost the distinguishing mark of the ablative 
 in a, and of cum *when.' It was awkward and pov- 
 erty-stricken to abolish j and use i instead ; no less 
 so to abjure the convenient * digraphs,' so that one 
 must learn by act of memory that coemi has three 
 syllables and coepi only two, while nobody can tell 
 from the looks of it whether acre is 'brass' or *air.' 
 It was still worse when, on a theory of Ciceronian 
 usage, we dispensed with the double i of the genitive. 
 Is it likely that Cicero, even, did not distinguish in 
 some way the genitive of arhitrium from that of ar- 
 liter, or that ol judicium from the dative of judex f 
 Of course he did ; if not by doubling the letter, as we 
 do, then perhaps by lengthening it, as the Italians do, 
 who from tempo make tempi, and from tempio, tempj, 
 
 857. " Or shall we, on Milton's authority — which 
 is perhaps as good as Cicero's — go back to 'suttle 
 theefe' ? A still worse offense is in dropping the 
 
186 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 most characteristic letter in the compounds oijacio. 
 Having carefully instructed our pupil in the rule of 
 vowel-attenuation, and that facere thereby becomes 
 conficere, we then — just because the German fonts 
 appear, in their poverty, not to supply the letter/ — 
 proceed to turn jacere into conicereM the bewilder- 
 ment of the pupil, the violation of prosodic rule, and 
 the certain confusion with iccre, * to hit,' and against 
 the protest, too, of the later Romans themselves — like 
 Aulus Gellius, for instance, whose judgment and ar- 
 gument are cited by Mayor, in his new critical edition 
 of * De Naturd Deorum,' which very sensibly restores 
 they. 
 
 358. ''Mere orthographical niceties, in the school- 
 room, are foreign to the true end and aim of educa- 
 tion. They give us a pitiful little dose of antiquarian 
 information ; they sacrifice ten times as much of what 
 makes the language somewhat more easy, familiar, and 
 homelike. If the study of Latin deserves to be kept 
 up in our schools, it must be for its real uses, not for 
 its petty philologisms. It is not simply the tongue in 
 which to read a few great authors of a certain period, 
 as they wrote or spoke ; still less the tongue to drill in 
 for a few phonetic changes and syntactic rules. It is 
 eminently the language of history, of all civilization 
 and philosophy for a term of a thousand years, of 
 half the nomenclature of modem science. No scholar 
 knows when and where a reasonable facility in it may 
 not be of use to him. The body of Latin literature — 
 post-classical— right at hand, from which I have to 
 draw constantly in my own line of instruction, may 
 be put at something like two hundred thousand folio 
 or royal octavo pages, besides about as much more 
 
 ALLEITS "QUERY." 
 
 187 
 
 outlying material, including scholastic and modem 
 theology. Dr. Jacob Bigelow, who did so much to 
 define the 'Limits of Education,' and to promote 
 modern scientific methods, was especially urgent in 
 setting forth the practical claims of Latin. Surely 
 the best knowledge of it the average leamer can 
 get is not what shows its philological niceties, but 
 what puts its real treasures at his command on the 
 easiest terms. There need be no quarrel with the 
 nicer criticism. There need be no hesitation in ac- 
 cepting its results, when definitely agreed on. But 
 our first business is to get at an understanding of the 
 language as it actually is in the books we read. The 
 finer points can afford to wait. J. H. Allen." 
 
 359. Professor Tetlow, of Boston, a very accurate 
 scholar, and a very judicious defender of the phonetic 
 mode, read Mr. Allen's ^'protest'* with regret, feared 
 its effect if unanswered, and replied in the "New 
 England Journal " of January 20, 1881, as follows : 
 
 "MR. ALLEN^S QUERY." 
 
 360. " I have read with regret Mr. J. H. Allen's 
 protest (published in the 'Journal' of December 
 30th) against recent reforms in Latin pronunciation 
 and orthography. As such a protest, from such a 
 source, may, if left unanswered, work mischief, I beg 
 leave to append a few comments suggested by it. 
 
 361. " ' In the first place,' asks Mr. Allen, 'is not 
 an enormous disproportion of time given to the matter 
 of pronunciation ? ' If this question has reference to 
 the practice of the class-rooms in which the phonetic 
 method of pronouncing Latin is used, I answer un- 
 hesitatingly, No. This method of pronunciation, when 
 
188 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OP LATIN. 
 
 rightly taught and used in the class-room, not only 
 involves no loss, but secures a gain, of time. It enables 
 the teacher, when his pupils enter upon the study of 
 Latin poetry, to dispense with the arbitrary rules of 
 prosody, which the use of the English method renders 
 necessary. For when the pupil is prepared to begin 
 the '^neid' or the 'Metamorphoses,' he has already 
 learned by observation and practice — in other words, 
 has established inductively — the quantity of the vow- 
 els, not only in the final and penultimate syllables 
 which the rules provide for, but in the stem and root- 
 syllables also, of a respectable number of vocables. 
 With a little instruction in the theory of the verse, he 
 is prepared to begin rhythmical reading at once. 
 
 862. ** I am aware that many advocates of the 
 English method recognize the importance of the ob- 
 servance of quantity, and maintain that the use of 
 this method does not necessitate the violation of it ; 
 but I think all teachers will admit that the diflBculty 
 of holding the pupil to the observance of English 
 analogies in the pronunciation of Latin, and of hold- 
 ing him at the same time to the observance of quan- 
 tity, is practically insurmountable. If, however, the 
 Latin names of the letters of the alphabet are taught 
 to a class beginning Latin — and this, in my judgment, 
 should be the first step in the introduction of the class 
 to the use of the phonetic method — the pupil learns 
 at the outset that each of the vowels has two names, 
 the one designating its long sound, the other its short 
 sound. He learns, also, that these names are identical 
 as to quality of sound, but that they differ in quantity. 
 If, from this time forward, whenever he is called upon 
 to spell a Latin word orally, he is required to use the 
 
 TETLOW»S REPLY TO ALLEN^S "QUERY." 189 
 
 Latin names of the letters, pronouncing long a ' ah,' 
 and short a 'ah,' etc. ; and if, in his written exercises, 
 he is required to mark the long vowels, he gradually, 
 without conscious effort, masters the quantity of the 
 Latin vowels as he masters the vocables themselves. 
 He thus takes his first lesson in prosody when he takes 
 his first lesson in the language ; and takes a new lesson 
 in prosody with every word that he adds to his vocabu- 
 lary. By this process his ear becomes quickly appre- 
 ciative of quantitative distinctions, and he obeys the 
 rules of prosody without knowing that such rules 
 have ever been formulated. The use of the phonetic 
 method of pronouncing Latin, therefore, by doing 
 away with the rules of prosody, results not in a loss, 
 but in a gain, of time ; and, further, by enforcing 
 the observance of quantity from the beginning, it 
 trains the pupil, by a method that is both simple 
 and consistent with itself, to a correct quantitative 
 pronunciation. 
 
 363. " But perhaps Mr. Allen's query relates, not 
 to the practice of the class-room, but to the discussions 
 that have prevailed for some years among Latinists. 
 It is true that, of late years, Latin scholars have been 
 giving a disproportionate amount of attention to mat- 
 ters of pronunciation. This is because they are now 
 occupied in clearing away the accumulated errors of 
 centuries ; and because, while prosecuting this work, 
 they have to encounter the obstinate prejudices of 
 those who cling to the usages of preceding genera- 
 tions. In other words, it is because this is an age of 
 transition. There was a time when the physicists de- 
 voted a disproportionate amount of experiment and 
 argument to the establishment of the now-generally- 
 
190 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 accepted theory that heat is a mode of motion ; and, 
 until the force of evidence and of respectable author- 
 ity became irresistible, there were many who, clinging 
 tenaciously to the caloric theory, regretted that the 
 scientific theorists were multiplying the difficulties of 
 the learner, and overtuming the established modes of 
 interpreting the action of physical forces. I shall not 
 soon forget my feeling of indignation when I discov- 
 ered, on leaving college, that I had been taught the 
 caloric theory of heat, by one of these conservative 
 physicists, about five years after it had been exploded. 
 I venture to say that there are at present many college- 
 lege-bred men in middle life who, having given no spe- 
 cial attention to chemical theories since graduation, are 
 still puzzled to understand why the symbol for water 
 is no longer HO, os it used to be. When the accu- 
 mulated rubbish of centuries has been cleared away, 
 and the obstructionists have ceased to persist in futile 
 obstruction, Latin pronunciation will be a very simple 
 matter. 
 
 364. "The facts once established and accepted, 
 Latin pronunciation, as a topic for disputatious argu- 
 ment, will be relegated to its appropriate subordinate 
 place ; and its refinements may then be left where, 
 in ordinary times, they belong — to specialists and 
 pedants. For the present, we must still be willing, on 
 occasion, to talk and write about it. 
 
 365. " Mr. Allen is skeptical about the ' Eoman ' * 
 
 ♦ Professor Lane, from whom Mr. Allen says, in a foot-note, that 
 he borrowed the term " Roman method," would little fancy being 
 made responsible for this expression. His friends know that he has 
 always earnestly protested against it as a "gross misnomer and bar- 
 barism.** 
 
 TETLOW'S REPLY TO ALLEYS "QUERY." 191 
 
 pronunciation of c, g, and v. In a series of articles 
 published in the ' Journal ' about two years ago, I en- 
 deavored to make clear the evidence on which the 
 accepted pronunciation of these letters rests, and will 
 not here repeat the familiar arguments. I think the 
 pronunciation of which Mr. Allen is skeptical has 
 been satisfactorily made out ; but, assuming that it 
 has not, Ritschrs query is nevertheless pertinent. 
 < Suppose,' he says, * we are not sure of one or two 
 sounds, is that any reason why we should pronounce 
 all in a way we know to be entschieden grundfalschf 
 366. " Mr. Allen doubts whether we are likely to 
 come any nearer to the standard of a true Roman pro- 
 nunciation * than what would make our reading of Lat- 
 in a barbarous and painful travesty to a Roman ear' ; 
 and quotes, in illustration of the degree of approxi- 
 mation he thinks we have attained, Mr. Hamerton's 
 specimen of a Frenchman's reading of Tennyson's 
 * Claribel. ' So far aa I am aware, I was the first to bor- 
 row Hamerton's illustration, in discussing the claims 
 of the so-called Roman method of pronunciation. I 
 used it to show the absurdity of reading Latin with 
 the English pronunciation ; and the illustration as I 
 used it presented, as I think, a perfect parallel. Pro- 
 fessor Fisher, in the second edition of his * Three 
 Pronunciations of Latin,' replying to the strictures I 
 had made on the arguments employed in his first edi- 
 tion, seized upon this illustration, and ingeniously 
 used it in a flank movement against the argument it 
 was intended to support. A careful comparison of 
 the genuine and travestied forms, however, in the 
 stanza used by Mr. Allen, will show that this illus- 
 tration of Hamerton's exhibits the absurdity, not of 
 
192 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OP LATIN. 
 
 the so-called Roman method of pronunciation, but of 
 the English. The Frenchman pronounced * eve ' ev 
 (i. e., as if written in French eve) ; he pronounced ' the ' 
 ze ; * beetle/ bittle ; 'boometh,' bommess ; 'athwart,' 
 azvarty etc. That is, to the English vowels and con- 
 sonants he gave the sounds of French vowels and con- 
 sonants, that are pronounced with the vocal organs 
 placed in entirely different positions from those used 
 in the pronunciation of the English vowels and conso- 
 nants he supposed himself to be reproducing. The 
 sonant th of ' the ' he called z, the surd th of * boom- 
 eth ' he called ss, the w of ' athwart ' he called v, etc. 
 In like manner, those who use the English pronun- 
 ciation give to the i and u of pllum the sound of i in 
 tide and of u in sun respectively ; to / in certain situ- 
 ations they give the sound of sh, to c the sound of 5, 
 to g the sound of j, etc. In pronouncing Latin they 
 follow the analogies of their own tongue, precisely as 
 the Frenchman in reading English followed the analo- 
 gies of his. Does Mr. Allen candidly think that the 
 so-called Roman method furnishes no nearer approxi- 
 mation to the true standard than this ? 
 
 367. " From pronunciation Mr. Allen passes to the 
 consideration of 'later fashions of orthography.' To 
 stigmatize as ' later fashions in orthography ' the cor- 
 rect Latin forms that have been restored in obedience 
 to the express testimony of the ancients, or in con- 
 formity with the results of a laborious study of manu- 
 scripts and a painstaking comparison of inscriptions, 
 seems to me a palpable misapplication of terms. 
 
 368. " ' Any editor of a modem text-book knows,* 
 says Mr. Allen, * that these supposed corrections have 
 resulted in a chaos of usage.' Mr. Allen has had a 
 
 TETLOWS REPLY TO ALLEN'S "QUERY." 193 
 
 wide experience in editing modem text-books, and 
 may have been subjected to greater inconvenience 
 than I am aware of. I have not found, however, in 
 good editions, a ' chaos of usage ' in cases where the 
 universal testimony of inscriptions and of manuscripts 
 beyond a certain age proves that there is only one 
 right way. But when a pupil, with inherited preju- 
 dices in favor of Mr. Allen's principles, brings into 
 my class-room the same Cooper's 'Virgil' that her 
 father used in his preparatory studies, and reads a 
 few verses aloud— the rest of us following with Allen 
 and Greenough's text — the disagreement, I confess, 
 approximates the chaotic. I have always held Cooper 
 accountable for the 'chaos' ; it seems Mr. Allen would 
 have it charged to himself and Mr. Greenough. 
 
 369. "Mr. Allen is writing for teachers, and he 
 tells them that ' Latin is a hard language,' ' harder, 
 he fears, than many of them understand.' 'It is a 
 serious question,' he says, ' how to lighten the incon- 
 venience' of the transition stage 'to the leamer.' 
 Does Mr. Allen think that the restored orthography, 
 which he finds so troublesome, is the occasion of any 
 embarrassment to the learner f To the leamer, who 
 enters upon the study of the language with no pre- 
 conceived notions, and therefore with the advantage 
 of having nothing to unleam, the correct forms are as 
 simple as the incorrect. Any sympathy expended on 
 him in this matter is wasted. But, assuming for the 
 sake of argument that the restored forms do present 
 greater difficulties to the leamer than the mediaeval 
 forms which they displace, what has that to do with 
 the matter ? We are striving to acquaint our pupils 
 with ancient, not mediaeval, Latin ; to this end, we 
 
f 
 
 194 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 profess to put before them, for study and imitation, 
 models of pure Latinity. Are we or they to shrink 
 from difficulties ? It is a question of right and wrong, 
 of truth and error ; it is in no sense a question of ease 
 and difficulty. If Mr. Allen thinks that in following 
 our convictions we are simply catching at * the last 
 new " dodge " or '* wrinkle," ' he is welcome to his 
 opinion. 
 
 370. " Mr. Allen says, * It was an evil day to our 
 scholarship when we lost the distinguishing mark of 
 the ablative in a.' He is here referring evidently to 
 the use of the circumflex accent, which appears in his 
 article in the expression primd facie. As Mr. Allen 
 is the author of a Latin grammar, he has presumably 
 given some attention to the ancient grammarians. 
 He must be aware, therefore, that the circumflex 
 accent was used by the ancients solely to mark the 
 rising, followed by the falling, tone ; and that, except 
 in the case of monosyllables and a few such words as 
 prodilc for prodUce, illic for illice, etc., it was never 
 employed on final syllables. If Mr. Allen recommends 
 the use of the circumflex accent in Latin for a purpose 
 totally different from that for which the ancients used 
 it, and insists on placing it over a syllable from which 
 the principles of Latin accentuation excluded it, does 
 he think he is working in the direction of simplicity, 
 and lightening the labors of the learner ? On the 
 contrary, he is introducing confusion, and inculcating 
 error ; and is making Latin ' harder, I fear, than many 
 of our teachers understand.' 
 
 371. " In objecting to the substitution of a smgle 
 i for two I's in the genitive of such words as arhitrium 
 and indicium f Mr» Allen says : * Is it likely that Cice- 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 TETLOWS REPLY TO ALLEN'S "QUERY." 195 
 
 ro did not distinguish in some way the genitive of 
 arhitrium from that of arbiter , or that of judicium 
 from the dative of judex f Of course he did ; if not 
 by doubling the letter as we do, then perhaps by 
 lengthening it, as the Italians do, who from tempo 
 make tempi, and from tempio, tempj.' What does 
 Mr. Allen mean by all this ? Does he not know that 
 the genitives of arhitrium and iudicium are arhi'tri 
 and iudi'ci, and that the genitive of arhiter and the 
 dative of iudex are ar'hitri and iu'dici ; and that, for 
 the ear, at least, any further distinction was super- 
 fluous ? His own Grammar (page 17, foot-note) is 
 authority for the retention of the original place of 
 accent in these contracted genitives ; and on this 
 point his Grammar is supported by Priscian and Aulus 
 Gellius, as well as by the analogous retention of an 
 originsJ accent in such words as prodilc, for produce, 
 illic for illice, etc. Or does he mean that Cicero felt 
 the need of an additional distinction for the eye, and 
 made this distinction, ' if not by doubling the letter 
 as we do, by lengthening it ' ? If this is what Mr. 
 Allen means, are we to infer that he supposes the 
 final i in the genitive of arhiter and the dative of 
 iudex to be short ? 
 
 372. " On the substitution of i for j, Mr. Allen 
 remarks, 'Just because the German fonts appear not 
 to supply the letter y, we proceed to turn jacere into 
 conicere, to the bewilderment of the pupil, the viola- 
 tion of prosodic rule, and the certain confusion with 
 icere, "to hit".' As to the claim of the letter j to 
 appear in Latin texts, it will be sufficient to remark 
 that this letter was invented and introduced into use 
 by the Dutch printers, no longer ago than the seven- 
 
 i 
 
196 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 teenth century. As to tlie poverty of the German 
 fonts, does Mr. Allen attribute to this poverty the ex- 
 clusion of the letter y from Munro's text ? Mr. Allen 
 fears that conicere will bewilder the pupil, and result 
 in a confusion with icere, 'to hit.' While strongly 
 Insisting that the bewilderment of the pupil, whether 
 real or fancied, has nothing to do with the correctness 
 or incorrectness of a Latin form, I may remind Mr. 
 Allen that, as there is no compound in the Latin lan- 
 guage of icerey * to hit,' with con, this bewilderment 
 of the pupil is purely a figment of his imagination. 
 But, if the restorers of Latin orthography are cen- 
 surable for concealing from the pupil the etymology 
 of the compounds of iacio, what shall we say of Virgil 
 and Lucretius, who make reice (Virg. E. 3, 96) and 
 eidt (Luct. 3, 877 ; 4, 1,272) dissyllables ? Again, 
 what violation of prosodic rule does Mr. Allen detect 
 in conicere f I recognize none. 
 
 373. "But I have consumed too much space in 
 commenting on Mr. Allen's strictures. My apology 
 for doing so must be my regret that the senior editor 
 of a series of text-books that have contributed in no 
 slight degree to awaken and strengthen, in the teach- 
 ers of secondary schools, an interest in Latin ortho- 
 graphic reforms, should have publicly assumed the 
 position now taken by Mr. Allen. 
 
 374. ** In conclusion, I desire to refer such teach- 
 ers as may have read with approval Mr. Allen's 
 ' Query,' to Munro's * Introduction to Notes I ' (pp. 
 30-32), in the third edition of his ' Lucretius ' (Cam- 
 bridge : Deighton, BeU k Co., 1873). They will there 
 find a brief history of the 'conventional' spelling, 
 whose claims Mr. Allen considers paramount. They 
 
 f 
 
 \ 
 
 TETLOW'S REPLY TO ALLEN'S "QUERY." 197 
 
 will find, moreover, that its authors, in establishing 
 it, were doing precisely what the reformers of the 
 present day are criticised for doing, viz., trying to 
 ' get rid of the frightful mass of barbarisms which the 
 preceding centuries had accumulated.' But, as Mun- 
 ro remarks, ' the Lachmanns and Ritschls of the nine- 
 teenth century have a better right to dictate to us in 
 the present day what shall be accepted as "conven- 
 tional," than the Poggios and Vallas of the fifteenth.' 
 Those teachers, on the other hand, who have thought 
 it worth their while to give a little attention to the 
 * beggarly elements of antiquarianism and scientific 
 philology' will, probably, continue to think —Mr. 
 Allen's 'Query' to the contrary, notwithstanding— 
 that as 'Latin orthography touches in a thousand 
 points the history, grammar, and pronunciation of 
 the language,' it * is a most interesting and valuable 
 
 study to those who care to examine it.' 
 
 "J. Tetlow. 
 
 " Girls* Latin School, Boston, January 10, 1881." 
 
 MR. ALLEN'S REPLY TO PROFESSOR TETLOW. 
 "THE QUERIST RETURNS TO THE CHARGE." 
 
 375. *' I am delighted that my friend Mr. Tetlow, 
 to whose skill, patience, and good-humor I have been 
 largely indebted this year past, gives me the oppor- 
 tunity of returning to the charge suggested in my 
 ' Query ' of a few weeks back. It is pleasant, in a dis- 
 cussion of this sort, to have to do with one who treats 
 his respondent as a gentleman. I have painful recol- 
 lections of an attack, a few years ago, which showed 
 jny assailant in a very different light. And, in this 
 
I 
 
 198 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 case, I may keep in mind that I have invited the criti- 
 cism myself. Besides, Mr. Tetlow has remembered 
 that I am ah older soldier in this campaign than he — 
 * I said an older soldier, not abetter ' ; and I am not the 
 one to forget that the weapons of my warfare may 
 look a little rusty, compared with the exceedingly 
 keen and polished brand-new * arms of precision ' that 
 now glitter in the field. 
 
 " One other thing. I congratulate myself that I 
 put my case modestly as a * Query,' and not, as I first 
 thought of doing, as a * Growl.' I was moved to put 
 it by a conversation I had just had with a teacher of 
 much experience, who complained that the time of 
 beginners seemed to be pretty much all spent in ac- 
 quiring certain niceties of * Roman ' pronunciation — 
 perfectly worthless, in my opinion, even if they could 
 bo acquired perfectly. I am glad to have drawn out 
 a reply, which shows that the same thing can be dono 
 intelligently, and possibly to some advantage. The 
 advantage, I claim, is just what it is stated to be in 
 my former communication — a real help in learning 
 the * word-building ' of the Latin tongue. I am glad, 
 also, to learn that Professor Lane discards, as I do, 
 the misleading term, * Eoman.' I may have had it of 
 him at second-hand, and he may have used it as a 
 joke, for all that I can testify. At any rate, it was 
 quickly caught up and adopted ; and, at any rate, I 
 have been anxious to make the right term, ' phonetic,* 
 familiar instead. 
 
 876. " Now I am not going to dispute with Mr. 
 Tetlow the ground of which he is so excellent a mas- 
 ter. All his points I am disposed to concede before- 
 hand. That is, for all I care. I don't, however, be- 
 
 U 
 
 
 II 
 
 M 
 
 M 
 
 .1 
 
 ALLEN'S REPLY TO TETLOW. 
 
 199 
 
 lieve, for one thing, that the Soman 'v' (consonant 
 ' « ') was the English w, or anything much like it : 
 it may have been near the old-fashioned German «d, 
 which has slid naturally into v, just as the Latin did. 
 And I think we can not do better than let it stay so. 
 
 377 " Again, the ancients may have written com- 
 cere and arbitri, for all I know or care-pst as Mil- 
 ton wrote ' suttle theefe.' What I say is that we haye 
 sufficient authority for writing the form which is 
 more distinctive and intelligible to our eye. and had 
 better keep it. It is perfectly easy to explam rmce 
 (which occurs once in Virgil, and I beheve nowhere 
 else), when you come to it. As to the authority of 
 stone-cutters, on the ancient monuments, I will say 
 that I myself once stopped a monument-cutter, who 
 was just going to give the authority of Mount Auburn 
 lor ' Christain.' As to the confusion of conicere with 
 icere, 'to hit,' the point is Gellius's, not mine. That 
 the form conico is unknown, is not to the pomt. We 
 teach our pupils, or ought to teach them, to under- 
 stend such words, not by the lexicon, but hy laws of 
 composition. When I was a freshman in college, I 
 used a compound in a Greek exercise which I knew 
 was right, though no lexicon would justify it I had 
 to wait tiU a better lexicon came out, and then 1 
 found the word. Now I say that conicere is a bbnd 
 or a foil, preventing (so far as it goes) the easy n^ of 
 the true method of reading Latin. As to the double 
 i, it occurs twice in Virgil, and is, I believe, the con- 
 stant usage in Ovid. That is good usage, and early 
 enough_authontytomMor^j^^ 
 
 " • On some Christian monuments it is represented in the Greek 
 by o» and 3 in the same inscription, or group of inscnptions. 
 
198 THE TnilEE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 case, I may keep in mind that I have inyited the criti- 
 cism myself. Besides, Mr. Tetlow has remembered 
 that I am ail older soldier in this campaign than he — 
 * I said an older soldier, not a better' ; and I am not the 
 one to forget that the weapons of my warfare may 
 look a little rusty, compared with the exceedingly 
 keen and polished brand-new * arms of precision ' that 
 now glitter in the field. 
 
 " One other thing. I congratulate myself that I 
 put my case modestly as a * Query,' and not, as I first 
 thought of doing, as a 'Growl.' I was moved to put 
 it by a conversation I had just had with a teacher of 
 much experience, who complained that the time of 
 beginners seemed to be pretty much all spent in ac- 
 quiring certain niceties of * Roman ' pronunciation — 
 perfectly worthless, in my opinion, even if they could 
 bo acquired perfectly. I am glad to have drawn out 
 a reply, which shows that the same thing can be dono 
 intelligently, and possibly to some advantage. The 
 advantage, I claim, is just what it is stated to be in 
 my former communication — a real help in learning 
 the ' word-building ' of the Latin tongue. I am glad, 
 also, to learn that Professor Lane discards, as I do, 
 the misleading term, ' Roman.' I may have had it of 
 him at second-hand, and he may have used it as a 
 joke, for all that I can testify. At any rate, it was 
 quickly caught up and adopted ; and, at any rate, I 
 have been anxious to make the right term, * phonetic,* 
 familiar instead. 
 
 376. "Now I am not going to dispute with Mr. 
 Tetlow the ground of which he is so excellent a mas- 
 ter. All his points I am disposed to concede before- 
 hand. That is, for all I care. I don't, however, be- 
 
 ALLEN'S KEPLY TO TETLOW. 
 
 199 
 
 •( 
 
 ! 
 
 « 
 
 .1 
 
 lieye, for one thing, that the Eomau 'v' (consonant 
 * « ') was the English w, or anything much like it : 
 it may have been near the old-fashioned German w, 
 which has slid naturally into v, just as the Latin did. 
 And I think we can not do better than let it stay so. 
 
 377 " Again, the ancients may have written cont- 
 eere and arUtri, for all I know or care-just as Mil- 
 ton wrote ' suttle theefe.' What I say is that we have 
 sufficient authority for writing the form which is 
 more distinctive and intelligible to our eye, and had 
 better keep it. It is perfectly easy to explain reice 
 (which occurs once in Virgil, and I believe nowhere 
 else), when you come to it As to the authority of 
 stone-cutters, on the ancient monuments, I will say 
 that I myself once stopped a monument-cutter, who 
 was just going to give the authority of Mount Auburn 
 for ' Christain.' As to the confusion of comcere with 
 icere, 'to hit,' the point is Gellius's, not mine. That 
 the form conico is unknown, is not to the pomt. We 
 teach our pupQs, or ought to teach them, to under- 
 stand such words, not by the lexicon, but by laws of 
 composition. When I was a freshman in college, I 
 used a compound in a Greek exercise which I hr^w 
 was right, though no lexicon would justify it I had 
 to wait tiU a better lexicon came out, and then 1 
 found the word. Now I say that comcere is a bhnd 
 or a foil, preventing (so far as it goes) the easy use of 
 the true method of reading Latin. As to the double 
 i, it occurs twice in Virgil, and is, I believe, the con- 
 stant usage in Ovid. That is good ^fage, and e^ly 
 eno ugh authority to m e, for a form which has mani- 
 
 ■ • On some Christian monuments it is represented in the Greek 
 by o» and e in the same inscription, or group of inscnptionfl. 
 
I 
 
 200 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 fest common-sense to back it When I said that 
 Cicero very likely wrote the i long, of course I meant 
 long in dimension, not in quantity ; when he spoke 
 it, he did not need to, I spoke of distinctions to the 
 eye. As to what I said of variations among modem 
 critical editions, I can not go into detail to prove it. 
 If Mr. Tetlow will take the trouble to compare Nip- 
 perdey's 'Caesar,' Ribbeck's 'Virgil,' and Baiter and 
 Kayser's ' Cicero,' he will see sufficiently what I mean. 
 Cooper's ' Virgil ' I suppose to be an unscholarly book ; 
 but this certainly can not be said of Lemaire's splen- 
 did * Bibliotheca,' which has several of the tyi)ograph- 
 ical helps I covet. Mr. Tetlow may quote my prac- 
 tice against my theory. No matter. Books are made, 
 among other reasons, to sell. I may have all sorts of 
 objections to a stove-pipe hat, and still submit to wear 
 it because it is the fashion. The more I have to wear 
 what I don't like, the better right I have to grumble. 
 " The difference between Mr. Tetlow and myself 
 is not a difference of fact, hardly a difference of prin- 
 ciple ; but a difference in point of view. lie writes 
 (or thinks) in the class-room, I in the library or 
 study. The question as it lies in his mind is, how to 
 teach the facts of the language in what we may call 
 a correct antiquarian form. The question as it lies 
 in my mind is, how to use, most easily and familiarly, 
 the literary treasures and historical monuments which 
 exist for us in the Latin tongue. I do not, for exam- 
 ple, wish that we should train in our schools a set of 
 little prigs, whose first thought on seeing * conjicere * 
 and ' arbitrii,' or even ' ccelum,' or ' concio,' or ' quum,* 
 or 'causa,' would be that this is an illiterate or dis- 
 carded form ; but that the word shall convey its mean- 
 
 ALLEN'S REPLY TO TETLOW. 
 
 201 
 
 |l 
 
 ing to them in the directcst and simplest way. These 
 are forms likely to occur in nine tenths of the Latin 
 books they are likely to read— if they should keep up 
 their use and knowledge of Latin. They can not be 
 weeded out in the books that are already printed ; 
 and several of them, to those who read those books, 
 are a definite help to the easy understanding of 
 
 them. , . 
 
 " Now, there is a great deal that I admire m the 
 improved methods of teaching Latin. The sugges- 
 tions that have come to me in the last ten years, and 
 which I have tried in elementary classes myself, would, 
 I am sure, have been a great relief and comfort to me 
 when I was groping about among those same 'beg- 
 garly elements ' myself. I have no quarrel at all with 
 any attainable accuracy and nicety in the merest anti- 
 quarianisms of orthography and orthoepy, if they will 
 only take their place in due subordination, and not be 
 drilled or harped on as if they were the Gospel and 
 the Ten Commandments of classic learning. And I 
 may add, that letters I have had— in scores, I was 
 going to say— from all parts of the country, as to the 
 pettiest points of pronunciation, have satisfied me 
 that— whether in the Girls' Latin School or not, at 
 any rate in a good many other schools— a most inor- 
 dinate stress has been laid upon these quiddles. 
 
 " It will be easiest (if you will pardon the egotism) 
 to explain by my own experience how I came to take 
 a different point of view from Mr. Tetlow, and so am 
 in imperfect sympathy with some things that excel- 
 lent teachers doubtless hold very precious. It was my 
 fortune, or misfortune, to work my way into college 
 as I could, without the help of any training-school 
 
 
202 THE THREE PROJOJNCUTIONS OF LATIN". 
 
 at all ; without so much, at most, as three months* 
 schooling, all told, in the classics or mathematics. 
 Somehow or other, I had at ten years old a fair 
 knowledge of Latin inflections, and set myself, out of 
 mere interest in the thing, to read * Cornelius Nepos,' 
 in an old edition with Latin notes. Now and then 
 my father, who was quite fond of his classics, would 
 give me a shove, hy reading over a stiff sentence or 
 two ; and so I trudged through the book (except about 
 half of Pomponius Atticus), as I could, and no doubt 
 made out the story pretty well. Then I did the same 
 thing with Caesar. I remember perfectly well being 
 staggered, after a few chapters, with the subjunctives 
 and infinitives — for I had no theory of ' indirect dis- 
 course ' till many years after ; but I found pretty soon 
 that I could get along with them about as easily as 
 with indicatives (allowing for their eccentric appear- 
 ance), and traveled on quite cheerfully till I got to 
 the * Bridge.' Here I stuck awhile ; but, finding my- 
 self presently in the German woods, enjoyed greatly 
 Caesar's account of the wonderful beasts that he didn't 
 find there, and so left him. 
 
 " I need not go on with the process, which I fol- 
 lowed up through the Latin and Greek then required 
 (fully the equivalent of that required now) ; but will 
 only add that in the last six months before the en- 
 trance examination I made myself as completely mas- 
 ter as I could of the grammars then in vogue. It waa 
 at this stage of the process, and not a minute before, 
 that I should have been thoroughly glad to learn the 
 latest modem improvements in philology. That I 
 have had a good deal to do with Latin and Greek 
 (for an amateur) since, has been the fortune, and to 
 
 ALLEN'S REPLY TO TETLOW. 
 
 203 
 
 »1 
 
 I 
 
 a large degree the pleasure, of my life. That I have 
 had as little difficulty as I have in taking these litera- 
 tures ' broadside-on,' in spite of the lack of early drill, 
 I think is in great measure due to that lack of early 
 drill. For one thing, I could never have begun to do 
 it, if it had not been for the relief afforded by my 
 accented cwm's, quods, quoimsy my digraph m's and a's, 
 and my circumflexed ablatives in d. What do I care 
 how long the circumflex has been in this use ? It is 
 a very good use. It is one of the ' modem improve- 
 ments ' worth having. What do I care how soon a 
 Dutchman was good enough to give us the letter Jt 
 I find the use of it every time I write my own name, 
 and so does Mr. Tetlow. 
 
 " I hope I have sufficiently explained, if I have 
 not fully justified, the different point of view that I 
 have taken from that of some of the best friends I 
 have in the world, who are classical teachers after the 
 modern method. I do not know so high a gain to be 
 had from the study of Latin, or anything that goes so 
 far to justify it for a school study at all, as to be in 
 some measure at home in the thought and language of 
 the classics, as we call them. I am sure that a good 
 school can very much shorten and simplify the pro- 
 cess which I had to pick my way in after a fashion 
 of my own. If the 'quantitative pronunciation' is 
 really a help and a pleasure, I have not the least pos- 
 sible objection ; that is certainly one way of getting 
 into the spirit of the tongue. But, as I said before, 
 there are something like half a niillion of us whose 
 feelings ought to be respected in the current pronun- 
 ciation of vice versd and eplurihus unum. We ought 
 to concede, on both sides, that in such things it is 
 
/ 
 
 / 
 
 204 THE THREE PRONUXCUTlOXS OF LATIN. 
 
 not a question of 'right' and 'wrong/ but of good 
 sense and propriety in dealing with an established 
 usage. Unless we are going to make a bonfire of our 
 libraries, and print all our Latin books over again in 
 the ' improved ' spelling, which is so much harder to 
 read, it seems to me best to quiddle with these petti- 
 foggeries as little as we can, and go for the practical 
 uses of our learning. J. H. Allen. 
 
 " P- S. — I was much pleased, as you may suppose, 
 to find nearly all my points made, a good deal better 
 than I thought of doing, by Professor Goldwin Smith, 
 the scholarly and able editor (as I understand) of that 
 capital chronicle, * The Bystander,' of Toronto." 
 
 879. We shall attempt no synopsis of these arti- 
 cles. Note these points : 1. Mr. Allen is an accurate 
 scholar and an author of high standing in both Eu- 
 rope and America, and the first to employ the phrase 
 "Roman method." 2. He expresses his skepticism 
 touching the so-called Roman mode in unequivocal 
 language, and frankly says that he doubts whether we 
 are likely to come any nearer the true ancient mode 
 " than what would make our reading of Latin a bar- 
 barous and painful travesty to a Roman ear — some- 
 thing like the average grammar-school French to a 
 Parisian." 3. These discussions, from scholars who 
 have been classed on the same side, fix vivid and, we 
 may say, painful attention on the differences of opin- 
 ion existing to this hour in regard to the so-called 
 Latin method. 4. Professor Tetlow's anxiety in the 
 matter shows that we have not overestimated Mr. 
 Allen's influence. 
 
 % 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 LETTERS AND REVIEWS. 
 
 205 
 
 i 
 
 380. " Universitt ot the State of Missouri, 
 
 Ck>LUMBiA, Missouri, April 13^ 1878. 
 
 " Professor Fisher : My dear Sir — I have read 
 your pamphlet (first edition) on Latin pronunciation, 
 which you were kind enough to hand me a few days 
 since, and feel constrained to make a formal and 
 explicit acknowledgment of my obligations to you 
 
 for it. 
 
 381. "The so-called Roman method has been in- 
 vented or discovered, and I have not exactly known 
 which, since my academic undergraduate days, where- 
 in it was my for^ne to be pretty thoroughly drilled 
 in the English method of Andrews and Stoddard's 
 grammar and course. My attention has been drawn 
 to it at different times, but mine has been the humble 
 position of awaiting results with a mind willing to 
 accept whatever was sustained by the best evidence 
 adduced by specialists. A distinguished gentleman 
 of my acquaintance was once asked by the advocates 
 of the Harmonial Philosophy of the Andrew Jackson 
 Davis school, to aid them in settling their system, as 
 he had had occasion to point out some very serious 
 objections to it. He answered them, that he had not 
 time for that, but that, if they would fix it up and 
 bring it to him, he would tell them what he thought 
 of it. It seems to me that you have given such a 
 fair, concise, and complete exhibit of the case by way 
 of statement, explanation, refutation, and argument, 
 that even a layman may venture to arise from the 
 perusal of your pamphlet with a pretty decided, be- 
 cause intelligent, opinion that the pretensions of the 
 novel method * rest on an unsettled and inadequate 
 foundation' (p. 11), and still further and positively. 
 
f 
 
 206 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 as you express it on page 23, that ' for English-speak- 
 ing people the English pronunciation is the best.' 
 
 382. ** The general discussion of this yexed ques- 
 tion, as some have chosen to call it, is plainly in the 
 interest of clean and accurate scholarship. It has 
 been the vice of too many of our schools to train 
 their Latin pupils in no method of pronunciation 
 whatever, whereas it is, doubtless, better to teach 
 them even the least accredited method, which is the 
 Boman, than none at all. 
 
 383. " I will venture to express the opinion that 
 professors are not at liberty to tei^h their unrecog- 
 nized individualisms as part of a system. Those 
 youths are exceedingly unfortunate who are made the 
 subjects of class-room experimentation, in the inter* 
 est of empirical novelties. Individual opinions are 
 not properly taught as a part of science ; for when 
 they become a part of science by virtue of the recog- 
 nition of the great body of specialists or experts, then 
 they cease to be individualisms. The classics are en- 
 titled to equal protection against empiricists. Is it 
 not true that the indeterminate and tentative element 
 is in the so-called Roman, in excess of every other 
 method ? This is fatal to a preference for it. 
 
 384. *'A man may with amiability acquire the 
 novel nomenclature of the new chemistry, but it is 
 difBcult to recover from the impression that Keer- 
 koom-yah-hay-o may be the war-whoop of the Modoc 
 Indians, as Shack-Nasty-Jim or some other savage 
 leads them forth from their lava-beds, and to settle 
 down composedly in the acceptance of this as the 
 resurrected and veritable pronunciation in English 
 which, though hitherto undiscovered, has all the while 
 
 LETTERS AND REVIEWS. 
 
 207 
 
 U 
 
 lain close around the plain and harmless Latin word 
 circumjaceo, pages 24, 26, 27. But my sheet is full. 
 '' Very truly, S. S. Laws." 
 
 Of the many reviews of the second edition, we 
 give only the following : 
 
 385. *'The Three Pronunciations of Latin. 
 By Professor Fisher, of the University of the State of 
 Missouri. New England Publishing Company, 1879. 
 Second edition. 
 
 " Professor Fisher's book is both timely and valu- 
 able, and is an important contribution to the current 
 discussion of Latin pronunciation. It presents in 
 compact form the arguments against the so-called 
 Roman method of pronunciation, and those in favor 
 of the English. The issue of a second edition shows 
 the general interest in the subject. Every practical 
 discussion, at the present time, of the pronunciation 
 of Latin has to deal with two questions : first, has the 
 true pronunciation been discovered ? or, second, is it 
 desirable for the English-speaking people to change 
 from the English method ? Both of these questions 
 Professor Fisher answers in the negative, and in our 
 judgment satisfactorily. 
 
 "The true Roman pronunciation was confessedly 
 lost. As Mr. Roby, the ablest defender of the * re- 
 formed ' system, says, it * has not been uttered by any 
 accredited representative within the last seventeen 
 hundred years.* Every one who has taught or studied 
 a foreign language, or ever paid careful attention to 
 his own, knows how difficult it^is to gain a correct 
 pronunciation. Even with a teacher, what almost 
 endless repetitions are needed to impress upon a learn- 
 
i 
 
 208 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIK. 
 
 er's ear a strange sound or intonation I The only pos- 
 sible way of acquiring an accurate pronunciation is 
 by constant communication with those who naturally 
 employ it. 
 
 *' But a second difficulty of learning pronuncia- 
 tion from books is in the books themselves. It is 
 impossible accurately to describe sounds. The appli- 
 cation of this to the 'Roman' method is plain. If 
 there is such difficulty in pronouncing a foreign yet 
 living language, how much greater will be the diffi- 
 culty of pronouncing one of which the sounds, for 
 ' seventeen hundred years,' have fallen from no hu- 
 man tongue I 
 
 " To the difficulty of reviving the ancient pronun- 
 ciation of Latin from books is added the second, 
 which Professor Fisher strongly urges, that there are 
 no books. There is no extant Roman manual of pro- 
 nunciation. The other bases of support are the com- 
 parison of the liatin with the Greek, and the ' tradi- 
 tions of scholars and the modem Romanic languages.' 
 But we must remember that the old Greek pronuncia- 
 tion is lost. 
 
 " The third point made against the new method 
 is the disagreement of its defenders. They claim to 
 have discovered the old pronunciation, a true pho- 
 netic system, but when we examine the claim we find 
 that not only do many of them introduce a sound 
 which many of the Continental nations of Europe can 
 not make, but there are many important variations 
 in their explanations. This disagreement among the 
 advocates of the new system is so far from being 
 strange, considering the data upon which they pro- 
 ceed, that it would be strange if it did not appear. 
 
 LETTERS AND REVIEWS. 
 
 209 
 
 " The second and more important question, of the 
 use of the English pronunciation, we shall briefly 
 touch upon. The number of students who pursue 
 philology with any degree of persistence is as noth- 
 ing compared with the great number studying Latin. 
 Those who do turn in that direction can acquire, 
 with little difficulty, that pronunciation, as they 
 
 need it. 
 
 *' Again, the adoption of the new system. Pro- 
 fessor Fisher urges, would be to English-speaking 
 students a positive hindrance in the study of Latin. 
 Of all languages the Latin needs the most aid to its 
 acquisition. It is a difficult language to learn. Its 
 fundamental conceptions and general structure are so 
 different from the English that they are gained only 
 with arduous toil. The change from the abstract and 
 picturesque English mode of thinking to the straight- 
 forward and concrete Latin is a constant stumbling- 
 block in the way of students. The ill-success of the 
 prolonged study of Latin in our schools and colleges, 
 in giving command of the language, when compared 
 with the results of other studies, plainly indicates 
 this, though undoubtedly the failure is due in no 
 small degree to faulty methods of instruction. One 
 thing, however, is certainly evident — that it will not 
 do to put any more weight upon the study of Latin 
 than is absolutely essential. Such a weight is the Ro- 
 man pronunciation. The testimonies on this point, 
 which Professor Fisher has received from England, 
 are especially pertinent. Says Mr. Hornby, of Eton 
 College, 'The introduction of the new pronuncia- 
 tion would add to the difficulties of the early stages 
 in teaching Latin ' ; and Mr. Scott, of St. Peter's 
 
210 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 College, says, * We have found the waste of time in- 
 Yolved in correcting mispronunciation to be fatal.' 
 
 " But the injury to English is still greater. Every 
 one knows that a large part of the words in common 
 use are derivatives from the Latin. For example, who 
 would recognize in the English invincible the ecn- 
 ween-kee-hee-lees of the new Roman ? But more than 
 this, the pronunciation of that great army of students, 
 who take up the study of Latin at the most formative 
 period of life, will insensibly, but none the less surely, 
 be affected by their study. 
 
 " We hope that this book will be read by all who 
 are interested in the pronunciation of Latin, by those 
 who have not time or opportunity to follow the mi- 
 nutiae of the discussion in other places, and especially 
 by those who, hoping to be in the fashion, and think- 
 ing that strangeness of sound is an evidence of scholar- 
 ship, have adopted a system of pronunciation which 
 they have not dared to use in public, and for which 
 they can command scarcely a single reason." (" New 
 York School Journal, October 4, 1879.) 
 
 The Chicago " Inter-Ocean," after a lengthy synop- 
 sis of the work, says (October 4, 1879) : 
 
 886. "The Three Pronunciations of Latin. 
 — Formerly there were but two methods of pronounc- 
 ing Latin taught and practiced— in the United States 
 —the English and the so-called Continental. It was 
 bad enough to have the confusion and discourage- 
 ments incident to this disagreement among the in- 
 structors of our various preparatory schools and col- 
 leges. But, since about the middle of this century, 
 the confusion complained of has been worse confound- 
 ed by the introduction into about one third of Ameri- 
 
 letters and reviews. 
 
 211 
 
 can colleges of what is called the ^Eoman method.* 
 This method claims to be nothing less than the genu- 
 ine Latin method — the pronunciation of the days of 
 Virgil and Cicero restored. The array of English and 
 American Latin scholars who are enlisted in support 
 of these claims is really quite formidable. The Ro- 
 man method is the accepted pronunciation in several 
 of our strongest colleges and universities. For a time 
 it seemed as though it would displace both the other 
 methods in all of our best institutions of learning. 
 Of late, however, there is a strong reaction. The ex- 
 alted pretensions of the new method have been chal- 
 lenged by many of the first scholars of Europe and 
 America, and have met with a resistance far more 
 serious than any offered in the earlier periods of its 
 progress. Among the champions of the English, and 
 the sternest, most effective of the resistants of the 
 Roman method, is Professor M. M. Fisher, of the 
 University of Missouri. His short, positive treatise 
 on * The Pronunciations of Latin,' published by the 
 New England Publishing Company, of Boston, pre- 
 sents the claims of, and the objections to, the Conti- 
 nental and Roman methods, and defends the use of 
 the English pronunciation- with a scholarly spirit and 
 ability that command the respect of his opponents and 
 the admiration of his own party. 
 
 " Since this book was published, he has come out 
 in answer to the charge of the new ' Romans,' that 
 the ' English ' leaders are defeated— that their stand- 
 ard-bearers are demoralized— by referring to the pres- 
 ent attitude of Professor Mayer, of Cambridge, and 
 ex-Professor Palmer, of Oxford, England, ' two of the 
 most renowned leaders in reforming Latin pronuncia- 
 
212 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OP LATIN. 
 
 tion in the world,' and repeating the following letter 
 
 from the latter : 
 
 « 
 
 " * Oxford, England, September 5, 1877. 
 
 " 'Dear Sir : I am ashamed to see that your let- 
 ter of the 25th of June, in this year, has been so long 
 unanswered. I have really nothing to add to my let- 
 ter of 1876. The subject of Latin pronunciation has 
 attracted little attention in England during the past 
 two years. The old or English method still reigns 
 unquestioned at the universities, nor am I aware that 
 the schools have shown any increased disposition to 
 attempt its reformation. I consider our enterprise a 
 coup manque (a failure). 
 
 " *I am, dear sir, yours very respectfully, 
 
 "'Edwin Palmer, 
 " ' Ex-Professor of Latin in the University of Oxford. 
 
 ** * M. M. Fisher, Professor of Latin, Missouri University, U. 8. A* 
 
 "This letter, together with other evidences fur- 
 nished, no doubt fully satisfies Professor Fisher that 
 he is perfectly justified in his declarations, in the 
 book before us, that 'the Koman method is practi- 
 cally dead in England,' and his further belief that a 
 like doom awaits it in this country, notwithstanding 
 that, according to the report of the Bureau of Educa- 
 tion at Washington, seventy-two out of two hundred 
 and thirty-seven colleges named used the new pronun- 
 ciation." 
 
 The " New England Journal of Education," Bos- 
 ton, the only journal that received a medal at the 
 Paris Exposition, thus speaks : 
 
 387. "The allusions made to this work several 
 
 t 
 
 LETTERS AND REVIEWS. 
 
 213 
 
 months ago, and the references that have been made 
 to it by other papers, have awakened a very general 
 interest and expectation respecting it among Latin 
 teachers and students. Its title, 'The Three Pro- 
 nunciations of Latin,* may lead to the impression 
 that its design is merely to give an accurate and de- 
 tailed statement of the rules that govern each system 
 of pronunciation, with the reasons for its adoption, 
 which are advanced by its adherents. But, instead of 
 this, we have in the work a most elaborate and schol- 
 arly argument in favor of the retention of the English 
 method of pronunciation, in preference to either the 
 so-called Continental method or the Roman. In this 
 argument the author will gain for himself great credit, 
 both by the industry and patience manifested, and the 
 profound learning displayed. The literature of the 
 subject is varied and extensive, and has been well 
 utilized to serve his purpose. It is not very likely 
 that many who have adopted either of the new meth- 
 ods of pronunciation will be influenced by this work 
 to renounce the new way and go back to the old, but 
 will greatly strengthen the resolution of those who 
 have persistently adhered to the English method. 
 They will be prompted to say to their classes, as Dr. 
 Oliver Wendell Holmes said to his last class at the 
 Harvard Medical College, ' Gentlemen, in using Latin 
 words, I shall follow the old English method of pro- 
 nunciation.' The work will elicit much criticism, and 
 thereby great good will be accomplished in the more 
 intelligible views that will be gained of this somewhat 
 perplexing subject. By far the larger portion of the 
 work is devoted to objections to the Eoman method. 
 The Continental method is disposed of in the first 
 
I^B^ 
 
 r 
 
 214 THE THREE PRONUNaATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 sixteen pages, but the discussion of objections to the 
 Boman method occupies nearly one hundred pages, 
 while the positive arguments in favor of the English 
 method occupy only the last forty pages. The length 
 of the discussion respecting the Roman system was 
 demanded by the candor shown in answering some of 
 the arguments which have been advanced in favor of 
 that system, and especially those lately published in 
 this paper." 
 
 388. 
 
 " St. Stephen's College, Annandalk, ) 
 New York, October 8, 1879. ) 
 
 " My dear Sir : I saw your book on the ' Three 
 Pronunciations of Latin' noticed in a New York 
 paper. As it seemed to contain some things which I 
 had often expressed, I sent for it. I take the liberty 
 of writing to you, after having read it, to express the 
 pleasure which it gave me. I entirely agree with it. 
 The views you express seem to me to be the right 
 views, and those which must eventually prevail. It 
 is a view which accords with what I take to be genu- 
 ine common sense. If we study Latin, it ought to 
 be to improve our English, to enable us to speak and 
 write our language with more correctness. There is 
 a vigor and strength to our language, from which a 
 Continental mode of pronunciation must detract, or 
 the so-called Roman mode. I confess that I have 
 little patience with the latter, for it has, as you have 
 shown, a very poor foundation to stand on. The 
 Professor of Latin in this college wishes me to say 
 that he also thoroughly agrees with your views, and 
 is circulating your book among his friends. With 
 the hope that your book may receive the circulation 
 
 LETTERS AND REVIEWS. 
 
 215 
 
 which I think it so well deserves, I am very respect- 
 fully yours, R. B. Fairbairn. 
 
 " Professor M, M. Fisher." 
 389. " MiDDLCTOWN, Connecticut, November SO, 1879, 
 
 " My dear Sir : I am a total stranger to you, 
 but take the liberty of a brother professor to offer you 
 my best thanks for your capital book on the pro- 
 nunciations of Latin. A friend loaned it to me a few 
 days ago, and it has afforded me classical entertain- 
 ment of the highest grade. 
 
 ** My judgment about the proper pronunciation 
 of Latin would, doubtless, be turned off by some with 
 a sneer. I am an old man, and was taught in the 
 old-fashioned way ; and so, of course, our novi homi' 
 nes would say my opinion was mere prejudice. But 
 one thing I am fully persuaded of, and that is, that 
 our would-be classical reformers will not only murder 
 Latin, but slaughter English into the bargain. I am 
 rejoiced that you maintain your ground so manfully, 
 and wish you all honor and ample success. 
 
 " With high respect, your obedient servant, 
 
 " T. W. CoiT, 
 '' Professor of Church History in the Berkeley Divin- 
 ity School, Middletown, Connecticut, 
 
 " P. S. — I told one of my pupils, the other day, 
 that if a pupil were to insult me with his shee-ray- 
 fakiahs dialect, I would drive him out of the room, 
 with a whip of small cords, if I could lay my hands 
 on one. T. W. Coir. 
 
 " To M. M. Fisher, Esq., 
 
 " Profeuor of Latin in the UhiversUif of MiisouriJ* 
 
T 
 
 216 THE THREE PRONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 390. " Tribune Building, Chicago, August 20, 1S79. 
 
 " Dear Sir : I desire to express my earnest thanks 
 for the service you are rendering the cause of edu- 
 cation by withstanding the current that threatens to 
 introduce confusion in the pronunciation of Latin. 
 The so-called Roman method meets with very little 
 favor outside of the colleges and preparatory schools, 
 and, from present indications, there is very little 
 probability that it can gain general favor, even with 
 these institutions. The inevitable result of pressing 
 this method will be to introduce such confusion and 
 obscurity that ordinary scholars will not even recog- 
 nize many of the most common Latin words in their 
 utterance. In our Chicago high-schools we have more 
 than four hundred pupils studying Latin, and not 
 one in four of them will ever enter college. Shall 
 the three hundred be compelled to learn the Roman 
 method ? And if not, shall the other hundred be ever 
 after separated from them as a special caste in literary 
 society ? You are entitled to the thanks of all classes 
 for your candid and exhaustive discussion of the whole 
 subject. Yours truly, W. H. Wells. 
 
 " Professor M. M. Fisher, 
 
 " University of Missouri^ Cotumhia^ AfistowV^ 
 
 391. " Hamilton College, Clinton, Oneida County, ) 
 
 New York, November 25, 18S0. f 
 
 "Dear Sir : Will you allow me to thank you for 
 the satisfaction which your ' Three Pronunciations 
 of Latin' has afforded me ? Such a work was sadly 
 needed, and I think it has come at the right time. 
 My impression is, that it has caught the * Latin Pro- 
 nunciation ' on the down-grade, and has given it a 
 
 LETTERS AND REVIEWS. 
 
 217 
 
 
 blow which I sincerely hope will help to send it to 
 perdition. Macaulay said that he learned German 
 under the pressure of a kind of presentiment that 
 *the final cause of his existence, the end for which he 
 was sent into this vale of tears, was to make game of 
 certain Germans.' I am glad that you have found a 
 similar mission in making game of the ' Roman sys- 
 tem of pronunciation.' Your book gave me all the 
 more pleasure because I was myself at work, in a 
 much more limited way, in showing the incomplete- 
 ness of the scheme of the reformers and the contra- 
 dictions between them, at the time when I heard of 
 and sent for your book. So long as the guide-boards 
 of reform all point in different directions, sensible 
 travelers will merely stand still and wait for further 
 directions. Will you pardon the length and freedom 
 of this letter ? Though a stranger to you, I could 
 not refrain from expressing my interest in your book, 
 and my satisfaction at seeing so good a drubbing ad- 
 ministered to the reformers. 
 
 ** Very respectfully yours, 
 
 "A. G. Hopkins, 
 ^'Professor of Latin, etc, Hamilton College. 
 •* Professor M. M. Fisher," 
 
 392. *'The enlarged edition of Fisher's 'Three 
 Pronunciations of Latin,' recently published, is a 
 book that every classical scholar will desire to read. 
 It contains a full and clear statement of the different 
 views entertained upon this subject, and ably defends 
 the old English pronunciation, which is still the pre- 
 vailing method in the best classical schools in this 
 country. The book is published in an attractive form 
 
 10 
 
I 
 
 218 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 by the New England Publishing Company, Boston, 
 Massachusetts, Hiram Orcutt, 
 
 ** Tilden Ladies^ Seminary, West Lebanon, New 
 Hampshire.^' 
 
 393. Relative to the intimation in some quarters 
 that, in dealing with this question, I have acted the 
 part of an advocate, and not that of a judge, I have 
 this to say : This allegation might be true, if the case 
 of my opponents has not been dealt with fairly and 
 justly ; or if, on the other hand, the arguments on 
 the English side have been pressed too strongly, so as 
 to make the weaker appear the stronger side. But 
 neither of these alternatives is true. The case has 
 been treated judicially ; all sides have received a 
 candid hearing, and the issue has been made to rest 
 on the genuine merits of all concerned. 
 
 394. The appearance of acting the advocate has 
 been forced (if there be such appearance) by the note- 
 worthy fact that the reformers, from the start, raised 
 the black flag, and gave no quarter to the English 
 ranks. The onset has been as merciless as the swoop 
 of an eagle on its prey. In other words, the proced- 
 ure has been such as to allow no case at all to Eng- 
 lish Latinists. An examination of the preceding 
 pages will make it manifest, not only that there is a 
 case, but that, both de jure and de facto, that case is 
 founded on a rock. 
 
 396. That the case has been candidly and fairly 
 put, and that the position occupied by the English is 
 invincible, may be seen from the reviews and opinions 
 of teachers and scholars of great learning in all parts 
 of our country. Some of these have just been given. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 219 
 
 In closing this work, there are several points to 
 which careful attention is asked : 
 
 396. 1. We do not know the true ancient pronun- 
 ciation of the Romans. This becomes perfectly ob- 
 vious by reading the opinions of Roman Latinists, as 
 given in Chapter VI. 
 
 2. It does not seem desirable to adopt a system 
 which is largely conventional, and in which the want 
 of harmony is so great that it casts a shadow over the 
 evidence on which the method reposes, and makes 
 uniformity in the class-room impossible. In other 
 words, the system, as now offered to American schol- 
 ars (and it is used nowhere else), is, to a considerable 
 extent, to say the very least, conventional ; and, in 
 this respect, does not differ from the English, and 
 the many phases of the so-called Continental. If the 
 so-called Roman is not the true ancient mode— it it 
 is, as now presented to scholars, conventional, and the 
 result of compromise, in the case of some letters— can 
 it consistently demand recognition at the hands of 
 Latin instructors? Are we justifiable in using a 
 mode that may be but a mockery of ancient speech ? 
 
 397. 3. No one claims that the English is the an- 
 cient pronunciation of Latin. Such a claim would 
 be absurd. The position taken is this : Even if the 
 so-called Roman were the true ancient mode, instead 
 of being conventional, even then the belief is honestly 
 entertained that the Old English is the best for Eng- 
 
 lish-speaking people. . ^ „ , 
 
 398. 4. We have been called "obstructionists by 
 some who favor the so-caUed Latin mode. If the 
 
 k 
 
I 
 
 220 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 meaning is, that the English mode has obstructed 
 English scholarship, then we enter an emphatic de- 
 murrer. What has been done Ify the English tongue, 
 and in the English tongue, in the past three hundred 
 years ? Look at Oxford and Cambridge, which have 
 stood, like twin ^eaks of the English Parnassus, for 
 nearly a thousand years, and have girdled the earth 
 with the strength, beauty, glory, and power of the 
 English language. Look, too, at fiugby, Eton, Har- 
 row, St. Peter's, and Shrewsbury— grand old training- 
 schools for the giants ! Let it not be forgotten either 
 that the glory of Harvard and Yale was won when the 
 English prevailed, and before Greek, in the estimation 
 of some of our scholars, became a "college fetich." 
 
 399. If, by "obstructionists," it be meant that we 
 oppose the advancement of truth, then again we enter 
 modestly a more decided demurrer still. Whenever 
 the able scholars on the Koman side will say that they 
 have found the real pronunciation of the ancient Ro- 
 mans, then, it may be, we shall plead guilty to the 
 charge. But, do they claim to know the truth— the 
 whole truth f Nobody puts forward such claim. The 
 "golden age" of truth in the phonetic mode is still 
 to come ? Will it come ? Perhaps so. Until the 
 truth is revealed, the charge of " obstructionist " is 
 without foundation. 
 
 400. 5. The classes in the University of Missouri, 
 before graduation, receive the most careful training 
 in the so=-called Roman mode. The scheme adopted 
 is found in the first chapter of this work. This re- 
 mark will answer the question of those who desire to 
 know the form of the phonetic mode which the writer 
 gives to his classes, This discussion may appear to 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 221 
 
 have been conducted in a manner more controversial 
 than judicial ; and yet it is but just to say that there 
 is not the least disposition to ostracize any one on ac- 
 count of his chosen system of pronunciation. Schol- 
 arship does not depend on a man's phonetics. The 
 writer is quite as familiar with the phonetic method 
 as with the English. It is scholarly to use either the 
 English, or the so-called Continental, or the so-called 
 Latin. 
 
 401. 6. The Episcopal institutions, as might bo 
 expected, all use the English. The Catholic institu- 
 tions all use some phase of the Continental. This 
 depends in many cases on the nationality of the 
 
 teachers. 
 
 402. 7. It is claimed for the phonetic mode that 
 it makes the student familiar with vowel-sounds that 
 render much aid in learning the modern Romanic 
 tongues, and also in comparative philology. But 
 this familiarity with vowel-sounds can be quickly 
 learned by any student when occasion demands it, 
 without adopting strange sounds for the whole Latin 
 language, and, at the same time, sacrificing English 
 scholarship. Keep a pronunciation that enables the 
 ear to hear and the eye to see at once the derivation 
 of our words. The remark as to the eye has a marked 
 significancy, when the purposes of the Spelling' Reform 
 Association are considered. This Association and the 
 phonetic mode in Latin are allies (sections 320-324, 
 
 328). 
 
 403. 8. English Latinists are not opposed to a re- 
 form in our spelling, whenever changes can be made 
 judiciously, and in consistency with the well-estab- 
 lished claims and rights of etymology. Careful, slow. 
 
f 
 
 222 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 » 
 and painstaking alterations in our orthography are one 
 thing; an utter revolution is quite another thing. 
 All proper reform in English orthography can be ac- 
 complished without a revolution in Latin orthography 
 and Latin pronunciation. But, on this head, read 
 the sixth reason for the English mode. English Latin- 
 ists (Oxford and Cambridge included) are somewhat 
 in the way of those who are ultra in their ideas of 
 the spelling-reform. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 PRONUNCIATION AT HARVARD. 
 
 "THE LIBERAL EDUCATION OF THE FUTURE. 
 
 " The magazines and newspapers have lately con- 
 tained some discussions of the nature and value of a 
 liberal education ; but no abstract discussion could 
 present the position of this question in so strong a 
 light as does the little announcement sent out by 
 Ilarvard College, containing a list of the Freshman 
 studies at Cambridge for the coming year. The pre- 
 scribed studies are the following : Rhetoric and Eng- 
 lish composition, German or French, physics, and 
 chemistry. Twenty years ago, the bulk of these (if 
 not all of them) were not studied at Harvard in the 
 first year of the course. In the list of electives, on 
 the other hand, the first three studies are Latin, 
 Greek, and mathematics. It appears, therefore, that 
 the studies which formed the corner-stone of the 
 Harvard education of twenty years since have become 
 optional, and the circular appears to bear no other 
 intf pretation than that hereafter the Harvard diplo- 
 ma will not imply the possession of any more Latin, 
 Greek, or mathematics than is now required for en- 
 trance to the Freshman class. They are still required 
 
224 THE THREE PROXUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 studies for admission ; but after admission they need 
 not be pursued at all. This is the most momentous 
 change in education which has taken place in recent 
 years, and marks the formal and final abandonment 
 by one of the leading American universities of tradi- 
 tions handed down from father to son for four hun- 
 dred years. President Eliot has recently contributed 
 an article to the * Century ' on the subject of liberal 
 education, in which he shows how the standard has 
 changed from period to period; but none of the 
 changes in standards which he mentions are so seri- 
 ous as that which he himself has introduced ; for 
 ever since the revival of learning in Western Europe, 
 and in this country since its settlement, the hall- 
 mark of a liberal education has been in one sense the 
 same ; it has always implied a certain familiarity 
 with the same branches of learning. A man gradu- 
 ated at Harvard or Yale or Oxford or Cambridge in 
 the latter half of this century would undoubtedly, 
 as President Eliot says, study many things that Eras- 
 mus and Bacon, or even Milton and Gibbon, would 
 not have studied, and would follow new methods of 
 study in the old branches of learning ; but could he 
 meet Erasmus, or Bacon, or Milton, or Gibbon, he 
 would meet them, in a certain sense, on common 
 ground. He might know vastly more about the uni- 
 verse than they did ; his whole conception of life and 
 philosophy might be clearer, but he would be able to 
 bear with them, and endure and even enjoy their 
 society, because the basis of his training would have 
 been the same. He would have conned the very same 
 propositions in some American Euclid which they 
 had bothered over in the original ; he would have the 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 225 
 
 I, 
 
 same familiarity with Caesar's bridge-building on the 
 Rhine — and, we may add, the same want of familiar- 
 ity with the great engineering feats of modern times ; 
 he would know the same old stories of Plutarch's 
 men, and how the geese saved the Capitol, and the 
 opinion of Pythagoras about wild fowl, and the fall 
 of Troy, and the wanderings of Ulysses, and the 
 whole story of Greece and Rome, and the mighty 
 lessons which they taught the world ; and much 
 more useful and also useless knowledge. He would 
 up to a certain point have spoken the same language 
 with them, had the same thoughts, looked at the 
 world through the same eyes. 
 
 ** Now, if the changes adopted at Harvard are to 
 become general, it looks as if the traditional freema- 
 sonry of a liberal education would soon be a thing of 
 the past. Under this new system the diploma granted 
 by a college will not enable us to know what learning 
 a man possesses. A Harvard graduate may have de- 
 voted himself to Greek, Latin, and mathematics dur- 
 ing most of his course, or he may have devoted his 
 time mainly to the natural sciences, or to a melange 
 of learning consisting simply of the optional studies 
 known among undergraduates as 'soft' — i. e., those 
 in which examinations from one cause or another can 
 be passed most easily. The grant of the diploma by 
 the college will signify not the possession by all its 
 holders of a common fund of knowledge which is 
 recognized by the educated world as constituting a 
 liberal education, but the possession by each man of 
 something which the college warrants as a liberal 
 education, the nature of which, however, is left inde- 
 terminate and fluctuating. It is easy to see that the 
 
I 
 
 226 THE THREE PRONUNCIATIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 new system will be likely to prod nee consequences 
 shocking to conservatives. Mr. C. F. Adams, Jr., in 
 his address on Greek, seemed to think that he dis- 
 posed of the whole matter by inquiring of what ' use ' 
 Greek was to anybody. But this, if we are not mis- 
 taken, is rather an appeal to the prejudices of a very 
 practical-minded country than an argument properly 
 speaking. A liberal education has never been limited 
 to studies which can be shown to be of direct utility 
 to the wants of mankind. In fact, the object of a 
 liberal education is something different from this. 
 A man may go through life perfectly well, and even 
 make a large fortune in dry-goods or stocks, without 
 knowing what an isosceles triangle is, or who Plato 
 was ; and it would be very diflBcult to show the * use * 
 of a knowledge of Plato's dogmas as you can show the 
 use of Kent's * Commentaries ' to a lawyer, or a knowl- 
 edge of mechanics or chemistry to an inventor. It 
 has always been assumed that knowledge is, like vir- 
 tue, an end in itself, which proves its value to its 
 possessor. If every branch of learning were to be 
 made to prove its utility by an appeal to what it 
 * does for a man ' in practical life, we fear that little 
 would be left of liberal education. Mr. Adams may 
 be quite right in his hostility to Greek ; but it is only 
 fair to point out that the experiment which Harvard 
 has entered upon is a momentous one, and involves 
 the consequence which we have endeavored to suggest 
 here, but which seems to have escaped attention else- 
 where — that in future the degree of the college which 
 adopts the new system to its full extent will indicate 
 nothing very definite as to what its possessor knows. 
 It marks and signalizes the termination of an ancient 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 227 
 
 bond of union among liberally educated men. Here- 
 after a liberally educated man may know who Solon 
 was, and never have heard of Turgot or Kicardo ; 
 or he may be deeply versed in economical lore, but 
 stare if you allude to Alcibiades or the Sicilian Ex- 
 pedition."— 7%e Nation, June 26, I884, . 
 
 The quotation just made calls up thoughts omi- 
 nous of evil, and such as must fill the mind of every 
 lover of classic learning with some degree of sadness. 
 For nearly two hundred and fifty years Harvard has 
 stood as a kind of Mecca of American scholarship, a 
 spot to which eight generations have turned for what- 
 ever was intellectually highest and best in the West- 
 ern Continent. Has not the recent action of this re- 
 nowned seat of learning written *'Ichabod" over its 
 portals as far as the classic tongues are concerned ? 
 Is not this the logical and inevitable tendency of re- 
 cent events ? Hereafter Latin and Greek are optional 
 in the halls where they have always been required, 
 and where, too, they have done much to make Har- 
 vard what it has been to all Americans. 
 
 What is to be the effect on Harvard's scholarship ? 
 What is now to be the influence of this oldest of 
 American institutions on other schools as to the Latin 
 and Greek ? Are Latin and Greek to become college 
 fetiches ? We can hardly entertain any other thought 
 than that this step will be well-nigh universally re- 
 gretted. We shall see. Be the result what it may, we 
 are concerned here with the practical question. What 
 influence, as things now stand, should Harvard have 
 in shaping the pronunciation of Latin in America ? 
 If Latin is to be an optional study, then its pro- 
 fessors would hardly expect to control the pronun- 
 
228 THE THREE PEONUNCUTIONS OF LATIN. 
 
 elation of those who may seek hereafter to enter its 
 classes. 
 
 Why should fitting schools adopt the so-called 
 Roman mode to be like Harvard, when perhaps the 
 student will never have a recitation in Latin during 
 his whole course after entering the university ? Har- 
 vard's influence in controlling Latin pronunciation 
 can be no longer brought forward by reformers as a 
 reason why others should use the new mode. Again, 
 those schools that prepare students for Harvard can 
 readily see that there is no reason for changing their 
 present mode, no reason for sacrificing the rich results 
 of the old English method, no reason for wasting 
 time in preparing students, as far as pronunciation is 
 concerned, for a university where Latin has been laid 
 on the sheK as a requirement. The time has come 
 when preparatory schools should control Harvard in 
 the method of pronouncing Latin. They owe this 
 to themselves, to genuine English scholarship, to the 
 influence they deservedly have upon the educational 
 interests of our country. Shall Phillips Academy, 
 crowned with the rich successes of a hundred and six 
 years, be expected to adopt the Roman method be- 
 cause Harvard does it, when Harvard has no Latin 
 required ? As in the past, as at present, so we pre- 
 dict in the future this famous school will cling, ** in 
 the eternal fitness of things," to the English. So will 
 other academies. Whatever achievements Harvard 
 may make in the future (and may they be many and 
 great !), the august Latin and Greek of the past must 
 inevitably become but an imago jocosa in the halls of 
 America's oldest university. The fears of scholars 
 to-day are sadly in this direction. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 229 
 
 An intimation has been given in the body of this 
 work that statistics might be expected in the Appen- 
 dix, showing the usage of the universities and colleges 
 in our country at the present moment. Reports from 
 all are not at hand, and are not easily obtained. Ref- 
 erence may be made to the chapter on statistics, which 
 is approximately correct. This matter of statistics, 
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 l(>Am«d criticiam on the text was neeaea or uoo uccu a^,^.^.^y^^^• - "~z-~r~ ._ 
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