Does anyone know ecclesiastical Latin?

[Tous_Logous]

I need some help understanding how to pronounce some letters in ecclesiastical Latin.

Is “qu” generally pronounced as a “kw” sound? So “qua” would be pronounced “kwah?” And “que” would be “qweh?” What about “quae;” would it be pronounced “kway” or “kwhy.”

I’m noticing in my Latin Grammar book that the following diphthongs are pronounced as one syllable (like oe, ae, au). But when I see the pronounciation guide on this page: canticanova.com/latin_pron.htm it says that, for example, “au” would be pronounced separately as “ah-oo” and not the way it’s stated in the Latin Grammar book (as “owh”).

So for example, would “laudamus” be pronounced as “lah-ooh-dahm-oos” or “lowh-dahm-oos?”

My apologies if I’m over-thinking this. I want to start teaching myself the basics and I want to at least have the pronounciation down first.

 

[GangGreen]

Ecclesiastical Latin uses the same pronunciations as modern Italian.

In your q words, you are correct in all instances.

For au, I pronounce it as ah-oo. owh in your sentence is the same from what i can tell. Owh = ah-oo.

laudamus

l - ah - oo - d - ah - m - oo - s

Your lowh-dahm-oos is how it would be pronounced. Just fire up a recording of the Gloria and you’ll hear the pronunciation.

ah
eh
ee
oh
oo

Just remember that when pronouncing vowels.

 

[malphono]

So “qua” would be pronounced “kwah?”

Yes

And “que” would be “qweh?”

Yes

What about “quae;” would it be pronounced “kway” or “kwhy.”

“kway”

So for example, would “laudamus” be pronounced as “lah-ooh-dahm-oos” or “lowh-dahm-oos?”

The second

 

[DexUK]

In my part of the world Luadamus has always been pronounced ‘loud’ (as in volume) ‘A’ (as in the first letter of the alphabet) müs (as in moose, but not quite such a long stress on the ‘oo’).

I have no idea if they’re right or wrong, but that’s my two cents worth for this discussion!

(I learned Classical Latin at school, but there are some differences so now and again I get tripped up by them!)

 

[GangGreen]

In my part of the world Luadamus has always been pronounced ‘loud’ (as in volume) ‘A’ (as in the first letter of the alphabet) müs (as in moose, but not quite such a long stress on the ‘oo’).

I have no idea if they’re right or wrong, but that’s my two cents worth for this discussion!

(I learned Classical Latin at school, but there are some differences so now and again I get tripped up by them!)

Pretty much saying the same thing. Of course issue #1 is using English ways of pronouncing things for Latin words. Makes things confusing. It’s best to learn the sounds of the vowels and the special instances of certain letter combinations. Then it makes it much easier for for any word you see.

 

[AliR14]

There are only a few differences between Classical and Ecclesiastical Latin.

Both are “kw” for “qu”.

The diphthongs are not separated in either, however they may (or may not!) be pronounced differently. “Au” is “ow” - so “laud” equals “loud”.

In Classical Latin, “ae” is indeed pronounce as a long vowel “i”, but it is “ay” in Ecclesiastical Latin. The “oe” diphthong in Classical Latin is “oi”, but in ecclesiastical, it is “ay”

The biggest difference is really in consonant pronunciations. “G”, “C”, and “V” are treated differently. In Classical Latin, “g” and “c” are always hard as in “guarantee” and “call”. In Ecclesiastical Latin, “g” becomes soft unless followed by “a”, “u” or, I believe, “o”. “C” becomes “ch” unless followed by “a” or, if I remember correctly, “u”. “V” is “w” in Classical Latin, but always “v” in Ecclesiastical Latin.

As far as vowels, in Classical Latin they change based on where the omicron would be placed, or where a stressed syllable in poetry would be due to the meter. With the exception of diphthongs, in Ecclesiastical Latin they are always ah, eh, ee, oh, oo for a, e, i, o, u.

If you’re ever questioning in the moment, treat the Latin as if it were modern Italian in the Church.

I was a Classical Studies major in college so the above is not perfect (it’s been a few years, and I’m going from memory).