Tagged Questions
3
votes
2answers
775 views
How should an English speaker pronounce “vice versa”?
When using vice versa in spoken English, I tend to just completely Anglicise it and pronounce it vise VER-ser, with only one syllable in vice.
The original would be something like VEE-cay VER-sa, but ...
0
votes
1answer
103 views
Caesar and caesura
Caesar and caesura are two similar-sounding Latin words which have made their way into English unsullied in terms of their orthography. The same can however not be said of their pronunciations. The ...
0
votes
2answers
325 views
Long vs. short vowels in English words of Latin origin
Is there any way to determine if a vowel is short or long in English words of Latin origin? I've noticed that u is usually long in Latin words (e.g., Jupiter) but what about other vowels?
3
votes
2answers
195 views
What is the origin of the different pronunciations of C and G before different vowels?
In English the letters C and G usually have different pronunciation before a/o/u and before e/i. The same is true for Romance languages - French, Spanish, Catalan, Italian etc.
What is the origin of ...
7
votes
3answers
220 views
Latin pronunciation [closed]
(You may well say this doesn't fit into an "English language" site, but the scientific Latin terms could be said to be part of English.)
My young daughter loves snails; I would like her to learn the ...
3
votes
3answers
2k views
Pronunciation and usage of “bona fide”
As I am reading books and articles, I come across this bona fide. How do you pronounce this? How do you use it properly?
I know the definition is in good faith, like if you are welcomed to someone's ...
11
votes
1answer
602 views
Why isn't “muscle” pronounced “muskle”?
It comes from the Latin musculus (meaning mouse) and Latin has only hard c's. The "c" has somehow become soft or silent during evolution. Why did this happen?
Also, if muscle is pronounced mussle, ...
7
votes
3answers
2k views
Pronunciation of words ending with “‑ae”
For example,
Styracaceae, Suidae, Sulidae, Sylviidae, Symplocaceae, etc.
I don’t know how to pronounce them correctly.
6
votes
3answers
1k views
Why A is pronounced differently in “opacity” and “opaque”
When I look at pronunciation guides for opacity and opaque I see the following:
opaque: oh-peyk (a hard A)
opacity: oh-pas-i-tee (a soft A)
Since their root seems to be the Latin opācus, ...
13
votes
4answers
520 views
Pronunciation of trailing “i” in Latin-derived words
Some pronounce the trailing "i" in Latin-derived words (e.g., "Gemini") as a long "e" and others pronounce it as a long "i." I was taught the long "e," but is this mere preference or is there a firm ...
119
votes
7answers
9k views
