Traditional English pronunciation of Latin

The traditional English pronunciation of Latin, and of Classical Greek words borrowed through Latin, is the mode in which the Latin language was traditionally pronounced by speakers of English until the early twentieth century.

Since the Middle Ages, speakers of English (from Middle English onward) pronounced Latin not as the Romans did, but according to a traditional scheme borrowed from France. This traditional pronunciation became closely linked to the pronunciation of English, and as the pronunciation of English changed with time, the English pronunciation of Latin changed as well.

At the end of the nineteenth century, this Anglo-Latin pronunciation began to be superseded in Latin instruction by a revised Classical pronunciation, closer to an earlier Roman pronunciation, and with a more transparent relationship between spelling and pronunciation. By the mid-twentieth century, the traditional pronunciation had all but ceased to be used in the classroom. The traditional pronunciation, however, survives in academic English vocabulary:
* In general academic vocabulary: "campus, syllabus, curriculum, diploma, alumnus"
* In specialized anatomical vocabulary: "aorta, biceps, cranium, patella, sinus, vertebra", etc.
* In astronomical nomenclature, including the names of planets, moons, asteroids, stars and constellations, such as "Mars, Io, Ceres, Sirius, Ursa Major, nova, nebula".
* In a number of historical terms and names, particularly those associated with Roman culture and politics: "augur, bacchanal, consul, fibula, lictor, prætor, toga, Augustus, Cæsar, Cicero," etc.
* In legal terminology and phrases: "alibi, alias, de jure, obiter dictum, sub judice, subpœna" etc. In many cases Classical pronunciation is used, however.
* In the specialized terminology of literary studies: "codex, colophon, epitome, index, periphrasis, parenthesis," etc.
* In some mathematical terms: "calculus, parabola, hyperbola, isosceles, rhombus, vector," etc.
* In medical terminology describing diseases, symptoms and treatments: "anæsthesia, bacterium, coma, diarrhœa, lumbago, mucus, nausea, ophthalmia, rabies, tetanus, virus, rigor mortis" etc.
* In words and names from classical mythology: "Achilles, Argus, Calliope, Gorgon, Myrmidon, Sphinx," etc.
* In some religious terms: "angelus, basilica, Magi, martyr, presbyter," etc.
* In certain sporting terms: "gymnasium, stadium, discus, pentathlon"
* In the taxonomic nomenclature of botany and zoology: "phylum, genus, species, chrysanthemum, hibiscus, rhododendron, fœtus, larva, ovum, pupa, chamæleon, lemur, platypus"
* In a very large body of words used everyday: "album, apex, area, asylum, axis, basis, bonus, camera, census, circus, dilemma, error, focus, genius, icon, insignia, junior, major, medium, murmur, onus, panacea, podium, sector, stamina, terminus, trivia"; as well as such common phrases as "et cetera, non sequitur, quid pro quo, status quo, vice versa," etc.

Overview

In most cases, the English pronunciation of Classical words and names is predictable from the orthography, as long as long and short vowels are distinguished. For Latin, or Latinized Greek, this means that macrons must be used if the pronunciation is to be unambiguous; for Greek, long versus short "α, ι, υ" must be distinguished, as they are in "A Greek-English Lexicon." However, the conventions of biological nomenclature forbid the use of these diacritics, and in practice they are not found in astronomical names or in literature. Without this information, it may not be possible to ascertain the placement of stress, and therefore the pronunciation of the vowels in English.

Note that the following rules are generalizations, and that many names have well established idiosyncratic pronunciations.

tress placement

Latin stress is predictable. It falls on the penultimate syllable when that is "heavy", and on the antepenultimate syllable when the penult is "light".

(In Greek stress is not predictable, but may it be ignored when pronouncing Greek borrowings, as they have been filtered through Latin and have acquired the stress patterns of Latin words.)

A syllable is "light" when if it ends in a single short vowel. For example, "a, ca, sca, scra" are all light syllables for the purposes of Latin stress assignment.

Any other syllable is "heavy":

*if it is closed by a consonant: "an, can, scan, scran"
*if the vowel is long or a diphthong in Latin, or in the Latin transliteration of Greek: "ā, cā, scā, scrā" (a long vowel) or "æ, cæ, scæ, scræ" (a diphthong).

Latin diphthongs may be written <æ> or , <œ> or . Long vowels are written with a macron: "ā ē ī ō ū ȳ," though this is a modern convention. Greek long vowels are "ει, η, ου, ω," sometimes "ι, υ," and occasionally "α." (Long "α" is uncommon.) For example, Actæon (also written "Actaeon)" is pron-en|ækˈtiːɒn "ak-TEE-on" or IPA|/ækˈtiːən/ "ak-TEE-ən" in English. A dieresis indicates that the vowels do "not" form a diphthong: Ausinoë IPA|/ɔːˈsɪnoʊiː/ "aw-SIN-oh-ee" (not "*AW-si-nee").

The importance of marking long vowels can be illustrated with Ixion, from Greek "Ιξιων." As it is written, the English pronunciation might be expected to be IPAlink-en|ˈɪksiɒn "IK-see-on." However, length marking, "Ixīōn," makes it clear that it should be pronounced IPA|/ɪkˈsaɪɒn/ "ik-SYE-on."

When more than a single consonant follows a vowel, the syllable is closed and therefore heavy. (A consonant is not the same thing as a letter. The letters "x" IPA| [ks] and "z" IPA| [dz] each count as two consonants, but "th" IPA| [θ] , "ch" IPA| [k] , and "ph" IPA| [f] count as one, as the pronunciations in brackets suggest.) The English letter "j" was originally an "i," forming a diphthong with the preceding vowel, so it forces the stress just as "æ, œ, z," and "x" do.

* Exception: a consonant cluster of "p", "t", or "c/k" plus "l" or "r" is ambiguous. The preceding syllable may be considered either open or closed. For example, the name Chariclo "(Chariklō)" may be syllabified as either "cha-rik-lō" or "cha-ri-klō," so both IPAlink-en|kəˈrɪkloʊ "kə-RIK-loh" and IPA|/ˈkærɪkloʊ/ "KARR-i-kloh" are accepted pronunciations in English.

econdary stress

If more than two syllables precede the stressed syllable, the same rules determine which of them is stressed. For example, in Cassiopeia (also Cassiopēa), syllabified "cas-si-o-pei-a," the penult "pei/pē" contains a long vowel/diphthong and is therefore stressed. The second syllable preceding the stress, "si," is light, so the stress must fall one syllable further back, on "cas" (which coincidentally happens to be a closed syllable and therefore heavy). Therefore the standard English pronunciation is IPAlink-en|ˌkæsiəˈpiːə "KAS-ee-ə-PEE-ə." (Note however that this word has the additional irregular pronunciation of IPA|/ˌkæsiˈoʊpiə/ "KAS-ee-OH-pee-ə.")

Long and short vowels in English

Whether a vowel letter is pronounced "long" in English (IPA|/eɪ, iː, aɪ, oʊ, juː/ "ay, ee, eye, oh, you") or "short" (IPA|/æ, ɛ, ɪ, ɒ, ʌ/ "a, e, i, o, u") is unrelated to the length of the original Latin or Greek vowel. Instead it depends on position and stress. Generally, vowels followed by more than one consonant will be short in English, as in Hermippe IPAlink-en|hɚˈmɪpi "hər-MIP-ee," except that final "-es" is always long, as in Pales IPA|/ˈpeɪliːz/ "PAY-leez"; while vowels with no following consonant will be long.

However, when a vowel is followed by a single consonant (or by a cluster of "p, t, c/k" plus "l, r)" and then another vowel, it gets more complicated.
*If the syllable is unstressed, it will be open, and the vowel will often be reduced to schwa.
*If the penultimate syllable is stressed, it will be open and the vowel long, as in Europa IPAlink-en|juːˈroʊpə "yew-ROH-pə."
*If any other syllable is stressed, it will be closed and the vowel will be short, as in Ganymede IPA|/ˈɡænɪmiːd/ "GAN-i-meed" and Anaxagoras IPA|/ˌænəkˈsæɡɒrəs/ "AN-ək-SAG-or-əs."

Regardless of position, stressed "u" stays long before a single consonant (or a cluster of "p, t, c/k" plus "l, r)," as in Jupiter IPA|/ˈdʒuːpɨtɚ/ "JEW-pi-tər".

*Exception: A stressed non-high vowel "(a, e, o)" stays long before a single consonant (or cluster of "p, t, c/k" plus "l, r)" followed by an IPA|/iː/ "ee" sound "(e, i, y)" plus another vowel at the end of a word: Proteus IPAlink-en|ˈproʊtiəs "PROH-tee-əs," Demetrius IPA|/dɪˈmiːtriəs/ "di-MEE-tree-əs." This is because, historically and regionally, in many of these words the "e, i, y" is pronounced IPA|/j/ "y" and combines with the following syllable, so that the preceding syllable is penultimate and therefore open: IPA|/ˈproʊtjuːs/ "PROH-tews."

Note that in many dialects a syllable followed by "r" tends to be closed regardless of position, and while the long/short distinction described above is maintained, the "r" has its own effect on the vowel, as in Elara IPA|/iːˈlɛərə/ "i-LAIR-ə" (a long but closed syllable ending in "r)."

Alphabet

Anglo-Latin (hereafter A-L) includes all of the letters of the English alphabet except "w", viz.: "a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v x y z". It differs from Classical Latin in distinguishing "i" from "j" and "u" from "v".In addition to these letters the digraphs "æ" and "œ" may also be used (as in "Cæsar" and "phœnix"). These two digraphs respectively represent mergers of the letters "ae" and "oe" and are often written that way (e.g. "Caesar, phoenix"). However, since both "ae" and "oe" represent a simple vowel, not a diphthong, in A-L, the use of the single letters "æ" and "œ" better represents the reality of A-L pronunciation.Despite being written with two letters, the sequences "ch, ph, rh, th" represent single sounds. The letter "x", on the other hand, usually behaves like a sequence of two sounds (being equivalent to "cs").

Conversion of Greek to Latin

A-L includes a large amount of Greek vocabulary; in principle, any Greek noun or adjective can be converted into an A-L word. There is a conventional set of equivalents between the letters of the Greek and Roman alphabets, which differs in some respects from the current mode of Romanizing Greek. This is laid out in the tables below:

Examples:
* Greek αγγελος (aggelos) > Latin "angelus" (γγ > ng, -ος > us)
* Greek ελλειψις (elleipsis) > Latin "ellipsis" (ει > i, ψ > ps)
* Greek μουσαιον (mousaion) > Latin "musæum" (ου > u, αι > æ, -ον > um)
* Greek μαιανδρος (maiandros) > Latin "mæander" (αι > æ, -ρος > er)
* Greek χρυσανθεμον (chrusanthemon) > Latin "chrysanthemum" (χ > ch, υ > y, θ > th, -ον > um)
* Greek διαρροια (diarroia) > Latin "diarrhœa" (ρρ > rrh, οι > œ)

Consonants

Letters and sounds

* The letters "b, f, k, l, m, p, v" and "z" have each only one sound, which corresponds to the equivalent IPA symbols IPA| [ b f k l m p v z ] .
* The letter "j" has the single sound IPA| [ dʒ ] .
* The letter "r" has a single sound, IPA| [ ɹ ] in rhotic dialects of English. In non-rhotic dialects, it varies according to placement in a syllable. At the beginning of a syllable, it is pronounced IPA| [ ɹ ] . At the end of a syllable, i.e. between a vowel and a consonant, or after a vowel at the end of a word, it is dropped -- though not without, frequently, affecting the pronunciation of the previous vowel sound. If "r" occurs at the end of a word after a vowel, and the next word begins with a vowel, it is usually pronounced as the beginning of the first syllable of the next word. "Rh" and "rrh" are pronounced exactly like "r" and "rr".
* When followed by a vowel, the combinations "qu" (always) and "gu" and "su" (usually) stand for [ kw ] , [ gw ] , and [ sw ] respectively.
* The combination "ph" is pronounced [ f ] .
* The combination "th" is pronounced IPA| [ θ ] .
* The combination "ch" is pronounced [ k ] in all environments.
* The letters "c, d, g, h, n, s, t, x" have different values depending upon surrounding sounds and syllable structure.

Phonemes

The underlying consonantal phonemes of A-L are close in most respects to those of Latin, the primary difference being that / w / and / j / are replaced in A-L by / v / "v" and IPA|/ dʒ / "j". The sounds IPA|/ θ / "th" and / x / "ch" were borrowed from Greek; the latter became an invariable [ k ] subsequent to the split of original / k / "c" into [ k ] and [ s ] .

Miscellaneous environments

The environments which condition the appearance of some of these allophones are listed below:

Exceptionally, monosyllables ending in "es" are pronounced with the rhyme [ iz ] , e.g. "pes, res". This pronunciation is borrowed from that of "-es" used as an ending.

Exceptions to the pronunciation of short "y" generally involve prefixed elements beginning with "hy-" in an open syllable, such as "hydro-" and "hypo-"; these are always pronounced with a long "y", e.g. "hydrophobia, hypochondria". This pronunciation is the result of hypercorrection; formerly they were pronounced with a short IPA| [ ɪ ] , as is still the case in the word "hypocrite" and (for some speakers and formerly commonly) "hypochondria".

Prefixes may also behave in anomalous ways:
# The prefix "ob-" in unstressed syllables may be reduced to IPA| [ əb ] , even when it closes a syllable: cf. "obsession, oblivion".
# The Greek prefix "en-, em-" in a closed unstressed syllable is reduced to IPA| [ ɪn] , [ ɪm] : "encomium, emporium".
# The prefix "ex-" in an unstressed syllable is reduced to IPA| [ əks ] , [ əgz ] , despite always being in a closed syllable: "exterior, exemplar."
# The prefix "con-. com-" is reduced to IPA| [ kən ] , [ kəm ] when unstressed: "consensus, compendium", regardless of whether the syllable is closed or not.
# The preposition and prefix "post(-)" is anomalously pronounced with "long o": IPA|Am. [ poʊst ] , Br. [ pəʊst ] , Au. [pəʉst] : "post-mortem" and cf. "postpone"; also thus in words in which "post" was originally a preposition ("postea, postquam") but not in other derivatives, being pronounced with short o in "posterus, posterior, postremo, postridie".

Long vowels

Long vowels are those which historically were lengthened; by virtue of subsequent sound changes, most of them are now diphthongs, and none is distinguished by vowel length; however, the term "long" for these vowels is traditional. "Long" vowels appear in three types of environments:
# "a, e, i" and "o" are long in an open monosyllable.
# "a, e, i" and "o" are long in a stressed open penult syllable.
# "a, e" and "o" are long when in an open syllable followed by semivocalic "i" and "e".
# "a" and "o" are long when they precede another vowel in hiatus; "i" and "e" are long in the same environments, but only when they are not semivocalic (i.e., when they are in the initial syllable or receive primary stress). Hiatus may be original, or may arise from the deletion of "h" between a stressed and unstressed syllable.

The variation in the value of the initial open unstressed vowel is old. Two different types of variation can be distinguished; the older use of a "long" vowel for "i, y, o" (and their variants); and more recent variations in the value of the reduced vowel.

No completely general rule can be laid down for the appearance of an initial unstressed long vowel, although such vowels must have appeared before the shortening of geminate consonants, as they are restricted to fully open syllables. The most general tendency is for long vowels to appear when "i" and "y" are either preceded by no consonant or by "h", e.g. "idea, isosceles, hyperbola, hypothesis". The prefixes "in" and "syn" never have long vowels: "inertia, synopsis". "I" and "y" also tend to be short when the next syllable contains an "i" or "y", short or long: "militia, divisor".

"O" is a little less likely to appear with a long value in this location; or, at any rate, it is harder to distinguish the long value from the reduced vowel.

Unstressed "e" and "i" in open syllables had merged by the early 17th century; their reduced reflex is often transcribed IPA| [ ə ] , but by many speakers is still pronounced as a high front lax vowel, distinct from the IPA| [ ə ] derived from "a". For such speakers, the first syllables in "Demeter" and "Damascus" are pronounced differently. The only IPA symbol available for this sound is IPA| [ ɪ ] ; however, the sound is not identical to the short vowel IPA| [ ɪ ] , but is more central.

Unstressed "o", also often transcribed IPA| [ ə ] , is by many speakers pronounced with considerable lip-rounding; the closest IPA symbol is IPA| [ ɞ ] .

Closed "u"

Closed "u" appears only in closed syllables, except for instances of the prefix "sub-" before a vowel. It has reduced and r-colored variants, as shown below. "r"-coloration only appears when the "r" is followed by a different consonant (not "r") or the end of the word.

Endings

The pronunciation of the final syllables of polysyllabic words do not always correspond to what might be expected from the constituent phonemes. Some endings also have more than one pronunciation, depending upon the degree of stress given to the ending.

Three types of endings can be distinguished:

Vowel alone

The first class consists of vowels alone, i.e. "-a, -e, -æ, -i, -o, -u, -y". In this class, the vowels are generally long, but -a is always IPA| [ ə ] . In British Received Pronunciation, -e and -æ are IPA| [ ɪ ] (but in most other varieties of English [ i ] ).

This last pronunciation of "-os" is the expected one; however, in the masculine accusative plural, where the ending is historically Unicode|-ōs, the academic prescription was the pronunciation Am. IPA| [ ɞus] , Br. IPA| [ əʊs] , Au. IPA| [ əʉs] . Such an ending will not, of course, be commonly met in isolated vocabulary items and proper names.

ample text

"O Fortúna, velut luna, statu variabilis, semper crescis aut decrescis;"

Amer:IPA| [ ˈɞu fɔɹˈtɪu.nə ˈvi.lət ˈlɵu.nə ˈstei.tɵu ˌve.ɹiˈæ.bə.lɪs ˈsɛm.pɚ ˈkɹɛ.sɪs ˈɒt dɪˈkɹɛ.sɪs ]

Brit:IPA| [ ˈəʊ fɔːˈtju.nə ˈvi.lət ˈlu.nə ˈsteɪ.tɪu ˌvɛː.ɹiˈæ.bə.lɪs ˈsɛm.pə ˈkɹɛ.sɪs ˈɔt diˈkɹɛ.sɪs ]

Aust:IPA| [ ˈəʉ fɔːˈtʃʉ.nə ˈvi.lət ˈlʉ.nə ˈstæɪ.tʃʉ ˌve.ɹiˈæ.bə.lɪs ˈsem.pə ˈkɹe.sɪs ˈot diˈkɹe.sɪs ]

"vita detestabilis nunc obdúrat et tunc curat ludo mentis aciem, "

Amer:IPA| [ ˈvai.tə ˌdɛtəˈstæ.bə.lɪs ˈnʌŋk əbˈdɪu.ɹæt ˈɛt ˈtʌŋk ˈkjɵ.ɹæt ˈlɵu.dɞu ˈmɛn.tɪs ˈei.ʃi.əm ]

Brit:IPA| [ ˈvaɪ.tə ˌdɛtəˈstæ.bə.lɪs ˈnɐŋ.k ɒbˈdju.ɹæt ˈɛt ˈtɐŋk ˈkjʊ.ɹæt ˈlu.dəʊ ˈmɛn.tɪs ˈeɪ.ʃi.ɛm ]

Aust:IPA| [ ˈvɑe.tə ˌdetəˈstæ.bə.lɪs ˈnaŋk əbˈdʒʉ.ɹæt ˈet ˈtʌŋk ˈkjʉ.ɹæt ˈlu.dəʉ ˈmen.tɪs ˈæɪ.ʃi.əm ]

"egestátem, potestátem, dissolvit ut glaciem."

Amer:IPA| [ ˌɛ.dʒəˈstei.təm ˌpɑt.əˈstei.təm dɪˈsɑl.vɪt ˈʌt ˈglei.ʃi.əm ]

Brit:IPA| [ ˌɛ.dʒəˈsteɪ.tɛm ˌpɒ.təˈsteɪ.tɛm dɪˈsɒl.vɪt ˈɐt ˈgleɪ.ʃi.ɛm ]

Aust:IPA| [ ˌe.dʒəˈstæɪ.təm ˌpɔ.təˈstæɪ.təm dɪˈsɔl.vɪt ˈat ˈglæɪ.ʃi.əm ]

"Ave formosissima, gemma pretiósa! Ave decus virginum, virgo gloriósa!"

Amer:IPA| [ ˈei.vi ˌfɔɹ.məˈzɪ.sə.mə ˈdʒɛ.mə ˌpɹi.ʃiˈɞu.zə ˈei.vi ˈdi.kəs ˈvɚ.dʒə.nəm ˈvɚ.gɞu ˌglɔ.ɹiˈɞu.zə ]

Brit:IPA| [ ˈeɪ.vɪ ˌfɔː.məˈzɪ.sə.mə ˈdʒɛ.mə ˌpɹi.ʃiˈəʊ.zə ˈeɪ.vɪ ˈdi.kəs ˈvɜː.dʒə.nəm ˈvɜː.gəʊ ˌglɔː.ɹiˈəʊ.zə ]

Aust:IPA| [ ˈæɪ.vi ˌfɔː.məˈzɪ.sə.mə ˈdʒe.mə ˌpɹi.ʃiˈəʉ.zə ˈæɪ.vi ˈdi.kəs ˈvɜː.dʒə.nəm ˈvɜː.gəʉ ˌglo.ɹiˈəʉ.zə ]

"Ave mundi luminar, Ave mundi rosa! Blanziflor et Helena, Venus generósa."

Amer:IPA| [ ˈei.vi ˈmʌn.dai ˈlɵu.mənɑɹ ˈei.vi ˈmʌn.dai ˈɹɞu.zə ˈblæn.zə.flɔɹ ˈɛt ˈhɛ.lə.nə ˈvi.nəs ˌdʒɛ.nəˈɹɞu.zə ]

Brit:IPA| [ ˈeɪ.vɪ ˈmɐn.daɪ ˈlu.mənɑː ˈeɪ.vɪ ˈmɐn.daɪ ˈɹəʊ.zə ˈblæn.zə.flɔːɹ ˈɛt ˈhɛ.lə.nə ˈvi.nəs ˌdʒɛ.nəˈɹəʊ.zə ]

Aust:IPA| [ ˈæɪ.vi ˈman.dɑe ˈlʉ.mənaː ˈæɪ.vi ˈman.dɑe ˈɹəʉ.zə ˈblæn.zə.floːɹ ˈet ˈhe.lə.nə ˈvi.nəs ˌdʒe.nəˈɹəʉ.zə ]

History

Latin as traditionally pronounced by English speakers is part of the living history of spoken Latin through medieval French into English.

Three stages of development of A-L can thus be distinguished:

tage I

Latin from the period when its orthography and grammar became standardized through to the pronunciation changes of Late Latin, while it was still a living language. Changes that took place in this period included:
* the merger of "f" and "ph" as [ f ]
* the change in pronunciation of "v" (formerly [ w ] ) to [ v ] and of "j" (formerly [ j ] ) to IPA| [ dʒ ] .
* the merger of "i" and "y" as [ i ]
* the merger of "e, æ" and "œ" as [ e ]
* the change of non-initial, unstressed, prevocalic [ i ] to [ j ]
* the loss of distinctions of vowel length (merger of all long and short vowels)
* the palatalization of "t" to [ ts ] before [ j ]

tage II

Latin spoken in the context of Gallo-Romance and French from approximately the 6th to the 11th-12th centuries. During this period, Latin became a primarily written language, separated from the ordinary spoken language of the people. While it escaped many of the changes of pronunciation and grammar of Gallo-Romance, it did share a few of the changes of the spoken language. This was for the most part a period of stability.Changes in this period included:
* the palatalization of "c" and "g" to [ ts ] and IPA| [ dʒ ] before front vowels
* the voicing of intervocalic "s" to [ z ]
* the fronting of "u" to [ y ]
* the restoration (based on spelling) of the vowels [ i ] and [ e ] from [ j ]

tage III

Latin spoken in the context of English from the 11th/12th centuries to the present. This last stage provides the greatest and most complicated number of changes. It starts with the displacement of the native pronunciation of Latin under the Anglo-Saxon kings with that used in the north of France, around the time of the Norman conquest in 1066. The English and French pronunciations of Latin were probably identical down to the thirteenth century, but subsequently Latin as spoken in England began to share in specifically English sound changes. Latin, thus naturalized, acquired a distinctly English sound, increasingly different from the pronunciation of Latin in France or elsewhere on the Continent.

Some phases of development in this third stage can be reconstructed:

1200-1400

* The adaptation of the French sounds to English:
** [ s ] was substituted for [ ts ] . (The French sound changed at about the same time, however, A-L did not share related French simplifications such as IPA| [ dʒ ] > IPA| [ ʒ ] .)
** the vowels were given the values "a" IPA| [ ɐ ] , "e" IPA| [ ɛ ] , "i" IPA| [ ɪ ] , "o" IPA| [ ɔ ] , "u" [ y ]
** IPA| [ ʊ ] was substituted for [ y ] in closed syllables
* Stressed open penultimate vowels were lengthened, creating the short/long contrasts: ::"a" IPA| [ ɐ ] : [ ɐː] , "e" IPA| [ ɛ ] : [ ɛː] , "i" IPA| [ ɪ ] : [ iː] , "o" IPA| [ ɔ ] : [ ɔː]

1400-1600

* Merger of unstressed open IPA| [ ɛ ] with IPA| [ ɪ ]
* Non-syllable-initial, unstressed, prevocalic IPA| [ ɪ ] became [ j ] (a change almost identical to that of Late Latin)
* Lengthening of the first of two vowels in hiatus
* Lengthening of "e" IPA| [ ɛ ] , "i" IPA| [ ɪ ] , or "o" IPA| [ ɔ ] in pretonic initial syllables
* Diphthongization of IPA| [ iː] to IPA| [ ɛi ]
* Lengthening of vowels in open syllables before [ j ] in the next syllable
* Raising of IPA| [ ɛː] and IPA| [ ɔː] to IPA| [ eː] and IPA| [ oː] .
* Degemination of geminate consonants
* Palatalization of [ s ] and [ z ] before [ j ]
* Fronting of IPA| [ ɐː] to IPA| [ aː]

1600-1800

* Monophthongization of "ai" to IPA| [ aː] and "au" to IPA| [ ɒː]
* Change of [ j ] to IPA| [ ɪ ] (later > [ i ] ) in many words, restoring original syllabicity.
* Change of fronted "u" ( [ y ] ) to IPA| [ jɪu ]
* Palatalization of [ t d s z ] before (usually unstressed) IPA| [ jɪu ] (later > IPA| [ jə] )
* Loss of distinctive vowel length, creating the short/long contrasts: "a" IPA| [ ɐ ] : [ a ] , "e" IPA| [ ɛ ] : [ e ] , "i" IPA| [ ɪ ] : [ ɛi ] , "o" IPA| [ ɔ ] : [ o ]
* Lowering and unrounding of short IPA| [ ʊ ] , IPA| [ ɔ ] to IPA| [ ʌ ] , IPA| [ ɑ ]
* Former long "i" IPA| [ ɛi ] becomes [ ai ]
* Fronting and raising of short "a" IPA| [ ɐ ] , long "a" [ a ] , and long "e" [ e ] to IPA| [ æ ] [ e ] [ i ] , creating the new contrasts: "a" IPA| [ æ ] : [ e ] , "e" IPA| [ ɛ ] : [ i ] , "i" IPA| [ ɪ ] : [ ai ] , "o" IPA| [ ɑ ] : [ o ]
* Beginning of vowel reductions to IPA| [ ə ] .

1800-Present

* Development of [ e ] and [ o ] to diphthongs [ ei ] and [ ou ]
* Laxing of [ ei ] [ ou ] (variously) to IPA| [ eɪ ] IPA| [ oʊ ] , IPA| [ ɛi ] IPA| [ ɔu ] , and the latter to IPA| [ əu ]
* Continued vowel reductions to IPA| [ ə ] (a still current process).

ee also

*Latin spelling and pronunciation

Resources

* Andrews, E. A. and S. Stoddard, 1836. "Grammar of the Latin Language for the Use of Schools and Colleges." This popular Latin grammar printed toward the end of the period when Anglo-Latin pronunciation was still commonly taught in schools, devotes a section to the rules of the pronunciation. While somewhat scattershot in its approach, it reveals several otherwise inaccessible details of the traditional pronunciation.
* Walker, John, 1798. "Key to the Classical Pronunciation of Greek, Latin, and Scripture Proper Names." Although this handbook is mostly devoted to establishing the position of the accent in Classical names used in English, it also includes an essay setting out some of the rules and regularities in the Anglo-Latin pronunciation.
* Dobson, E.J., ed., 1957. "The Phonetic Writings of Robert Robinson." Includes a phonetic transcription of a Latin poem representing the English pronunciation of Latin c. 1617, the direct ancestor of the later Anglo-Latin pronunciation.
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15364/15364-h/15364-h.htm The Pronunciation of English Words Derived from the Latin]
* [http://www.saltspring.com/capewest/pron.htm Pronunciation of Biological Latin]
* [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/resolveform Perseus Greek and Latin dictionaries] . The most complete Greek and Latin dictionaries available online, they include the entire 9th edition of Liddell & Scott's "A Greek-English Lexicon." The Greek online tranliteration scheme uses the following conventions: "ê" for Greek "η" (Latin "ē"), "ô" for Greek "ω" (Latin "ō"), "a_" for Greek long "α" (Latin "ā"), "a^" for Greek short "α" (Latin "ă"), etc.