Latin Pronunciation

[Frederick W. Schueler]

JOSEPH E. LAFERRIERE wrote:
>
> I disagree with our statement anyway. Yes, non-Americans
> know much more about Latin than Americans do. However,
> I have never heard any botanist from any country pronounce
> Latin correctly, the way it would have been pronounced
> by Plinius Secundus. The gentleman assassinated in
> 44 BC pronounced his name "yoo-lee-oos kigh-sar" and
> was quoted as saying "weh-nee wee-dee wee-kee."
> European botanists pronounce Latin according to medieval
> rules, or else according to the ecclesiastical pronunciation
> of the Catholic Church (which is basically Latin with
> an Italian accent).

* Hey! is R.T. Clausen so soon forgotten? I can well remember my chagrin
in systematic botany at Cornell at having thought Yew-niper-us
wir-gini=anus a novelty when he was just discoursing on Juniperus
virginianus.

fred schueler.
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