Does anyone know how to pronounce Latin?

[Lord Pendragon]

Okay, so I used an online English-to-Latin site to name my paladin's soon-to-be special mount. My only question is, how exactly is it supposed to be pronounced?

The name is: Dius.

Can anyone who's studied Latin clue me in on how that's said? I've been saying "DEE - us" but I'm unsure if that isn't how you pronounce Deus, as in Deus ex Machina.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Starman]

I'm no expert, but I believe DEE-us is correct. Deus should be pronounced DAY-us. I think.

Starman

 

[Morrus]

This is probably a silly question - but how would anyone know? All we have are written records; no recordings of genuine Roman citizens speaking their native language. I mean, it could be pronounced "cantaloupe" for all we know!

 

[Lord Pendragon]

This is probably a silly question - but how would anyone know? All we have are written records; no recordings of genuine Roman citizens speaking their native language. I mean, it could be pronounced "cantaloupe" for all we know!

I believe there is a field of study for this called linguistic anthropology, though I could have just made that phrase up just now, I'm not entirely certain. In any case, I'd imagine scholars would trace back the pronunciations through the various languages, looking at root words, how certain languages adopted different sounds, etc. etc. to backtrack back to those languages that immediately followed Latin and extrapolate from there.

Or so I'd imagine. I'm really hoping someone who's studied Latin can tell me. Even if it's to agree with you that there's no "official" pronunciation for a language that's a long time dead and buried.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

I'm no expert, but I believe DEE-us is correct. Deus should be pronounced DAY-us. I think.

This is good. I hope you are correct. In the event that nobody can clarify, I shall declare that for my purposes you are correct regardless. I certainly like DEE-us better than the other alternative that came to mind looking at the word: DIE-us.

 

[Zappo]

This is probably a silly question - but how would anyone know? All we have are written records; no recordings of genuine Roman citizens speaking their native language. I mean, it could be pronounced "cantaloupe" for all we know!

Latin is kinda of an undead language. It was and still is widely used by the catholic church, it is still taught to millions of people, and throughout the middle ages it was the language of choice for writers. The exact pronounce has changed somewhat in the last 2000 years, but not much and the most prominent changes are rather well-known.

 

[Geron Raveneye]

Well, if my latin hasn't deserted me yet, the "i" in Dius should be spoken like the "i" in the italian or spanish "si". The "e" in Deus would be spoken like the "e" in "get".

On the side, calling your mount Divine fits nicely.

 

[kikai]

In my latin-class (in germany),

Dius would be pronounced as DEE-us (the u pronounced as u, not as a, like in hump, and the "di" like in de-frost),

Deus is pronounced as de-us (de similar to de-dicate).

There is a long and continous tradition of spoken latin in the catholic church (the mass was celebrated in latin until Luther reformed this (and "founded" the evangelic-protestants/evangelic-lutherics) in germany, I don't know how long did the catholics continued with this tradition).

Greetings,

kikai!

edit: took to long to write this post

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Thanks guys! DEE-us it is then! Exactly what I hoped it would be.

On the side, calling your mount Divine fits nicely.

Thank you, I thought so too.

 

[Fester]

Latin is kinda of an undead language. It was and still is widely used by the catholic church, it is still taught to millions of people, and throughout the middle ages it was the language of choice for writers. The exact pronounce has changed somewhat in the last 2000 years, but not much and the most prominent changes are rather well-known.

Exactly. Latin has been the most influencial language in history and is still used today. In particular, it has been preserved, as mentioned, within the catholic church, who aren't really renown for their love of change. Over time, things have changed, but not significantly.