RULES

FOR

PRONOUNCING

GREEK AND LATIN PROPER NAMES.

THE words in the following Vocabulary are, for the most part, accented and divided into syllables in the same manner as in Walker's "Key to the Classical Pronunciation of Greek, Latin, and Scripture Proper Names;" and the marks which are used in this Dictionary are added to the letters, in order further to assist the pronunciation.

Upwards of one hundred of the words in this Vocabulary are not found in Walker's Key. The pronunciation of most of these is given according to Scheller, in his Latin and German Lexicon.

A few of the words found in Walker have been corrected. The words Nasi'ca and Ne'mea he erroneously pronounces Nas'ica and Neme'a. The words Alexandria and Heliogabalus are commonly found, in his Initial Vocabulary, with the accent on the penult; but in the Terminational Vocabulary, with the accent on the antepenult; and the latter is evidently the mode which he approves. A number of words, with respect to the pronunciation of which orthoepists differ, are inserted in two forms, though they stand in Walker in only one; as, Clepsydra, Eboracum, Pharnacea, Pharnaces, &c.

There is a class of words ending in ia, such as Alexandria, Echedamia, Samaria, Seleucia, Laodamia, Antiochia, Amphigenia, Iphigenia, Iphidemia, Laomedia, Lasthenia, Protomedia, Protogenia, Deidamia, &c., which classical propriety requires to be pronounced with the accent on the penultimate syllable, though the English analogy strongly favors the antepenultimate accent. To the first five of the words above enumerated, Walker gives the antepenultimate accent; to some he allows both forms; and to others, which are little anglicized by use, he gives only the classical pronunciation.

The pronunciation of most of the words in the Vocabulary will be readily

Dictionary; but, with regard to a few classes of words, the following rules, which have been taken substantially from Walker, are to be observed :

1. The consonants c, s, t, and x, before ia, ie, ii, io, iu, eu, and yo, preceded by the accent, in Latin and Greek words, as in English, commonly take the sound of sh, and sometimes zh, as in the following words: Pör'ti-a (pör'she-a), Hel-vē'ti-t (hel-ve/she-i), Ca-du'ce-us (ka-du'she-us), Ac'ci-us (ǎk'she-ŭs), Phō'ci-on (fō'she-õn), Sì''cy-on (sĩsh'e-òn), A-lěx'i-a (a-lěk'she-a), Mœ'şi-a (mē’zhe-a).

2. In the following proper names, t preserves its true sound; namely, Enantion, Etion, Amphyction, Dotion, Eurytion, Gration, Hippocration, Hippotion, Iphition, Metion, Ornytion, Pallantion, Polytion, Botion, and Stration; but Hephaestion and Theodotion are anglicized, the last syllables being pronounced like the last syllables in question and commotion. In the words Esion, Dionysion, and Iasion, the s takes the sound of z, but not of zh.

3. In words ending in eia, eii, eius, and eium, with the accent on the e, the i following the accent is to be understood as articulating the following vowel, like y consonant; as, Elege'ia (el-e-jē'ya), Pompeius (pom-pe'yus). The same rule also applies to words ending in ia, preceded by a vowel having the accent upon it, as Acha'ia (a-kā'ya); and likewise to words having the accent on a vowel, followed by ia, though they may not end the word, as Ple'iades (plē'ya-dēz).— There is an inconsistency in Walker with regard to the class of words ending in eia, eii, eius, and eium. With respect to some of them, he places the accent on the e, as in Apule'ius; while others have it placed on the i, as Pompei'us; and, in some cases, he accents the same word differently in his Initial and Terminational Vocabularies; but in his remarks he advocates the placing of the accent on the e, including the whole list" under the same general rule, that of sounding the e separately, and the i like y consonant.” In this Vocabulary, all this class of words have the accent placed upon the e.

4. The diphthongs and œ, ending a syllable with the accent on it, are pronounced like e, as Cæsar (se'zar); but when followed by a consonant in the same syllable, like ě, as Dæd'alus (děd'a-lŭs).

5. In Greek and Latin words which begin with uncombinable consonants, the first letters are silent; thus c in Creus and Ctesiphon, m in Mneus, pin Psyche and Ptolemy, ph in Phthia, and t in Tmolus, are not sounded.

6. Greek and Latin words of two syllables, whatever may be their quantity in the original, have, in English pronunciation, the accent on the first syllable; and if a single consonant come between the two vowels, the consonant goes to the last syllable, and the vowel in the first syllable is long; as, Calto, Colmus.

GREEK AND LATIN PROPER NAMES.

**The figures annexed to the words refer to The words in Italics are the preceding words the Rules for Pronunciation. Thus 1, annexed anglicized. Thus the Latin word Adrianus is to Abantias, refers to rule 1, which shows that changed in English into Adrian. the word is pronounced a-ban she-ǎs.

a, e, i, o, u, y, long; ǎ, ě, I, ŏ, ŭ, ÿ, short; a, e, i, o, u, y, obscure.-fare, fär, fast, fall; hêir, her;