Distractions

Currently in Earphones: Concerto No. 2 in G minor, RV 315 "Summer" by Antonio Vivaldi.

I really should be studying for my upcoming Classics Midterm, which I am, but blogging counts as a distraction.

My thought for the day is a discrepancy between English and Latin (so we think) pronunciation concerning the offices of the Cursus Honorum (CURSE-us [h]on-OR-um) or "Course of Honors."

Doubtless you've all heard of the titles of Consul, or Praetor, or Aedile, etc. These are all positions in the course, but some of them have weird English pronunciations. I suppose they stem from anglicized ideas of pronunciation, but I think they sound silly.

To begin, Consul sounds the same in both pronunciations (KON-sul or KON-sool). The next step down from that is the Praetor (English: Pree-tur, Classical PRAI-tor, and by the way the "ae" in classical always sounds like a long English "i," which I will represent by the closer English dipthong "ai" [pronounced like "eye"]). Now tell me that first pronunciation doesn't sound goofy! The small vowel sounds in the English fashion feel so diminutive, while the large vowels of the "ai" and "or" give it a more majestic representation.

The same goes for Quaestor (English QWEE-ster vs Classical QWAI-stor). The English sounds too much like the idiomatic term Keyster for my tastes.

The one I don't have too much beef with is the Aedile (English EE-dial vs. Classical ai-DEE-lay). Though the diminutive "ee" is still there, three vowels are a mouthful for an English speaker, and there's no similar sounding English word to mix it up with.

Back to Studying!

Enough. More Later,
- James