[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sts, I do not
think Mr. Roxburgh in his article should have dismissed the Roman Catholic pronunciation of Latin as cursorily as he did. The Mass has been said in Latin since the days when Latin was a living language. In fact, it has never ceased to be a living language among the clergy.
The pronunciation is therefore traditional, and a Roman priest of the present day is much more likely than anyone else to pronounce as Taeitus did. It is true that the retter " c " is pronounced differently in Italy and in France. But no Roman priest would say Kickero. The Italian says Chichero (soft " eh ") and the Frenchman Sisero. These differences are due to the, same national influences that made English people pronounce poem, as payseni.
I remember hearing a country priest in France pronounce the Latin et as the French et. But, broadly speaking, I think the schoolmasters are wrong in disregarding the pronunciation of the Church when its tradition has never been broken.— Harlon, N.1.
Previous page
