3 SEPTEMBER 1927, Page 18

THE PRONUNCIATION OF LATIN [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

SIR,—The inscription quoted by your correspondent last week is certainly of interest ; but it will not support those who hold that the Latin C was pronounced in any of the ways in which we pronounce S. The form L!JSIUS was never a variant of the familiar praenomen LUCIUS, but is itself a genuine and blameless Latin name, by- no means unknown in the annals Of Imperial Rome. Those who read Tacitus will recall Lusius Geta ; and Lusius Quietus is mentioned by Cassius Dio.

However that maybe, the Greek transliteration of such names should place the matter beyond doubt—or shall we be told that the Greek kappa too was pronounced as S ?—I am, Sir, ar-e., RONALD SYME