New Post
Search
Help[Facts] Re: Pronunciation: Astraea
in reply to a message by Miranda
Imo, ah-strah-eh-ah, for "a" never gives "ay" in Latin, and "e" can't be "ee". :)
1
Replies
Continental and English pronunciation of classical Latin are two very different things, as I discovered the hard way doing second-year Latin under a Belgian professor! Took weeks to realise that Chichero = Cicero, and that was just the beginning.
The way I understand it, the ae combination is a diphthong, like the one in high or eye. So you get three syllables, not four: as-try-a. But, that's modern English classical Latin!! Until the start of the 20th century it would probably have been pronounced as-tray-a or as-tree-a; I'm a bit rusty I'm afraid!
The way I understand it, the ae combination is a diphthong, like the one in high or eye. So you get three syllables, not four: as-try-a. But, that's modern English classical Latin!! Until the start of the 20th century it would probably have been pronounced as-tray-a or as-tree-a; I'm a bit rusty I'm afraid!
1