Now that you have the basics of Church Latin, we will try some simple prayers. They
will be marked phonetically, so it will be easy to practice correct
pronunciation.
Following
the prayers is a review some rules from the first few lessons. If you need a
refresher, you can do the review first, and then come back to the prayers.
Here is
the Hail Mary in Latin, with phonetics following each line:
Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with
thee
Ave
Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum.
AH-vay Mah-REE-AH, GRAHT-see-ah PLAY-nah,
DOH-mee-noos TAY-koom.
Blessed are thou among women,
Benedicta
tu in mulieribus,
bay-nay-DEEK-tah
TOO een moo-lee-AY- ree- boos
And blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.
Et
benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus.
Ayt bay-nay-DEEK-toos FROOK-toos
VAYN-trees TOO-ee YAY-soos
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
Sancta
Maria, Mater Dei,
SAHNK
–tah Mah-REE-ah, MAH-tayr DAY-ee,
pray for us, sinners,
Ora pro
nobis peccatoribus
OH-rah
proh NOH-bees payk-ah-TOH-ree-boos,
now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
nunc et
in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.
noonk
ay teen HOH-rah MOHR-tee NOHS-tray. AH mayn.
A final note: In the phonetic version of
the book I borrowed from, the long character of each vowel is stressed. But in
practice in some words the vowels would be shortened more. For example, in the
Latin word, “in,” the “I” takes on more the sound of a short “I” in English
than of the phonetic “ee.” In “Amen,” the pronunciation would be more like
“AH-men,” than the author’s “AH-mayn.”
Next: The Pater Noster (Our Father) and the
Gloria of the Mass.
Review:
Although
vowels have long and short pronunciations, much of the time, particularly when
Latin is sung, the long pronunciation is used. So think of the “a” in Latin as “ah;” “e” as
“ay;” “I” as “ee, “u” as “oo,” and “o” as “oh.”
We have seen that “y” used as a vowel is treated like a long “i.”
The
consonants that differ from English are:
“c” –before i or e, sounds like “ch,” before
other vowels like “k.” “Ch” in Latin is
always pronounced like a “k” in English.
“g” –
before I or e, sounds like soft “g” or “j”; before other letters it is hard,
like the “g” in “go.
“gn” -
in any Latin word sounds like “ny” as in “canyon.”
“h” –
contrary to most Latin grammars, this letter in Italianate Latin is always
silent.
“I” - (sometimes written as “j”) when used as a
consonant sounds like the English “y.”
“s” - like the “s” in “sing,” never like the “s”
in “raise.”
“sc” –
before a, o, u or a consonant, sounds like “sk.” Used before I or e, it sounds
like “sh.”
“th” –
always like a hard “t,” as in “ten.”
“ti” –
when followed by a vowel or preceded by any other letter, except s, t or x,
sounds like “tsee.”
“x” –
in words beginning with “ex” that are followed by a vowel,or the consonants “h”
or “s,” like “gs.”
“x” –
in all other cases, like “ks.”
“z” –
this letter was not mentioned previously and is rare in Latin, but does occur.
It is pronounced as if it were written “dz” as in the word “obryzum.” (OH-BREEDZ-OOM.”)
