Page:The New Latin Primer (Postgate).djvu/129

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Spelling of Latin.
115

Exercises in Quantity.

Pronounce in the same time as farce: fās, mās, cōs, iūs, sāl, sōl, īs you go, sīc, sīn.

Pronounce in the same time as penknife: pennīs, vittās, illōs, pestēs, istīc.

Pronounce in the same time as quinine: măalōs, mănūs, pĕdēs, trăhō, rŭēns, hŏnōs, dĕōs.

Pronounce in the same time as big black dog: fēlīcēs, fāmōsōs, āctūrīs, turbārī, turbāssent.

§ 257. Roman Names for the Letters.—These were A ah, B beh, C keh, D deh, E eh, F ef, G geh, H hah, I (J) ee, K kah, L el, M em, N en, O oh, P peh, Q coo, R er, S ess, T teh, U (V) 00, X ix, Y Ypsilon, Z Zeta.

§ 258. Latin Spelling.—As explained above, Latin words are generally spelled as they are pronounced; but a few words, especially Compounds and Derivatives, retain the spelling which shows their derivation most clearly; e.g., absum, pbtulī, pronounced as if apsum, optulī. Sometimes the spelling varies as in adspiciō, exspectō, pronounced and often spelled aspiciō, expectō; quamquam, pronounced and sometimes written quanquam, etc.

Sometimes, again, one or more separate words are pronounced as if they were one word. In this case they are sometimes written as one word and sometimes as separate words. Thus; quamobrem or quam ob rem, sīquis or sī quis, vērum tămen or vēruntămen.

In other cases, where variation of spelling occurs, one spelling has generally more authority than another. The following list gives the spelling of the best Latin authors in the most important words, exclusive of those compounded with Prepositions, for which see § 296.

§ 259. LIST OF CORRECT SPELLINGS.

It will be seen that most of the spellings in the following list relate to certain points ; e.g., (1) writing ae for oe or e as caelum, not coelum, or vice versa; (2) writing a letter twice instead of once as damma deer, not dāma, or vice versa; (3) insertion or omission of h as raeds, not rheda; hŏlus, not ŏlus; (4) ci for ti or vice versa.

Italics show correct, and square brackets [ ] incorrect spellings.