A largely-attended and influential conference was held in the hall of Exeter College, Oxford, in November [1905], to discuss a question which is certainly of special interest to Catholic scholars ; namely, whether any reform, and if so what, should be introduced into the pronunciation of Latin as at present in vogue at Oxford and Cambridge, and the great majority of schools and colleges throughout the country.
Mr. Farnell of Exeter, who was in the chair, dwelt in his opening speech chiefly on the practical need for English Latinists coming more into line in this respect with Continental scholars, who were at present debarred from anything like easy oral com-munication with Englishmen in the Latin language. He pointed out that the first thing was, of course, to ascertain if the general sense of the meeting was in favour of any change ; and if so, they could then vote on the question of the scheme of reformed pronunciation, as drawn up in detail by a joint committee of the Oxford and Cambridge Philological Societies.
The meeting, as it turned out, was almost unanimously in favour of a change of some kind ; and Professor Postgate of Cambridge then gave a resumé of the suggested changes, which were certainly fairly comprehensive. The English pronunciation of the vowels was entirely discarded, and each vowel was to be pronounced according to its proper quantity, in a way very similar to that in use on the Continent. As to the consonants, c and g were to be always hard, v always pronounced as w, and j (initial) like y ; and the r (as in mortem, etc.) always sounded or trilled. The diphthong oe was to be as oi in boil, au as in flauto (Italian) and ae as in the Greek ai (nearly). Double consonants were to be pronounced separately, as in the modern Italian use.
Professor Robinson Ellis, and others who spoke subsequently, laid much stress on the archaic, academic, and historical correctness of the proposed changes, which they thought would bring the pronunciation of the language as near as possible to that in use in the Augustan age.
Fr. Oswald Hunter Blair, without disputing this rather bold assumption, brought the discussion back to a practical point, by suggesting that to adopt the proposed pronunciation of the c and v, at any rate, would rather hinder than advance the desired facility of intercourse with Continental scholars ; as in not a single European country would the word vici, for instance, be intelligible if pronounced as weeky. He suggested that the meeting might vote on the suggested vowel changes, leaving the question of the consonants at present an open thesis.
Mr. Godley of Magdalen (the Acting Public Orator) and others strongly supported this view; but it was resisted by the philological experts, who wished the whole scheme adopted or rejected en bloc.
It was finally accepted by a majority of those present ; and it was agreed to acquaint every classical teacher in Oxford and Cambridge with the result of the voting, and to endeavour to elicit a further expression of opinion, as far as possible unanimous, in favour of the proposed changes.
If the older Universities agree to adopt them in lectures, private tuition, and public and official orations, one can hardly see how the other colleges and schools can avoid following suit ; but of course it remains to be seen how far the interesting result of the Exeter conference will be accepted by Latin teachers and scholars throughout England.
[Unsigned report: the previous article, 'The Pronunciation of Greek',
is by Fr Benedict McLaughlin OSB: however
but Fr Oswald Hunter-BlairB was plainly present.]