Continental/Ecclesiastical Pronunciation of Latin

Over the centuries, the Latin language underwent substantial changes in form as well as sound. Various “dialects” of Latin were spoken in different areas of the vast Roman Empire, until these dialects were finally so different from the original Latin root and each other that they were new languages, e.g., Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, or Romanian.

The Latin spoken and sung by the church was not a uniform system either: pronunciation and spelling developed differently at different times in different places. The ecclesiastical pronunciation that we have adopted in this program is just one of many variants. Whereas the Restored Classical Pronunciation reflects the pronunciation of Classical Latin, ecclesiastical pronunciations are more appropriately used with medieval and Neo-Latin texts and Latin music.

To provide you some guidance in pronunciation, we have adapted the chapter The Reading and Pronunciation of Liturgical Latin from the Liber Usualis. Since it is difficult to give the exact English equivalent to a particular Latin sound, the examples chosen should be considered as approximations. Please note that the guide represents the official rules for proper interpretation of liturgical Latin given by the Vatican; the pronunciation in our course might not always be exactly identical to it.

Vowels
a - pronounced like in father
e - pronounced like in men or met
i - pronounced like ee in feet
o - pronounced like in for
u - pronounced like oo in moon
y - pronounced like ee in feet

Vowel combinations are either pronounced as one sound or two sounds:
ai - pronounced as two separate vowels
ae - pronounced as one sound like a in the English ray
au - form one syllable with both vowels distinctly heard
ay - form one syllable with both vowels distinctly heard
eu - form one syllable with both vowels distinctly heard
oe - pronounced as one sound similar to the Latin e
ou - pronounced as two separate vowels

Consonants
c before e, ae, oe, i, and y - pronounced like ch in church
cc before e, ae, oe, i, and y - pronounced like tch in Tchaikowski
ch - pronounced like the English k
sc before e, ae, oe, i, and y - pronounced like sh in shed
c in all other cases - pronounced like the English k
g before e, ae, oe, i, and y - pronounced like in generous
gn - pronounced like in the French agneau, Italian Signor, or English union, canyon.
g in all other cases - always pronounced like the English g in government.
m at end of word - pronounced like m in English, not nasalized
ti before a vowel and following any letter except s, x, or t - pronounced like tsee as in tzetze fly
x - pronounced like ks as in exile
xc before e, ae, oe, i, and y - pronounced like ksh as in excelsis = ek-shel-sees
xc before other vowels - pronounced like in the English excursus