Any online dictionaries to check Latin Words' pronunciation?

Question

I know this is an English forum; and I'm reading English medical textbooks. But in those books I encounter a lot of Latin words (especially nouns for diseases and materia medica). I don't know how to pronounce them. So are there any online dictionaries available for us to check the pronunciation of Latin words?

Thank you very much for your help!

Feebs11 · Accepted Answer

A couple of sites on Latin pronunciation:

http://www.saltspring.com/capewest/****.htm
http://www.thebookmarkshop.com/latin/latinpronunciation.htm

Medline gives pronunciation guides to medical terms, which will include those that are Latin : http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/mplusdictionary.html

MrPedantic · Answer

I would add that the pronunciation of medical terms often differs from the traditional Latin pronunciation(s).

For instance, doctors seem mostly to pronounce the epithet in Clostridium difficile as "díff-i-séel", in a slightly French kind of way; whereas it has four syllables in classical Latin (either "diff-í-sill-e", "diff-í-kill-e", or "diff-ítch-ill-e", depending on your place of education).

MrP

Tanit · Answer

MrPedanticI would add that the pronunciation of medical terms often differs from the traditional Latin pronunciation(s).

For instance, doctors seem mostly to pronounce the epithet in Clostridium difficile as "díff-i-séel", in a slightly French kind of way; whereas it has four syllables in classical Latin (either "diff-í-sill-e", "diff-í-kill-e", or "diff-ítch-ill-e", depending on your place of education).

MrP

Thanks for this, MrP!
Cannot imagine "difficile" pronounced as "díff-i-séel" or "diff-í-sill-e"

At my high school I was taught that "diff-í-kill-e" was the correct pronounciation in Classical Latin, and "diff-ítch-ill-e" the correct one in Medieval Latin. As far as I know, Classical Latin is still taught in Germany, where there's a strong tradition of philological studies; in Italy, Medieval Latin is mostly used, maybe because it's more similar to Italian.

I'd be curious to learn something about the way Latin is being taught in the UK or in the US.
Thank you again.

Feebs11 · Answer

Tanit, here's a site for you to start with: http://www.arlt.co.uk/

Tanit · Answer

Thanks, Feebs

I downladed some mp3's from that website.
I must say that there are huge differences ... the way those poems are read is pretty far from the way we'd have read them in school.

Not sure I'd have recognised them if I hadn't know what they were reading.

Tanit · Answer

PS: Sorry, Maple, for hijacking your thread <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

Maple · Answer

Thank you very much, Feebs11 and MrPedantic!

[C]

(I posted this question elsewhere but no one has touched it there. English Forums are the best, always!)

Hi, Tanit, no need to say sorry. Your way of hijacking is legitimate!

MrPedantic · Answer

TanitCannot imagine "difficile" pronounced as "díff-i-séel" or "diff-í-sill-e"
At my high school I was taught that "diff-í-kill-e" was the correct pronounciation in Classical Latin, and "diff-ítch-ill-e" the correct one in Medieval Latin. As far as I know, Classical Latin is still taught in Germany, where there's a strong tradition of philological studies; in Italy, Medieval Latin is mostly used, maybe because it's more similar to Italian.

I'd be curious to learn something about the way Latin is being taught in the UK or in the US.
Thank you again.

As far as I know, the "hard" pronunciation is still preferred, in UK schools; which makes more sense in the context of Roman orthography, transliterations from the Greek, contemporary grammatical texts, etc. But as you say, church Latin seems to favour the "diff-ítch-ill-e" style.

Perhaps oddest of all are the pronunciations of gardeners and biologists.

MrP

Tanit · Answer

MrP,

Thanks for answering my question

I've noticed some features of what you call "hard pronounciation" ("k" vs "tch") in the mp3's I downloaded from the website posted by Feebs.
I also noticed differences regarding "u" and "v"...
They really make words seem different from the ones I'm used to

MrPedantic · Answer

Yes; initial v is always w, for me.

I find the "softer" pronunciation a little disconcerting. It makes the writings of Roman authors sound strangely genial and family-friendly.

MrP

Any online dictionaries to check Latin Words' pronunciation?

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