Re: Pronunciation

[Mike & Diane Wise <apistowise@fgn.net>]

Greg,

I just dug out my old Latin text scroll, er book.
In classical Latin most words that are masculine,
genitive (possessive), & singular end with a long
'i'. In English a long 'i' would sound like "eye",
but in classical Latin (and most other European
languages) it sounds like "ee" (as in peak). In
classical Latin feminine, genitive, singular words
end in "ae", pronounced like 'ai' (as in the word
"aisle"). In English "ae" normally is pronounced
like a long 'e' (as in "algae"). Therefore
'nijsseni' and 'elizabethae' would be pronounced
'NYE-zen-EE' and E-liz-AH-bayth-EE.

The 'ii' is not a Latin diphthong (double vowel).
It is actually the last letter of the noun and its
possessive suffix. In this case the first 'i' is
short and pronounced like 'i' in "sit" and the
last 'i' is pronounced long, 'ee' as in "seat".
Thus A. borellii (named for Dr. A. Borelli) should
be pronounce "BOR-el-i-EE". With regards to A.
agassizii, I have no idea why Steindachner used a
double 'i' ending. Perhaps he used it to emphasize
that Louis Agassiz's name is pronounce AG-ahz-SEE.
It might have been more accurate to spell it
"agassizi", but since he spelled it "agassizii"
that is what is used. Thus, while someone using
classical Latin pronunciation would say
"AG-ahz-SEAS-i-EE, it should be pronounced
"AG-ahz-SEA-ee" because the 'z' in "Agassiz" is
silent.

This is all confusing, so use what you feel most
comfortable with. I do. I usually use 'eye'
instead of 'ee'. Just try to pronounce the
syllables properly.

Mike (it's RES-tic-YOU-low-SAH not
REH-tic-YOU-low-SAH) Wise

Engagg@aol.com wrote:

> I thought that if the name had an i at the end
> it was pronounced eye unless the person the
> species was named after was a woman in which
> case it is pronounced ee. My question is what
> happens with ii? I have been told that it is
> pronounce ee-eye is this correct or hav I been
> misguided?
>
> Greg




-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the apistogramma mailing list, apisto@listbox.com.
For instructions on how to subscribe or unsubscribe or get help,
email apisto-request@listbox.com.