Archery Commands?

[PhilusEstilius]

Adrian. I do follow your point these are only suggestions but as I have said not to the absoloute letter with each and every word, indeed as Phillip has pointed out most soldiers are very much trained to respond to all situations. Infact I had to understand all of this myself for the 22 yrs I was at it, however I do admit that my first comment was only me being a bit frivolous (sorry mate as my military buddies would have said to me) and the old Latin phrase "Nil Bastum Carborundum"

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

I like learning thses commands, and would like to learn Latin fully one day (I'm going for Japanese first). I have a question though. Every instructional piece on Latin I've found online fails to describe how to pronounce words with "ii" in them. I've read that you say every letter written, but do you really say " ee ee" every time you see this? Holding a long "ee" sounds more sensible to me, but I speak english so I could be wrong.
Also, is "please" spelled siplacet? I've only heard it spoken.

I believe 'ii' is pronounced eee-aye, as in 'Old macdonald had a farm, ee-i ee-i o'

or the Julee-i.

Correct me if I'm wrong tho.

[Nihonius Legio]

Thats what I used to think, but my history teacher (who doesnt really know Latin) says "ee ee". She also does that with the Japanese word "torii" which is terribly wrong. Since some Latin books say "i" is only pronounced as "ee", I dont know what you do with "ii" for sure.

[M. Demetrius]

I've heard Rome Total War saying Brutee-eye, etc., and have heard other people say that, too. A High School Latin teacher said it should be pronounced Brutee-eh. (the second I like the e in desk). In her class, that's what I'd do. The English long I sound is made by the ae dipthong.

I dunno. My Latin is so rusty it's nearly non existant. I keep the Collins dictionary about two feet from the keyboard.

[Nihonius Legio]

Indeed Rome Total War does pronounce it that way ( I love that game), but I think there are a few things they pronounce wrong on there (cant remember exactly what right now, its been a while). I'd think if it was pronounced Brutee-eh, it would be spelled Brutie. But if a Latin teacher pronounced it that way its likely correct (I would hope). I'm thinking though that there is a difference between classical Latin and what the Church used (I believe that is called "vulgar" Latin) May have been a difference in accent/pronounciation at different times. Like here in the US, we used to have true English accents. Not any more obviously.

[M. Demetrius]

Yeah, 'cause down here in Texas, we don't have accents at all. It's those people who live outside the borders. :wink:

I really wonder how anyone can know what 1st Century Latin sounded like. It's not like they made recordings we could listen to, you know? The Church Latin (Latin Vulgate) was not the same as the Latin that Cicero used, and that was very likely different from the sound of 5th C BC Latin. Things change over time, you're right. Consider Mexican Spanish and Castillian, or Parisian French and Quebecois or Cajun French.

[Nihonius Legio]

Ya, I guess Southerners think we here in the North have a harsh sounding accent or something. Honestly cant stand Southern accents, no offense. I think one of the only ways you could get an idea of how latin sounded would be for a foreign writer (Greek or something) to have written something on the language of Rome and describe how they thought the language sounded. Otherwise, Latin writing has been preserved for us to at least know how they wrote.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

I would have thought if it was Brutee-eh, it would be spelled Bruteae or Brutiae?

But like yourself, I have only heard it pronounced through RTW and certain entertainment mediums....so I guess it could be something totally different :roll:

[Folkert van Wijk]

Where was it that I heard people trying to play ancient pottery like you play a old record...?
As if the fibrations in the air in the time the pottery whas made would have giffen a surten structure to the finnished product...
Then imagine a Roman optio chouting "Saggittarii Parate!" while a nearby Gaulish artisan was producing terra sigilata.... :roll: :roll: :lol:

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

How did we get on this subject again anyways.... :? lol: :roll:

[PhilusEstilius]

I never did learn any Latin at all and used to admire my late friend Douglas Arnold of the II AVG LEG for the way that he had such a command of the subject he could read write and speak it. However when my Italian friends from Rome heard him at one event they said "are yes but he is speaking English Latin" for there is a difference.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

I would tend to go with those sentiments..... :mrgreen:
I notice that some people seem to think that Romans spoke with english accents..... :wink: :lol:

[Titvs Statilivs Castvs]

It's "ee ee" you have to say. )

[Cave Equum]

Ya, I guess Southerners think we here in the North have a harsh sounding accent or something. Honestly cant stand Southern accents, no offense. I think one of the only ways you could get an idea of how latin sounded would be for a foreign writer (Greek or something) to have written something on the language of Rome and describe how they thought the language sounded. Otherwise, Latin writing has been preserved for us to at least know how they wrote.

Exactly. That's, for example, how we know the "c" was pronounced as a "k" and "ae" as "ai" (although in the countryside it was sometimes pronounced as "ay" as in the english word say, and written as "e". In later times this became standard practice). Caesar was transcribed into Greek as ??????. The writer obviously used Greek letters that matched the sounds he heared as close as possible.

[Salvianus]

It's "ee ee" you have to say. )

Wheelock agrees, thus 'swords': gladii = "glad-ee-ee". I believe that in some cases these plurals, genitives etc appear contracted to a single 'i', which might reflect the common speech which, judging by the common as muck (and mucky as muck) graffiti of Pompeii (which itself is a case in point), was less fussy.

It's possible the second 'i' became an 'eh' sound in Late Latin?

The 'eye' (/ai/) sound is correct for scientific Latin nomenclature, which uses a lot of similar constructions based on the 'discoverer', e.g. Magnolia wilsonii

cheers