Newbie pronunciation question

[Nathan Ross]

I'm not even going to open the can of worms that is the other words...I'd personally just ignore any pedant telling you off.

I think most people, excepting very scrupulous classicists, would have to draw the line somewhere in the pursuit of 'accurate' pronunciation. Not many English speakers seem comfortable with Yulius Kaiser and his 'Weni Widi Wiki' :wink:

Besides, 'correct' latin doesn't necessarily reflect the way that the ancients themselves might have pronounced the language. I was amused to read (in Potter's The Roman Empire at Bay) that Septimius Severus, who retained a strong Punic accent throughout his life, may have referred to himself as Sheptimiush Sheverush (which makes him sound a bit like Sean Connery...) Georgacus, in his essay The Names of Constantinople, suggests (based on papyrii and inscriptions) that both Latin and Greek speakers may have called their emperor Costantinus... :|