60 THE entomologist's record. 



Caj^t. B. Blaydes Thompson then read the following paper on : — 



The PEOXUNCIATION and ACCENTUATION of 

 CLASSICAL NAMES. 



There is nothing in what follows which can in any way lay claim 

 to novelty. I have no new theory to propound, and the statements 

 which I am abont to make are neither new, nor do they in any way 

 rest npon my authority. I do not, however, intend yon to infer from 

 this that they will not be new to you ; on the contrary, I have no doiibt 

 that you will be as much surprised as I was, at some of the discoveries 

 which I have made during the prejiaration of this paper, especially as 

 regards the accentuation of both generic and trivial names. I apjoroach 

 the subject with considerable diffidence ; my object has been simply to 

 compile and summarise, to the best of my ability, some of the leading 

 points in this rather thorny subject, and to endeavour to make them 

 sufficiently explicit to interest you. 



About thirty-five years ago numerous complaints appeared in the 

 Entomologtsfs Wecl'li/ InteUigencer, from Lej^idopterists as well as 

 Coleopterists, of tlie difficulties with which they had to contend botli 

 in pronouncing and in accentuating the Latin names of insects, and, 

 notwithstanding the gigantic progTess which has been made in educa- 

 tion since ISoU, such difficulties are still felt by many. There are not 

 a few well-educated and intelligent men, whose classical education has 

 not been very extensive ; when such are tempted out of the beaten 

 track of commerce by the allurements of science, and find tliemselves 

 forced to cope with scientific nomenclature, the difficulties attending 

 the study of whatever brancli they may select are greatly increased. 



In consetpience of tlie numerous synonyms in use amongst Lepi- 

 doptensts, there is considerable confusion and uncertainty with regard 

 to the names of many species, and I venture to think that, by jn'o- 

 nouncing or accentuating the name of an insect in such a manner as to 

 make it sound like some other name, that confusion and uncertainty 

 are increased. 



As regards the term " pronunciation," it may be used as referring 

 either to the two methods which exist in this countiy, to accentuation, 

 or to quantity. Of the two methods of pronouncing Latin, one is 

 called the " English," the other the " Italian," or more generally the 

 " Continental." The difPerence between the two consists in the vowels 

 being sounded differently, and in the letters c and (j being invariably 

 hard in the Continental method, whereas in the English method 

 they are hard or soft, according to the vowel which follows them ; 

 hard before a, o and », soft before e, i, //, and the diptliongs ae and oe. 

 Into the question as to which of these methods is the better, I am not 

 going to enter, Init will simply say that each is riglit, viewed from its 

 own standpoint, and that each is looked uj)on with favour by its 

 patrons in the United Kingdom. At Oxford the English metliod is 

 adhered to, whilst at Cambridge tlie Continental is ado])ted to some 

 extent ; nor is there uniformity of practice among the large Public 

 Schools of the Metropolis, Clirist's Hospital adopting tlie Continental 

 metliod. Merchant Taylors' the English. Amongst Lepidojiterists in 

 (irreat Britain, the P]nglish method of sounding the vowels in pro- 

 nouncing Latin words is almost universal, and although certain Cam- 



