REMARKS ON THE USE OF NAMES. 19 



OA and 00 and OU do not combine ; bo-ops has two, arcto-us or arcto-a three, 

 and o-olugrj four syllables, ou diphthong very early passed into long u. 



OE, when fully but rapidly said in combination, seems to yield the diphthong ce 

 preceded by a slight w sound ; the whole nearl}' as the English word way. If not 

 this, it is indistinguishable from Latin <b. We are incli.ied to say way-nunthe for 

 cenanthe ; if not this, then ay-nantlie., not ee-nantlie nor oi-nanthe. The combination 

 is sometimes interchangeable with «, as caelum or caelum. It is to be carefully dis- 

 tinguished from and e uncombined ; as in Arsinoe, CIdo'ephaga. 



01. These two letters may combine or not. Generally the}' do not, each being 

 a distinct s^ilable. Thus, Pic-o-i-des is a word of four syllables, the second and 

 third of which are o-ee. oi in combination is given by some as in English oi7, but is 

 perhaps more nearl}^ the Fi'ench oei in ceil. As ai passed into «, so oi early became 

 ce, and some direct the letter to be sounded as* oi. 



UA and UE, in combination, yield sounds like English wah and way ; as suavis., 

 suecica. 



UI, equivalent to oo-ah-ee, is like the French oui (yes), very nearly the English 

 pronoun we. The rare UU seems to be simply m at extreme length : equus. 



Y making a diphthong with a following vowel gives the sound of such vowel 

 preceded by w ; as, Myiarchus = Mweearchus. It only occurs in Greek words, by 

 transliteration for upsilon. 



In some cases three or four vowels come together ; but the pronunciation may 

 usuall}'^ be determined hj the foregoing rules. Thus : Agelceus, Pooecetes, Halice'etus. 

 In these cases respectively ae and oe are combined, and pronounced as above said ; 

 the other vowels are distinct. Hal-i-ce-'e-tus is a word of five S3ilables. My-i-o-di- 

 oc-tes is one of six syllables, though in practice reduced to five, by slurring the y and 

 i together. In trudeaui, again, are four vowels together ; but in this case eau com- 

 bine into long o, and the word has but three syllables. 



Consonants. 



Most of the consonants have their English powers, pure and simple. Some, 

 however, call for remark, especially in certain of their combinations. 



The letters c and g are now said to be " always hard," without qualification. It 

 is a much vexed question. As it is not demonstrated that the Romans had no sotl 

 c and g, we do not see that we may not be permitted to retain these sounds. 



C then is hard, hke k, before a consonant or a, o, u, soft before e, i, y, and before 

 the diphthongs «, ai., oe, oi. ch is alwaj's hard ; there is no sound of ch as in churchy 

 still less as in chaise., in Latin. 



G- is hard or soft under the same circumstances as e, with the important excep- 

 tion, that it is hard before y in words derived from the Greek, when the y 

 results from the Greek upsilon (u). Example: Gymnocitta, not Jymnocitta. 



J is simply ^■, interchangeable with it, and always pronounced like the y in yes, or 

 as in hallelujah. 



