EEMAEKS ON THE USE OF NAMES. 19 



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

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



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

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

 this, it is indistinguishable from Latin <z. We are inclined to say way-nanthe for 

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

 is sometimes interchangeable with ce, as cesium or calum. It is to be carefully dis- 

 tinguished from o and e uncombined ; as in Arsinoe, Chloephaga. 



OI. These two letters may combine or not. Generally they do not, each being 

 a distinct syllable. 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 oil, but is 

 perhaps more nearly the French oei in ceil. As ai passed into ce, so oi early became 

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



U A and UE, in combination, yield sounds like English wok 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 u 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 

 usually be determined by the foregoing rules. Thus : Agelceus, Pooecetes, Haliceetus. 

 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 syllables. 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 soft 

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



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

 the diphthongs ce, at, oe, oi. ch is always hard ; there is no sound of ch as in church, 

 still less as in chaise, in Latin. 



G- is hard or soft under the same circumstances as c, 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 (v) . Example : Gymnocitta, not Jymnocitta. 



J is simply t, interchangeable with it, and always pronounced like the y \uyes, or 

 as in hallelujah. 



