74 



Transactions. 



of Latin words in i into oi ; and I would premise on tMs point that any one 

 who has heard and watched the provincial pronunciation of oi in Trench, 

 would detect a clear sound like our i in those words that have re follow- 

 ing oi. 



Latin. 



FEEifCH. 



Latin. 



Feench. 



Liger 



Loire 



Mihi ... 



Moi 



Niger 



JNToir 



Pj^rum 



Poire 



Sinus 



Soin 



Erigidus 



Proid 



Bibere 



Boire 



Digitus 



Doigt 



Yidere 



Voir 



Minus 



Moins 



Valcknaer says of various readings of MSS., " Maximam partem nihil esse 

 quam pronuntiationem librariorum diversam, da et e — oi et i promiscue 

 prommtiantium.'' ' 



(4.) I have no need to make any remarks on the voAvel sound of a in 

 " noty 



Latin. 

 Bona 



Feench. 

 Bonne 



Latin. 

 CoUum 



French. 

 Col 



The difference between English and foreign pronunciation is slight. 



(5.) Our sound of « is peculiar, as in the words "to?ie," "pimy,"'' &c., 

 and is much nearer to the Erench than to the other continental languages, 

 which sound it as ^^ oo " in "fool.'" 



Latin. 



Feench. 



Latin. 



French. 



Luna 



Lune 



Una 



Une 



Tu 



Tu 



Mula 



Mule 



Utor 



L^ser 



ISTatura 



Nature 



I may, in passing, just illustrate this Erench pronunciation of Latin 

 vowels from other Celtic races, and then explain how it seems to me that 

 the Erench have now lost their Celtic pronunciation of vowel sounds while 

 we have preserved it. 



I Avould observe, then, that a Gaelic Highlander pronounces our a (in 

 the word " table ") soft, even in words where we use the broad a; e.y., he 

 says "fayther" for "father," "rayther" for "rather;" also, "biled" for 

 "boiled," "pison" for "poison." A Devonshire man and an Irishman will 

 say " tin " for " two " or " too ;" and a Highlander will say " gude " for 

 "good," "bluid" for "blood." I just throw out these hints for others to 

 f oUoAV up who are more competent than I am to do so ; and I proceed now 

 to ansvf er the question, " How comes it that the Erench have lost their pro- 

 nunciation of Latin vowels, Avhich was once like ours, and why did they 

 write it after the continental pronunciation of vowel sounds, and not after 

 their own ?" My answer to those questions is, that the Celts or Gaels of 

 Southern Erance were the people who pronounced the vowels as we do, as 

 may be seen, for instance, in their corruption of the town Dea (Augusta) in 

 Dauphiny, into Die, These were overrun and subjugated by the Kymry ; 



