Roman Pronunciation of Latin | Page 9

English, except before q, where it has a nasal sound, and when final.
[Mar. Vict. Keil. v. VI. p. 32.] M impressis invicem labiis mugitum quendam intra oris specum attractis naribus dabit.
But this 'mooing' sound, in which so many of their words ended, was not altogether pleasing to the Roman ear. Quintilian exclaims against it:
[Quint, XII. x. 31.] Quid quod pleraque nos illa quasi mugiente littera cludimus m, qua nullum Graece verbum cadit.
The offensive sound was therefore gotten rid of, as far as possible, by obscuring the M at the end of a word. Priscian. speaks of three sounds of M,--at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of a word:
[Prisc. Keil. v. II. p. 29.] M obscurum in extremitate dictionum sonat, ut templum, apertum in principio, ut magnus; mediocre in mediis, ut umbra.
This 'obscuring' led in verse to the cutting off of the final syllable in M when the following word began with a vowel,--as Priscian remarks in the same connection:
Finales dictionis subtrahitur M in metro plerumque, si a vocali incipit sequens dictio, ut:
"Illum expirantem transfixo pectore flammas."
Yet, he adds, the ancients did not always withdraw the sound:
Vetustissimi tamen non semper eam subtrahebant, Ennius in X Annalium:
"Insigneita fere tum milia militum octo Duxit delectos bellum tolerare potentes."
The M was not, however, entirely ignored. Thus Quintilian says:
[Quint, IX. iv. 40.] Atqui eadem illa littera, quotiens ultima est et vocalem verbi sequentis ita contingit ut in eam transire possit, etiamsi scribitur tamen parum exprimitur, ut multum ille et _quantum erat_; adeo ut paene cujusdam novae litterae sonum reddat. Neque enim eximitur, sed obscuratur, et tantum aliqua inter duas vocales velut nota est, ne ipsae coeant.
It is a significant fact in this connection that M is the only one of the liquids (semivowels) that does not allow a long vowel before it. Priscian, mentioning several peculiarities of this semivowel, thus speaks of this one:
[Priscian. Keil. v. II. p. 23.] Nunquam tamen eadem M ante se natura longam (vocalem) patitur in eadem syllaba esse, ut illam, artem, puppim, illum, rem, spem, diem, cum aliae omnes semivocales hoc habent, ut Maecenas, Paean, sol, pax, par.
That the M was really sounded we may infer from Pompeius (on Donatus) where, treating of myotacism, he calls it the careless pronunciation of M between two vowels (at the end of one word and the beginning of another), the running of the words together in such a way that M seems to begin the second, rather than to end the first:
[Keil. v. V. p. 287.] Ut si dices hominem amicum, oratorem optimum. Non enim videris dicere hominem amicum, sed homine mamicum, quod est incongruum et inconsonans. Similiter oratorem optimum videris _oratore moptimum_.
He also warns against the vice of dropping the M altogether. One must neither say homine mamicum, nor homine amicum:
Plerumque enim aut suspensione pronuntiatur aut exclusione.... Nos quid sequi debemus? Quid? per suspensionem tantum modo. Qua ratione? Quia si dixeris per suspensionem homimem amicum, et haec vitium vitabis, myotacismum, et non cades in aliud vitium, id est in hiatum.
From such passages it would seem that the final syllable ending in M is to be lightly and rapidly pronounced, the M not to be run over upon the following word.
Some hint of the sound may perhaps be got from the Englishman's pronunciation of such words as Birmingham (Birminghm), Sydenham (Sydenhm), Blenheim (Blenhm).
N, except when followed by F or S, is pronounced as in English, only that it is more dental.
[Mar. Vict. Keil. v. VI. p. 32.] N vero, sub convexo palati lingua inhaerente, gemino naris et oris spiritu explicabitur.
Naturally, as with us, it is more emphatic at the beginning and end of words than in the middle (as, _Do not give the tendrils the wrong turn. Is not the sin condemned?_)
Priscian says:
[Keil. v. II. p. 29.] N quoque plenior in primis sonat, et in ultimis, partibus syllabarum, ut nomen, stamen; exilior in mediis, ut amnis, damnum.
As in English, before a guttural (C, G, Q, X), N is so affected as to leave its proper sound incomplete (the tongue not touching the roof of the mouth) while it draws the guttural, so to speak, into itself, as in the English words concord, anger, sinker, relinquish, anxious.
[Nigidius apud Gell. XIX. xiv. 7.] Inter litteram N et G est alia vis, ut in nomine anguis et angaria et anchorae et increpat et incurrit et ingenuus. In omnibus enim his non verum N sed adulterinum ponitur. Nam N non esse lingua indicio est. Nam si ea littera esset lingua palatum tangeret.
Not only the Greeks, but some of the early Romans, wrote G, instead of N, in this position, and gave to the letter so used a new name, agma. Priscian says:
[Keil. v. II. p. 29.] Sequente G vel C, pro ea (N) G scribunt Graeci et quidam tamen vetustissimi auctores Romani euphoniae