Ebook The Restored Pronunciation of Greek and Latin

As early as 1871 attention was called in authoritative quarters to the unsatisfactory standards of Latin pronunciation in vogue in the United Kingdom, and a definite reform was advocated with the support of such eminent names as those of H. A. J. Munro and Edwin Palmer. This proposal was received with some favour by the English Universities and public schools, with the result that the reformed pronunciation was recognised as a permissible alternative. In practice, however, it was seldom adopted, and appeared only to increase the existing confusion. When the University of Wales was founded in 1893, almost simultaneously with the creation of a great number of schools which provided instruction in Greek and Latin, it felt itself called upon to deal with this question. Whatever excuses might be found in England for indecision in dealing with a long-standing tradition, it could not be expected that a new educational system should be burdened with hesitations on so practical a question: least of all in a country in which the reformed pronunciation of most of the symbols concerned was already familiar in the native language. Accordingly with the support of our colleagues we drew up and published this pamphlet in 1895, the circumstances leading us to make use almost exclusively of the English, French, and Welsh languages to illustrate the pronunciation proposed. The scheme was officially adopted «by the University, and has since been in regular use in the Principality: and this experience has shown that.