Where do the letters of the Latin alphabet meet? Latin alphabet and pronunciation. The Latin alphabet in the history of mankind

The Latin alphabet consists of 24 letters. The pronunciation of Latin words over the centuries has undergone a number of changes, partly associated with the phonetic processes taking place in the new Western European languages. In addition, we do not know the true pronunciation of the Romans, and different peoples pronounce Latin words in different ways. Currently, there is a tendency to unify the Latin pronunciation on the basis of scientific research, bringing it as close as possible to the pronunciation of the ancient Romans. Below is the traditional reading of Latin letters, adopted in Russian educational practice.

Latin alphabet

Inscription

Name

Pronunciation

Aspiration 1

AND 2

K 3

L 4

Inscription

Name

Pronunciation

1. Letter h conveys aspiration; the currently accepted pronunciation matches the pronunciation English or German h: horse, Herz.
2. Letter i pronounced in Latin in two ways: a) as a vowel sound [and], for example: imperator [imperator] Lord; b) as a consonant [th] before vowels: iuventus [juventus] youth.
3. Letter k occurs in only a few words: Kalendae [kalenda] calendars(the first day of each month); Kaeso [keso] proper name; Karthago [kartágo] Carthage... These words are also spelled: Calendae, Caeso, Carthago.
4. Letter l it is customary to pronounce it softly (as in German or French).

Vowels

In addition to the vowels a, e, i, o, u, y, in Latin there is also diphthongs(two-vowel), i.e. combinations of two different vowels, which are pronounced as one syllable:

corresponds to the Russian monosyllabic [ay] with stress on the first vowel (compare: "pau-za"): aurum [aurum] gold;

corresponds to the Russian monosyllabic [e'u]: Europa [europa] Europe;

pronounced like Russian NS: Aegyptus [aegiptus] Egypt;

Consonants

Letter c reads in two ways: a) before e, i, y, ae, oe- like Russian c; b) in other cases, i.e. before a, o, u, before all consonants and at the end of the word - like Russian To.

In borrowed words, most often of Greek origin, there are combinations of consonants with an aspirated h:

ch- reads like Russian NS: schola [schola] school, Gracchus [grachus) Gracchus(proper name);

ph- reads like f: philosophus [phylosophus] philosopher;

rh- reads like R: rhetorica [rétorica] rhetoric;

th- reads like T: Theodorus [theodorus] Theodore(proper name).

Combination ti before vowels reads qi: ratio (ration) intelligence, initium [initium] Start; however in combinations sti, xti, tti- we read ti: bestia [bestia] beast.

Letter q occurs only in combination with u before vowels; this combination reads like Russian sq.: quadratus [square] quadrangular, quintus [quintus] fifth.

Combination ngu pronounced before vowels ngv: lingua [lingua] language.

Letter s between vowels is pronounced as s, and in other positions as c: causa [causa] cause but servus [sarvus] slave, statua [statua] the statue.

Pronunciation rules are illustrated by the examples below. The stress is indicated by the ́ sign:

Notes:

1. In some words, adjacent vowels a + e, o + e do not form a diphthong, but are pronounced as two independent syllables; in such cases to make it easier to read over the vowel e a separation sign (two dots) or a sign of quantity (longitude or shortness; see below) is put: poёta or poēta [in-é-ta] poet, poёma or poēma [in-e'-ma] poem, aёr or aēr [á-er] air, coёmo or coĕmo [có-e-mo] i buy.
2. Reading a Latin letter c as russian c is traditional, adopted in many countries, including ours. The Romans pronounced c in all positions as To: Cicero [kikero], Cyprus [kyprus], Eurydice [euridike]. This is evidenced by the Greek transcription of Latin words, as well as words of Latin origin in new languages, for example, German Kaiser from lat. Caesar (pronounced kaisar), German Keller from lat. cella. Similarly, combinations like -tia, -tio pronounced like -tia, -tio: ratio [ratio]; reading -cya, -zio is traditional. Nowadays, the native pronunciation is increasingly used, especially at international congresses, where scholars deliver messages in Latin. Therefore, it is possible, without adhering to tradition, in all cases to pronounce c how To, a -tia, -tio how -tia, -tio.
3. Adjectives derived from proper names are written with a capital letter, for example: lingua Latina, theatrum Graecum, philosophus Romanus, natio Polona, ​​Universitas Varsoviensis.

The exercise

Rewrite the words in the table and determine their meaning; find also, if possible, words in Russian that originated from these Latin ones.

Sample: theatrum - theater, theater, theater expert

Stress rules

Festina lente.
Hurry slowly.

To correctly read the Latin word, and then the text, you need to know the rules of stress. A characteristic feature of the ancient Greek and Latin languages ​​is the presence of long and short vowels, and the stress depends on their position in the word. Since the longitude and brevity of vowels do not differ in Russian, the stress setting in a Latin word sometimes causes difficulties.

In Latin, they differ:

brief vowels (short sign ̆): ă, ĕ, ĭ, ŏ, ŭ, y̆;
long vowels (longitude sign ̄): ā, ē, ī, ō, ū, ȳ;
diphthongs: au, eu, ae, oe.

An open syllable containing a long vowel is long; a syllable containing a short vowel - short... A diphthong always forms a long syllable. For example, the word Eu-rō-pă consists of two long syllables Eu-rō- and one short -pă.

In addition, the amount of a syllable (i.e., its relative duration - longitude or brevity) depends on its position in the word:

a) closed syllable (i.e., ending with a consonant) long;
b) open a syllable (i.e. ending with a vowel or diphthong) before another vowel - brief.

For example, in the word sĭl-vă Forest the first syllable is long, despite the brevity of its vowel ĭ, because it is a closed syllable; in the word vĭ-ă road the syllable vĭ is short, since it is an open syllable and comes before a vowel.

Place of stress in a word depends on the amount of the second syllable from the end of the word (that is, on whether it is long or short):

1. The stress is not placed on the last syllable. Therefore, in two-syllable words, the stress always falls on the first syllable: dóc-tor, víl-la.
2. The stress is placed on the second syllable from the end of the word, if it is long: me-di-cī́-na, Eu-rṓ-ra, lo-án-nes.
3. If the second syllable from the end is short, the stress is shifted to the third syllable from the end: Rhó-dă-nus, Vís-tŭ-la, mé-dĭ-cus, tá-bŭ-la, dó-mĭ-nus, vic-tó-ri -a.

The exercise

Read the words below using reading and stress rules:

Récĭta! - Read aloud!

Rector, decānus, professor, magister, Polonia, Cracovia, Vistŭla, Berolīnum, Hungaria, Francogallia, Leninopŏlis, Rhodănus, Rhenus, Danuvius, actor, scaena, circus, schola, Universĭtas, agricultūra, aquatio, medĭcusa, medica, fortūra, navigatio, medĭcusa, medica res publĭca, res publĭca Polōna, pro publĭco bono, lingua Graeca, veto, meditatio, recitatio, declamatio, iustitia, consul, quaestor, victoria, doctor honōris causa.

Understanding parts of speech

Notes on parts of speech represent only the general basics of the material that will be sequentially understood in each next lesson. Therefore, you do not need to immediately memorize the grammatical terms given here: they will be repeated, and in conjunction with texts and explanations, they will become clearer and easier to learn.

1. Variable parts of speech

Noun, adjective, pronoun, numeral; verb

Latin belongs to the type of inflectional languages. This means that the words of the Latin language are composed of stems and endings. Changing nouns, adjectives, pronouns, numerals for cases, numbers and gender is called declination; change of verbs (by persons, numbers, tenses, moods and voice) - conjugation... The Latin language distinguishes between five declensions and four conjugations.

Noun - nomen substantīvum, adjective - nomen adiectīvum, pronoun - pronōmen, numeral - nomen numerāle... These parts of speech have:

a) three kinds - genĕra:

masculine gender - genus masculīnum (m)
feminine - genus feminīnum (f)
neuter genus neutrum (n)

b) two numbers - numĕri:

singular - numĕrus singulāris (sing.)
plural - numĕrus plurālis (plur.)

c) six cases - casus:

Nominative who? what?- casus nominatīvus(Nom.)
Genitive whom? what? whose? whose? whose?- casus genetīvus(Gen.)
Dative to whom? what?- casus datīvus(Dat.)
Accusative whom? what?- casus accusatīvus(Acc.)
Instrumental by whom? how?- casus ablatīvus(Abl.)
Vocal (appeal) - casus vocatīvus(Voc.)

Note: It should be noted that in Latin there is no case corresponding to the Russian prepositional. Its functions are performed by ablativus with various prepositions.

Adjectives also form three degrees of comparison - gradus:

positive degree - gradus positīvus
comparative degree - gradus comparatīvus
superlative degree - gradus superlatīvus

Note: Determining the gender, number, case, degree, we skip the general term: genus, numĕrus, casus, gradus, - and use only the definition, for example: schola - nominatīvus singulāris; Athēnae - nominatīvus plurālis, etc.

Verb - verbum- has the following grammatical categories:

a) three persons - persōnae

b) two numbers - numĕri:

the only thing - numĕrus singulāris (sing.)
plural - numĕrus pluralis (plur.)

c) six times - tempŏra:

present - tempus praesens

d) two pledges - genĕra:

active voice - genus actīvum(act.)
passive voice - genus passīvum(pass.)

e) three inclinations - modi:

indicative mood - modus indicatīvus(ind.)
imperative - modus imperatīvus(imper.)
subjunctive mood - modus coniunctīvus(con.)

Note: Defining the form of the verb, we do not use the terms tempus, modus, genus, limiting ourselves only to the name of the form; for example, legĭmus is sufficient to define it as follows: the first person pluralis, praesens indicativi activi - the first person of the plural (number), the present (tense) indicative (mood) of the active (voice).

Verbs also have several nominal forms, the function and use of which will be explained in detail later:

indefinite form - infinitivus(inf.)
participle - participium(part.)
verbal noun - gerundium
verbal adjective - gerundīvum
a verbal noun with the meaning of a goal (used with verbs of movement) - supīnum.

Latin has many more infinitive forms than new languages; there are infinitives of the present, past and future tense. Gerundium, gerundivum and supinum are specific Latin forms that cannot always be matched in new languages.

2. Immutable parts of speech

adverb - adverbium
union - coniunctio
preposition - praepositio
interjection - interiectio

November 11th, 2015, 09:59 pm

The Jewish Kabbalah says that letter "meme" represents the idea of ​​transition and change."Mem" is the thirteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The rune "eiva" appears under the number 13: it is in the middle of the alphabet and is a rune of transformation, as it symbolizes the transition from living to dead (and vice versa). From the deck of Tarot cards this rune corresponds to the "Death" lasso, which is also the thirteenth number. Now let's take the Latin alphabet.

As you can see, the letter "M" takes the thirteenth place in the alphabet. However, in the Russian alphabet, if we remove the letter E and the letter Y, which duplicate the letters E and I, we get the letter M in the same thirteenth place.

All words associated with m rubbish: m dead, u m to play, m org, with m irration, m oral. Well, in English - the same situation: morbid - painful, unhealthy; morgue - morgue; moribund - dying; Morpheus - Morpheus, the god of sleep, brother of Thanatos, the god of death; mortal - mortal; mortification - humility; moralist - a person who leads a highly moral life, that is, literally a "walking dead man". The ancient Slavic goddess Mara is the goddess of death, hence the terms pestilence, to die. By the way, the term of the Latin god of war Mars also comes from the goddess of death Mara.

Interestingly, the letters M and H are located right in the middle of the alphabet.

The alphabet begins with the "parent" letter alpha This letter has a pregnant tummy, from which all the other letters of the alphabet are born. Now, if we compare the alphabetical row with a person's life, then at the end of it there will be the letter omega, very reminiscent of a woman's vulva

The human path is from alpha to omega. The coffin in ancient times was no different from a child's cradle, and the cradle was made like a miniature coffin. In Revelation God says about Himself: " I am Alpha and Omega, beginning and end " .

Of course, God has no "end." Simply "end" means "beginning": it is no coincidence that both letters - omega and alpha - are "feminine." One generates, and the other accepts the begotten in order to become pregnant with life again. "Circulation of letters in nature". Death is not; there is only rebirth from omega to alpha. He entered the vulva of the omega, and ended up in the womb of the alpha.

This means that a person is born with the letter alpha and then successively goes through all the letters of the alphabet until he is in the omega. Therefore, we will not sin against the truth if we represent the alphabetical sequence as a person's life from birth to death. So he was born, and there were "classes" like in school, only instead of numbers - letters: the first class of life - alpha, the second class - beta, the third - gamma, and so on until the 13th year of study.

And what happened at the age of 13 (sometimes 12) among the representatives of ancient traditional societies? - That's right, the initiation rite, that is transition from childhood to adulthood. Since this rite was also the initiation of adolescents into the spiritual life of the tribe, they were preparing for it as for death. After all, the meeting with the spirits takes place in the borderline states between life and death. Now everything falls into place: the fear of the number 13, and the lasso "Death" under the thirteenth number, and the letter "M" took thirteenth place for a reason.

Language is the most enduring tradition of all traditions, and therefore the language brought to us both the ideas of the ancients about life and death, and allusions to the main rite of traditional societies.

• A a(a)*
• B b(b)
• C c- before "e", "i", "y", "ae", "oe" is pronounced (c), in other cases - (k)

D d- (d)

• E e- (NS)*
• F f- (f)
• G g- (G)

H h- (NS)

• I i- (and); (th) - before vowels.
• K k- (k) - rarely found in Greek borrowings.
• L l- (l)

M m- (m)

• N n- (n)
• O o- (O)
• P p- (NS)

Q q- (To)

• R r- (R)
• S s- (with); (h) - between vowels.
• T t- in combination "ti" + vowel read (qi) + vowel, if before "ti" there is no "s", "t", "x".

U u- (y)

• V v- (v)
• X x- (ks)
• Y y- (and) - in Greek borrowings.

Z z- (h) - in Greek borrowings.

Diphthongs, pronunciation features:

• ae- (NS)
• oh- (yo [yo]) - something like that

ch- (NS)

• ph- (f) - words of Greek origin.
• th- (t) - words of Greek origin.
• rh- (p) - words of Greek origin.

The Latin alphabet in the history of mankind

Human civilization has already reached a high level, and we practically do not think about where we got from, certain things that we use every day, it seems that it has always been this way. Let's not talk now about the latest technical progress, let's think about more global things, such as language, writing. Every day, on store signs, food packaging, price tags on things, we meet with inscriptions in foreign languages, most often it is English, which has rightfully won its international status. In the last decade, the prevalence of the English language has erased all boundaries, it has become vital for those who want to make a successful career. Even those who do not speak this language can easily read the names of popular brands, and all thanks to its incredible popularization. In Russian, the Cyrillic font is used for writing, and it is also used by some other Slavic peoples, such as the Bulgarians and Serbs. But, more than half of European languages ​​use for writing Latin alphabet ... These simple Latin letters seem to have been with us for ages. But both language and writing are always the result of centuries of work by the people. It was the emergence of writing that made it possible for ancient civilizations to leave memory to their descendants. Without writing, there would be no literature, scientific and technical progress would be impossible. How did writing come about? What prompted the ancient people to think how to record the necessary information? The nomadic tribes, and the warring parties, had no need for writing. Their main task was to conquer a large territory for their tribe. But when, the tribe began to lead a sedentary lifestyle, the cat then there was a need for writing. Probably, it was at one of these moments of calm that the ancient Phoenicians thought about how to graphically display the necessary information. It is the Phoenicians who own the first alphabet in the history of mankind, which became the progenitor of the Latin alphabet. It was the Phoenician alphabet that gave the traditional order of letters. On the basis of the Phoenician alphabet, the Greek alphabet developed, it was in it that vowels first appeared, which were borrowed from the Semitic languages. For thousands of years, literacy has been the privilege of the upper strata of society and the clergy, only a select few have mastered this science. But it was the Ancient Greeks who were able to bring schools closer to the people, removing them from the influence of religious priests. And giving the opportunity to receive education from childhood. But the Greek civilization fell, under the onslaught of the Roman conquerors, who received the alphabet and writing as trophies. It was the Greek alphabet and writing system that formed the basis of Latin, the language of the Ancient Roman Empire. Over the millennia, the alphabet has been transformed, for example, initially there were 23 letters in the Latin alphabet, only in the Middle Ages, three more new letters (J, U and W) were added, and the alphabet acquired such a familiar look. At the dawn of the birth of Latin writing, they wrote without separating words with spaces, and did not yet use punctuation marks. The militancy of the Romans expanded the empire in all directions, in the end, even the north of Europe was conquered, and the Romans moved across the English Channel. The sites of the Roman legions are found in England, France, Syria and Judea, and even in Africa, near Tunisia and Algeria. The main base of the Roman Empire, of course, remained Italy. Many tribes that inhabited Europe at that time in order to survive, tried to make an alliance with the Romans, such as the Germans and Goths. For the most part, such alliances were long-term. Latin, began to be used, already as a language of international communication. It was the emergence of Christianity, and its formation in Ancient Rome, that strengthened the position of Latin. Latin, became the official language of religion, which spread very quickly throughout Europe, displacing pagan cults. And when Christianity had already become the official religion of Rome, the role of Latin was strengthened, because now it is the official language of the church. And the role of the church in the state system in European countries cannot be underestimated. Latin is used for correspondence by diplomats and heads of state, it becomes the official language of science, it is in Latin that the works of scientific men and theological treatises are published. And the Renaissance, which, like a fresh spring wind swept through Europe, exhausted by the Inquisition, also chose Latin as its language. The great Leonardo da Vinci, and Isaac Newton, Galileo Galilei and Keppler wrote their works in Latin. In the spread of Latin writing, an important role was also played by the fact that many nationalities chose the Latin alphabet to write their native languages, so that not to invent new letters, but to use those already familiar to everyone. In its development, Latin writing went through many stages, the font was transformed, as the architectural styles changed. Minuscular Roman italics and Roman capital letters, uncial and semi-uncial letters, Merovingian and Visigothic scripts, Old Italic and Gothic, Rotunda and Swabian letters appear in different historical periods. Many of these fonts are still used for decorative purposes. This is how the evolution of writing took place, introducing new signs, styles, and ways of drawing. The theme of the emergence of writing is very interesting and multifaceted, it is closely related to the development of human civilization with historical and cultural events. It is on the example of writing that it is possible to establish a historical connection, it would seem, of completely different peoples. The transformation of primitive cave paintings, first into hand-drawn symbols, and then into separate letters, to which a certain sound corresponded. The pinnacle of this process was the invention of printing. That allowed science and culture to develop at a new level.