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Joined: Mar 2000
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Apropos of Stales's original post:
"And why is it that most of us never use a word of English origin if we can find a manufactured Greek one? One sees a good example of this in the rapid disappearance of English flower names. What until twenty years ago was universally called a snapdragon is now called an antirrhinum, a word no one can spell without consulting a dictionary. Forget-me-nots are coming more and more to be called myosotis. Many other names, Red Hot Poker, Mind Your Own Business, Love Lies Bleeding, London Pride, are disappearing in favour of colourless Greek names out of botany textbooks. I had better not continue too long on this subject, because last time I mentioned flowers in this column an indignant lady wrote in to say that flowers are bourgeois. But I don't think it a good augury for the future of the English language that 'marigold' should be dropped in favour of 'calendula', while the pleasant little Cheddar Pink loses its name and becomes merely Dianthus Caesius."
George Orwell, As I please [column in the newspaper Tribune], 21 April 1944
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Joined: Jan 2002
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But there is a third pronunciation used in English-speaking countries, which is to pronounce Latin using the same rules as you would use for English.
Maybe it's a matter of personal taste, but it's never bothered me to hear regis or Ursa Major given the English pronunciation. My Latin is pretty shaky, but if we remained purists, wouldn't we have to say Kaiser for Caesar?
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