New Post
Search
Help[Facts] Question about Greek names . . .
Okay, I have a series of related questions. Basically, I need (well, want) to know the un-Latinized forms of a number of names, and I'm hoping there's a general formula. I've noticed that 'ae' in Latinized Greek names seems to be 'ai' in the originals, same with 'us' and 'os.' Should they be switched in every case? If not, in which ones? And are there any other letters that should be altered?
And as far as 'k' goes . . . in the version of "The Odyssey" my class read last year, every single 'c' in the names was changed to a 'k.' Including Circe, which became Kirke. This kinda startled me; should all c's become k's, or just the hard c's? Having an s sound written with k is odd, to say the least. . . .
Thanks in advance to anyone who can help. ^_^
And as far as 'k' goes . . . in the version of "The Odyssey" my class read last year, every single 'c' in the names was changed to a 'k.' Including Circe, which became Kirke. This kinda startled me; should all c's become k's, or just the hard c's? Having an s sound written with k is odd, to say the least. . . .
Thanks in advance to anyone who can help. ^_^
1
Replies
Just wait for Pavlos - he's brilliant!
As far as I know, the problem arose because when most people who got as far as high school learnt Latin, they would have used either a very anglicised pronunciation in which the"soft c" would just be an s, or - later in the 19th century when life got scientific - they would have been taught that all instances of c in Latin were pronounced k anyway. (Which they were ...) Now that both Latin and Greek have effectively died as school subjects, there's no point in using the Latin spelling - kids will never read the myths in Virgil, Ovid etc any more, so why not give them the original spelling? It also breaks away from those ghastly, sanitised versions written for delicate Victorian maidens, which did use the Latin spelling along with pretty-pretty bowdlerising all round.
As far as I know, the problem arose because when most people who got as far as high school learnt Latin, they would have used either a very anglicised pronunciation in which the"soft c" would just be an s, or - later in the 19th century when life got scientific - they would have been taught that all instances of c in Latin were pronounced k anyway. (Which they were ...) Now that both Latin and Greek have effectively died as school subjects, there's no point in using the Latin spelling - kids will never read the myths in Virgil, Ovid etc any more, so why not give them the original spelling? It also breaks away from those ghastly, sanitised versions written for delicate Victorian maidens, which did use the Latin spelling along with pretty-pretty bowdlerising all round.
1