Introduction

As an ancient language, there is no definitive set of pronunciation rules for Latin and, consequently, practices vary.

If you studied Latin at school, you may have been taught to pronounce Latin one way; if you have sung in other choirs you may have been instructed differently; indeed, some choirs even change pronunciation according to the nationality of the composer of the work.

It is a bit of a minefield!

What follows is a guide to the pronunciation favoured by SFC in most instances. It is essentially Italianate in its nature, which is the most common pronunciation used by choirs.

Vowels

Aim for pure vowel sounds. There are slight differences depending on whether or not the vowel is in a stressed syllable.

a	unstressed as ‘a’ in ‘cat’ stressed as ‘a’ in ‘father’
e	unstressed as ‘e’ in ‘bed’ stressed as ‘a’ in ‘pray’, but don’t add a ‘y’ sound
i	always as ‘i’ in ‘machine’
o	as ‘o’ in ‘shop’ or as ‘o’ in ‘store’
u	usually as ‘oo’ in ‘food’ but when followed by a or o it is more like an English ‘w’
ae & oe	sometimes written æ and œ both sound as a stressed ‘e’ (see above)
ai au ay ei ui ou	two distinct vowel sounds sung consecutively the first note takes prominence change to the second sound at the last moment

Avoid adding a ‘y’ or ‘w’ sound after vowels, however tempted you are so to do!

Stresses

More often than not the musical stress will coincide with the syllabic stress, but it’s helpful to know that some publishers indicate the strong syllable in a word with an accent of some kind. For example:

miserère miserére miserēre misere’re

Beware The Dreaded diphthongs!

One of the most important thing to know about Latin vowels is that each has its own sound and syllable. Any diphthongs¹ need to be built up from those sounds, but usually by moving swiftly to the second vowel.

For example, in the word ‘Gloria’, you might be set to three notes, so you would sing ‘Glo-ri-a’, but sometimes only two notes are given, in which case you would sing ‘Glo-ria’, moving swiftly through the ‘i’ to get to the ‘a’, whilst avoiding adding a strong ‘y’ sound into the mix.

There are some frequently used words with vowel combinations that need special care. For example:

• caeli: the ‘a’ is ignored, just sing an ‘e’ to sound ‘cheh-lee’
• exaudi: essentially the same idea, in that you move off the ‘a’ to the ‘u’ resulting in something that rhymes with the ‘o’ in ‘how’, giving ‘eggs-ow-dee’.

Consonants

Consonant sounds can depend on context but the rules are strict, which makes things a little easier.

c cc sc	Before e, ae, oe, i or y: as ‘ch’ in ‘change’ as ‘tch’ in ‘catch’ as ‘sh’ in ‘shell’
g	before a, o, or u: as ‘g’ in ‘gate’ before e or i: as ‘g’ in ‘gesture’
gn	as ‘ny’ in ‘canyon’ (but hard in ‘magnificat’)
s	between two vowels: as ‘s’ in ‘lose’ (i.e. a ‘z’ sound) otherwise: as ‘s’ in ‘song’
ti th	followed by a vowel, but not after s, x, or t: as ‘tsee’ as ‘t’ in ‘tall’
x xc	as ‘ks’ in ‘thanks’ before e, ae, oe, i, or y: as ‘cksh’ in ‘rickshaw’
h	at the beginning of a word: whispered when preceded by a consonant: silent
r	between a vowels or between a vowel and a consonant: as ‘r’ in ‘arid’ at the beginning of a word or doubled: rolled!

Not Latin at all

The following words often appear within Latin texts but are not actually Latin in origin!

• Kyrie eleison
  This is a transliteration of the Greek prayer ἐλέησόν με κύριε. Meaning ‘Lord, have mercy’, it is most usually pronounced ‘kee-ree-eh eh-lay-son’.
  Note the ‘s’ is not pronounced as a ‘z’.
• Alleluia | Halleluia
  This is a Hebrew interjection in praise of God, and is usually pronounced ‘a-leh-loo-ya’, though in some German music we might go with ‘ha-le-loo-ya’.

Transliterations of common Latin texts

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Footnotes

1. diphthong: a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. ↩︎