French pronunciation of Latin

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The French pronunciation of Latin (French prononciation traditionnelle du latin , also latin à la française or latin gallican ) is the historical pronunciation of Latin in France , as it was common in teaching and church for many centuries. At the beginning of the 20th century it was abandoned in schools and universities in favor of the classical, restituted Latin pronunciation , while the Italian phonetic model took its place in church use.

Latin à la française is largely subject to the pronunciation rules of French . However, these are not fully translated into Latin, so there are some distinctive differences between French and French Latin.

The reform of the Latin pronunciation in France

The knowledge of the phonetic level of classical Latin was well known at least since Erasmus of Rotterdam . In addition, recent findings in historical linguistics and classical philology in the 19th century contributed to the growing desire in France for a reform of the Latin pronunciation.

Turning to classical pronunciation at universities and schools

The proponents of the classical-restituted pronunciation, above all the classical philologist Éloi Ragon , found the French sound to be obsolete and saw in it a tonal distortion that does not do justice to the Latin language:

"If you pronounce Latin French style, disappears the volume [⁠ u ⁠] completely from Latin. The letter U receives in French pronunciation four different Lautungen: u [⁠ y ⁠] , un [ œ ] o [⁠ ɔ ⁠] , on [ ɔ ] ( Deus [ deys ] tunc [ Tök ] Deum [ deɔm ], defuncti [ defɔ̃kti ]). And if we pronounce nunquam with the sound of the nasal o [ ɔ̃ ] as in the old (French) word «onc» , then it is logical to give the same syllable in nunc and tunc the sound of the nasal u [ œ̃ ], although many People don't know whether to pronounce defunctus like our word «défunt» [ defœ̃ ] or like our word «fonction» [ fɔ̃ksjɔ̃ ]. "

"Is it really an advantage not to make any pronunciation differences between possint and possent [ pɔsɛ̃t ], legerint and casual [ leʒeʁɛ̃t ], fugerint and fugerent [ fyʒeʁɛ̃t ] etc.?"

By no later than 1914 a Latin pronunciation was binding at the universities that the then state of research in historical linguistics corresponded (à la prononciation cicéronienne) . After the First World War - and in some cases even before that - this was introduced in a moderate form in schools, where it replaced the traditional Latin pronunciation.

The reform debate at the universities was also followed by French music magazines. However, for a long time the reporting was characterized by the lack of clarity as to what exactly was meant by the classic restituted pronunciation. This ambiguity resulted from the ambiguity of the word Roman , which can refer to both antiquity (republic, empire) and modernity (capital of Italy, Catholic Church). Some cantors and musicologists were unanimous in favor of using the reconstructed pronunciation in church music practice and were against the introduction of the Italian Latin pronunciation:

“It's not about adopting the Italian pronunciation at all ... It would be more important to get the students used to paying attention to the (Latin) word accent. The French do not take it into account at all, and when they do, they put it on the last syllable in Latin and French. This is precisely why our Latin pronunciation is so hair-raising and hideous. "

"Latin pronunciation in Italian is just as flawed as pronunciation in French or English ... The scientific pronunciation, which rests on irrefutable foundations, is completely different ... Why are our Latin texts not read, recited and sung in the restituted pronunciation ?"

Adoption of the Italian sound model in the church

In 1903 Pope Pius X wrote in his Motu proprio Tra le sollecitudini :

"The liturgical text should be sung as it is in the books, without changing or rearranging words, without unauthorized repetitions, without mutilating the syllables and always in a presentation that is understood by the listening community."

The Pope by no means ordered the Italian Latin pronunciation with this sentence. But his demand for textual fidelity and comprehensibility can be interpreted in this way, especially since the French Latin pronunciation is in a certain sense actually syllables "mutilated" (→ nasalization ) and in many respects inferior to the much clearer Italian sound. The fact is that it was the monks of the famous Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Pierre zu Solesmes who made the start and, after their publication of the Editio Vaticana (1905), especially from 1940, when Eugène Cardine became the first cantor, began to use the Italian pronunciation in Gregorian chant . In doing so, they demonstrated their solidarity with Rome and at the same time rejected the French pronunciation of Latin, the disadvantages of which for the understanding of the text were obvious due to the numerous sound levels and vowel swaps.

Especially in the years after the separation of church and state (1905), to which Pius X. reacted sharply with his encyclicals Vehementer nos (1906) and Une fois encore (1907) and expressed his support to the French clergy, the Church of France strived for unification romaine , the "union with Rome". And one expression of this endeavor was the introduction of the Italian Latin pronunciation, which in the following was often called prononciation à la romaine . However, it would take more than three decades before this pronunciation was fully established:

“After the start, the reform - later supported by the nunciature - gradually took hold in all dioceses of France, with the exception of Cambrai and Dijon. Unfortunately, the most ardent proponents of phonetic renewal have not always been able to successfully reconcile their good intentions with Italian Latin pronunciation. And in how many churches do you still hear today (1938) a hideous mixture of the Italian and the old French sounds! "

The situation today

Reform in universities and schools appeared to have fewer problems than in the French churches, where it was a lengthy process. So were z. For example, in the early 1930s, at the instigation of the Friends of French Latin Pronunciation in Paris, two masses were read and sung in French Latin pronunciation, but these could not stop the general implementation of the pronunciation à la romaine . It was not until the middle of the 20th century that the old French phonemic had finally disappeared from the use of worship services, and the romanizing Latin was for its part replaced by the national language of French after the Second Vatican Council . Today, in French church services, Latin chants and masses , motets , cantatas and oratorios are sung and performed in the Italian way.

Latin loanwords and technical expressions are still used in French in everyday language, as they have become French words: curriculum vitæ [ kyʁikylɔm vite ], cæcum [ sekɔm ], exequatur [ ɛɡzekwatyʁ ], fœtus [ fetys ], vadémécum [ vademekɔm ]

Revival through historical performance practice

There has been a small renaissance of the old Latin pronunciation in France since the 1990s, when leading ensembles of early music began to use it in performances of church music from the French Baroque period in the interests of historically informed performance practice , e.g. B. Les Arts Florissants under William Christie , Le Concert Spirituel under Hervé Niquet , Les Talens Lyriques under Christophe Rousset , Le Poème Harmonique under Vincent Dumestre , Le Parlement de Musique under Martin Gester, etc. a.

However, its use is limited to compositions by Lully , Charpentier , Campra , Couperin and Rameau and others. a., although church music by Cherubini , Rossini , Berlioz , Fauré or Saint-Saëns was performed in traditional Latin pronunciation until the 20th century . Francis Poulenc deserves special mention , as he lived precisely at the time of the reforms and liked to accentuate Latin words in French when setting them to music (final syllables on accented beats ). From this one can conclude that Poulenc did not want to hear his sacred works in Italian, which was new in his time in France, but in traditional French pronunciation.

In addition, the Latin student songs and prayers in Berlioz ' La damnation de Faust and the opening chorus “Te Deum laudamus” in Halévy's La juive should be mentioned in the opera area .

Characteristics of French Latin pronunciation

The following description is taken from the Élémens de la Grammaire françoise (1829) by Charles-François Lhomond .

LATIN GUIDE.

If you can read French, you can read Latin with ease. The pronunciation differences are limited to the following:

  1. [ kw ] before A: quare [ kwaɾe ].
  2. [ kɥ ] before E, Æ and I: quæ [ kɥe ], quercus [ kɥɛɾkys ], quilibet [ kɥilibɛt ].
  3. [⁠ k ⁠] before O and U: quotannis [ kɔtanis ] Equus [ ekys ].

Remarks:

  1. ↑ E in a closed syllable is not mentioned where it should be open or in medium quality. For the sound of the E, see the pronunciation information on Wikibooks (with sources).
  2. ↑ This includes all derivatives of the Latin verb cunctor [ kœ̃ktɔɾ ]. According to the sources, the letter combination UNC is pronounced [ ɔ̃k ] in all other cases , although there have been uncertainties in this regard.
  3. ↑ This threefold sound also applies to GU, cf. also SU in suavis [ swavis ], assuescat [ asɥɛskat ].
  4. ↑ Does not apply to -STI, -XTI + vowel.

Web links

Fanny Malnory-Marseillac, soprano
Louis Morturier, baritone
Alexandre Cellier , organ
Chœur et Orchester de la Société Bach, Gustave Bret
Suzanne Dupont, soprano
Maurice Didier, baritone
Edouard Commette, organ
Les Chanteurs de Lyon, Le Trigentuor instrumental Lyonnais, Ernest Bourmauck
Wikibooks: French Pronunciation of Latin  - Study and Teaching Materials
- Detailed version of this article with pronunciation information and sources from the 18th and 19th centuries Century

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Joseph Brugerette, Le Pretre français et la société contemporaine , Lethielleux, Paris 1938, Volume 3, p 628ff.
  2. ↑ De recta Latini Græcíque sermonis pronuntiatione Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami Dialogus , Paris 1528
  3. ↑ Éloi Ragon, La prononciation du latin , in: La Musique Sacrée, Revue mensuelle de plain-chant et de musique religieuse , 6th year, No. 8–9, Toulouse 1907, p. 35
  4. ↑ Ders., Ibid , p. 34
  5. ↑ Alcide Macé , record from February 5, 1913 (Université de Paris, Archives de la Parole, No. O.113) , kept in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (Département Audiovisuel, AP-45)
  6. ^ Paul Crouzet, Grammaire Latine simple et complète , Toulouse-Paris 1906, pp. 3f.
  7. ↑ Joseph Burnichon, Encore la prononciation du latin , in: La Musique Sacrée, Revue mensuelle de plain-chant et de musique religieuse , 7th year, No. 10, Toulouse 1908, p. 37
  8. ↑ Th. De Rifbonnet, ibid , p. 38
  9. ^ Pius X., Tra le sollecitudini , III. 9. (translation from Italian)
  10. ↑ Joseph Brugerette, Le Pretre français et la société contemporaine , Paris 1938, p 630
  11. ↑ Nino Albarosa: La Scuola di gregoriana Eugène Cardine . In: Rivista italiana di musicologia . No. 9 , 1974, p. 289 .
  12. ↑ Éloi Ragon, in: La Musique Sacrée, Revue mensuelle de plain-chant et de musique religieuse , 6th year, No. 8–9, Toulouse 1907, p. 34
  13. ↑ Joseph Brugerette, Le Pretre français et la société contemporaine , Paris 1938, p 628ff.
  14. ↑ Ders., Ibid., P. 631
  15. ↑ Ders., Ibid., P. 631 (footnote)
  16. ^ Charles-François Lhomond , Élémens de la Grammaire françoise , expanded new edition, Dijon 1829, pp. 142f .; The author of this section is Abbé de Boulliette, Traité de la maniere d'enseigner à lire, servant de Troisieme Partie au Traité des Sons de la Langue Françoise , Paris 1760, pp. 56ff.
  17. ^ Mutien-Omer Houziaux, La prononciation gallicane du chant latin garante d'authenticité? , in: Revue de la Société liégeoise de Musicologie , 20, Lüttich 2002, p. 91f.