# Certum est quia impossibile est



## Annakrutitskaya

Hello!

I would appreciate if you can help me find a good resource where I could check the correct pronunciation of Latin words and phrases (not the English version of them but a correct one)

For example, how to pronounce this one (each word)
Certum est quia impossibile est (from Tertullian)

Thank you!


----------



## fdb

I think what Tertullian actually said (de carne Christi 5,4) is: Prorsus credibile est, quia ineptum est.  You can pronounce it just the way it is written.


----------



## Annakrutitskaya

fdb said:


> I think what Tertullian actually said (de carne Christi 5,4) is: Prorsus credibile est, quia ineptum est.  You can pronounce it just the way it is written.



thank you ) but I need to know how to pronounce the phrase I wrote above in my initial message. Would appreciate the help!
thank you!


----------



## fdb

It is actually debatable how Latin was pronounced in the 3rd century AD. Did they still say [kertum] as in classical Latin, or did they already pronounce it as [tsertum] or [čertum] ?


----------



## Annakrutitskaya

fdb said:


> It is actually debatable how Latin was pronounced in the 3rd century AD. Did they still say [kertum] as in classical Latin, or did they already pronounce it as [tsertum] or [čertum] ?



so what are the more or less excepted options for pronunciation of each word in the sentence above? as far as I know there are 1) so called classical one 2) the one excepted by catholic church and this one is more close to modern italian. but I have no idea of either one, so would appreciate some help or advice of where to look for this


----------



## relativamente

Annakrutitskaya said:


> so what are the more or less excepted options for pronunciation of each word in the sentence above? as far as I know there are 1) so called classical one 2) the one excepted by catholic church and this one is more close to modern italian. but I have no idea of either one, so would appreciate some help or advice of where to look for this



It all depends to which audience you are adressing. The safest choice I think is "kertum est kwia imposibile est"
But  in eclesiastical Spanish audiences instead of kwia would be more normal kia, but in Italian is more normal kwia. In eclesiastical use is normal chertum, not kertum


----------



## Ben Jamin

Annakrutitskaya said:


> Hello!
> 
> I would appreciate if you can help me find a good resource where I could check the correct pronunciation of Latin words and phrases (not the English version of them but a correct one)
> 
> For example, how to pronounce this one (each word)
> Certum est quia impossibile est (from Tertullian)
> 
> Thank you!


I the central European area (Germany, Austria, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and maybe Croatia) the pronunciation would be tsertum and kvia, with rolled R (outside Germany), and with double S in "impossibile" (outside Germany and Austria).

Every nation has its own convention of Latin pronunciation, some even claim that their is the only correct one. The French will always pronounce "u" as /y/.


----------



## Annakrutitskaya

relativamente said:


> It all depends to which audience you are adressing. The safest choice I think is "kertum est kwia imposibile est"
> But  in eclesiastical Spanish audiences instead of kwia would be more normal kia, but in Italian is more normal kwia. In eclesiastical use is normal chertum, not kertum


Thank you very much. Where do you put stress in 'imposibile'?


----------



## Annakrutitskaya

Ben Jamin said:


> I the central European area (Germany, Austria, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and maybe Croatia) the pronunciation would be tsertum and kvia, with rolled R (outside Germany), and with double S in "impossibile" (outside Germany and Austria).
> 
> Every nation has its own convention of Latin pronunciation, some even claim that their is the only correct one. The French will always pronounce "u" as /y/.



Thank you. But as far as I understand there is more or less 'classical' standard excepted everywhere (not eclesiastical one, I think) in which R is always a firm one and 'c' is always 'k'. Correct?


----------



## Angelo di fuoco

Ben Jamin said:


> I the central European area (Germany, Austria, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and maybe Croatia) the pronunciation would be tsertum and kvia, with rolled R (outside Germany), and with double S in "impossibile" (outside Germany and Austria).
> 
> Every nation has its own convention of Latin pronunciation, some even claim that their is the only correct one. The French will always pronounce "u" as /y/.



In Germany they teach the "Classical" /kertum/ nowadays, and it would be /kvia/, not /kwia/. However, in liturgical singing it would be /tsertum/.
I'm not sure how you perceive the pronunciation of the [s] in impossibile in Germany & Austria. Double s is double (long) s in both Germany & Austria - unlike in Portugal & Brazil.


----------



## Angelo di fuoco

Annakrutitskaya said:


> Thank you very much. Where do you put stress in 'imposibile'?



imposSIbile.


----------



## Annakrutitskaya

Thank you very much! So summarizing: to read correctly the whole sentence in 'classical' (not church-like) manner, I should pronounce every letter as it is written, except for  'kertum' and 'kvia', and even in 'imposSIbile' I pronounce the last letter too, correct?


----------



## Annakrutitskaya

but could anyone recommend any web site which is dedicated to pronounciation of Latin words and where one can actually hear the word but not only read the transcription? thank you!


----------



## Quiviscumque

http://www.rhapsodes.fll.vt.edu/Latin.htm


----------

