[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: Bella???

[Jen Faulkner]

On Fri, 2 Apr 2004 IAmLordCassandra at aol.com wrote:

> Eloise writes:
>
> Whereas I, being English (we routinely stress different syllables
> from US English speakers) and harking back to schoolgirl Latin, would
> almost unquestionably evenly stress the three syllables, or put a
> very slight emphasis on the first. Just like the name Bella, only
> with a trix on the end (although of course the derivation is
> different, Bella being the Latin for beautiful and Bellatrix, from
> bellum, war, meaning female warrior). Putting a 'lay' sound in the
> middle and even more, emphasising it, sounds *very* American <g>.

English school Latin is, of course, different from American school Latin
(in either the Classical or ecclesiastical pronunciation systems), but
I'm very surprised to read that you would stress the first syllable,
Eloise.  Do you all use different rules of stress than we do?  The rules
we have are quite simple:

   1. In a two syllable word, stress the penult.

   2.  In a three (or more) syllable word, stress the antepenultimate,
   unless the penult is long, in which case you stress that.  The penult
   is long if it contains a long vowel or a short vowel followed by two
   or more consonants.

By these rules, it is indeed bel.LA.trix.  [1]

I ask because I have long been curious about English school
pronunciation of Latin, since I do think it's different from the
accepted American Classical method?  It's that whole "may-ter" thing of
British period films, you see. *g*  (It's "mah-ter" using accepted
American pronunciation.)  Was that an affectation, or were/are those
mythical sixth-form boys taught to pronounce mater with a long eh in the
first syllable?  What are you all taught?  Is it different once/when
you're at university or become a Latinist?

--Jen, the curious Classicist :)

[1] I know there's a muta cum liquida there, and I do think the
syllabification would not put the t with the penult, but it doesn't
affect the stress.

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