Pronunciation of "Horcrux"

[justcarol67]

Carol earlier:
> > I'm not absolutely sure of myself here, but I don't think that
French pronunciation, which developed *from* Latin rather than vice
versa, is any indication of the existence of the H sound in Latin. The
H sound could have dropped out of the Vulgar Latin spoken in Gaul
while the letter itself remained. (The sound did exist in early
Semitic alphabets; it was not invented by the Saxons or by the later 
> English.)
> > 
> > In any case, "horcrux," despite its Latin roots, would be an
English word with the same first syllable as "horticulture" or
"Horace." Or that's how I read it.

> 
> Geoff responded:
> 
> Having tried to answer this post three times and the messages have 
> disappeared into a wormhole, I finally discovered today that Yahoo 
> hadn't altered my email address to my new one on the OT-Chatter
group and was bouncing them without telling me. 
><snip>
> There are two schools of thought on Latin pronunciation. The first
is what I would term "church Latin". It's noticeable features include:
> (a) The use of a soft "c". <snip>
> (b ) "J" and "v" are hard sounds, as in modern English.
> 
> The second version is the way I was taught, with the following to be 
> observed:
> (a ) The use of a hard "c", <snip>
> The "ae" diphthong is pronounced as the "i" in "time".
> (b ) "J" and "v" are soft, "Julius" being pronounced as "Yoo –lious" 
> and "veni" as "wane-ee".
> 
> "h" is always sounded. A good modern example was when, after the 
> serious fire at Windsor Castle, the Queen referred in a speech to 
> her "annus horribilis" and clearly sounded the "h".
> <snip>
> I have a feeling that Yahoo did the same to a message which I wrote 
> about the word "horcrux" itself. "Hor-" as a prefix does not seem to 
> be used, however, several Latin words beginning with the 
> letters "horr-" are related to horror, dread, roughness etc. Examples 
> are horrendus, horribilis, horrifer, horror and so on. "Crux" can, in 
> addition to cross, have connotations of torture, trouble and 
> destruction. So those are possible ways in which JKR's thoughts may 
> have moved in producing another item of LAtin or pseudo-Latin.
> 
> Right, I shall commit this to cyberspace in the hope that the 
> machinations of Yahoo will not spit it out in the midst of a group 
> committed to considering Polynesian cookery.
> :-)

Hi, Geoff. You "alternate universe" turns out to be my Yahoo e-mail,
which had all three posts in it but bounced the response I tried to
send. The only relevant paragraph is this one:

I had Latin in high school (the non-Church, Yulius Kaisar or Wainy,
weedy, weaky variety), and I'm certain that we pronounced the h's, as
you did. And if the Queen pronounces the h, we *must* be right.

But maybe we should consult the Half-Blood Prince, just to be sure.

Sorry you suffered such frustration and I commend your determination!

Carol