[B-Greek] Pronouncing PILATOS

George F. Somsel gfsomsel at juno.com
Thu Aug 12 12:08:20 EDT 2004


On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 08:22:42 -0700 "John Schwandt" <jschwandt at nsa.edu>
writes:
> George,
> 
> It would be helpful to me if you mentioned your reason or method for 
> your
> pronunciation decision.  There are variations of the Erasmian 
> pronunciation
> system (Machen, Smyth) that choose the historical pronunciation for 
> omicron
> (closer to a long o as in "open" rather than ah as in "toss").  
> Allen and
> Mounce recommend the "ah" sound.  Regarding John's question, it 
> appears that
> the author of the CD is making an exception to the Mounce system 
> for
> familiar words or names.
> 
> Blessings,
> John Schwandt
> 
> > -----Original Message-----

My reason for pronouncing it in this fashion is, in the words of Tevya in
_Fidler on the Roof_ "TRADITION" -- namely, mine.  I have always,
correctly or incorrectly, attempted to distinguish between the omega and
omicron as well as the epsilon, iota, and eta.  Also, the "o" in "toss"
is more like "aw" in "thaw" to distinguish it from "ah" as in "father." 
As I said, it's just an attempt to distinguish as well as to be
consistent.

george
gfsomsel



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