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What's THE correct pronunciation?

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Posted by Dr.Bob on May 24, 2010 - 2:28pm

Given that few ancient Greek or Roman astronomers are around today to help us with correct pronunciation, I'm happy to report a little gem has surface, published in 1942 by Adler Planetarium, that might help settle matters.  The pamphlet is called Report of a committee of the American Astronomical Society on Preferred Spellings and Pronunciations - see attached.  Therein, the Latin genitive (possessive) for constellation Auriga = Aurigae and is marked "o - ri - jee" - as in the concatenation of ORIon and GEE, O-RI-GEE.  However, unless you meet an ancient Greek or Roman, we'll probably know to what you refer, no matter your preferred pronunciation.

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Ask the vatican
By Bikeman on May 24, 2010 - 5:03pm

I really think someone should consult the Vatican. Latin is one of the official languages there (the other is Italian, of course), and they have their own observatory, so all the know-how to settle the matter is there :-) http://vaticanobservatory.org/ CS Heinz

Not quite an ancient Roman
By robin_astro on May 25, 2010 - 3:42am

Not quite an ancient Roman but according to my Latin teacher at school 45 years ago itwould beOw - Ree- Gai so to avoid a risk of clip round the ear from beyond the grave that is the pronunciation I use :-) Robin

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