Mon Oct 21 13:13:42 1996

From owner-tc-list  Mon Oct 21 13:13:42 1996
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Date: Mon, 21 Oct 1996 13:06:41 -0400
To: tc-list@scholar.cc.emory.edu
From: wlp1@psu.edu (William Petersen)
Subject: Re: pronunciation of uncial
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Check a dictionary.

My Random House gives only one pronounciation:  a "soft" "C" --un'-she-el.
The word's etymology, however, is Latin.  Random house gives the Latin
"uncia" as the origin ( which means a "twelfth" or a measure of length--and
therefore doesn't really fit;  they then direct you to "uncus").  "Uncus,"
means "hooked, curved, or crooked," and this seems to be more accurate an
etymology, esp. since Random House themselves define "uncial letters" as
"having more curves than capitals."

It is from the Latin that the various pronounciations arise.  In classical
Latin, the "c" was always hard, as in "can"--not soft, as in "city".
Ecclesiastical Latin eventually softened the "c", so we hear "Cicero" as
"sisero," not the classical "kikero."

All in all, there both are frequently heard, and the difference is probably
equivalent to "tomato" verses "tomaato."

--Petersen, Religious Studies, Penn State Univ.


>Hi everyone.
>
>I am just a lurker on this list.
>
>In my reading of TC I always come across the word uncial
>because these are some of the most important manuscript
>examplars available.
>
>Now I know what a uncial is but I would love to know how
>to pronounce this word properly...
>
>is it pronounced:
>
>1.   yunsial
>or
>2.   yunkial
>or
>3.   unsial
>or none of the above!!!
>
>Sorry if this is a silly question...
>
>cheers,
>Andrew
>
>+------------------------------------------------------------------------
>| Andrew S. Kulikovsky B.App.Sc(Hons) MACS                   
>|                                              
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>|                           hO IESOUS KURIOS!                  
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