Latin · Chapter 11 · Lesson 2 · Grammar primer
How church Latin sounds
Ecclesiastical vs classical pronunciation: every difference, worked examples, and the one rule about never mixing them.
The short version
Two Latins: pick one per sentence
Ecclesiastical Latin is essentially Italian applied to Latin: caeli is CHEH-lee, gratia is GRAH-tsee-ah. Classical is reconstructed from ancient evidence: KAI-lee, GRAH-tee-ah, and v sounds like w. Both are legitimate; the only sin is mixing them mid-sentence. At mass, go Italianate; reading Caesar, go classical.
excelsis - ek-CHEL-sees at mass, eks-KEL-sees in the classroom
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