[Keil. v. V. p. 394.] Ecce in littera t aliqui ita pingue nescio quid sonant, ut cum dicunt etiam nihil de media syllaba infringant.
By which we understand that the t was wrongly uttered with a kind of effort, such as prevented its gliding on to the i.
Th nearly as in then, not as in thin.
U (consonant) or V.
That the letter u performed the office of both vowel and consonant all the grammarians agree, and state the fact in nearly the same terms. Priscian says that they (i and u) seem quite other letters when used as consonants, and that it makes a great difference in which of these ways they are used:
[Keil. v. II. p. 13.] Videntur tamen i et u cum in consonantes transeunt quantum ad potestatem, quod maximum est in elementis, aliae litterae esse praeter supra dictis; multum enim interest utrum vocales sint an consonantes.
The grammarians also state that this consonant u was represented by the Greek digamma, which the Romans called vau also.
Marius Victorinus says:
[I. iii. 44.] Nam littera u vocalis est, sicut a, e, i, o, sed eadem vicem obtinet consonantis: cujus potestatis notam Graeci habent ϝ, nostri vau vocant, et alii digamma; ea per se scripta non facit syllabam, anteposita autem vocali facit, ut ϝάμαξα, ϝεκήβολος et ϝελήνη. Nos vero, qui non habemus hujus vocis nomen aut notam, in ejus locum quotiens una vocalis pluresve junctae unam syllabam faciunt, substituimus u litteram.
Now it is contended by some that this digamma, or vau, was merely taken as a symbol, somewhat arbitrarily perhaps, and that it did not indicate a particular sound, but might stand for anything which the Romans chose to represent by it; and that therefore it gives us no certain indication of what the Latin u consonant was.