[63]. Dental n before s had a reduced sound, and is therefore sometimes omitted in writing: as, CESOR for cēnsor; COSOL for cōnsul, in older inscriptions; and fōrmōsus by the side of fōrmōnsus; vīcēsimus by the side of vīcēnsimus, Cicero omitted the n in the adjective suffix -ēnsis: as, forēsia, of the forum; hortēsia, garden plants.
[64]. q, in classical Latin, appears only in the combination qu, sounded like English qu or kw ([27]). r was trilled.
[65]. s, in classical Latin was always unvoiced (surd, [75]) like English s in so, sin, never voiced (sonant, [75]) as English s in ease. su, when it makes one syllable with the following vowel, is like sw in sweet ([27]).
[66]. In old Latin, final s after a short vowel and before a consonant seems to have been reduced in sound or to have disappeared altogether. In the older inscriptions it is often omitted in the ending of the nominative singular -us, and in the pre-Ciceronian poets final s often does not make position ([2468]). But such omission was considered vulgar in Cicero’s time (Cic. O. 161; Quint. 9, 4, 38).
[67]. In the archaic period Latin s stood also for the voiced sibilant (English s in ease, z in zeal), as in ASA, altar ([154]).
[68]. t is always sounded as in time, never as in nation. The pronunciation of ci and ti with the c and t as sibilants (as in English cinder, nation) is very late.
[69]. v is like the English w.
[70]. x is a compound consonant, standing for cs, and so sounded, never as English gs or gz.
[71]. z, being a Greek sound, should have retained its Greek pronunciation. This differed in the different dialects; in the Attic of the fourth century B.C. it was approximately that of English z in zeal, while its earlier value was zd. The Romans had great difficulty in pronouncing this sound (Quint. 12, 10, 27 f.), but the grammarian Velius Longus expressly states that it should not be pronounced as a compound sound (zd).
[72]. About 100 B.C. the combinations ch, ph, and th were introduced in Greek words to represent χ, φ, and θ; as Philippus, for the older PILIPVS. Somewhat later these combinations were in general use in some Latin words ([19]). ch is thought to have been pronounced like kh in blockhead, ph as in uphill, and th as in hothouse. But in practice ch is usually sounded as in the German machen or ich, ph as in graphic, and th as in pathos.