[3]. See, on the whole subject, Taylor, The Alphabet (London, 1883); Kirchhoff, Geschichte des Griechischen Alphabets (4th ed, Gütersloh, 1887); Berger, Histoire de L'Écriture dans l'Antiquité; (Paris, 1891); Cantor, Vorlesungen über die Geschichte der Mathematik (Leipzig, 1880); Martin, Les Signes Numéraux et l'Arithmétique chez les Peuples de L'Antiquité; (Rome, 1864); and Friedlein, Die Zahlzeichen (Erlangen, 1869).
[IV].
SOUNDS OF THE LETTERS.
1. A: ā had the sound of a in English "far"; ă had the sound of a in English "trespass."
There is no disagreement of opinion regarding the proper pronunciation of Latin a. All the modern languages derived from the Latin practically agree in the sounds which they give to this character. Furthermore, its pronunciation is described for us by Terentianus Maurus (p. 328 in the edition by Keil); by Marius Victorinus (p. 32 in the edition of the same editor); and also by Martianus Capella (III. 261).
[NOTE.—It must be remembered in the pronunciation of the Latin vowels that the short vowel does not differ in quality from the corresponding long one, but only in quantity, i.e. it occupied less time in pronouncing. This is an important distinction between Latin and English.]
2. B: had in general the sound of English b; but before s or t, the sound of p.
(a) The ordinary sound of Latin b is described for us by Martianus Capella (III. 261); and by Marius Victorinus (p. 32 Keil).
(b) That it was sounded like p when it stood before s we know because very often in inscriptions it is so written, e.g. pleps for plebs; Araps for Arabs; urps for urbs. In certain verbs this usage has modified the common orthography, e.g. scripsi for scribsi from scribo; and opseguor for obsequor. And so before t, as we learn both by the spelling of certain words (optulit, scriptum); and from the statement of Quintilian (I. 7. 7): "When I pronounce the word obtinuit, our rule of writing requires that the second letter should be b: but the ear catches the sound of p."
3. C: always had the sound of English k.