Ding dong, merrily on high ...

[Adalbertus]

A brainless title for a brainless question:

How do English native speakers pronounce the latin words "Hosanna in excelsis" in said carol?

- ek-sel-sis
- ex-sel-sis
- ex-tsel-sis (german)
- egg-shell-sees (italian)

And while I'm at it: Is there someone who could post the traditional French pronounciation of Latin (as still used today in Belgium AFAIK)? I do not mean the Italian pronounciation (which is mostly used in France today) or the "modern philologist" pronounciation "Kesar and ****ro are going to the Kirkus..."

[SlowwHand]

I could tell you how I pronounce it, but I don't think that would be definitive to the United States in general.

[Provost Harrison]

1

[reds4ever]

Originally posted by Provost Harrison
1

2, but PH is from Hull, they have their own language up there!

[Paul Hanson]

Eerrr neerrr they deeerrrrn't!

I'd go for 2 personally, although there isn't much difference between 2 and 1.

[Provost Harrison]

2 my arse. You don't pronounce the 's' twice...look in a dictionary...

[Provost Harrison]

*ahem*

(look at the phonetic key)

[reds4ever]

After mumbling the song to myself a few times, I'm sticking with 2!

And if that isn't a scientific approach to the question, I don't know what is!

[Adalbertus]

Ok, thanks guys. For some unknown reason most of the people in the choir I'm singing in goe like crazy for everything that at least remotely looks Italian (and so, version 4).

Once I even had to be a smartarse to stop Italian pronounciation in a song by a Bohemian composer by pointing out a spelling error (he wrote annunciare instead of annuntiare which is the same in German Latin pronounciation but quite different in Italian).

[Sarxis]

I sang in college choir, and we were taught 'ek-shel-sees'.

I can't vouch for the rest of Michigan.

[duke o' york]

EX-CHEL-SIS.

[Solly]

1.5