Old friends call me a pervert; new acquaintances a convert; the other day I was addressed as a 'vert. It took my fancy as offending nobody, if pleasing nobody. Experiences of a 'Vert (1865). Viparious (vi-pā'ri-us), a. [From L. vita, life, or vivus, alive, and pario, to produce.] Life-producing or life-renewing. [Rare.] A cat the most viparious is limited to nine lives. Lord Lytton.

Voltaic, a. [add.]-Voltaic arc, in electric lighting, same as Electric Arc. See under ELECTRIC, Supp.

W.

Wave-shell (wav'shel), n.

In earthquake shocks, one of the waves of alternate compression and expansion, having theoretically the form of concentric shells, which are propagated in all directions through the solid materials of the earth's crust from the seismic focus to the earth's surface. Ency. Brit.

Wax, n. [add.] A fit of anger or rage. [Slang.]

She's in a terrible wax, but she'll be all right by the time he comes back from his holidays. H. Kingsley.

tube, tub, bull; TH, then; th, thin;

nant. [Slang.]

The pronunciation indicated in the following list is that usually heard from educated speakers of English, who as a rule do not attempt to pronounce Greek or Latin or Scriptural names in the way in which they were pronounced by the ancients themselves-if that could be with certainty determined—but rather seek to assimilate the pronunciation to that of their own language. There is therefore no great difficulty in the pronunciation of such words, and by attention to the following rules and directions any name in the list can be sounded correctly.

Special knowledge required for the right pronunciation of these words is

1. The seat of accent; and

2. The sound to be given to the letters as they stand in the word.

The syllable of the word which is to receive the accent is denoted by the usual mark, an acute accent, placed imme. diately after it, as the first syllable of the word Ca'to, the second of the word Cam-by'ses, and the third of the word San-cho-ni'a-thon. The seat of the accent varies considerably in words of more than two syllables, though it is never on the last syllable; in dissyllables it is always on the first. The pronunciation of the latter, therefore, as also of monosyllabic words, after the following remarks are studied, will present no difficulty, and consequently many of them (especially those belonging to the classical languages) have been omitted from the list below. The division into separate syllables is denoted by the mark as well as by the accentuation mark. Two vowels coming together in a word, but having one or other of these marks between them, must therefore always be pronounced as belonging to different syllables.

The sounds to be given to the several letters will be considered under two general heads, viz.: 1. The vowel letters; and 2. The consonant letters. It must always be borne in mind that silent letters, so common in English (e final for instance), are the exception in the words here treated of.

I. THE VOWEL LETTERS.

The vowels heard in the words fate, me, pine, note, and tube, are called long vowels; while those heard in the words fat, met, pin, not, and us, are called short vowels.

1. When any of the vowel letters a, e, i, o, and u, constitute an accented syllable, and also when they end one, they are pronounced as long vowels; thus, in the first syllable of the words Ca'to, Pelops, Di'do, Solon, and Ju'ba, they are pronounced as in the respective key-words fate, me, pine,

note, and tube.

it is Latinized into œ. An a and an i coming together, but belonging to different syllables, will of course have either the accent or the mark between them.

6. When r follows a in the same syllable, and is itself followed by a consonant, as in Ar'go, Car-tha'go, the a is pronounced as in far. In such a word as Ar'a-dus it is sounded as in fat.

7. The digraph au, as in Clau'di-us, Au-fid'i-us, is pronounced as a in fall. An a and a u coming together, however, may belong to different syllables, as in Em-ma'us.

8. When e constitutes an unaccented syllable, as in the first of the word E-te'o-cles, and when it ends one, as in E-vad'ne, it is pronounced as e of me. And when e is followed by s as the final letter of a word, as in Her'mes, Ar-is-toph'a-nes, it is always pronounced as e of me.

9. When e is followed by r in the same syllable, as in Her'mes, Mer-cu'ri-us, the e is pronounced as e of her. The letters i, u, and y, before r, have the same sound, as in Vir'gil, Bur'sa, Cyr'nus. When er is followed by a vowel, however, e is sounded as in met, thus Er'a-to, Mer'o-e.

10. The digraph ei, as in Plei'a-des, is pronounced as i of pine. An e and i coming together, however, may belong to different syllables. Compare Rules 5 and 7.

11. The diphthong or digraph eu, as in Leu-cip'pus, E-leu'sis, Ti-mo'theus, is pronounced as u of tube. It occurs chiefly in Greek names. In other cases the e and u belong to separate syllables. Compare Rules 10 and 7.

12. When i constitutes the first and last syllables of words, whether accented or not, as in I-be'ri-a, Fa'bi-i, it is pronounced as i of pine. And i as the terminal vowel of a syllable at the end of words is also so pronounced, as in Im'ri, A-ceph'a-li.

13. But i at the end of any other unaccented syllable than the last, as in In'di-a, Fa'bi-i, is pronounced as i of pin.

14. In many cases i assumes the value of y consonant in English; thus Aquileia is pronounced as if Aqui-le'ya, Caius as if Ca'yus. This is especially common in the terminations of words.

15. O at the end of an unaccented syllable, as also when constituting an unaccented syllable by itself, is generally pronounced long or of medium length. Followed by r in the same syllable, as in Gor'gus, it is not usually pronounced long, but as o of not. The o in such a position is, however, being pretty much a matter of taste. by some speakers pronounced rather long than short, this

16. At the end of an unaccented syllable, or forming an unaccented syllable (as in Æs'u-læ, A-bi'hu), u is pronounced much the same as when accented, but shorter. Following it is pronounced as w; thus the second syllable of Equicolus is pronounced exactly as the English word quick.

ing positions; thus the y in Ty'a-na is as i of pine; and the 17. The letter y is pronounced as i would be in correspondin Tyn'da-rus as i of pin.

II. THE CONSONANT LETTERS.

The consonant letters, b, d, f, h j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, v, y, and z, have each but one sound, and as that is the English sound, they present no difficulty. The letters c, g, s, t, and x, have each more than one sound, and hence require rules to pronounce them aright.

1. C and g are hard, or sounded as in call and gun respectively, when immediately followed by the vowel letters a, o, and u, either in the same or in the following syllable, as in

730

Gor'di-um, Au-gus'tus, Meg'a-ra, Teg'u-la. Cand g are also hard immediately before other consonant letters, as in Clau'di-us, Cras'sus, Ec-bat'a-na, Hec'tor, Glau'cus, Gra'vi-us, Bag'ra-da, Bo-du-ag-na'tus.

2. C and g are soft when immediately followed by the vowel letters e, i, and y, either in the same or in the following syllable, as in Cer'be-rus, Cin'na, Cy-re'ne, Cic'e-ro, Tic'i-da, Gelli-us, Gis'co, Gy'as, Vo-log'e-ses, Um-brig'i-us. In words such as Dacia, Sicyon, Phocion, Accius, Glaucia, Cap-pa-do'ci-a, the ci or cy, having the accent immediately before it, is often pronounced as shi: some authorities, however, retain the s sound in such words.

3. In Scriptural names, such as Megiddo, Gideon, g is always hard, except in the single word Bethphage. In consulting the list this will have to be kept in mind. The s. following Scriptural names will serve as a guide.

4. When c and g are initial letters of a syllable, and immediately followed by n or by t, they are usually left silent in pronunciation; thus, Cneus is pronounced Ne'us; Gnidus, Ni'dus; and Ctenos, Te'nos. Some scholars, however, pronounce the c and g in these combinations; and should the reader elect to do so, he must pronounce them hard.

5. In Scripture names h often follows a vowel in the same syllable; as in Micah, Isaiah, Calneh, the vowel in these cases being pronounced with its short sound and the h being mute. In Greek names rh is equivalent to simple r.

6. The digraph ch is pronounced as k, thus, Achilles is pronounced A-kil'les; Chios, Ki'os; Enoch, E'nok. The Scripture name Rachel is the single exception to this rule, ch in it being sounded as in chain.

7. S as an initial of words is pronounced as s of the word son, as in So'lon, Spar'ta, Styx. It is commonly so pronounced as an initial of other than the first syllable of words, as in Su'sa, Si-sen'na; but in some exceptional cases the s receives the sound of z, as in the word Caesar, which is pronounced Ca'zar. These exceptions will be denoted by the direction 's as z,' inclosed within parentheses, thus, Cæ'sar (s as 2). See also rule 10.

8. S final of words, when preceded by e, is pronounced as z; thus Aristides is pronounced Ar-is-ti'dez. And the e so placed is that of the word me as remarked already. But when the final s is preceded by any other vowel, it is pronounced as s of son, as in Archytas, Amphipolis, Abydos, Adrastus.

9. S at the end of words, when preceded by a liquid, l, m, n, or r, is pronounced as z, as in Mars, which is pronounced Marz; Aruns, A'runz.

10. Si forming an unaccented syllable, preceded by an accented syllable with a final consonant, and followed by a vowel, is commonly pronounced shi; as in Al'si-um, Hor-ten'si-us. When the si is preceded by a vowel it is very commonly pronounced as zi, as in Moe'si a, He'si-od, A-le'si-a, Ca'si-us; and sometimes as the s of pleasure, as in As-pa'si-a, The-odo'si-a. But the usage in these cases is not very well settled, and some scholars carefully preserve the pure sound of the 8, and do not even in such situations allow it to degenerate. 11. When ti followed by a vowel occurs next after the accented syllable of a word, it is pronounced as sh; thus, Statius is pronounced Sta'shi-us; Helvetii, Hel-ve'shi-i; and similarly with Abantias, Actium, Maxentius, Laertius, &c. The proper sound of the t is preserved, however, when ti is accented or when it follows s or another t, as in Mil-ti'a-des, Sal-lus'ti-us, Brut'ti-i; so also in the termination -tion, as in A-e'ti-on. In such words as Domitius the t itself may be said to receive the sh sound: Do-mish'i-us.

12. The digraph th is pronounced as th of the word thin, as in Tha-li'a.

13. X at the beginning of syllables is pronounced as 2, thus, Xenophon is Zen'o-phon. But at the end of syllables it retains its voiceless sound of ks, thus Oxus is pronounced Oks'us. If, however, the x end a syllable which immediately precedes a vowel in the accented syllable, then the z receives its voiced sound, that of hard g followed by z, as in Alexarchus, which is pronounced Al-egz-ar'chus.

14. The letter p, when initial, and followed by n or by t, is not usually uttered, as in Pnigeus and Ptolemæus, which are pronounced Ni'geus and Tol'e-ma-us, though some persons sound the p.

15. Ph represents the Greek character, and is pronounced as f; thus, Philippi is pronounced Fi-lip'pi. But when ph is followed by a consonant in the same syllable, as in Phthis, it is usually omitted in utterance, and the word is pronounced Thi'a. Some scholars, however, pronounce it.

16. Ps represents the Greek character, which as an initial is pronounced as s, the p being generally omitted in utterance, as in Psyche, which is pronounced Sy'ke. Many scholars, however, now pronounce the p as well as the s of ps.

17. As a general rule, when any combinations of consonant letters which are difficult to utter occur at the initial part of words, the utterance of the first may be omitted, thus, Tmolus may be pronounced Moʻlus; Mnemosyne, Ne-mos'y-ne; while the digraph ch is dropped in Chthonia, making the pronunciation Tho'ni-a.