The Roman Pronunciation of Latin by Frances E. Lord
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THE ROMAN PRONUNCIATION OF LATIN WHY WE USE IT AND HOW TO USE IT BY
FRANCES E. LORD PROFESSOR OF LATIN IN WELLESLEY COLLEGE BOSTON, U.S.A.
INTRODUCTION
The argument brought against the 'Roman pronunciation' of Latin is
twofold: the impossibility of perfect theoretical knowledge, and the
difficulty of practical attainment.
If to know the main features of the classic pronunciation of Latin were
impossible, then our obvious course would be to refuse the attempt; to
regard the language as in reality dead, and to make no pretence of
reading it. This is in fact what the English scholars generally do. But
if we may know substantially the sounds of the tongue in which Cicero
spoke and Horace sung, shall we give up the delights of the melody and
the rhythm and content ourselves with the thought form? Poetry
especially does not exist apart from sound; sense alone will not
constitute it, nor even sense and form without sound.
But if it is true that the task of practical acquisition is, if not
impossible, extremely difficult, 'the work of a lifetime,' as the
objectors say, do the results justify the expenditure of time and labor?
The position of the English-speaking peoples is not the same in this as
that of Europeans. Europeans have not the same necessity to urge them to
the 'Roman pronunciation.' Their own languages represent the Latin more
or less adequately, in vowel sounds, in accent, and even, to some
extent, in quantity; so that with them, all is not lost if they
translate the sounds into their own tongues; while with us, nothing is
left--sound, accent, quantity, all is gone; none of these is reproduced,
or even suggested, in English.
We believe a great part of our difficulty, in this country, lies in the
fact that so few of those who study and teach Latin really know what the
'Roman pronunciation' is, or how to use it. Inquiries are constantly
being made by teachers, Why is this so? What authority is there for
this? What reason for that?
In the hope of giving help to those who desire to know the Why and the
How this little compendium is made; in the interest of time-and-labor-
saving uniformity, and in the belief that what cannot be fully known or
perfectly acquired does still not prevent our perceiving, and showing in
some worthy manner and to some satisfactory degree, how, as well as
what, the honey-tongued orators and divine poets of Rome spoke or sung.
In the following pages free use has been made of the highest English
authorities, of Oxford and Cambridge. Quotations will be found from
Prof. H. A. J. Munro's pamphlet on "Pronunciation of Latin," and from
Prof. A. J. Ellis' book on "Quantitative Pronunciation of Latin"; also
from the pamphlet issued by the Cambridge (Eng.) Philological Society,
on the "Pronunciation of Latin in the Augustan Period."
In the present compendium the chief points of divergence from the
general American understanding of the 'Roman' method are in respect of
the diphthong AE and the consonantal U. In these cases the pronunciation
herein recommended for the AE is that favored by Roby, Munro, and Ellis,
and adopted by the Cambridge Philological Society; for the V, or U
consonant, that advocated by Corssen, A. J. Ellis, and Robinson Ellis.
PART I.
WHY WE USE IT.
In general, the greater part of our knowledge of the pronunciation of
Latin comes from the Latin grammarians, whose authority varies greatly
in value; or through incidental statements and expressions of the
classic writers themselves; or from monumental inscriptions. Of these
three, the first is inferior to the other two in quality, but they in
turn are comparatively meagre in quantity.
In the first place, we know (a most important piece of knowledge) that,
as a rule, Latin was pronounced as written. This is evident from the
fact, among others, that the same exceptions recur, and are mentioned
over and over again, in the grammarians, and that so much is made of
comparatively, and confessedly, insignificant points. Such, we may be
sure, would not have been the case had exceptions been numerous. Then we
have the authority of Quintilian--than whom is no higher. He speaks of
the subtleties of the grammarians:
[Quint. I. iv. 6.] Interiora velut sacri hujus adeuntibus apparebit
multa rerum subtilitas, quae non modo acuere ingenia puerilia sed
exercere altissimam quoque eruditionem ac scientiam possit.
And says:
[Id, ib. iv. 7.] An cujuslibet auris est exigere litterarum sonos?
But after citing some of those idiosyncrasies which appear on the pages
of all the grammarians, he finally sums up the matter in the following
significant words:
[Id. ib. vii. 30, 31.] Indicium autem suum grammaticus interponat his
omnibus; nam hoc valere plurimum debet. Ego (note the _ego_) nisi quod
consuetudo obtinuerit sic scribendum quidque judico, quomodo sonat. Hic
enim est usus litterarum, ut custodiant voces et velut depositum reddant
legentibus, itaque id exprimere debent quod dicturi sumus.
This is still a characteristic of the Italian language, so that one may
by books, getting the rules from the grammarians, learn to pronounce the
language with a good degree of correctness.
On this point Professor Munro says:
"We see in the first volume of the Corpus Inscr. Latin. a map, as it
were, of the language spread open before us, and feel sure that change
of spelling meant systematical change of pronunciation: _coira, coera,
cura; aiquos, aequos, aecus; queicumque, quicumque, etc., etc."
And again:
"We know exactly how Cicero or Quintilian did or could spell; we know
the syllable on which they placed the accent of almost every word; and
in almost every case we already follow them in this. I have the
conviction that in their best days philological people took vast pains
to make the writing exactly reproduce the sounding; and that if
Quintilian or Tacitus spelt a word differently from Cicero or Livy, he
also spoke it so far differently."
Three chief factors are essential to the Latin language, and each of
these must be known with some good degree of certainty, if we would lay
claim to an understanding of Roman pronunciation.
These are:
(1) Sounds of the letters (vowels, diphthongs, consonants);
(2) Quantity;
(3) Accent.
SOUNDS OF THE LETTERS.
VOWELS.
The vowels are five: A, E, I, O, U.
These when uttered alone are always long.
[Pompei. _Comm. ad Donat._ Keil. v. V. p. 101 et al.] Vocales autem
quinque sunt: A, E, I, O, U. Istae quinque, quando solae proferuntur,
longae sunt semper: quando solas litteras dicis, longae sunt. A sola
longa est; E sola longa est.
A is uttered with the mouth widely opened, the tongue suspended and not
touching the teeth:
[Ars Gram. Mar. Vict. de orthographia et de metrica ratione, I. vi. 6.]
A littera rictu patulo, suspensa neque impressa dentibus lingua,
enuntiatur.
E is uttered with the mouth less widely open, and the lips drawn back
and inward:
[Id. ib. vi. 7.] E quae sequitur, de represso modice rictu oris,
reductisque introrsum labiis, effertur.
I will voice itself with the mouth half closed and the teeth gently
pressed by the tongue:
[Id. ib. vi. 8.] I semicluso ore, impressisque sensim lingua dentibus,
vocem dabit.
O (long) will give the "tragic sound" through rounded opening, with lips
protruded, the tongue pendulous in the roof of the mouth:
[Id. ib. vi. 9.] O longum autem, protrusis labiis rictu tereti, lingua
arcu oris pendula, sonum tragicum dabit.
U is uttered with the lips protruding and approaching each other, like
the Greek ou:
[Id. ib. vi. 10.] U litteram quotiens enuntiamus, productis et
coeuntibus labris efferemus... quam nisi per ou conjunctam Graeci
scribere ac pronuntiare non possunt.
Of these five vowels the grammarians say that three (A, I, U) do not
change their quality with their quantity:
[Pompei. _Comm. ad Donat._ Keil. v. V. p. 101.] De istis quinque
litteris tres sunt, quae sive breves sive longae ejusdemmodi sunt, A, I,
U: similiter habent sive longae sive breves.
But two (E, O) change their quality:
[Id. ib.] O vero et E non sonant breves. E aliter longa aliter brevis
sonat. Dicit ita Terentianus (hoc dixit) 'Quotienscumque E longam
volumus proferri, vicina sit ad I (i with macron to show length)
litteram.' Ipse sonus sic debet sonare, quomodo sonat I (i without
macron to show short) littera. Quando dicis _evitat_, vicina debet esse,
sic pressa, sic angusta, ut vicina sit ad I litteram. Quando vis dicere
brevem e simpliciter sonat. O longa sit an brevis. Si longa est, debet
sonus ipse intra palatum sonare, ut si dices _orator_, quasi intra
sonat, intra palatum. Si brevis est debet primis labris sonare, quasi
extremis labris, ut puta sic dices _obit_. Habes istam regulam expressam
in Terentiano. Quando vis exprimere quia brevis est, primis labris
sonat; quando exprimis longam, intra palatum sonat.
[Ars Gram. Mar. Vict. de Orthog. et de Metr. Rat., I. vi. 9.] O qui
correptum enuntiat, nec magno hiatu labra reserabit, et retrorsum actam
linguam tenebit.
It would thus seem that the long E of the Latin in its prolongation
draws into the I sound, somewhat as if I were subjoined, as in the
English _vein_ or Italian _fedele._
The grammarians speak of the obscure sound of I and U, short and
unaccented in the middle of a word; so that in a number of words I and U
were written indifferently, even by classic writers, as _optimus_ or
_optumus, maximus_ or _maxumus_. This is but a simple and natural thing.
The same obscurity occurs often in English, as, for instance, in words
ending in _able_ or _ible_. How easy, for instance, to confuse the sound
and spelling in such words as _detestable_ and _digestible_.
[Serg. Explan. Art. Donat. Keil. v. II. p. 475.] Hae etiam duae I et U
... interdum expressum suum sonum non habent: I, ut _vir_; U, ut
_optumus_. Non enim possumus dicere _vir_ producta I, nec _optumus_
producta U; unde etiam mediae dicuntur. Et hoc in commune patiuntur
inter se, et bene dixit Donatus has litteras in quibusdam dictionibus
expressum suum sonum non habere. Hae etiam mediae dicuntur, quia
quibusdam dictionibus expressum sonum non habent,... ut _maxume_ pro
_maxime_.... In quibusdam nominibus non certum exprimunt sonum; I, ut
_vir_ modo I (with macron) opprimitur; U ut _optumus_ modo U perdit
sonum.
Priscian says:
[Keil. v. II. p. 465.] Cur per VI scribitur (virum)? Quia omnia nomina a
VI syllaba incipientia per VI scribuntur exceptis _bitumine_ et _bile_,
quando _fel_ significat, et illis quae a _bis_ adverbio componuntur, ut
_biceps, bipatens, bivium_. Cur sonum videtur habere in hac dictione I
vocalis U litterae Graecae? Quia omnis dictio a VI syllaba brevi
incipiens, D vel T vel M vel R vel X sequentibus, hoc sono pronuntiatur,
ut _video, videbam, videbo_: quia in his temporibus VI corripitur,
mutavit sonum in U: in praeterito autem perfecto, et in aliis in quibus
producitur, naturalem servavit sonum, ut _vidi, videram, vidissem,
videro_. Similiter _vitium_ mutat sonum, quia corripitur; _vita_ autem
non mutat, quia producitur. Similiter _vim_ mutat quia corripitur,
_vimen_ autem non mutat quia producitur. Similiter _vir_ et _virgo_
mutant, quia corripiuntur: _virus_ autem et _vires_ non mutant, quia
producuntur. _Vix_ mutant, quia corripitur: _vixi_ non mutant, quia
producitur. Hoc idem plerique solent etiam in illis dictionibus facere,
in quibus a FI brevi incipiunt syllabae sequentibus supra dictis
consonantibus, ut _fides, perfidus, confiteor, infimus, firmus_. Sunt
autem qui non adeo hoc observant, cum de VI nemo fere dubitat.
From this it would seem that in the positions above mentioned VI short--
and with some speakers FI short--had an obscure, somewhat thickened,
sound, not unlike that heard in the English words _virgin, firm_, a not
unnatural obscuration. As Donatus says of it:
[Keil. v. IV. p. 367.] Pingue nescio quid pro naturali sono usurpamus.
Sometimes, apparently, this tendency ran into excess, and the long I was
also obscured; while sometimes the short I was pronounced too
distinctly. This vice is commented on by the grammarians, under the name
_iotacism_:
[Pompei. _Comm. ad Donat_. Keil. v. V. p. 394.] _Iotacismum_ dicunt
vitium quod per I litteram vel pinguius vel exilius prolatam fit. Galli
pinguius hanc utuntur, ut cum dicunt _ite_, non expresse ipsam
proferentes, sed inter E et I pinguiorem sonum nescio quem ponentes.
Graeci exilius hanc proferunt, adeo expressioni ejus tenui studentes, ut
si dicant _jus_, aliquantulum de priori littera sic proferant, ut videas
dissyllabam esse factam. Romanae linguae in hoc erit moderatio, ut
exilis ejus sonus sit, ubi ab ea verbum incipit, ut _ite_, aut pinguior,
ubi in ea desinit verbum, ut _habui_, _tenui_; medium quendam sonum
inter E et I habet, ubi in medio sermone est, ut _hominem_. Mihi tamen
videtur, quando producta est, plenior vel acutior esse; quando autem
brevis est medium sonum exhibere debet, sicut eadem exempla quae posita
sunt possunt declarare.
The grammarians also note the peculiar relation of U to Q, as in the
following passage:
[Serg. Explan. Art. Donat. Keil. v. IV. p. 475.] U vero hoc accidit
proprium, ut interdum nec vocalis nec consonans sit, hoc est ut non sit
littera, cum inter Q et aliquam vocalem ponitur. Nam consonans non
potest esse, quia ante se habet alteram consonantem, id est Q; vocalis
esse non potest, quia sequitur illam vocalis, ut _quare, quomodo_.
DIPHTHONGS.
In Marius Victorinus we find diphthongs thus defined:
[Mar. Vict. Gaisford, I. v. 54.] Duae inter se vocales jugatae ac sub
unius vocis enuntiatione prolatae syllabam faciunt natura longam, quam
Graeci _diphthongon_ vocant, veluti geminae vocis unum sonum, ut AE, OE,
AU.
And more fully in the following paragraph:
[Mar. Vict. Gaisford, I. v. 6.] Sunt longae naturaliter syllabae, cum
duae vocales junguntur, quas syllabas Graeci _diphthongos_ vocant; ut
AE, OE, AU, EU, EI: nam illae diphthongi non sunt quae fiunt per vocales
loco consonantium positas; ut IA, IE, II, IO, IU, VA, VE, VI, VO, VU.
Of these diphthongs EU occurs,--except in Greek words, --only in _heus,
heu, eheu_; in _seu, ceu, neu_. In _neuter_ and _neutiquam_ the E is
probably elided.
Diphthongs ending in I, viz., EI, OI, UI, occur only in a few
interjections and in cases of contraction.
While in pronouncing the diphthong the sound of both vowels was to some
extent preserved, there are many indications that (in accordance with
the custom of making a vowel before another vowel short) the first vowel
of the diphthong was hastened over and the second received the stress.
As in modern Greek we find all diphthongs that end in _iota_ pronounced
as simple I, so in Latin there are numerous instances, before and during
the classic period, of the use of E for AE or OE, and it is to be noted
that in the latest spelling E generally prevails.
Munro says:
"In Lucilius's time the rustics said _Cecilius pretor_ for _Caecilius
praetor_; in two Samothracian inscriptions older than B.C. 1OO (the
sound of AI by that time verging to an open E), we find _muste piei_
and _muste_: in similar inscriptions [Greek: transliterated]*_mystai_
_piei_, and _mystae_: _Paeligni_ is reproduced in Strabo by
[Greek:transliterated]_Pelignoi_: Cicero, Virgil, Festus, and Servius
all alike give _caestos_ for [Greek:transliterated]_kestos_: by the
first century, perhaps sooner, E was very frequently put for AE in words
like _taeter_: we often find _teter_, _erumna_, _mestus_, _presto_ and
the like: soon inscriptions and MSS. began pertinaciously to offer AE
for E*: _praetum_, _praeces_, _quaerella_, _aegestas_ and the like, the
AE representing a short and very open E: sometimes it stands for a long
E, as often in _plaenus_, the liquid before and after making perhaps the
E more open ([Greek:transliteration]_skaenae_ is always _scaena_): and
it is from this form _plaenus_ that in Italian, contrary to the usual
law of long Latin E, we have _pieno_ with open E. With such pedigree
then, and with the genuine Latin AE _always_ represented in Italian by
open E, can we hesitate to pronounce the AE with this open E sound?"
The argument sometimes used, for pronouncing AE like AI, that in the
poets we occasionally find AI in the genitive singular of the first
declension, appears to have little weight in view of the following
explanation:
[Mar. Vict. de Orthog. et de Metr. Rat., I. iii. 38.] AE Syllabam quidam
more Graecorum per AI scribunt, nec illud quidem custodient, quia omnes
fere, qui de orthographia aliquid scriptum reliquerunt, praecipiunt,
nomina femina casu nominativo A finita, numero plurali in AE exire, ut
_Aeliae_: eadem per A et I scripta numerum singularem ostendere, ut
hujus _Aeliai_: inducti a poetis, qui _pictai vestis_ scripserunt: et
quia Graeci per I potissimum hanc syllabam scribunt propter exilitatem
litterae, [Greek:transliteration]_ae_ autem propter naturalem
productionem jungere vocali alteri non possunt: _iota_ vero, quae est
brevis eademque longa, aptior ad hanc structuram visa est: quam
potestatem apud nos habet et I, quae est longa et brevis. Vos igitur
sine controversia ambiguitatis, et pluralem nominativum, et singularem
genitivum per AE scribite: nam qui non potest dignoscere supra
scriptarum vocum numeros et casum, valde est hebes.
Of OE Munro says:
"When hateful barbarisms like _coelum_, _coena_, _moestus_, are
eliminated, OE occurs very rarely in Latin: _coepi_, _poena_, _moenia_,
_coetus_, _proelia_, besides archaisms _coera_, _moerus_, etc., where
OE, coming from OI, passed into U. If we must have a simple sound, I
should take the open E sound which I have given to AE: but I should
prefer one like the German O. Their rarity, however, makes the sound of
OE, EU, UI, of less importance."
Of AU Munro says:
"Here, too, AU has a curious analogy with AE: The Latin AU becomes in
Italian open O: _oro ode_: I would pronounce thus in Latin: _plostrum_,
_Clodius_, _corus_. Perhaps, too, the fact that _gloria_, _vittoria_ and
the common termination--_orio_, have in Italian the open O, might show
that the corresponding *O in Latin was open by coming between two
liquids, or before one: compare _plenus_ above." "I should prefer," he
says, (to represent the Latin AU,) "the Italian AU, which gives more of
the U than our _owl_, _cow_."
CONSONANTS.
B has, in general, the same sound as in English
[Mar. Vict. Keil. v. VI. p. 32.] E quibus B et P litterae ... dispari
inter se oris officio exprimuntur. Nam prima exploso e mediis labiis
sono, sequens compresso ore velut introrsum attracto vocis ictu
explicatur.
B before S or T is sharpened to P: thus _urbs_ is pronounced _urps_;
_obtinuit_, _optinuit_. Some words, indeed, are written either way; as
_obses_, or _opses_; _obsonium_, or _opsonium_; _obtingo_, or _optingo_;
and Quintilian says it is a question whether the change should be
indicated in writing or not:
[Quint. I. vii. 7.] Quaeri solet, in scribendo praepositiones, sonum
quem junctae efficiunt an quem separatae, observare conveniat: ut cum
dico _obtinuit_, secundam enim B litteram ratio poscit, aures magis
audiunt P.
This change, however, is both so slight and so natural that attention
need scarcely be called to it. Indeed if quantity is properly observed,
one can hardly go wrong. If, for instance, you attempt, in saying
_obtinuit_, to give its normal sound to B, you can scarcely avoid making
a false quantity (the first syllable too long), while if you observe the
quantity (first syllable short) your B will change itself to P.
C appears to have but one sound, the hard, as in _sceptic_:
[Mar. vict. Keil, v. VI. p. 32.] C etiam et ... G sono proximae, oris
molimine nisuque dissentiunt. Nam C reducta introrsum lingua hinc atque
hinc molares urgens haerentem intra os sonum vocis excludit: G vim
prioris pari linguae habitu palato suggerens lenius reddit.
Not only do we find no hint in the grammarians of any sound akin to the
soft C in English, as in _sceptre_, but they all speak of C and K and Q
as identical, or substantially so, in sound; and Quintilian expressly
states that the sound of C is always the same. Speaking of K as
superfluous, he says:
[Quint, I. vii. io.] Nam K quidem in nullis verbis utendum puto, nisi
quae significat, etiam ut sola ponatur. Hoc eo non omisi, quod quidam
earn quotiens A sequatur necessariam credunt, cum sit C littera, quae ad
omnes vocales vim suam perferat.
And Priscian declares:
[Keil. v. II. p. 13.] Quamvis in varia figura et vario nomine sint k et
q et c, tamen quia unam vim habent tarn in metre quam in sono, pro una
littera accipi debent.
Without the best of evidence we should hardly believe that words written
indifferently with ae or e after C would be so differently pronounced by
those using the diphthong and those using, the simple vowel, that, to
take the instance already given, in the time of Lucilius, the rustic
said _Sesilius_ for _Kaekilius_. Nor does it seem probable that in
different cases the same word would vary so greatly, or that in the
numerous compounds where after c the a weakens to i the sound of the c
was also changed from k to s, as "kapio," "insipio"; "kado" "insido."
Quintilian, noting the changes of fashion in the sounding of the h,
enumerates, among other instances of excessive use of the aspirate, the
words _choronae_ (for _coronae), _chenturiones_ (for _centuriones_),
_praechones_ (for _praecones_), as if the three words were alike in
their initial sound.
Alluding to inscriptions (first volume), where we have _pulcher and
_pulcer_, _Gracchis_ and _Grams_, Mr. Munro says: "I do not well see how
the aspirate could have been attached to the c, if c had not a k sound,
or how in this case C before e or i could have differed from c before a,
o, u."
Professor Munro also cites an inscription (844 of the "Corpus Inscr.,"
vol. I.) bearing on the case in another way. In this inscription we have
the word _dekembres_. "This," says Mr. Munro, "is one of nearly two
hundred short, plebeian, often half-barbarous, very old inscriptions on
a collection of ollae. The k before e, or any letter except a, is
solecistic, just as in no. 831 is the c, instead of k, for calendas.
From this I would infer that, as in the latter the writer saw no
difference between C and K, so to the writer of the former K was the
same as C before E."
Again he says:
"And finally, what is to me most convincing of all, I do not well
understand how in a people of grammarians, when for seven hundred years,
from Ennius to Priscian, the most distinguished writers were also the
most minute philologers, not one, so far as we know, should have hinted
at any difference, if such existed."
As to the peculiar effect of C final in certain particles to "lengthen"
the vowel before it, this C is doubtless the remnant of the intensive
enclitic CE, and the so-called 'length' is not in the vowel, but in the
more forcible utterance of the C. It is true that Priscian says:
[Keil. v. II. p. 34.] Notandum, quod ante hanc solam mutam finalem
inveniuntur longae vocales, ut _hoc_, _hac_, _sic_, _hic_ adverbium.
And Probus speaks of C as often prolonging the vowel before it. But
Victorinus, more philosophically, attributes the length to the "double"
sound of the consonant:
[Mar. Vict. I. v. 46.] Consideranda ergo est in his duntaxat
pronominibus natura C litterae, quae crassum quodammodo et quasi geminum
sonum reddat, _hic_ et _hoc_.
And he adds that you do not get that more emphatic sound in, for
instance, the conjunction _nec_.
Si autem _nec_ conjunctionem aspiciamus, licet eadem littera finitam,
diversum tamen sonabit.
And again:
Ut dixi, in pronominibus C littera sonum efficit crassiorem.
Pompeius, commenting upon certain vices of speech, says that some
persons bring out the final C in certain words too heavily, pronouncing
_sic ludit_ as _sic cludit_; while others, on the contrary, touch it so
lightly that when the following word begins with C you hear but a single
C:
[Keil. v. V. p. 394.] Item litteram C quidam in quibusdam dictionibus
non latine ecferunt, sed ita crasse, ut non discernas quid dicant: ut
puta siquis dicat _sic ludit_, ita hoc loquitur ut putes eum in secunda
parte orationis _cludere_ dixisse, non _ludere_: et item si contra dicat
illud contrarium putabis. Alii contra ita subtiliter hoc ecferunt, ut
cum duo C habeant, desinentis prioris partis orationis et incipientis
alterius, sic loquantur quasi uno C utrumque explicent, ut dicunt multi
_sic custodit_.
D, in general, is pronounced as in English, except that the tongue
should touch the teeth rather than the palate.
[Pompei. _Comm. ad Donat_. Keil. v. VI. p. 32.] D autem et T quibus, ut
ita dixerim, vocis vicinitas quaedam est, linguae sublatione ac
positione distinguuntur. Nam cum summos atque imos conjunctim dentes
suprema sui parte pulsaverit D litteram exprimit. Quotiens autem
sublimata partem, qua superis dentibus est origo, contigerit T sonare
vocis explicabit.
But when certain words in common use ending in D were followed by words
beginning with a consonant, the sound of the D was sharpened to T; and
indeed the word was often, especially by the earlier writers, written
with T, as, for instance, _set_, _haut_, _aput_: