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Re: Principia

-----Original Message-----
From: William J. Larson [mailto:bill_larson@CSI.COM]
Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2001 1:28 PM

Bill asks:

Is principia pronounced "prinKipia" or" prinSipia"?

My daughter, the high school Latin teacher, tells me that the hard c (c = k)
sound is correct for Latin as spoken in the Roman Empire (based on
contemporary transliterations into Greek). However, Newton was not an
ancient Roman, so he probably used ecclesiastical Latin which, at least
today, usually follows Italian pronunciation (c = ch).

******************************************************
"Whatever one's religion or lack of it, it is an
irresistible metaphor to speak of the final laws
of nature in terms of the mind of God."

- Steven Weinberg
******************************************************
George Spagna
Department of Physics
Randolph-Macon College
P.O. Box 5005
Ashland, VA 23005-5505
phone: (804) 752-7344 FAX (804) 752-4724
e-mail: gspagna@rmc.edu
http://www.rmc.edu/~gspagna/



William J. Larson
Bill_Larson@csi.com
Institut Monte Rosa
Montreux, Switzerland