How did Socrates and Caesar pronounce their names? - a response to Conan O'Brien

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

If you want to learn to read and speak Ancient Greek, Latin, Biblical Hebrew, or Old English in fun, immersive classes, sign up for lessons at AncientLanguage.com 🏺📖 Conan O'Brien doesn't believe it's possible to determine the pronunciation of Latin or Ancient Greek! In this video, I set out to persuade him, thanks to the help of Jordan Schlansky, that it is indeed possible, and also teach the pronunciation of famous historical figures like Caesar, Socrates, Cicero, Plato, Brutus, Aristotle, and others as they may have pronounced their very own names. Listen to the full episode where Conan and Jordan debate this topic on any podcast app: Apple Podcasts - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/conan-obrien-needs-a-friend/id1438054347?i=1000673525674 Spotify - open.spotify.com/episode/0zZMNIr9kh5fnYswSO27JF?si=FiWPr-81TviPy1VOIrzikQ Books mentioned in the video to learn about ancient pronunciation: Vox Graeca, by W. Sidney Allen amzn.to/3FsiCT6 Vox Graeca, Η προφορά της ελληνικής την κλασική εποχή, by W. Sidney Allen (Modern Greek translation) ins.web.auth.gr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=690:vox-graeca-the-pronunciation-of-classical-greek&catid=93&Itemid=270&lang=en Vox Latina, by W. Sidney Allen amzn.to/3WdPxSY Greek: A History of the Language and its People, Geoffrey Horrocks amzn.to/3FXYedR The Pronunciation of Greek and Latin, Edgar Howard Sturtevant amzn.to/3W4nt45 Medieval and Early Modern Greek, by David Holton et al. amzn.to/3zkhgqO The Pronunciation of New Testament Greek here, by Benjamin Kantor amzn.to/3QEkuz1 The Greek Dialects, by Charles D. Buck amzn.to/46TfagK Adams, J.N., 2013, Social Variation and the Latin Language amzn.to/3BOnljQ The Regional Diversification of Latin 200 BC - AD 600 amzn.to/4eJNRJI An Anthology of Informal Latin, 200 BC-AD 900 amzn.to/3A5jn5O 🦂 Support my work on Patreon: www.patreon.com/LukeRanieri 📚 Luke Ranieri Audiobooks: luke-ranieri.myshopify.com 🤠 Take my course LATIN UNCOVERED on StoryLearning, including my original Latin adventure novella "Vir Petasātus" learn.storylearning.com/lu-promo?affiliate_id=3932873 🦂 Sign up for my Latin Pronunciation & Conversation series on Patreon: www.patreon.com/posts/54058196 🏛 Ancient Greek in Action · Free Greek Lessons: kzbin.info/aero/PLU1WuLg45SixsonRdfNNv-CPNq8xUwgam 👨‍🏫 My Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata playlist · Free Latin Lessons: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oGjLlWpvbq6tpLc ☕ Support my work with PayPal: paypal.me/lukeranieri 📚 Luke Ranieri Audiobooks: luke-ranieri.myshopify.com Join the channel to support it: kzbin.info/door/RllohBcHec7YUgW6HfltLAjoin 🌅 ScorpioMartianus apud Instagram: instagram.com/lukeranieri/ 🦁 Legio XIII Latin Language Podcast: kzbin.info 🎙 Hundres of hours of Latin & Greek audio: lukeranieri.com/audio 👕 Merch: teespring.com/stores/scorpiomartianus 🦂 www.ScorpioMartianus.com 🦅 www.LukeRanieri.com #conanobrien #latin #ancientgreek

[@PatGunn]

Which ancient Greek is taught?

[@francisdec1615]

I have heard from many people that you can't determine the pronunciation, though they are obviously wrong. For instance Pliny the Elder and Cato the Elder described how they formed vowels and consonants; how they formed the lips, in what position the tongue was etc. (Maybe you even mentioned this. I didn't watch the video thoroughly.)

[@DawgFr09]

lol thanks to this channel & Scorpio Martiamus’ and Magister Craft, I now have a 1st year laying speaking ability❤! Gratias tibi ago Scorpio Matianus & Magister Craft & Satura Lanx!

[@mariakaryotou1623]

In Linear B there is the word "quasireus", which means "king It seems to me that is relevant to the word "Caesar". Please, tell me what your opinion is.

[@callipygian1919]

i pronounce 'popsicles' like it’s the name of an ancient philosopher

[@pierreabbat6157]

Ο Ποψίκλης, του Ποψικλέους;

[@timseguine2]

I think Popsicles was a contemporary of Testicles

[@mark9294]

@@timseguine2😂

[@PC_Simo]

”Pop-SEEK-Lehs”.

[@sasshiro]

Τεστικλης

[@premodernist_history]

Wait, Jordan Schlansky name-dropped you? That's so cool!

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

Yeah!

[@setonix9151]

History Nerds and Conan fans, an expected venn diagram

[@DerEchteBold]

@@setonix9151 ... of two separate circles?!

[@SXZ-dev]

you still think KZbinrs aren't real celebrities? More people watch KZbin than TV, way more people, it's not even close. Some of Luke's videos got hundreds of thousands of views, in TV land that would be a spectacular rating, all the executives would be patting themselves on the back for that kind of viewership

[@eeresponsible]

​@DerEchteBold More like one circle inside another. Determining which is which I'll leave as an exercise to the reader.

[@Lucas72928]

Oh, Conan is definitely going to hear about this from Jordan!

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

Haha I hope so!

[@bringanza]

Oh yeah, Jordan will be ready with a "I told you so!" or better yet "Te l'ho detto!"

[@svenhaheim]

Your knowledge of these classical languages is truly impressive.

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

I am still learning, thanks though for the kind words.

[@Ezullof]

Let's be honest though - his other videos go much more in depth, this one is some really basic stuff that you learn during the first lessons when you learn greek or latin.

[@Kerry-uo6og]

Unless he's making it up. Then it's even more impressive!

[@Kerry-uo6og]

​@@Ezullofso as not to scare us. We live in trump world where nothing is as it seems

[@irgendwer3610]

@@polyMATHY_Luke a teacher is also a student. Your humility is also impressive

[@gregorymccoy6797]

Endlessly entertaining and instructional.

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

Thanks so much for your incredible generosity, Gregory!

[@adokce]

Don't worry about it Conan, just listen to Jordan.

[@garrettrye6951]

What? Conan O’Brien mentioned you? Wild!

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

Absolutely wild! I’m still in shock.

[@HeisenStark13]

Well Jordan did but that makes sense

[@nhgh1756]

8:00 "In the world of academia ... the senior author, his name goes last." Which is why that guy "et al." is the undisputed king.

[@laavalus696]

Yeah, he undoubtedly has the widest expertise in the whole scientific community.

[@mastod0n1]

Clever joke lol

[@buddymartin3609]

Who names their kid et though?

[@laavalus696]

@@buddymartin3609 No, it's Al. Al Et. In research papers the surname always goes first 🤡

[@tdward23]

I hope the channel blows up from Jordan. It's good stuff!!!

[@gabriellima7900]

I've just noticed that the German 'Kaiser' is derived from Caesar.

[@robeerob]

Same with the Russian “Tsar”!

[@Marcel-W3]

The Russian tsar feels left out by your comment. 😢

[@tsoliot5913]

Czar and tsar and kaiser and kejser and keisari and Cesarz and many more

[@tfan2222]

More interestingly, German actually inherited it from a Proto Germanic ‘kaisar,’ which is loaned from Latin ‘caesar.’ As a result, there’s also the Old English word ‘cāser,’ which would have yielded a modern English ‘coaser.’

[@Tidegast]

@@tsoliot5913qaisar in Urdu

[@sabikikasuko6636]

I love how he answers the question in the first 2 minutes and the rest of the video is just him rambling about his passion. I love this guy's energy 🤣

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

Haha thanks. The rest of the video is thematically on point, I’d say. And the newest video is in a similar vein

[@NovaSeven]

Lol yes! What amazing timing! I am in the middle of listening to that podcast episode rn. I remember when the video of their debate came out months ago and hoped it reached you eventually.

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

That's true! This episode of their radio show debuted in Dec 2023, but I only heard about it yesterday since Conan republished it on the podcast.

[@haitike]

Great video. Today I learned that Cicero (Cicerón in Spanish) name is a cognate with the word Chícharo used as ¨pea¨ in Mexico, Galicia and some other Spanish dialects. That was fun. There is even a famous Mexican football player nicknamed ¨Chicharito¨ using the diminutive, whose nickname is a cognate with Cicerón.

[@mytube001]

Nice touch to add a short bit by Rush, Jordan Schlansky's favorite band.

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

That’s right! Thanks for noticing my gag.

[@The_Gallowglass]

@@polyMATHY_Luke You have to do a video about the ecclesiastical language of the Priests of Syrinx.

[@jonasgustaf]

[roosh]

[@StormKidification]

ITS INSANE THAT HE ACTUALLY MENTIONED YOU

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

It is!

[@skipinkoreaable]

​@polyMATHY_Luke If you can get to Conan to preach about pronunciation, you will also get a chance to preach about daylight savings time. Much respect for your diligence, scholarliness and love of learning.

[@ИрисМожевальня]

How do you say Glory in Greek? Klitor?😅

[@Potaters12]

I listen to Conan's podcast every week and I also was floored when your name was mentioned. They do responses to fan stuff all the time, so I really wish they bring up your response video on the Conan and Jordan show or on needs a friend too! Would be a great segment to revisit the topic.

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

I hope so!

[@christopherstein2024]

If Jordans pronunciation is not in line with history, then history must be rewritten

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

Haha

[@Jeowyn]

So Tony Steedman, the English actor who played Socrates in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, was bordering on correct when he has Socrates say his own name in the Koine pronunciation. That's fun!

[@GilesRafol]

The crossover I never knew I needed.

[@SaveThePurpleRhino]

As an indonesian, it is shocking to me that we nearly pronounce all these names like the original. Hats off to our teachers

[@zxbc1]

Well I bet you at some point this video will be shown on Conan's show. Maybe Conan will even invite you to talk to him and Jordan! He's a classy guy and it's something he'd totally do.

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

That would be a dream!

[@Burostolbostav]

You should call to Conan needs a fan section, it would be great)

[@myfaceismyshield5963]

I've read that Caisar was the older pronounciation (pre-classical, and the classical era before the emperors) so the man himself Julius would've used that pronounciation, but some of the later emperors would've likely said Cēsar, as the "ae" sound became a long singular vowel, at least in poetry, but poetry usually just mirrors the rest of the spoken language. So before the C sound shifts, the shift in vowels happened far earlier. But this is only based on poetic analysis, so not everybody takes it at face value as a clear indicator of how the regular spoken language was. But I think it makes sense that k becoming tch is a longer process than ae becoming ē.

[@ed8377]

Trees! My Favorite Rush tune!! Great show & thanks for the short tutorial, its good to know how they were said back in the day.

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

Thanks for watching! Yes, Jordan loves Rush

[@ArsenicApplejuice]

Love it, the internet is fun two people I follow for different reasons interacting. It’s great :)

[@Sgt__Hawk]

The old pronunciation of Caesar has been quite well preserved in the German word Kaiser.

[@Justanotherconsumer]

There’s almost a G in how our host pronounces it. Guy-sar.

[@skyworm8006]

@@Justanotherconsumer You're hearing that because English doesn't actually have voiced/unvoiced stop consonants, it has aspirated/unaspirated stop consonants. Meaning unaspirated unvoiced [k] easily sounds like /g/ to Englishspeakers. It can be a barrier when learning a language that does actually have voiced/unvoiced stop consonants, which many do.

[@classicallpvault]

​@@skyworm8006 Lol what? English contains the unvoiced K natively, for instance in the word 'attic', and has a noticeably more mellowed out 'G' sound. Perhaps it's different for speakers of specific English accents just like in many other languages the differences between harsh and mellow consonants get watered down (same happened in some regional Dutch accents where V and F have morphed into one another or even changed place sometimes).

[@EVO6-]

​@@classicallpvaultnot sure why you think this warranted a 'lol what?' as if a final unaspirated consonant can be compared to an initial one. If that were the case English speakers wouldn't struggle to replicate initial unaspirated stops, but they do, which should tip you off to the fact that they're not comparable.

[@WeyounSix]

Thanks Luke

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

Thanks for your generosity, Weyoun!! Grātiās summās.

[@kennethgreifer5123]

At 2:56 or so, you say it has been a long time since Conan went to Harvard and read books, but actually Conan reads a lot of big books about history all of the time according to Sona, if you watch his podcast.

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

Absolutely, the was not a serious comment; it was a joke in keeping with the style of humor that Jordan and Conan regularly use against each other.

[@Vatt-Ghern]

It's interesting how some germanic languages like Danish and German among others, are closer to the classical latin in their pronunciation of "Caesar" than the romance languages, like even Italian.

[@pierdurin]

It's often the case that loanwords from a foreign language are kept more intact by the borrower's than in the original language, where they are more prone to follow the natural evolution, just as it is for every other word .

[@tfan2222]

As pierdurin said, borrowed words tend to stay fairy intact! A phenomenal example is Finnish ‘kuningas,’ loaned directly from PGmc ‘kuningaz.’

[@marcusaurelius4941]

Impressionistically they kind of are, but if you actually count phoneme-by-phoneme it might not always be true

[@SirBolsón]

Last time I was this early, Socrates still hadn't poisoned himself! 😂

[@giovanni-cx5fb]

He did WHAT?! 😭

[@Aoderic]

@@giovanni-cx5fb He was forced to commit suicide because he was accused of subverting the youth, because he taught them to think for themselves and to question dogmas.

[@patcat8950]

And who can forget Socrates's famous last words: τί ἐστιν ἡ κώνειος;

[@GreenTeaViewer]

@@giovanni-cx5fb I know, spoiler alert, right?

[@rb42redsuns1]

@@patcat8950 Should've been "I drank what?!"

[@ancientlanguageinstitute]

Conan needs to have you on.

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

I’m ready!

[@HOTD108_]

​@@polyMATHY_LukeHave you prepared your body in various ways?

[@redhidinghood9337]

Thanks for the mention on the German and Slavic Caesar pronounciation😁 I'm from Bosnia (slavic) and in school in latin we learn that 'c's before e, ae, i are pronounced as a 'ts' sound, and also for 't' before i. I don't know where that comes from though, I assumed it was just some ecclesiastical pronounciation.

[@jomaclkego6381]

I am German and had Latin Classes from 1967 ab to 1976 and Ancient Greek Classes from 1971 to 1976. The pronunciation of "c" was "k", the pronunciation of "ae" was the German "ä". In liturgic Latin we used the same pronunciations, but before "e", "I" and "ae", the."c" and "t" were pronounced "ts" (= German "z"). The written word for "heaven" was "caelum", but it was to be pronounced "cölum". When there were latin songs, that were not part of the liturgical text of the mass, our choir-director sometimes let us use the "Italian latin", especially when the music was created by Italian compositors. Then "c" before "e", "I" and "ae", was pronounced as a German "dsch" = the English "j". Our pronunciation of ancient greek was like Luke did ist. But within a word we used a voiced "s" like we do pronounce "s" in German words . When we are speaking German, we shift the accent of greek Names. So we say "Aristóteles, Sókrates, Antígone, "Hérakles". (I guess, that the Romans did this shifting). And we pronounce the "es" in the last syllable short, and the accented vowel long (But we don't write accents) So Plato(n) is pronounced with accent on a long a.( I am not sure, that this is all,; maybe I forgot some rules😀

[@remaguire]

When I wanted to learn how to pronounce Socrates, I went to the definitive source: Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure!

[@mentalitydesignvideo]

Russian mostly dropped masculine noun endings from Greek names (so it's "Sokrat", "Gomer (Homer)" and "Aristotel"), but retained the original ending in "Platon". Also, Cicero is "Tsitseron".

[@luciusseneca2715]

Shakespeare's favorite book in school was Metamorphoses by Ovid, which goes a long way in explaining his fascination with Rome.

[@gabrielalfaia8154]

"You went to Harvard, Conan. You should know that" - Jennifer Garner

[@Charliedanielsband77]

…and yet she was wrong. Her arrogance betrayed her.

[@jeanbiroute]

Enjoy this moment. It’s your peak. Conan & Jordan are the best!

[@simondeep]

Good ole Jordan, knowing Various things

[@infinitestare]

I sometimes wonder if Jordan Shclansky and Jordan Peterson would ever have anything to talk about. I'd watch that podcast. We could call it - the various Jordans podcast

[@kutter_ttl6786]

And preparing his body in various ways.

[@Claudiuscampbellus]

First comment ha great video Luke I wanted to say that you are what inspired me to learn Latin I’m a first year Latin student and the language is so much fun

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

That's great, Claudius! I'm very honored to be part of what has inspired you. Now you have a new reason: to tell Conan O'Brien to learn Latin! haha

[@that44rdv4rk]

we used to say Sew Crates to troll our teacher.

[@jaysterling26]

Close: An informative motion picture pronounced it correctly, ' So -crates'.

[@LewisCampbellTech]

I appreciate your friendly and open minded attitude. Because if I was fluent in Latin I have to admit that I would be incredibly smug.

[@shiningarmor2838]

12:40 I did not expect to see Rush pop up in one of these, but it is very welcome.

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

Yes! Jordan Schlansky’s favorite band is Rush, so this was for him

[@shiningarmor2838]

@@polyMATHY_Luke Lucky for me, it's also mine!

[@VACatholic]

As the pre eminent philosophers Bill and Ted conclusively demonstrated, it's so-crates.

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

It is my personal favorite pronunciation

[@VACatholic]

@@polyMATHY_Luke How can you argue when the man himself tells you how to pronounce his name? lol

[@billowen9823]

Another Great Video Luke Thank You!!!!!😃😃😃😃😃😃😃

[@kamil7280]

What just hit me is that names of historical figures used in Polish very often better represent original pronunciation than English

[@julianne_warren]

As a Czech, pronunciation of Latin names by the English speakers sounded off to me when I started to learn English. Homer is a great example - any Czech immediately knows if a conversation is about a character from the American series or the ancient figure. Houmr vs Homér are quite distinctive.

[@xbylina2641]

In Polish, we say them both the same -- very closely to the original pronunciation :)

[@AtomikNY]

Interestingly, Modern French re-added the N to Plato’s name, making him "Platon" again.

[@lars5174]

Same in German too

[@lucone2937]

As a native Finnish speaker I think classic Greek and Latin names are relatively easy to pronounce because there are no mystical silent letters but every letters should be pronounced unlike in modern French. In Finnish language "Plato" is known as Platon, "Aristotle" is known as Aristoteles and "Epicurus" as Epikuros. A Finnish word for Emperor is "keisari" which is similar to a German word der Kaiser and a Latin word Caesar. In Finnish language "Mark Anthony" is known as Marcus Antonius just like Marcus Aurelius is Marcus Aurelius. On the other hand the old European kings had their own Finnish names like Charles = Kaarle, Louis = Ludwig , Philip = Filip, William = Vilhelm, Alexander = Aleksanteri, etc.

[@steniowoneyramosdasilva9238]

Luke, do you know why the ancient Greeks developed two vowels (η and ω) to pronounce the long versions of ε and o, but they didn't do the same to the other vowels?

[@eLgeorge4286]

Very interesting question indeed !!! It's been thirty years I've been asking this question myself !

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

An excellent question. In this video go to the Classical Attic chapter: kzbin.info/www/bejne/moKloaqBjNONd9Esi=9Vd_5H0gQLsCMxf5 The Classical Attic alphabet took η and ω from the Ionic alphabet where they were used for long open /ɛː/ and /ɔː/, and they were used for the same purpose in Classical Attic orthography. That video makes it all clear if you check it out.

[@steniowoneyramosdasilva9238]

@@polyMATHY_Luke Thank you very much

[@eLgeorge4286]

@@polyMATHY_Luke Thank you Luke !

[@serenissimarespublicavenet3945]

@@polyMATHY_LukeYes, but why did the Eubeans specifically decide to use these drawings for long e and o? Why didn’t they invent ways to depict other long vowels too?

[@hakonberg8003]

Great channel!

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

Thanks! Welcome

[@psypsy751]

It's funny, in Romanian we adopted the Italian pronunciation of Caesar(spelled Cezar) and Cicero, we dropped the ending of Socrate and Aristotel, but kept the Greek ending of Platon. The pitch remains as the original Greek across the board though.

[@hephaestus198]

Always a pleasure to hear ancient Greek and Latin thanks

[@Tidegast]

8:35 oh wow, now that you mention it, in my native language, Plato is Aflatūn (borrowed from Arabic), where the n is intact, meaning it must’ve borrowed directly from Greek as opposed to getting filtered through Latin.

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

Awesome!

[@Tidegast]

@@polyMATHY_Luke aw the heart got removed bc I edited my comment. Meant to say “as opposed to”, not “as supposed to”. 😅

[@laavalus696]

It is Platon in Polish, which sounds exactly as demonstrated here in the video.

[@yuzan3607]

I find it very interesting that in Arabic the way we pronounce these names is closer to the ancient pronunciation. Caesar: Qaisar قيصر , Socrates: Suqrat سقراط, Plato: Aflaton أفلاطون (there's no p in Arabic), Aristotle: Arusto أرسطو...I'm not sure about the rest though, but it'd be an interesting video concept.

[@namarien31416]

So it is in Spanish. Socrates: Sócrates, Platon: Platón, Aristoteles: Aristóteles, Brutus: Bruto, Augustus: Augusto, Octavius: Octavio. We mainly change the stressed syllable and in other cases change the us to an o. For Caesar we use the Germanic? pronunciation César

[@shishinonaito]

No. César es la evolución normal del nombre Caesar al español. Nada germánico en esta evolución.

[@MrTrollo2]

I believe everyone is less ignorant than Americans. Like, overall. But honestly, as a European, your versions do not seem more similar

[@yuzan3607]

@@MrTrollo2 really?... We managed to keep Qaisar when even Italians changed the pronunciation. Whenever I listen to original latin/greek pronunciation I always feel like Arabic kept relatively very close pronunciation to the original. At least in comparison to English.

[@jedinxf7]

​@@yuzan3607qaisar is the only example that isn't flat out altering consonants lol (and it isn't a qaaf in Latin because there is no qaaf in Latin, just a kaaf equivalent, and no pharyngealized s either so actually qaiSar is quite a deviation to anyone familiar with Arabic consonants outside of English transliteration lol)

[@parsifal6094]

I wish you'd pronounce "Conan O'brien" in Ancient Greek in the video

[@BrandonBoardman]

It's Κώνᾱνος Ὀβρῑ́ενος in Ancient Greek.

[@BullDuckov]

In Russian it's Tsezar' with the first letter as in "zz" in "pizza", and soft "r" in the end. And also Platon, Aristotel', Tsitseron.

[@NicholasBaikoff]

I think modern Russian took on the Western pronunciation, possibly via German. If you look at Church Slavonic, it is "Kesar'" "Кесарь", with the second letter being "ять".

[@4kassis]

Same in german

[@pepeetxeberri9273]

This episode is a love letter to Jordan and his friends.

[@greenockscatman]

I think it's a wonderful coincidence that 1800s German Philologists successfully determined that Ancient Greek was pronounced almost exactly like if it was transliterated into the Latin alphabet and spoken by a German person.

[@Siddich]

as all things should be 🤗😂

[@cry2love]

You just hafta go to Conan now!❤ Yo Schlansky, do your magic

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

I’m ready! Haha

[@soljarka]

Please make part 2.

[@robert48719]

You're wrong. We Germans call it Kaiser, the classical latin way. And not only Caesar was called like this, but all Roman emperors. Since it means right that: emperor

[@jacob8949]

Language is fluid and we all speak in different microdialects anyway. Pronounce it however you want. As long as people know what you mean, who cares? You've conveyed meaning, which is the whole point of spoken language to begin with. Let's focus on better communication, rather than catching each other out on inconsequential points of trivia.

[@Tidegast]

Some Ancient Greek figures’ names in my language: Aristotle - Arastū Socrates - Suqrāt Plato - Aflatūn or Falātū̃ (used mockingly or sarcastically for people) Ptolemy - Batlīmūs Alexander the Great - Sikandar-i-Āzam

[@GannicusMisteriosdeHonduras]

What language is that?

[@AthanasiosJapan]

It seems like arabic written with the latin alphabet.

[@TheRaptorsClaw]

The use of "i-Azam" makes me think of Urdu or Persian, actually.

[@Tidegast]

@@GannicusMisteriosdeHonduras it’s Urdu

[@Tidegast]

@@TheRaptorsClaw yes, Urdu

[@CesarJoseee]

It must feel so good being name dropped by the legendary Jordan "Giorno" Schlansky, the angry fake Italian lol.

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

So good! And it’s not the first time I’ve made a video with him in mind kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIGzenuHqtmBhrcsi=CUBJo527kc7SVymj

[@damianm-nordhorn116]

1:35 not to forget the title that's derived from the man's name: "Kaiser". As that's pretty close to his name in classical Latin (except for an E instead of an A almost at the end), isn't it weird we Germans end up calling the man Cäsar with the C sounding like Ts.

[@DrToddles]

Please, add a course on how to read Te Reo Māori. Not an ancient language. They printed heaps, and had news papers, but now we dont have your wonderful resource. Ngā mihi

[@lolly9804]

Yes outside of Aoteoroa, it must be hard to get te reo Māori lessons.

[@thomasgaliana6288]

I like your choice of Rush tunes! Well done!

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

Thanks! It was for Jordan 🌳

[@sunny_muffins]

I thought it was clickbait but I knew that he knew his stuff.

[@andrewring8205]

Salve! Were you randomly listening to the Conan podcast one day and they just casually cited your work? I'd imagine that would feel surreal hahaha Or did other fans catch this and shared it with you?

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

A couple fans wrote on the channel yesterday to alert me that this episode had just dropped. I’m very grateful to them!

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

That was you! Thanks again

[@brianhiles8164]

You forgot _Czar,_ the Russian interpretation (and pronunciation), and similarly _Kaiser_ in German -- both for _Caesar._ I understand that native modern Greek speakers can “mostly“ comprehend the Ancient Greek of 3000 years ago as performed in a play of Aristophanes, _etal._

[@Hellfr4g]

"Augustus" is pronounced like a native german speaker would pronounce it too ^^ the german expressions for the classical latin pronunciations match up pretty well although "caesar" is spoken american style we got the "Kaiser" as a royal title

[@Phi1618033]

So much shade thrown at Conan.

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

All in good fun; it’s his brand of comedy, so hopefully he takes it the right way

[@cpnlsn88]

This is great!

[@Alan_Duval]

Interesting video. I'd always thought that the pronunciation of Caesar was wrong, given the hard 'C' of Latin, so it's good to have that confirmed. That said, it makes me laugh. Whenever someone is doing a thing on pronunciation, they will always, at some point, mispronounce the word 'pronUNciation,' saying "pronOUNciation." Always. There were a couple where I wasn't quite sure about, it sort of skirted between the two, but at 1:30 it was deinely pronOUNciation 😁

[@VikingTeddy]

I'm playing New Vegas, and it's so refreshing to hear the characters talking about "Kaisar" instead of "Seezer" 😊

[@p.f.b.1484]

The Latin name Plato lost the final -n in the nominative and vocative cases, but kept it in the other cases, such as the genitive case Platonis. The Italian name evolved from the ablative case. So, Plato is Platone in Italian. The same happened with many other Latin words. For example, oratio-orationis became orazione in Italian

[@charlee_hotel]

In Spanish, we say _Platón._

[@BrandonBoardman]

Poseidon's name in Latin kept the n from ancient Greek Ποσείδων (it's spelled Posīdōn in Latin).

[@reverendjuan9121]

Excellent! Many thanks for this video! My mom was a very cultured woman. I tend to believe everything she said. I´ve had a couple of latin pronunciations stuck in my mind because she used to pronounce them in a way that nobody else seems to. Pleeease, let me know the truth about them. 1) Nihil obstat (you can talk on your show about this very controversial phrase). She pronounced it _nikil_ Worth mentioning that "anihilate" in spanish is pronounced with a K too... 2) Reductio ad absurdum (she would pronounce that T as an S. Many thanks. First time I see your show. Will certainly not be the last.

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

Yup! That’s the Ecclesiastical Pronunciation. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jpbUhaiGj9tsl9Usi=tuZuC5tsFgm0-MrV

[@reverendjuan9121]

@@polyMATHY_Luke Yay! Finally. Gonna see it right away!

[@Videinfra81]

Great episode bud. Really enjoyed that 👍

[@philippenachtergal6077]

3:26 I guess that the question was more like "how can anyone know ?" as in, "How did the guy who wrote those books know ?" And the answer is, I guess, linguistics and antique comments and spelling. - There are some ancient texts where people describe how some people from some places pronounce certain words - There are spelling mistakes or variants in some ancient texts and those are often a hint as to how the word was pronounced there and then - Linguists know how sounds tend to shift over time so by comparing old words with their modern counterparts in various languages, they can get a pretty good idea as to how it was probably pronounced especially if you have some of the above to confirm it. So it is rarely a 100% thing but with enough sources and provided we have some evidence that spelling (at least at one point in time) was mostly aligned with pronunciation, you can get quite near that 100% certainty for many words I think. Question to linguists: Is there a subbranch of linguistics that study spelling mistakes ? How would you call such a branch ?

[@jodis8228]

Modern Swedish kept pretty much all old greek pronunciations of the names, guess that being a language with pitch contributed to that

[@personifiedmarvel]

Interesting video. In Russian we have both кесарь and цесарь as words etymologically related to Caesar. What's interesting is that it preserves the s sound and does not change it to z.

[@MooImABunny]

oh damn that's a pretty sweet mention

[@infinitestare]

LOL Jordan Schlansky is a favourite. Can't believe someone else I know on KZbin is reacting to him, that never happens. They're usually in their own parallel bubble from everyone else, this is so weird!

[@sweetie4915]

I am a college student, and I would be interested in taking courses from the Ancient Language Institute. Do you receive transferable college credit for these, or are they solely for one's own enjoyment and self improvement through the classical education? Thank you for the video and look forward to hearing from you!

[@DesCoutinho]

They'd have to fork out money to get transferable credits among other bureaucratic stuff. So no you either learn to read or you don't. The difference sort of. The average high school kid can read Shakespeare. But it's not the same skill required to read English literature. And often clàssics undergrads aren't very good at just reading

[@sweetie4915]

@@DesCoutinho Thank you for taking the time to respond to my comment. I thought it was most likely just for the purpose of self betterment, which is what college used to be. It still can be, but mostly universities have rather gone wide of the mark in my experience of providing a good education; very disappointing. The Ancient Language Institute, however, looks promising and quite exciting! I think I will give them a try. I am not sure which language I will begin with, but it should prove very beneficial and I am quite looking forward to it. Anyway, thanks again for the response!

[@DesCoutinho]

@sweetie4915 i think both are complimentary. Often because of time pressure students just read secondary texts. But sure being able to read a language as well as a native 10 year old enables you to read more in the original. You will always gain more by memorizing poetry letting it sink in. Translation can kill that. Sadly self development happens when you have more time the rest of your life for any literature if other things don't grab your focus

[@TheSkyGamez]

What is your system for post-it notes in the books?

[@steliopapakonstantinou674]

In modern Greek it's Sokratis, Aristotelis, Themistoklis, Periklis, Aristidhis, etc.

[@BrandonBoardman]

He said "Sokrátis" and "Aristotélis" in the video. He's been learning Greek for a while and is very familiar with that pronunciation.

[@jensraab2902]

I just found this video. Super interesting. I'm proud of myself that I would have gotten most of the original pronunciations somewhat right (albeit not perfectly, of course). Anyway, I noticed that your pronunciation of Caesar (the original Latin one, that is) rather sounds as if it were spelled with G at the front (g as in "good", not "gem") and not C, is you know what I mean. The C in Cicero sound closer to a K in my ears than the C in Caesar. Do I have to wash my ears?

[@polyMATHY_Luke]

Glad you liked the video. Latin initial /k/ sound is not aspirated, but it is aspirated in English; since /g/ is not aspirated in either language, it’s natural for English speakers to interpret Latin initial /k/ as a /g/ sound.

[@jensraab2902]

@@polyMATHY_Luke I'm German but I think German /k/ is aspirated as well, now that you mention it. That's gonna be it, then. Looks like I _need_ to clean my ears! 😅 Thank you for the informative and incredibly fast answer. Very much appreciated! 😀

[@KalimbaJammer]

He said he's studying Old English... I wonder when we'll get something in that language on ScorpioMartianus...

[@gottfriedheumesser1994]

In the Second Vatican Council, it turned out that the non-English speaking attendants could hardly understand the English/US-American Latin of the attendants from there due to the vowel-shifted pronunciation. All others had little problem with mutual understanding.

[@andbene80]

It's amazing how Portuguese is much closer to the classical latin than to the eclesiastic one. Apart from the c (souding as k) the other pronunciation was quite close to Brazilian Portuguese, which also has those pitch signals.

[@danielsykes7558]

4:30 can y'all add ancient Sanskrit & classical Chinese? I know that's a significant ask, but would be so useful.

[@AthanasiosJapan]

I am really interested in Classical chinese with classical chinese pronunciation.

[@seanharbinger]

Practicing pronunciations like I'm going to experience time travel and get stuck there - again!

[@JonathanRossRogers]

Obviously, Socrates is pronounced "Sew crates." Bill and Ted were right!

[@seanbeadles7421]

3:01 what are these bo-ooks you speak of?

[@davidross2004]

The crossover that I didn’t know I needed until it happened. Also, those digs at Conan throughout the video? *Chef’s kiss* All in good fun, of course. I envy Conan’s height and girlishly small ankles. 🤣

How do we know? Because there has alway existed that kind person who doesn’t like how other people speak their language and, in ancient times they published books and wrote letters, instead of complaining on twitter.

[@duckeggcarbonara]

Unrelated but this is your most recent video and I've been meaning to ask you - have you read the Consolation of Philosophy in Latin, and could you rank its difficulty as a goal for comprehension?

[@kc8485]

Conan O'Brien would have his own name rendered as "Coonaawn Oh Bree-ann" in its original Irish...

[@johny16G]

I prepared my body in various ways, to watch this video