Pronouncing Latin names

[Leif]

Originally Posted by Fungus Ken

Interesting. I am aware that the French are very critical of the way we English pronounce Latin names but I don't think they have a monopoly on the correct pronunciation.

All the guides I have come across written in English on how to pronounce words beginning with p followed by a consonant say that the p is silent. As you know, this is standard in English in words such as pterosaur, pseudopod or pneumatic. The online guide listed in one of the posts above and the ABFG guide follow this approach for Latin names.

But chacun à son goût as they say in France.

Ken

The French are hard to ignore. Though it is worth making the effort. (Just a joke. I like the ones I've met.)

I would certainly not pronounce the p in the words you list. The collectors I have mixed with in the past - the Hants Fungus Recording Group - do pronounce the 'p' in Psittacina.

What with all the name changes, the identification of new species from old, and impossibility of pronouncing the damned names once they are identified, this is no hobby for the faint hearted.