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Views from the Choir Loft

How To Hyphenate Latin Words

Jeff Ostrowski · February 13, 2014

“Where the best authorities differ so widely it would be absurd to pretend to offer a final solution.” — Fr. Adrian Fortescue (The Mass, 1912)


984 Puer Natus Est CLICK TO ENLARGE N THE ORDINARY FORM, there are Spoken Propers (for Masses without music) and Sung Propers. Sometimes they’re identical, sometimes not, and the same holds true for Latin hyphenation. There is “spoken” hyphenation (a.k.a. “written”) and “sung” hyphenation … and they’re not always the same.

Professor John F. Collins gives basic rules of syllabification in his Primer of Ecclesiastical Latin (CUA), but these are intended for “written” Latin. Even there, leeway exists, because ancient manuscripts divide words depending on spacing issues. Of course, going back even further, the words were all written together without any spaces!

For the Edmund Campion project (website), we spent hours studying hyphenation issues. I share some of our findings below. Fr. Xavier Lasance (†1946) is not always consistent. For instance, he sometimes writes FRU—CTÍFERA but in other places writes FRUC—TÍFERA. The following document explains what a “true error” is:

* *  Notes about the Translations for the Campion Missal

LET US CONSIDER the Latin word omni. Latin grammarians say it should be broken as OM – NI. However, Pustet’s 1888 Breviary breaks it surprisingly as O — MNI   And in 99% the Solesmes books, it is divided as O – MNI for “sung” Latin. Any time Solesmes has “OMN” they divide it this way, e.g. O – MNIS. Perhaps they do this to help singers pronounce it correctly. It doesn’t appear to be a “French thing” since the 1953 German Graduale follows suit, e.g. O – MNI – BUS. However, for “written” Latin, the Solesmes Liber Usualis uses OM – NES.

Moving on, let’s consider how words like “SANCTE” are broken:

Official 1962 Missale Romanum:   SAN – CTE   •   SANC – TAM

Fr. Xavier Lasance:   SANC – TA

1975 Missale Romanum of Paul VI:   SANC – TAM

Solesmes Liber Usualis:   SAN – CTUÁRIUM   •   SAN – CTUM   •   SAN – CTO

Pothier’s Liber Gradualis (1884):   SAN – CTUS

You can see that each publisher follows his own policy. The most important thing is to be consistent. (You’ll notice the official 1962 Missal is not.) It would be fascinating to go through all the old books at the St. Jean de Lalande Library and see what different publishers did over the years. Feel free to add hyphenations from books you own in the combox. Here are some notable ones I found:

Fr. Lasance:   COG – NÓSCO   •   Solesmes:   CO – GNOVÍSTI   02   •   03 • 04

Solesmes 1942 Breviary: dixerámus = DI — XERAMUS instead of DIX — ERAMUS

Díxero and Dixérunt:   DI — XERO   not   Díx — ERO

Likewise:   DI — XERUNT   instead of   DIX — ERUNT :

Yet look at this:   “dixísti” is   DI — XISTI   whereas “Exeúnte” is   EX — EUNTE

Fr. Lasance:   FAC – TUM

Fr. Lasance:   SUS – CÉPTOR

Fr. Lasance:   PROP – TER

Fr. Lasance:   ACCÉP – TAM

Solesmes 1903 Manuale:   ACCÉ – PTA

Fr. Lasance:   CHRIS – TUS

Solesmes books:   EXSPÉ – CTANT

Most “sung” versions by the monks of Solesmes have OMNÍ – POT – ENS, yet the 1903 Solesmes Manuale has OMNÍPO – TENS

But others do not agree with Solesmes and write OMNI – PO – TENS

Similarly, the word potéstas is broken as POT – E – STAS not PO – TESTAS …… because they like to preserve TO BE (“estis”)

But for some reason, potéstas—normally broken as POT-E-STAS — in 1957 Solesmes does PO-TE-STAS which is remarkably inconsistent

Solesmes = “Excidístis” is broken as  EXCIDI — STIS instead of Excidis — tis

Most written versions prefer NOS-TRIS, yet the Solesmes 1903 Manuale has NO – STRUM

Solesmes:   ÉT – I – AM

Vatican Press:   DI – GNERIS   &   BAPTÍ – SMI

ABUNDANS = ab—UN—dans not   a—BUN-dans

Here are some more examples commonly found in “sung” Latin (as opposed to “written” Latin):

RED – EM – PTOR — not re-dem-ptor
O – MNES — not om-nes
Ó – MNI – A — not om-nia
SOL – E – MNI – TATEM — not so- LEM – nitatem solemnitatem
SIC – UT — not si-cut
NO – STRIS — not nos-tris
NO – STER — not nos-ter
NO – STRÓRUM — not NOS – trórum

806 Nostri

PRO – PTER — not prop-ter
A – GNO — not ag-no
SAN – CTO — not sanc-to
Ó – PTI – ME — not óp-time
PENTECÓ – STES — not Pentecos-tes
SE – CUS — not sec-us
Á – SPERO — not ás – pe – ro
DILE — XISTI not “dilex — isti” … same for words like abstraxísti, which would be abstra­ — xísti
EX – ÉR – CITUS — not e-xercitus
VE – XIL – LA — not vex-il-la
RESPE – XIT — not respex-it (but one book has “e-xultavit”)
DI – XIT — not dix-it
OB – UMBRÁBIT — not o – bumbrabit
RED – EM – PTIÓNEM — not Re-demp-ti-onem
RED – ÉMIT — not re-demit
yet Solesmes has RE – DEMIT and RE – DEMIT
AD – ORÉMUS — a-doremus
PROTE – CTÓ – REM — not protec-to-rem
RE – CTAE — not rec-tae
RED-IMENDUM not Re-Di-Men-Dum
NO – CTÚR – NO — not noc-túr-no
TE – STA – MÉNTUM — not tes-ta-mentum
IN – I – QUITÁTES — not i-niquitates but Solesmes & NOH like I – NI – micítias
SE – PTE – NÁRIUM — not sep-tenárium
POT – ENTÁTUI — not po-tentatui
CONSPÉ – CTU — not conspec-tu
SO – MNUM — not som – num
DI – GNISSIMA — not dig-nissima
CO – GNOVI — (but written is usually cog-novi)
GÉ – NITRIX — not Gen-i-trix
I – PSÍ – US — not ip-sius
SEMET – Í – PSUM — not seme-tip-sum
Í – PSE — not íp – se
But … semetipso has IP — SO   not   I — PSO
CAE – LE – STIS — not caeles-tis
SUS – CIPE — not su-scipe — see also Suscepísti
TEM – PLO — not temp-lo
VEL – UT — not ve-lut
E – STO — not es-to
E – RIT — not er-it
PA – TER — not Pat-er
PRO – PTÉ – REA — not prop-terea
BENEDÍ – XIT — not benedix-it
MANSU – E – TÚDINEM — not mansu-et-udinem
DEX – TERA — not de-xtera
PERMAN – SÍ – STI — not perman-sis-ti
NO – VÍS – SIME — not nov-issime
DI – É – BUS — not di-eb-us
FE – LIX — not fel-ix
BASILI – SCUM — not ba – si – lis – cum ??
CRUCIFÍ – XUS — not crucifix-us
EX – ÉR – CITUS — not e-xer-citus
SCRI – BÉN – TIS — not scribe-ntis
JU – STUM — not jus-tum
ERU – CTÁVIT — (but written is usually eruc-tavit)
RE – GNUM — (but written is usually reg-num)
ACCÉ – PTAM — (but written is usually accep-tam)
MINI – STRÓ – RUM — not minis-trorum

As you can see, sometimes numerous ways of syllabification are acceptable in Latin.

Finally, watch out for “compound” word that have actual Latin words in them, like:

IN – I – MI – CUS — not i-ni-micus

and PER – I – BUNT — not pe-ri-bunt

190 inimicus

Yet we saw how “noster” was treated …


By the way, look how “victoriam” is treated:

165 victoriam

Why do they do I – nimícis but at the same time IN – íquo :

804 eripe

NA – SCE –TUR   not   NAS – CE – TUR ——— and RE – GNUM   not   REG – NUM :

805 Hyphenate

HO- SPES   not   HOS – PES

770 hyphen

SOLESMES MONASTERY is inconsistent, when you look at the word ENUTRIET :

634 enutriet 1955
635 enutriet 1926

OBLIVISCERIS is broken as obli – vi – scé -ris :

614 oblivisceri

SUSCIPE is done SUS – CI – PE not su – SCI – pe as shown by Solesmes 1957:

609 suscipe hyphenation
 

541 castos
 

474 Latin Hyphenation
 

This one has many remarkable hyphenations for Latin words:

460 Hyphen Latin
 

How would you break “obliviscáris” ?

(1) O – BLI – VI – SCA – RIS ?   or:   (2) OB – LI – VI – SCA – RIS ?

The second one is the correct one. Ob is a preposition and therefore not separated. SC always goes together, e.g. in scientia, etc. Cf. Introit for Sexagesima Sunday in Liber: ob-li-vi-sce-ris.

 


Look how different folks treat “vespertinum” :

244 vespertinum
 

SUSCIPE:

371 suscipe
 

769 sustinebit hyphen
 

For Adorate it is “AD—O—RATE” not a—do—rate

85462 adorate
 

 

80969 sperabo

 

 

Transíbunt (“transibunt”) is done   TRANS—i   not   TRAN—SI

 

 

80757 trans

 

 

HYMNUS HYMNORUM hym-nus

DICTO = DI—CTO

but Omnipotenti = Omnipo—tenti instead of Omnipot—enti

Temetípsum + Déstruis   TEMET — IPSUM     DE — STRUIS

Strange hyphens in Dom Hugle SANCTI VENITE:

Adscriptam   =   Adscri — ptam         not Adscrip — tam

SEPTENARIUM   •   SE — PTE — NARIUM

Pustet: Dexteram — Pustet: Vesperam — Pustet: exiens — Redempti — Pustet: Casta

Words with “x” such as “dixit” and “confixére”

SEDIBUS = Sé — dibus   not Séd – ibus

RED – EMIT vs. RE – DEMIT redémit

OMNIA OM-NI-A vs. O-MNI-A

Saint Basil Hymnal (“sanc-to”):

Períret órbis (1932 Grenoble)

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: How to hyphenate Latin syllables, Latin Last Updated: August 30, 2023

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About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

    Schola Director Posts ‘Live’ Recording
    As I explained in my article posted earlier today, Nun Komm Der Heiden Heiland is actually a Catholic tune (in spite of what some have claimed). The volunteer choir I direct sang that beautiful ADVENT melody last Sunday, and I invite you to listen to the live recording. It will get better the more we sing it.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Message from the Vice-President!
    The Vice-President of the Church Music Association of America, Dr. Horst Buchholz (who also serves as Director of Sacred Music for the Archdiocese of Detroit) sent us an email yesterday regarding the harmonizations (PDF) I composed for the Gregorian Chant psalm tones. Dr. Buchholz says: “Those settings are absolutely exquisite, as I'm used to when it comes from you. Bravo! Well done! Now, as a sequel, if you could write something for accompanying psalms in English that would be awesome.”
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Requesting Our Advent Eucharistic Hymn
    A young lady named Agnes wrote to us: “Dear Mr. Ostrowski, do you have the PDF score for Ave Corpus Domini set to the ADVENT melody? Last year, we sang the hymn tune “Nun Komm der Heiden Heiland” quite a bit using your contrafactum technique. My choir appreciates the Latin hymns and practice videos, especially in the ADVENT and CHRISTMAS seasons. Your recent article on Gregorian Psalm Tones is a great help to my organist brother, and reminds us of attending VESPERS years ago when we lived in California. Thank you so much for all the effort put into providing these wonderful resources!”   Agnes, if you are listening! Yes, the PDF file you desire can be downloaded for free at the Brébeuf Portal via this URL link. Thanks for writing to us!
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

And since it is becoming that holy things be administered in a holy manner, and of all things this sacrifice is the most holy, the Catholic Church, to the end that it might be worthily and reverently offered and received, instituted many centuries ago the holy canon, which is so free from error that it contains nothing that does not in the highest degree savor of a certain holiness and piety and raise up to God the minds of those who offer.

— Council of Trent (1562)

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