So...is it Caius...or Gaius?

[Darkside]

anybody know? Oh, and how do you pronounce the name Gnaeus (Cnaeus)?

[Niles Crane]

I imagine the G or C would be silent.

I prefer Gaius.

[Darkside]

as a side note, I love your sig!!!

moving on lol, were the letters interchangable? I would doubt if but of course I dont' know. I've seen Caesar written both Caius and Gaius (as I'm sure most of you have). Are there any other words besides the two names I've mentioned that share this oddity?

Bottom line: does anyone have any idea if Caesar's name was CAIUS or GAIUS? Were they pronounced the same in the name and are therefore interchangable? Is one right and the other incorrect? I have to admit this is a subtle question that has always been in the back of my mind. Does anyone have any thoughts upon the matter?

[Lysimachus]

From Wikipedia:

Gaius, sometimes spelled Caius, was a common Roman praenomen. It is abbreviated C.; the abbreviation goes back to before the Roman alphabet distinguished between C and G, probably from Etruscan Cae or Cai, meaning unknown. In classical times, the name was pronounced in three syllables, Gāius [ˈɡaː.i.us].


It is also possible that the use of C reflects the Greek letter Gamma.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaius

[Flavius Nevitta]

anybody know? Oh, and how do you pronounce the name Gnaeus (Cnaeus)?

C and G are the same letter originally, as others have stated (same as V and U are the same letter in Latin).

On your 2nd question:

Gnaeus is pronounced like Gaius just with an n after the G = Gnaius

ae=ai (in late times ae=e)

[torongill]

It's original form is Caius, it's pronounced ['ga:.i.us], meaning it's a three-syllable word in its classical Latin form. The vocative is "Gai", the "i" is short like the "y" in "guy".

[DAVIDE]

delete this

[Darkside]

I am familiar with the similarity between the letters V and U as we understand them. Thanks all for your informative replies!

Okay, one more question regarding latin grammar: let's say you have a word that has two V's in a row: does this change the pronunciation?

And regarding the Gnaeus question: so....that particular name is pronounced with the G audible? So...is it Ga-nai-us?

[DAVIDE]

Okay, one more question regarding latin grammar: let's say you have a word that has two V's in a row: does this change the pronunciation?

Group VV aka UU followed by consonant is pronounced wo, or with just as a singular u in the group QVV or GVV, where the first V is not syllable or uo where the two vowels are heard as two real vowels.. example: EQVVS pronounced ekwos or ekus. Even the writing according to ancient sources as Quintilian or Velius Longus, stated that group VV was also written as VO in all the Augustean era, the group QVV and consequently GVV in the first century AD had double writing as QVO pronounced as kwo and QVV pronounced ku.

And regarding the Gnaeus question: so....that particular name is pronounced with the G audible? So...is it Ga-nai-us?

G has the same sound as in "gay"