2. Letters standing for Consonants: B C D F G K L M N P Q R S T.
3. Letters standing sometimes for Vowels and sometimes for Consonants: I U.
Besides these there are:—
4. Letters standing for two Consonants: X Z.
5. H, which stands for a mere breathing, the English h.
On comparing the Latin alphabet with the English, it will be seen that neither W, nor J, nor V was found in the Latin alphabet.
The device of using J and V to distinguish the consonantal sounds of I and U from their vowel sounds, is not older than the sixteenth century A.D. And now J is no longer printed in the best editions, and in many V is given up too.
In this book, the consonantal sound of I will be distinguished from the vowel sound by a difference of type; while U u will be used for the vowel sound of U, and V v for the consonantal sound.[1] Thus we shall write Iuppiter Jupiter, iuga yokes, verba words.
§ 8. Pronunciation of the Latin Letters:—
1. Vowels. The vowels differed in pronunciation according as they were short or long. Thus the short e (written ĕ) in ĕs you-are was a different vowel sound from the long e (written ē) in ēs you-eat.
There were six vowels in Latin, pronounced nearly as follows :
| Latin Vowel. | English Sound. | |
| A | ă as in aha! | ā as bah! |
| E | ĕ as in met | ē as French é in état (E. state).[2] |
| I | ĭ as in skit | ī as ee in feet. |
| O | ŏ as in not | ō as French o in chose (E. note).[2] |
| U | ŭ as oo in wood | ū as oo in woo' d. |
| Y | as French u in lune. | |
2. Diphthongs. There were also six diphthongs: AE, AU, OE, EU, EI, UI—the last three being rarely used.
