Scipio Africanus

Vanity | 28,DEC,2008 | Myself

[M.K. Borders]

Can anyone give the proper pronounciation for "Scipio", as in Scipio Africanus? Read the name for 40 years and have never heard it pronounced.

[cripplecreek]

Sheeeet man, them mugs was on.

[PGR88]

I once heard B.H. Liddell Hart, who I rank as one of the greatest military historians ever, pronounce it SKIP EE OH.

Liddell Hart wrote an entire book about Scipio Africanus.

[Larry Lucido]

Skipee Ki Yay, Africanus!

[tophat9000]

In the movie "Gladiator" it was pronounce Skip-pee-o

[fieldmarshaldj]

"I wanna toucha de -anus..."

[cripplecreek]

Speaking of gladiators. Do you like gladiator movies Tommy?

[Frank Sheed]

That movie kills me every time I watch it. It is beyond classic.

“Boy locked in refrigerator. Eats foot!”

Oy!

[JSteff]

“Latin is a dead language”

Uhmmm, what about legal profession and medical doctors? Look at some of those text books.

[Billthedrill]

I used to call him "Bob" until he gutted me with his gladius.

I got better.

[SIDENET]

Sheeeeet.

(golly)

[Bosco]

Dead in the sense that it's not spoken. Written, obviously.

From my Latin class: "Latin is a dead language. It killed the Romans, and now it is killing me."

I'll stand on my brother's assertion: we don't have an audio recording of a genuine Latin speaker. The audio recording assumption in my post was implied.

Any pronunciation can be correct within grammatical reason. Scipio could have a hard 'C' or a soft 'C'. Take your pick, no one can prove it otherwise.

It's somewhat ironic that we don't know what the language of one of the most powerful empires on earth (Rome) sounds like, but we do know the language of one of its most influential subjects (a Jewish carpenter) sounds like - Hebrew and Aramaic.

All the best.

[fieldmarshaldj]

3-Scipio ?

[Bosco]

Theoretically, 3-Cpio should know the correct pronunciation, but he's from the wrong galaxy. :)

Yes, I realize it's a play on Scipio...

[rmlew]

Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus has the proper pronunciation. However given his screen name, I thought he would not the obvious; you are using his cognomen (family name within clan) and agnomen (nickname, or in this case laudatory title_. His name was Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus. There is a second Scipio Africanus, Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Africanus Numantinus , the adoptive grandson of the first Scipio Africanus. The first was given the lauditory agnomen at the defeat of Carthage in the Second Punic War. The younger recieved it for defeating and then destroying Carthage in the Third Punic war.

(Somewhere, my grammar school Latin teacher is smiling.)

[Joe Marine 76]

“Latin is a dead language...”

“Latin, Latin dead as can be... Matter of fact it’s killing me.”

By the way, I got the second season of HBO’s “Rome” for Christmas!

[JRios1968]

Can anyone give the proper pronounciation for "Scipio", as in Scipio Africanus?

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus has the proper pronunciation. However given his screen name, I thought he would not the obvious; you are using his cognomen (family name within clan) and agnomen (nickname, or in this case laudatory title_. His name was Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus. There is a second Scipio Africanus, Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Africanus Numantinus , the adoptive grandson of the first Scipio Africanus. The first was given the lauditory agnomen at the defeat of Carthage in the Second Punic War. The younger recieved it for defeating and then destroying Carthage in the Third Punic war.

LOL!

One more thing to warn M.K. about. If you ever play that Rome:Total War game, don't go by what the game says about the names of the principals involved. There was no gens Scipii (which, if you pluralise Scipio, would actually be Scipiones anywise). As rmlew observed, the Scipiones were of the gens Cornelii. And also, there was no gens Brutii, either. Brutus was the cognomen of Marcus Junius Brutus (aka for a period of time as Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus), so his and the family's nomen would be Junii.

[JSteff]

“From my Latin class: “Latin is a dead language.”

My daughter had 7 years of Latin and loved it. Of course she got out of college, went in to the Navy as an officer, took the LSAT tests and passed them on the first try.

She said that Latin made the test easier for her.

[Bosco]

It's all about discipline, and studying Latin requires it.

Thank your daughter for her service to our country.