A question for all you educated guys

[sussex blue]

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum - a phrase that we are all familiar with and one that I remember shouting during the first half on Saturday (admitedly followed by the words 'my arse !') as for the fifteenth time a Phil Neviile 'pass' ended up in the stands.

But my question is - how is the third word actually pronounced ?

Now I have thought all my life that it is pronounced with short 'i's, as in 'Nissi'. My Dad however (not a blue) believes that it should be pronounced with long 'i's as in NighSigh. He uses Decree Nisi as an example.

As my son has recently had the slogan tatooed down the inside of his left forearm the need to know how to pronounce it properly has become more important. He is already being asked by the un-chosen ones 'what's that written down your arm, mate?'

Any advice will be gratefully received.

And I make no apology for writing a post that did not include the names Moutinho, Milito, Bullard, Tiago, Smith, Fernandez, Arshavin, M'Bia etc ...................Doh !

 

[ottozara]

fantastic post.

the word is also quite heavily used in the legal world and being a lawyer you'd think i might have some idea. but the truth is that i have heard it pronounced a number ways by very learned people.

i have heard 'nighsigh', 'nissy', 'nighsee' and 'neesy'

as is the case with all classical languages there is scholarly arguments one way or another. i have heard the long 'i' and the short 'i' used by professors of law and classics, judges and other lawyers. it could be an australian thing but i doubt it.

for what its worth, i pronounce it as 'neesy'.

hope this helps

 

[billytoffee]

Latin Pronunciations

The following pronunciations apply to classical Latin
Letter - Pronuciation - example
a - ah - as in blah
e - eh - as in guest, or ay as in pay
i - ih - as in tin
o - oh - as in no
u - uh -as in put, or oo as in zoom
c - k - as in cat, never as in receive
v - w - as in wood, never a usual English 'v' sound
j - y - as in yahoo, never a usual English 'j' sound like jet
g - g - as in giggle, never with a 'j' sound
All other letters pronounced as in English

With this rule of thumb in mind it looks like the short i that you describe - the NihSih long i version is probably just some posh get trying to sound posh !

 

[Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian]

good point there sussex, i always thought nissi until you pointed out the decree nisi, we need some arl get who did latin at school.....COYNEY !!
someone must've done latin though who can tell us, try emailing mr ross and lets see what comes out of his fountain of knowledge, have you thought of contacting a priest ?
my bet is that we all say it wrong i.e. nissi
i wont sleep now, do you not have a talking translator thingy ?

 

[Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian]

fantastic post.

the word is also quite heavily used in the legal world and being a lawyer you'd think i might have some idea. but the truth is that i have heard it pronounced a number ways by very learned people.

i have heard 'nighsigh', 'nissy' and 'neesy'

as is the case with all classical languages there is scholarly arguments one way or another. i have heard the long 'i' and the short 'i' used by professors of law and classics, judges and other lawyers. it could be an australian thing but i doubt it.

for what its worth, i pronounce it as 'neesy'.

hope this helps

all answers invalid as australians cant even pronounce english correctly and kiwi's are even worse with their fosh and chops and awl blecks

and billy, i've read that a few times and i cant figure out wtf your saying there apart from the summing up at the end about a posh get. the other bit kind of merges and i dont know where k becomes v etc, tired eyes i expect.

 

[ottozara]

all answers invalid as australians cant even pronounce english correctly and kiwi's are even worse with their fosh and chops and awl blicks

please excuse me.

english translation: i entreat you to accept my heartfelt apologies which may or may not be, as the situation befits, and given the time of day, nay night, a profound revelation of my hitherto unknown ignorance of thine tongue.

 

[Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian]

please excuse me.

english translation: i entreat you to accept my heartfelt apologies which may or may not be, as the situation befits, and given the time of day, nay night, a profound revelation of my hitherto unknown ignorance of thine tongue.

is that shakespear ?

 

[billytoffee]

billy, i've read that a few times and i cant figure out wtf your saying there apart from the summing up at the end about a posh get. the other bit kind of merges and i dont know where k becomes v etc, tired eyes i expect.

Yes sorry about that - I did a cut & paste from a web site and the formatting went to [Poor language removed]- i've tried to tidy it up a bit !

 

[ottozara]

is that shakespear ?

no. just gibberish.

 

[ToffeeDan]

My guess is the correct pronunciation is Nee-sigh but we prefer Nissee!!

TD

 

[TsarDiniyar]

us evertonians as far as i know all say nissee, as long as we all say that that will dink dank do for me

 

[AndyGray]

I did latin (in Denmark...) and would pronounce it neesee....

My teacher was a swiss-italian lady.

 

[The Esk]

[FONT=Times New Roman,Times]In classical Latin, a vowel proceeded by one consonant is almost always short, therefore the correct pronunciation should be nissy

[/FONT]

 

[HalewoodBlue]

I did latin (in Denmark...) and would pronounce it neesee....

My teacher was a swiss-italian lady.

Thats the one i have always used

 

[Robin Sisland]

Let's ask a Latin American

There's probably an Everton 'contingent' buying up likely talent in Latin America as I type, we should aks them to check.