The Proper Pronunciation of Certiorari

[Benjamin Barrett]

That's one of the confounding issues. I know someone who claims to pronounce Cicero with the k sounds, and I used to claim to my niece that I pronounced triceratops with a k sound, but I was lying. BB

On Jun 24, 2014, at 10:45 AM, Herb Stahlke <hfwstahlke at GMAIL.COM> wrote:

> The second pronunciation in the list suggest a justice who remembers
> his/her Church Latin pronunciation.
> 
> 
> 
> On Tue, Jun 24, 2014 at 1:34 PM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: The Proper Pronunciation of Certiorari
>> 
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> Black's gives
>> 
>> 's=C9=99rsh(iy)=C9=99r'eray
>> 's=C9=99rsh=C9=99r'eriy
>> 
>> but I have never really trusted that for pronunciation.
>> 
>> I think this word falls into a group of a large number of Latin- and =
>> Greek-derived words for which there is no standard pronunciation because =
>> they're not said often enough. Clade names are often impossible to =
>> figure out.
>> 
>> Benjamin Barrett
>> Formerly of Seattle, WA
>> 
>> Learn Ainu! https://sites.google.com/site/aynuitak1/videos
>> 
>> On Jun 24, 2014, at 8:58 AM, Baker, John <JBAKER at STRADLEY.COM> wrote:
>> 
>>> =20
>>>               "Certiorari" refers to the Supreme Court's writ of =
>> certiora=3D
>>> ri, a key step in the consideration of the large majority of cases =
>> that the=3D
>>> court considers.  It is central to Supreme Court practice and part of =
>> the =3D
>>> vocabulary of every American lawyer.  But how should the word be =
>> pronounced=3D
>>> ?  It is Law Latin and was never used in classical periods, and there =
>> is ge=3D
>>> neral agreement that an anglicized pronunciation is appropriate, but =
>> the ag=3D
>>> reement stops there.
>>> =20
>>>               It turns out that the Supreme Court Justices themselves =
>> hav=3D
>>> e no agreement on this point.  A recent article in The Green Bag, =
>> which cal=3D
>>> ls itself "an entertaining journal of law," counts a variety of =
>> pronunciati=3D
>>> ons used by Justices in formal settings, where they presumably had =
>> time to =3D
>>> think about the pronunciation they wanted to use:
>>> =20
>>> ser-shee-or-RAHR-ee
>>> sert-zee-or-RAHR-ee
>>> ser-shee-or-RARE-eye
>>> ser-shee-or-RARE-ee
>>> ser-shee-or-ARR-eye
>>> ser-shee-ARR-ee
>>> =20
>>>               On its face, this might seem to suggest that common =
>> pronunc=3D
>>> iations are superfluous, if a word's pronunciation can be as variable =
>> as sp=3D
>>> ellings were five centuries ago.  But there is another approach taken =
>> by tw=3D
>>> o Justices, who always pronounce it "cert" (i.e., "sert") in informal =
>> conte=3D
>>> xts and "review" in more formal settings.  Apparently they, at least, =
>> feel =3D
>>> discomfort with a word that does not have a standard pronunciation.
>>> =20
>>>               The article is at =
>> http://www.greenbag.org/v17n3/v17n3_artic=3D
>>> les_duane.pdf.
>>> =20

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