The Proper Pronunciation of Certiorari

[Herb Stahlke]

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:

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> 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
>
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>
> 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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