You finally made me do it!

Proud to be a member of the dark side I am not for to follow rules even I myself created I can not.

The rules of pronunciation commonly thrown about by the pedant class tend to favor 19th century ideas of correctness based on 1st century texts. Whether your using them would make you more understandable to the man on the street several centuries either way is another matter altogether. The only coin dealers who would be impressed would be the ones wearing suits. My only degree was in Latin and Greek. The first and best thing I learned was that however I was pronouncing anything was almost certainly wrong. Who can say EU?

 

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Continuing the pronunciation discussion, Wayne Sayles has a few helpful pages in his book, Ancient Coin Collecting, 2nd edition, pages 266-271. I've touted his books before and will do so again: they really are a great introduction to ancient coin collecting. In addition to the general book, he has volumes for Roman Provincial, Greek, and other eras.

I hope it is not a violation to post pictures of his pronunciation pages. Despite having browsed the list, I'll probably continue to pronounce some of the words differently.

 

ooops *edit*



... you rock, Mentor (originally, I thought that you'd made a grammar mistake, but when I re-read it I realized that I'm still the novice!!)



=> your and you're ... be careful my son (the candle burns the fool who does not see the answer!!)

 

Now I know I get laughed at, and not behind my back either. They'll be laughing in my face when I reach in my pocket and pull out the pronunciation list TIF posted and still get it wrong. Great list, it will help. For Ancients, just call me Grasshopper.

 

Nah, I bet most people (Americans, at least) don't stick to all of those general rules described by Sayles. I just don't like pronouncing "u" as "oo", such as KRIS-POOS for Crispus. I'm going to stick with KRIS-PUHS ... unless everyone I'm with is pronouncing "u" as "oo", in which case I'll do so too.

 

me two

 

For me, being spanish my native tongue and a "romance tongue" (derived from latin, that is) I found quite easy to pronounce latin or greek. However, academic knowledge or even amateur ancient stuff is in english, so many times I found myself repeating same mistakes as you, "anglo speakers"

 

*oops*

 

please delete

 

Que bueno encontrar otro hablante de español aquí (soy segundo- generation en EE.UU). ¿De que país es usted?

 

Very nice coin Collecting Nut. I like it muchly.

I got this one from Lost Dutchman (dealer & member at CT). I need to take better photographs as the coin looks quite different in hand under my normal illumination.



Sasanian Empire, Tabaristan
Khusro II,
AR Tabaristan Drachm
The coin is dated PYE 137 (Post Yazdgard Era) or 789 AD
1.93 grams, 23 mm
Obv: Crowned bust of Shah Khusro II
Rev: Zoroastrian Fire altar with two attendants
Grade: aEF as struck with some peripheral areas of weakness on the large thin planchet. Beginning to re-tone.
Other: Khusro II “The Victorious" was the last great king of the Sasanian Empire, & the son of Hormizd IV. Tabaristan is at the southern coast of the Caspian Sea in modern day northern Iran. One Tabaristan Dirham = ½ Arab-Sassanid Drachm. From Lost Dutchman Coins October 2013.

I originally thought that this coin was dated 150 years earlier (due to Khusro II). However, it was explained to me at CT that it is much like if a Roosevelt dime was reissued in 2145.

I look forward to seeing your ancient coin posts.

 

Hi, Valiant, I am from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

 

@Collect89 Your coin is actually an Islamic issue of the 'Abbasid governors of Tabaristan. The Sasanian empire had been extinguished more than a century earlier, as indicated by the PYE date. Although partly obscured, I read 135 rather than 137. The date is to the left of the fire altar. Although your coin is anonymous with the Pahlavi word AFZWT ("be it increased") replacing the name of the governor, the names Mihran and Jarir are sometimes found on coins of this date.