Unassimilated classical words

English contains classical words and phrases of two types:

1. (1) Those that have been assimilated into English, and have simply become English words: all the early borrowings, also most borrowings during and before the Renaissance and most scientific words coined recently from Latin and Greek bases. These words follow the phonological patterns of English, and frequently show semantic nativization (see Chapter 9, Section 2.3): abbot, circus, comet, cumulus, delta, demon, locus, psyche, tunic, system.

2. (2) Classical words that are either recognizably recent borrowings, or words and phrases fossilized in legal or scientific language. These words and phrases are commonly italicized in print: casus belli ‘reason for war’ (Lat. casus ‘case’ + belli, gen. of bellum ‘war’), panta rhei ‘everything is in flux,’ sensu stricto ‘in the strict sense,’ viva voce ‘with a living voice, by speaking.’ The OED editions prior to the current New Edition uses the parallel symbol ∥ for a “non-naturalized” or “alien” entry.

The bulk of this book has been concerned with the former group, the words of classical origin that are now fully assimilated into English, and this chapter will be no exception. Before turning to the main topic, however, it may be useful to deal with the second group and recount briefly how unassimilated classical words and phrases are pronounced in English.