[45]
still it is one to be avoided, for we
have perverted the purity of language by our own
corruption, and there is no course left to us but to
give ground before the victorious advance of vice.
The same term is also applied in the cases where an
unfortunate collocation of words produces an obscene
suggestion. For example, in the phrase cum hominibus notis loqui, unless hominibus is placed between cum
and notis, we shall commit ourselves to a phrase
[p. 237]
which will require some apology, since the final letter
of the first syllable, which cannot be pronounced
without closing the lips, will force us either to pause
in a most unbecoming manner, or by assimilation to
the n which follows1 will produce a most objectionable suggestion.
1 i.e. pronouncing cunnotis.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.