Lodge name pronunciation

Dear Brethren

Following on from Friday's Beer Tasting, which was very enjoyable I might add, we had a discussion around ensuring the pronunciation of the lodge name was correct in preparation for the hopeful consecration ceremony of our new Lodge. To that end Stan and myself were tasked with seeking the answers.

I started by emailing WBro Bill Caswell, PGOrator, and WBro Mark Constant to see if either of them spoke Latin or knew someone who did as they are both very well connected. That led to some success with WBro Bil contacting Dr Viv Thomas and WBro Mark suggesting DGSec Graham Redman or WBro Richard Cory-Pearce.

Anyway, to cut a fairly long story short Dr Viv Thomas suggested the C at the beginning would be a hard C sound as in Cat or Car. WBro Richard went several steps further and I copy his reply below (I'm in awe of the extent of his knowledge):

Dear Reuben Hello; I'm Richard Cory-Pearce, Chaplain of Rahere Lodge, and I am writing in response to your enquiry, which has travelled via Mark Constant and John Hitchin, concerning the naming of a lodge in formation. As I take it from your message to Mark, the intending founders desire a name in Latin that is appropriate to its association with beer and brewing; highly commendable, if I may be permitted to observe. You mention Cervisiam as a possible name, in which you are pretty well on track but need a small piece of adjustment. Cervisiam is the accusative case of the Latin word meaning beer and, as such, it would not be the correct form for the intended purpose. What you need for the name of a lodge is the nominative singular case, namely cervisia; more fully explained, cervisia is a first declension feminine noun whose plural form is cervisiae.

You also ask about pronunciation and, again, are very nearly there. To try to explain it without causing confusion by ambiguity, I'll use some pretty well accepted, uncontentiously pronounced words for comparison.

There are two conventions for Latin pronunciation, namely the classical and the ecclesiastical. It is my personal view (and I believe one shared by Graham Redman) that, in general, the classical is to be preferred. By this convention, cervisia is pronounced, KERWISIER, that is to say KER as in curve and WISIER to rhyme with busier.

As for the suggested motto, the Latin is correct and my only suggestion is that, in pronouncing "fraternitas", you and your brethren emphasize the second syllable, not the last and say "ter", not "tare" or "tier". Similarly, the emphasis falls on the second syllable in "cervisia".

I hope this helps rather than hinders and wish you and your fellows all the best in your endeavours to found a lodge with such blissful associations. Yours, Richard

Therefore, we need to amend the name of the lodge to Cervisia and the pronunciation is Kerwisia, with the emphasis/inflection on the 'wis' part. I have found an online Latin pronunciation tool and here's is the link for you to hear the word as it should be: https://www.howtopronounce.com/latin/cervisia

Best wishes

S&F Reuben