What do units say?

[Foot]

Yeah, Cicero likes doing that, but since the mod takes place before Cicero...

Well as it takes place before cicero, then the single -i for the gen. sg. in nouns must have been the one in use, which would suggest current pronunciation to be correct. But then, this doesn't say anything about the nom. pl., which is what we are talking about, so the quote didn't actually help at all.

Foot

[MeinPanzer]

I have a similar question about the pronunciation of "Strategou" by some units. They pronounce it "STRA-te-GO-U" with the final omicron and upsilon pronounced seperately. Was the diphthong "ou" not pronounced like the "oo" in boot? My "Greek: An Intensive Course" handbook says so, and the "ou" sound was transliterated into Latin as "u" (hence "mousa" becomes "muse"). Is there a reason that it is pronounced this way?

[Teleklos Archelaou]

It does sound like it was drawn out a little more than it should have been. It should be a dipthong.

[abou]

Well as it takes place before cicero, then the single -i for the gen. sg. in nouns must have been the one in use, which would suggest current pronunciation to be correct. But then, this doesn't say anything about the nom. pl., which is what we are talking about, so the quote didn't actually help at all.

Foot

Not necessarily. Wheelock says through the Ciceronian era, but I wouldn't say that is indicative of the era before - unless that is the meaning of "through" - as in, from earlier Latin through to the Ciceronian era up until Augustan changes.

Cicero is also fond of syncophe in verbs so I could see an extension of such a fondness to use the option of just -i rather than -ii. Unfortunately, Vox Latina doesn't seem to have anything on this particular subject, but there are other books I can take a look at next time I'm on campus. But also, as you said, nom. pl isn't the same as gen sin.

[O'ETAIPOS]

Abou, the "wrong" pronounciation of auxilia units, like equites hispanorum was made, I think, on purpose - those guys are not native speakers so they are not expected to speak latin super well.

[abou]

Yeah, I thought about that, but I figured that auxiliary units would be under the command of a native Roman officer, who would be shouting the responses