Concerning "Oedipus," Richard Pennycuick wrote:
>My professor of English pronounced it "Eedipus", a pronunciation I
>also heard from other lecturers and in radio broadcasts including from
>the BBC. I don't suggest that the BBC is necessarily the last word in
>Latin pronunciation, simply that it wasn't just an Australian oddity.
>The first time I heard "Eddipus" was in Tom Lehrer's wonderful "Oedipus
>Rex" . . . which led me to assume that it was an American pronunciation.
>I didn't study Latin at school but nonetheless, it seems strange that
>there are so many variants.
Of course the name Oedipus is Greek and should be pronounced something
like Oidipos.
Latin pronunciation by choirs can be an irritant, particularly the
pronunciation of the hard 'c' before a vowel.
Deryk Barker
Victoria Times Colonist