Special Edition: OU Ceremony

The mark-up style I have used below is called "ecclesiastical style," and it is the style used to help people read aloud from the Latin breviary of the Roman Catholic Church. It emphasizes word stress, but it does not mark the quantity of the vowels. Just like in English, a Latin word with more than one syllable has one syllable that gets stressed, and you will see the stressed syllable marked in each word below. I have also put in a hard return to indicate the natural pauses in meaning.

Notes: There are no silent vowels in Latin, so every vowel is pronounced. In classical style, the "v" is like our "w" (as in: west), although pronouncing it like "v" is also fine. Other notes about classical style: the "g" is always hard (as in: go) and so is "c" (as in: cat), and "qu" is just like our "qu" (as in: queen). The diphthong "au" (in the words auctoritate and gaudeamus) is pronounced like our "ow" (as in: now).

At the bottom, I've also added a second version with the English translation so that it will not seem like mumbo-jumbo! Note that the word order is different in that version because English word order is very constrained compared to Latin.

You can listen to all four parts together at Soundcloud using this link.


Part 1:


Grátias ágo tíbi,
Dean Williams!
(Decáne Williams)


Part 2:


Ómnibus,
qui
hanc ámplam dignitátem académicam
consecúti sunt,
grátulor.


Part 3:


Auctoritáte
deláta míhi,
in vos
grádus doctórum
a decáno designátos
cónfero,


Part 4:


et vos
in ómnes potestátes
officiáque eórum
admítto.
Gaudeámus ígitur!


== WORD ORDER CHANGED ==

Grátias ágo tíbi, = I thank you,

Dean Williams!
(Decáne Williams) = Dean Williams

Grátulor = I congratulate

ómnibus = all (of you)

qui = who

consecúti sunt = have obtained

hanc ámplam dignitátem académicam. = this great academic rank.

Auctoritáte = By the authority

deláta míhi = given to me,

cónfero = I confer

in vos = on you

grádus doctórum = the doctoral degrees

a decáno designátos = assigned by the dean,

et admítto vos = and I welcome you

in ómnes potestátes = to all the rights

officiáque eórum. = and responsibilities of those (degrees).

Gaudeámus ígitur! = So let us rejoice!