Thomas Smith and the Advancement of Humanism in Cambridge

At the age of twenty-one Smith, together with his close friend and colleague at Queens’, John Cheke, introduced a new and controversial pronunciation of the Greek language. Based on a system where single letters expressed single sounds, their proposal built on Erasmus’ efforts to revive authentic pronunciation. Several years later their project was banned by Stephen Gardiner, then the Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. More than simply an academic stance, Cheke and Smith’s project was perceived as a dangerous political act that endeavoured to challenge accepted customs. Nevertheless, their pronunciation of Greek was taught in English schools until the end of the nineteenth century. In De recta et emendate linguae Graecae pronunciatione Smith defended his project against Gardiner’s ban, which he considered to be an attack on free speech.

Author: Thomas Smith
Title: De recta & emendata linguae Graecae pronuntiatione [On the correct and improved pronunciation of the Greek language] (Paris, 1568)
Shelfmark: U.4.8(1) (catalogue record)

U.4.8