I would like to know the Latin words for "read" and "write."  I have
searched various Latin translation sites, but since I have no prior
knowledge of Latin I am never sure if I have come up with the proper
congegation of the verbs.  I want to know "read" as in: "Read this
novel."  I want to know "write" as in: "Write a short story" or "Write
a novel."

Hello.

The word (and conjugation) that you want for "read" is "lege."

Examples:

"Read my lips. Labra lege."
source: Fun Latin
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/arch/omnibus.html

"Lege atque lacrima. Read 'em and weep"
source: Little Known Latin Phrases
http://hr.uoregon.edu/davidrl/latin.html

"Tolle, lege" / "Pick it up and read!"
source: tolle lege
http://dekart.f.bg.ac.yu/~vnedeljk/TL/
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The word (and conjugation) that you want for "write" is "scribe."

Examples:

"the chorus, in Latin, emphatically exhorts "Scribe! Scribe! (Write! Write!)"
source: Requiem for a Young Poet
http://homestudio.thing.net/revue/content/zimmermann4.htm

"scribe in buxo" / "Write it on box wood" 
source: The Aberdeen Bestiary Project
http://www.clues.abdn.ac.uk:8080/bestiary_old/alt/translat/trans80v.html

---------

search strategy:
my own knowledge of latin, plus searches:
lege, latin, read
"scribe write" latin
"write it", scribe, latin

I hope this helps.

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Request for Answer Clarification by nycrefugee-ga on 16 Apr 2004 14:23 PDT

Could I trouble you for the proper pronunciation of lege and scribe?

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Clarification of Answer by juggler-ga on 16 Apr 2004 14:44 PDT

scribe = "scree beh"
see:
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22scree+beh%22&btnG=Search

lege = "lay gay"
see:
Latin words & phrases
http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0769413.html
or
daily latin
http://www.zionluthac.org/Documents/dailyLatin-1.pdf

My question was answered quickly and was exactly what I asked for.  My
request for pronunciation was quickly followed up.  I love this
service!

Thank you for the tip.
-juggler

Yuck.  Germanic pronunciation.  As a good Catholic boy (now gone bad).
 I learned the Italianate pronunciation.  Scribe is about the same,
but I would pronounce lege as lay jay.

Nelson:
Germanic, eh?

Well, the "hard g" (as in "got") is considered the "classical"
pronunciation, and it's what's accepted by most academics.
http://www.luc.edu/faculty/jlong1/L131pron.htm
http://www.lingua.co.uk/latin/tour/pronunciation/letters/

You're right, though, that modern Italian would pronounce "ge" as
"jay."  And, yes, the ecclesiastical pronunciation closely follows
modern Italian.

Interestingly, there's a web page that suggests that "g" may have had
a "y" pronunciation in certain contexts.
http://www.lingua.co.uk/latin/tour/pronunciation/moog/