On Love (Commentary on Plato's Symposium)

our Zeta, we must provide as best we can. But how this might be achieved, I do not see, because they have perhaps many more difficulties in their determination than hardness or diversity in pronunciation. Nevertheless, having recognized first without any controversy that, regarding the quality of the sounds, and in the mouth of each person, the sound of these words is one thing: Zanzara mosquito, Zefiro zephyr, Zibibbo raisin, Zotico boorish, and Zurlo state of excitement; and another thing is this of Zana basket, Zeppa wedge, Zio uncle, Zoccolo clog/hoof, and Zuta slender. Since the first is almost sweet and enervated, and as far as can be gathered from grammarians and the usage of our times, it is similar to that of the Hebrew Zain and the Latin and Greek Zeta. And the second, harsh and hard, is similar to the sound of another Hebrew Zeta called Zade, which, as Saint Jerome affirms, was not known to the Greeks or the Latins due to its harshness. We have judged it necessary to assign to each of the said sounds its own character, as has been done for the others. And for this reason, we have always observed writing sounds similar to Zefiro and Zanzara with this character of Z, open and wide; and Zana, Zoccolo, and Zima top/peak with this other, Z, square and narrow. And thus, besides satisfying the propriety of our pronunciation, the occasion has been removed