author

Frances E. (Frances Ellen) Lord

b. 1835

A classicist and early women’s-college professor, she wrote a practical 1894 guide to speaking Latin in its Roman style. Her work reflects both careful scholarship and the expanding academic world open to women in the late 19th century.

1 Audiobook

The Roman Pronunciation of Latin: Why We Use It and How to Use It

The Roman Pronunciation of Latin: Why We Use It and How to Use It

by Frances E. (Frances Ellen) Lord

About the author

Frances E. Lord, also listed in library records as Frances Ellen Lord and born in 1835, was a scholar of Latin best known for The Roman Pronunciation of Latin: Why We Use It and How to Use It (1894). The book presents a clear, usable case for Roman-style Latin pronunciation and was written for students and teachers as much as for specialists.

Contemporary and library sources identify her as a professor of Latin at Wellesley College, and a Wellesley history notes that she had previously taught at Vassar College before joining Wellesley’s early faculty. That places her among the relatively small group of women who were building serious academic careers in higher education in the decades after the Civil War.

Much of her surviving public reputation rests on that Latin handbook, which has remained accessible through major public-domain archives. Reliable biographical details beyond her birth year, teaching posts, and authorship are scarce in the sources I could confirm, so this portrait stays close to the record.