Pronuncer

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who announces, utters, or formally declares a word, verdict, or judgment aloud
2. Someone who speaks out a statement or decision publicly, giving it its official spoken form
3. The individual who articulates or proclaims a particular sound, word, or ruling in a formal manner

Etymology: The root is a messenger. Latin "nuntius" meant a messenger or bearer of news, and "nuntiare" meant to report or announce. "Pronuntiare" added "pro-", forward or publicly, so it meant to proclaim something aloud before others. The same messenger stands behind "announce", "denounce", and "nuncio", the papal ambassador. The idea of a formal public declaration passed into Old French as "prononcier" and then into English as "pronounce". Only gradually did the verb narrow to speaking sounds, the sense most modern speakers hear first. Pronuncer is "pronounce" with the agent suffix "-er" added, so it names one who declares or proclaims. Its spelling keeps the "-nunc-" form from the Latin and French, while "pronouncer", with the "o", is the more common spelling today.