Latin Art/Literary Poetry & Literature

My question is about how to pronounce these words. I have been told they are "meijes" and "meidjai", but, since they are of latin origin, the "a" should be pronounced as in Apple, and the "u" as in cool. For the plural, the "gi" shoould be as in guitar.
I try to avoid the anglizicing of sounds of Latin origin: Latin does not sound the "a" as in May. Am I correct?