vowel before 1 is Ŏ or u, not I or ě, as before n &c. (§ 176. 2). So remains before two consonants (§ 234. 3. b). 2. Consonants are affected by the Consonants following; e.g. scribtus is changed to scriptus, the pronunciation being script-tus, not scrib-tus or scri-bdus. (Even in the few cases where a consonant is affected by the preceding consonant, the combination of the two (or more consonants) in the same syllable is presumed; e.g. dividtum could not have been divid-tum or it would not have become divissum or divïsum). 3. A syllable with a short vowel is treated as long, if two consonants follow the vowel. This means that though the vowel is short, the aggregation of consonants occupies as much time in pronouncing, as if the vowel were long. The exception to this rule of prosody, which a mute and liquid form, is in accordance with the principle of division of syllables; e. g. patris cannot be divided into patr-ris but into pat-tris (where the double t represents not twice t but the two halves of one t, §§ 9. 15). 4. A vowel is often lengthened to compensate for the extrusion of a consonant following (§ 35). The consonant must therefore belong to the preceding vowel, or that vowel could not be entitled to the compensation. The so-called compensation is in truth a natural phonetic effect of the effort to pronounce a difficult combination of letters. The division of syllables in writing, which is found in inscrip- 274 tions of the eighth and ninth centuries U.C. and the MSS. of the fourth or fifth century after Christ1 or earlier (if any), is (though not quite invariably) as follows: 1. Where a single consonant is between two vowels the division is before it; e.g. dede | rit, protu | lerint, publice, ma | num, &c. 2. Where two consonants come together the division is between them; e.g. optima, responsum, ig | nota, præs | to, tran | sisse, &c. 3. Where three consonants come together the division is after the first two, unless the second and third be a mute and liquid, in which case the division is before both; e. g. Vols ci, abs cedimus, conspexisset, obstinati, Quinctius, cuncta; instructo, castris, postremo. 4. The letter x is treated as a single consonant; e.g. eni | xa, dixit, pro | xumus. 1 See Mommsen, Livi Cod. Veron. p. 163–166. Mon. Ancyr. p. 145. Stadtrecht d. Salpensa, &c. p. 505. (It is obvious that if the division in pronunciation takes place in the middle of a consonant, the writing cannot mark this accurately. That the preference was given to the second half of the consonant is no doubt due to the fact, that in the case of p, k, t the distinctive power of the sound consists entirely, and in b, g, d considerably, in the slight puff or explosion which follows the separation of the organs (cf. § 57). When three consonants occur together, the writing conforms better to what is above shewn to have been the pronunciation.) The early inscriptions avoided division of a word altogether. Augustus (Suet. Aug. 87) wrote the superabundant letters over or under the word. MSS. in the sixth century (e.g. the Florentine MS. of the Digest) began to follow Priscian's rules, which were borrowed from the Greeks; e.g. perfectus, ignominia, &c. CHAPTER XII. QUANTITY OF SYLLABLES1. THAT part of grammar which treats of the Quantity of Sylla- 275 bles is often called Prosody, a term which the ancients applied principally to accentuation. If the voice dwells upon a syllable in pronouncing it, it is called a long syllable: if it passes rapidly over it, it is called a short syllable. Long syllables are marked in grammars by a straight line over the vowel: thus, aūdī. Short syllables are marked by a curved line over the vowel: thus, regě. Two short syllables are considered to occupy the same time as one long syllable. A syllable is long or short, either because it contains a vowel naturally long or short; or on account of the position of its vowel. 1 Much use in this chapter has been made of Luc. Müller's De re metrica. i. Quantity of vowels not in the last syllable of 276 a word. I. All diphthongs are long (except before another vowel); e.g. aurum; deinde; &c. 2. All vowels which have originated from contraction are long; e.g. cōgo for co-ǎgo, mōmentum for movimentum, tibicen for tibil-cen; &c. 3. The quantity of the radical syllables of a word is generally preserved in composition or derivation, even when the vowel is changed; e.g. māter, māternus; cădo, incido; caedo, incido; ǎmo, ǎmor, ǎmicus, inimicus; &c. Some exceptions will be found under the several vowels, and as regards red and prod (pro), under D (§ 160. 7, 8). So also almost always where the members of a compound word may be treated as separate words, as quapropter, mēcum, aliōqui, agricultura. But we have siquidem and quandoquidem (from sī and quando); and for the compounds of ubi, ibi, see § 243. 31. For the quantity of root vowels no rule can be given. The quantity of inflexional or derivative affixes is given in Books II. III. Greek words usually retain in Latin their own quantity. ii. Quantity of vowels in the last syllable of a word. (A) Monosyllables are long. Except (a) The enclitics quě, ně, vě, which are always appended to other words. (b) Words ending with b, d, t; e.g. ǎb, süb, Ŏb; ăd, Id; ăt, ět, tot, fiět, dǎt; &c. pol, also (c) és (thou art), făc, lắc, něc, fël, měl, věl, ăn, in, fër, për, těr, vir, cor, quis (nom. sing.), Is, bis, cis, Ŏs (a bone). The monosyllablεnom. masculine hic is not frequently short. in m as rum tc (B) In polysyllables. 1. a and e (and Greek ) final are short. 277 278 Except a in (a) Abl. sing. of nouns with a- stem; e. g. musă. (b) Imperative sing. act. of verbs with a- stem; e.g. amă. (d) Greek vocatives from nominatives in as; e. g. Aenea, Pallä: and Greek nom. sing. of a- stems; e. g. Electrā. Čf. §§ 472. 473. Except e in (a) Gen. dat. abl. sing. of nouns with e- stems; e.g. faciē; so also hodie. (b) Imperative sing. act. of verbs with e- stems; e.g. monē; but in cave (Hor. Ov.), and vide (Phædr. Pers.) it is sometimes short (§ 233. 4). (c) Adverbs from adjectives; with o- stems; e.g. doctě, to which add fĕrē, fermē, ohē; but beně, malě, inferně, superně; těměre is only found before a vowel. Mactě, probably an adverb, also has e short. (d) Greek neut. pl.; e.g. tempē, pelagē; fem. sing. crambẽ, Circe; masc. voc. Alcidē. (a) mihi, tibi, sibi, ubí, ibi, in which 1 is common, and quăsă, nisi. (See § 243. 3.) (b) Greek nom. acc. neuters sing.; e.g. sinapi: vocatives; e.g. Pari, Amarylli: rarely dat. sing. Minoidi. Except Ŏ in (a) citò, immŏ, modo (and compounds), duo, egð, cědŏ and endo (old form of in). Rarely ergo. Martial, Juvenal, &c., have intră, porrò, serð, octŏ, &c.; modo has sometimes final o long in Lucretius and earlier poets. (b) In the present tense of the verbs scio, nescio, puto, volo, used parenthetically, o is sometimes short: and occasionally in and. after the Augustan age in other verbs with short penult; e.g.. rogo, veto, nuntio, obsecrŎ. Instances of other parts of the verb or of long penults are rarer; e.g. esto, cædito, oderò, dabŏ, tendo, tollo, credo. quando. (c) In Nominatives of Proper names with consonant stems ǎ is common, e.g. Pollio, Scipio, Curio, Naso; sometimes virgð, nemo, homo, and other appellatives in Martial, Juvenal, &c. 3. Datives and ablatives in o are never short, except the ablative gerund once or twice in Juvenal and Seneca. Final syllables ending in any other single conso- 282 nant than 8 are short. But the final syllable is long in (a) all cases of illic, istic, except the nom. masc. (b) all compounds of pār, e.g. dispār, compăr. (c) alec, liēn. (d) lit, petiit, and their compounds (and of course ît, petît as contracted perfects). (e) some Greek nominatives in -er; e.g. crater, character, aër, æther; and some cases in -n; e. g. sirën (nom.), Enean (acc.), Eucliden (acc.), epigrammatōn (gen. pl.); &c. 4. Of the final syllables in s, Except 5. as, os, es, are long. (a) ǎnǎs (probably); compos, impŏs; pěněs. (b) nom. sing. in -es of nouns with consonant stems, which have ětis, Itis, Idis, in genitive, e. g. sěgěs, mīlēs, obses: but pariēs, abiēs, ariēs, Cerēs. (c) compounds of es (from sum), e.g. aběs. (d) some Greek words; e.g. Пlias (nom.), craterǎs (acc. pl.); Delos (n. sing.), Erinnyös, chlamydos (gen. sing.), arcades, cratērēs (nom. pl.); Cynosargēs (neut. s.). us and is are short. Except us in (a) gen. sing. and nom. and acc. plu. of nouns with -u stems. (b) nom. sing. of consonant nouns, when genitive singular has long penultimate, e.g. tellus (telluris), palūs (palūdis), virtus (virtutis). (c) some Greek names; Sapphus (gen. s.), Panthus (nom. s.). |