Chapter II: Part 2

88. In a few words which have lost a syllable the accent is retained on the last syllable; such are (1.) compounds of the imperatives #dīc# and #dūc# (113): as, #ēdū́c#; (2.) nominatives of proper names in #-ās# and #-īs# for #-ātis# and #-ītis#: as, #Arpīnā́s#, for #Arpīnā́tis#; #Laenā́s#; #Maecēnā́s#; #Quirī́s#; #Samnī́s#; also #nostrā́s#, #vostrā́s#; (3.) words compounded with the abbreviated (113) enclitics #-c# for #-ce# and #-n# for #-ne#: as, #illī́c#; #tantṓn#; #audīstī́n# (for the shortening of the final syllable: as, #vidén#, _dost see?_, see 129); (4.) #audī́t#, contracted from #audīvit# (154, 893). The Latin grammarians prescribe the circumflex (90) for all these long syllables.

EARLIER RECESSIVE ACCENT.

89. In the preliterary period of the Latin language, the accent tended to go as far from the end of the word as possible (_recessive accent_). Thus, while the classical accentuation is #inimī́cus#, the older period accented #ínimīcus#. In literary Latin this early recessive accent has survived, only in Plautus’s accentuation of words of the form ⏑ ⏑ ⏑ ⏓ (proceleusmatic or fourth paeon, see 2521), in which he stresses the first syllable: as, #fácilius# (classical #facílius#); #vóluerat# (classical #volúerat#). But in many instances the early recessive accent may be traced in literary Latin by the phonetic changes which it produced (102 ff.).

90. MUSICAL ELEMENT. The native Latin grammarians slight the stress accentuation and pay much attention instead to the variations in pitch. But they are so greatly dependent on their Greek models that they are unsafe guides in this matter. It is, however, probable that a stressed vowel was uttered on a higher key (acute) than an unstressed vowel (grave), and that in certain syllables the long, accented vowel showed a rise and fall (circumflex): as, #illîc# (88).

91. The force of the Latin stress accent must have varied at different periods and in different localities, as it now varies in the Romance countries. The early recessive accent seems to have been fairly emphatic; but the stress in classical Latin was probably weak and the difference between accented and unaccented syllables was much less marked than it is in English.

PROCLITICS AND ENCLITICS.

92. #Proclitics# are unaccented words which are pronounced as a part of the following word; they are: (1.) The relative and indefinite pronouns and their derivatives; (2.) Prepositions.

(_a._) Thus, #quō diē#, pronounced #quōdíē#; #quī vīxit#, #quīvī́xit#; #genus unde Latīnum#, #génus undeLatī́num#. Similarly #quamdíū#, _as long as_; #iamdíū#, _this long time_. A distinction is thus made between the interrogative #quālis# (1526), which is accented, and the relative #quālis# (1831) which is proclitic (Quint. 1, 5, 26); cf. the English _who_, which is accented when interrogative, and proclitic when relative. (_b._) #circum lītora#, pronounced #circumlī́tora#; #ab ōrīs#, pronounced #abōrīs# (Quint. 1, 5, 27); in inscriptions and manuscripts prepositions are often united in writing with the following word. Phrases like #extemplō#, _suddenly_, #invicem# (94), _in turn_, are commonly written and accented as one word. But the preposition is accented when it is followed by a monosyllabic unemphatic (and therefore enclitic) personal pronoun: as, #ín mē#; #ábs tē# (but #abs tḗ#, if #tē# is emphatic). All prepositions used as adverbs (1402) have an independent accent.

93. ENCLITICS are words which have no accent of their own, but are pronounced as a part of the word preceding. This increase of the number of syllables produced certain accentual changes, all the details of which are not clear. When the enclitic was monosyllabic the place of the accent seems to have been determined as in 86; thus #vídēs#, but #vidḗsne#; #Látiō#, but #Latiṓque#. Again, when by the addition of a monosyllabic enclitic the accent falls on the fourth syllable from the end, a secondary (84, 85) accent was probably placed on the penult: as, #perī́cula#, but #perī́culàque#. The Roman grammarians agree, however, in demanding that everywhere the syllable preceding the enclitics #-que#, #-ne#, #-ve#, and #-ce# should be accented. In #deinde# and #subinde# there is authority for placing the accent on the first syllable.

Enclitics are: (1.) Unemphatic personal and indefinite pronouns: as, #in mē#, pronounced, #ínmē#; #dā mihi#, #dā́mihi#; #sīc tibi#, #sī́ctibi#; #sī quis#, #sī́quis#; #nē quid#, #nḗquid#. (2.) Verbs when used as auxiliaries: as, #possum# for #pót(e) sum# (752); #quī́ libet# (2401); #vidḗlicet#, #īlicet#, #scīlicet# (712); #quámvīs# (1903); the forms of #esse# in compound tenses (719), so that #est# is frequently combined, even in writing, with the preceding past participle (747). (3.) The particles #-ne# (#-n#), #-ve#, and #-ce# (#-c#): as, #satísne# or shortened #satín#; #Hyrcānīsve Arabī́sve#; #istī́ce# or shortened #istîc# (90), #adhûc# (90). (4.) The copulative conjunction #-que#: as, #Latiṓque#, #līmináque#. (5.) The preposition #cum# when it follows (1435) its case. (6.) The particle #quidem#: as, #sī quidem#, #síquidem# (131). (7.) Other enclitics are: #-met# (650): as, #egómet#; #-dem#: as, #ibídem#; #-nam#: as, #ubínam#; #-dum# (1573): as, #agédum#; #-inde#: as, #déinde#, #próinde# (which are disyllabic in verse), and #súbinde#; #-tum#; as, #etiámtum#; #-per#: as, #parúmper#; the vocative when it was closely joined to the preceding word, e.g. an imperative: as, #dī́c puer# (106).

94. Two words expressing what is really one single idea are often bound together by _one_ accent, one of them acting the part of either a proclitic or enclitic.

Thus, with the earlier recessive accent (89), #Iū́piter# (133; 389; originally a vocative which came to be used as nominative; for the change of #pater# to #piter# see 104); #ínvicem#, _in turn_; #dḗnuō# for #dḗ nóvō# (106); with the later, classical accent, #lēgislā́tor#, #paterfamíliās#, #orbisterrā́rum#, #extémplō#, #imprī́mīs#. When unemphatic #ille# and #iste# preceded their noun and had practically the value of our definite article they formed a unit with the following noun and thus the accent might fall on their last syllable: as, #illé pater#, #isté canis#. This use is particularly common in vulgar and late Latin (see 112).

[Erratum:
92a ... and proclitic when relative.
final . missing]

CHANGE OF SOUND.

(A.) VOWEL CHANGE.

CHANGE OF DIPHTHONGS IN ACCENTED SYLLABLES.

95. Of the six original diphthongs #au#, #ou#, #eu#, and #ai#, #oi#, #ei#, the only one which preserved its original sound in the classical period is #au#. Of the rest only #ae# (for older #ai#) and, in a few words, #oe# (for older #oi#) remained diphthongs; all the others had become monophthongs.

96. CHANGE OF #ai#. #ai# is common in inscriptions: as, AIDILIS, PRAITOR. Toward the end of the republic the two elements of the diphthong had been partially assimilated to #ae# (49): as, #aedīlis# (Quint. 1, 7, 18). This is its pronunciation in the classical period. Between 130 and 100 B.C. #ai# is displaced by #ae# in public documents; but the old-fashioned #ai# was often retained in private inscriptions. Still later the two elements completely converged to #ē#. In provincial Latin #ē# is found as early as 200 B.C.: as, CESVLA for CAESVLLA; in Rome itself the pronunciation ‘Cēcilius’ for #Caecilius#, and ‘#prētor#’ for #praetor# was derided as boorish; but by 71 A.D. #ae# was verging toward #ē# even in the court language: the coins of Vespasian have IVDEA as well as IVDAEA. In the 3d and 4th century A.D. #ē# became the prevalent sound.

97. CHANGE OF #au#. The diphthong #au#, which was preserved in educated speech, was changed to #ō# in rustic and colloquial pronunciation (see the anecdote related by Suetonius, _Vesp._ 22): as, #cōpō#, _innkeeper_, for #caupō#; #plōstrum# for #plaustrum# (_barge_), _cart_: #Clōdius# for #Claudius#. Some of these gained literary currency: as, #cōdex#, _book_, #caudex#, _block_; #fōcāle#, _neckcloth_, #faucēs#, _throat_. The form #sōdēs# (1572) for #si̭ audēs# = #sī audēs# (Cic. _O._ 154) is a colloquialism.

98. CHANGE OF #ei#. #ei# as a genuine diphthong is common in old inscriptions: as, SEI; SEIVE; ADEITVR; DEIXERVNT; FEIDA. In classical Latin it has passed into #ī#: thus, #sī#, _if_; #sīve#, _either_; #adītur#, _is approached_; #dīxērunt#, _they said_; fīda, _faithful_. An intermediate stage between the old diphthong #ei# and the classical #ī# was a very close (46) #ē#: as, PLOIRVME (465) for #plūrimī#; IOVRE (501, 507) for #iūrī#. For the orthographical use of #ei# as a spelling for the long #ī#-sound, see 29.

99. CHANGE OF #oi#. The development of #oi# was parallel to that of #ai#. It first passed into #oe#: as, COIRAVERVNT and COERAVERVNT, _they cared_; OITILE, _useful_, and OETI, _to use_; LOIDOS and LOEDOS, _play_,--all in old Latin. In classical Latin it has further been changed in accented syllables to #ū#: as, #cūrāvērunt#, #ūtile#, #ūtī#, #lūdus#. But #oe# was retained in classical Latin (1.) when a secondary diphthong (48), the result of contraction (120), and (2.) in a few words like #foedus#, _treaty_, perhaps as an archaizing, legal term; #foedus#, _ugly_; #poena#, _penalty_, perhaps through the influence of Greek ποινή (in the verb #pūnīre#, _to punish_, the regular #ū# appears); #proelium#, _skirmish_; #foetor#, _stench_; and #moenia#, _walls_, perhaps because there was a word #mūnia#, _services_. The connection of #nōn#, _not_, with #noenum# (455; 1444; 699) is difficult because of the unusual development of #oe# to #o#, for which the Praenestine form CORAVERONT is the only parallel.

100. CHANGE of #ou#. #ou#, found in inscriptions down to about 90 B.C., passed, in classical Latin, into #ū#: as, POVBLICOM, NOVNTIATA, IOVDEX; later #pūblicum#, _public_, #nūntiāta#, _notified_, #iūdex#, _judge_.

101. CHANGE OF #eu#. Primitive (48) #eu# appears in classical Latin only in the interjections #eu#, #heu#, #ē̆heu#, #heus#. Every other original #eu# had, even in old Latin, passed into #ou# and developed like the latter: as, #*neumen# (Greek νεῦμα) became first #*noumen#, then (100) #nūmen#. With the exceptions noted above, the diphthong #eu#, as it appears in Latin, is always of secondary origin (48), the result of the two vowels #e# and #u# meeting in composition: as, #neu#, _neither_, from #nē-ve#; #neutiquam#, from #nē# and #utiquam# (124).

WEAKENING IN UNACCENTED SYLLABLES.

102. The vowel of an unstressed (atonic) syllable is often weakened, changing its quantity or quality or both. This is especially the case in syllables immediately preceded by the chief accent (_posttonic syllables_). The following changes took place at an early period when Latin still possessed the old, recessive accent (89).

WEAKENING OF SIMPLE VOWELS IN MEDIAL SYLLABLES.

103. (_a._) ATONIC MEDIAL #e# before a single consonant was weakened (with the exceptions given under _b._) to #i#: as, #cólligō#, _collect_, from #legō#; #óbsideō#, _besiege_, from #sedeō#; #cértāminis#, _of the contest_, from #certāmen# (224); #flāminis#, from #flāmen# (470). And so probably #hic# (664) arose from #*hec# or #*hoc# (105, _g_) when used as proclitic (92). Before the labials #p#, #b#, #f#, and #m# this weakened sound was intermediate between #i# and #u# (28), and both spellings occur: as, #quadripēs# and #quadrupēs#, _four-footed_; #alimentum#, _nourishment_; #monumentum#, _monument_. The choice of #i# or #u# was probably governed by the quality of the stressed vowel in the preceding syllable: viz., #u# after #o# and #u#, and #i# after #a#, #e#, and #i#. But such distinction is only imperfectly maintained in classical Latin.

(_b._) But before two consonants, before #r#, before vowels, and after #i#, atonic #e# does not change: as, #lévāmentum# (224), but #lévāminis#, _of consolation_; #óbsessus# (but #óbsideō#), _possessed_; #sócietās#, _society_, from the stem #socie-# (but #nóvitās# from the stem #nove-#); #géneris#, _of the kind_; #ádeunt#, _they approach_.

104. (_c._) Atonic medial #a#, except in the cases mentioned below under (_d._), (_e._), and (_f._), was first weakened to #e# and then underwent the same changes as atonic medial #e# (103): as (before single consonants), #cṓnficiō#, _accomplish_, from #faciō#; #ī́nsiliō#, _jump in_, from #saliō# (1019); #rédditus#, _restored_, from #datus#; #trícipitem#, _three-headed_, from #*trícapitem# (#caput#), Cic. _O._ 159; #occiput#, _back of the head_, and #sinciput#, _jole_ (478). In compounds of #iaciō# (940), #-iaciō# is weakened in early Latin to #-ieciō# (as, #conieciō#, 940), but later to #-iciō# (as, #subiciō#). This last form may be due to syncope (111, _a_) of the radical #a#. The spelling #-iiciō# (as, #subiiciō#) is late and faulty (52). It does not occur in republican inscriptions and owes its origin to a confusion of the two forms #conieciō# and #coniciō#. (On the quantity of the vowel of the prepositions in these compounds of #iaciō#, see 122 _e_); (before #p#, #b#, #f#, #m#) #áccipiō#, _accept_, and #óccupō#, _occupy_, from #capiō#; #cóntubernālis#, _room-mate_, from #taberna#; #ábripiō#, _to snatch away_, from #rapiō#; (before two consonants) #pépercī#, _I have spared_, from #parcō#; #áccentus#, _accent_, from #cantus#; (before #r#) #péperī#, _I brought forth_, from #pariō#.

(_d._) But an #a# in the preceding syllable may protect the atonic #a#: as, #ádagiō#, #ádagium#, _proverb_, but #prṓdigium#, _miracle_ (144).

(_e._) Atonic medial #a# before the guttural nasal (62) #n# followed by #g# changed to #i# (138): as, #áttingō#, _touch_, from #tangō#.

(_f._) Atonic medial #a# before #l# followed by any consonant save #l# changed to #u# (both #l# and #u# being guttural, 60, 44): as, #éxsultāre#, _to leap up_, from #saltāre#; but #féfellī#, _I deceived_, from #fallō#.

105. (_g._) ATONIC MEDIAL #o#, when followed by a single consonant, first changed to #e# and then underwent all further changes of medial atonic #e#: as, #hóminis#, from #*homon-is# (485); #ímāginis#, for #*imāgonis#, 226 (nominative #imāgō#, 485); #cúpīdinis#, for #*cupīdonis#, 225, (nominative #cupīdō#, 485); #vírginis#, for #*virgonis# (nominative #virgō#, 470); #ī́licō#, from #*in-slocō#, _on the spot_ (169, 4).

(_h._) Before two consonants or before guttural #l# (60) atonic medial #o# changed to #u#: as, #éuntis#, from #*éontis# (Greek ἴοντος); #sēdulō#, from #sē dolō# (1417). But a preceding #v# or #u# protects #o# (107, _c_).

(_i._) Before #r#, atonic medial #o# was retained: as, #témporis#, _of time_; except when #u# in the preceding syllable induced a change to #u#: as, #fúlguris#, _of lightning_ (for the #-r# in the nominative singular #fulgur# instead of #-s#, see 154).

106. (_k._) Medial #-av-#, #-ov-#, and #-iv-# in posttonic syllables were weakened to #u#: as, #dḗnuō# from #dḗnovō# (94); #ábluō# from #ablavō#. The form #puer#, _boy_, arose from the older POVER in enclitic vocatives (93, 7) and was thence transferred to the nominative like #piter# in #Iūpiter# (94).

[Erratum:
105g ... #ī́licō#, from #*in-slocō#, _on the spot_ (169, 4)
(169, 6)]

WEAKENING OF SIMPLE VOWELS IN FINAL SYLLABLES.

107. (_a._) In final syllables unaccented original #e# before #s# and #t# was weakened to #i#: as, #salūtis#, _of safety_, from older #salūtes# (507).

(_b._) Final #i# became #e#: as, #ante# for #*anti# (Greek ἀντί and #anti-cipāre#); nominative singular #mare#, from the stem #mari-# (526).

(_c._) In final syllables #o# before consonants changed to #u# except when preceded by #u# or #v#: as, #fīlius#, _son_, for old Latin #fīlios# (452); #ferunt#, _they carry_, for older #feront#; #femur#, _thigh_, nomin. sg. from the stem #femor-# (489); #genus#, _kind_, for #*genos#, Greek γένος; but #vīvont#, _they live_; #salvom#, _safe_. Not long before the beginning of our era #o# here also changed to #u# and appears to have coalesced with the preceding #v# (Quint. 1, 7, 26): as, in inscriptions: INGENVS (nomin. sg.) for #ingenuos#; SERVM, _slave_ (acc. sg.), for #servom#; NOVM for #novom#, _something new_; so also #boum#, _oxen_ (gen. pl.), for #bovom# (494). But inasmuch as the majority of forms in the paradigms of these words retained their #v#, it was restored in most cases, by analogy, to the forms which had lost it: as, #servum# for #serum#, because of #servī#, #servō#, etc.; #vīvunt# for #vīunt#, because of #vīvō#, #vīvis#, #vīvit#, etc.

(_d._) When the stems #fac-# (#facere#, _do_), #cap-# (#capere#, _take_) appear as second members of compounds, their #a# changes in final syllables to #e#: as, #artifex#, _artisan_; #auceps#, _bird-catcher_. After the analogy of these words, compounds with #dīcere# and #īre# have #e# in the nom. sg.: as, #iūdex#, #iūdicis#, _judge_ (from #iūs# and #dīcere#); #comes#, _companion_ (from #com#, _with_, and #īre#); see 136, 2.

[Errata:
107 (_b._) Final #i# became #e#
(_b_)
107c ... INGENVS (nomin. sg.) for #ingenuos#
. after sg. invisible]

WEAKENING OF DIPHTHONGS IN UNACCENTED SYLLABLES.

108. Diphthongs, whether medial or final, are treated alike in atonic syllables.

(_a._) Atonic #ei#, #oi#, and #ai# (#ae#) became #ī#: as, #lupī#, _wolves_ (nom. pl.), for #*lupoi# (Gr. λύκοι); #bellī#, _in war_ (loc. sg., 460, 1338), for #*bellei# (Greek οἴκει) or #*belloi# (Greek οἴκοι); #éxīstimō#, _I consider_, from #aestimō#; #cóncīdō#, _I strike down_, from #caedō#; Cicero, _O._ 159, mentions #inīcum#, _unfair_, for #*ínaecum#, and #concīsum# for #*cóncaesum#; so also, probably, #hīc#, _this_, arose from #hoic# (662) when used as a proclitic (92).

(_b._) Atonic #ou# and #au# became #ū#: as, #ínclūdō#, _I include_, from #claudō#; #áccūsāre#, _to accuse_, from #causa#.

109. There are not a few cases in which the atonic vowel does not conform to the rules given above (102-108). These are usually compounds which show the vowel of the simple verb. Some of these were formed at a time when the early recessive accent was no longer in force and consequently there was no cause for weakening; in others the vowel of the simple verb was by analogy substituted for the weakened vowel of the compound: as, #appetō#, _I strive after_, from #petō#, which ought to have #i# like #colligō#, _collect_, from #legō#; #intermedius#, _intermediate_, but #dīmidius#, _half_; #dēfraudāre#, _to cheat_, by the side of #dēfrūdāre# from #fraudāre#; instead of the common #redarguō#, _I refute_, Scipio Africanus minor Pauli filius (185-129 B.C.) said #rederguō#, and #pertīsum# for #pertaesum#, but both Cicero (_O._ 159) and Lucilius discountenance #pertīsum# as the sign of a pedantic prig. In a few cases the reverse process took place, and the weakened vowel which arose in the compound was transferred to the simple verb: as, #clūdō#, _I close_ (958), for #claudō#, which owes its #ū# to compounds like #occlūdō#. For a case where the vowel of the preceding syllable acted as a stay to the expected change, see 104, _d_.

LOSS IN UNACCENTED SYLLABLES.

110. Only vowels which are short and atonic may be lost. The loss of a medial vowel is called _Syncope_; of an initial vowel, _Aphaeresis_; of a final vowel _Apocope_.

111. SYNCOPE. (_a._) Loss of a posttonic vowel, entailing the loss of a syllable, occurs in #ardus# (Lucil.; for #ă# see 128) for the common #āridus#, _dry_; #caldus# by the side of #calidus#, _warm_ (Quint. 1, 6, 19); #reppulī#, _I pushed back_, and #rettulī#, _I carried back_, stand for #*répepulī# and #*rétetulī# (861); #pergō#, _I proceed_, stands for #*perregō# from #regō# (cf. #cor-rigō#, #ē-rigō#, where the #e# is weakened, 103, and #porrigō#, #porgō#, where it is either weakened or lost), hence it forms its perfect #perrēxī# (953): #pōnō#, _I place_, is for #*posnō# (170, 2) from #*po-sinō# (112), hence it forms its past participle #positus# (972); for #iūrgō#, _I blame_. Plautus has #iūrigō#; #*ūsūripō# (from #ūsus# and #rapere#) yields #ūsurpō#, _I utilize_; #*gāvideō#, hence #gāvīsus# (801), gives #gaudeo#, _I rejoice_, converting #āṷ# to #aṷ# before the following #d# (128); in a similar way #auceps#, _bird-catcher_, is formed from #*aviceps# (#avis#, _bird_, and #capere#, _catch_); #claudere#, _lock_, from #*clāvidere# (#clāvis#, _key_); #aetās#, _age_, for #áevitās# (262); #praecō#, _herald_, for #*práevicō# (105, _g_) #prae-vocō# (211); also with change of #ou# to #ū# (100), #prūdēns#, _prudent_, for #*proudēns# from #providēns#, _foreseeing_; #nūper#, _lately_, from #*noviper#; #nūntius#, _messenger_, from #*noventius# (333); #iūcundus#, _joyful_, from #iuvicundus# (Cic. _Fin._ 2, 14). But forms like #pōclum#, _cup_, #saeclum#, _age_, do not belong here, as they are original and not derived by syncope from #pōculum#, #saeculum#; cf. 172.

(_b._) Where, through the loss of a vowel, #l# or #r# would come to stand between two consonants, or where they would be final and preceded by a consonant, #l# and #r# become syllabic (83) and the syllable is thus maintained. Syllabic #l# is represented by #ul#, syllabic #r# by #er# (172, 3). The development of such intercalary vowels as #u# before #l# and #e# before #r# is called _Anaptyxis_ (172). Thus, #*sacri-dōts# (cf. #sacri-legium#) became first #*sacr̥dōts# by syncope, then #sacerdōs#, _priest_, by anaptyxis; #*ācribus# (cf. #ācri-mōnia#, _pungency_) first became #*ācr̥bus# then #ācerbus#, _pungent_; #*agrilos# (267, cf. #agri-cola#, _farmer_) became first #*agr̥los#, then #*agerlos#, and finally, by assimilation of the #r# to #l# (166, 7), #agellus#, _small field_; from #*dis-ficilter# (adverb from #dis-# and #facilis#) arose #*difficl̥ter# and #difficulter#, _with difficulty_. The nominative sg. of the following words is to be explained thus. #ager# (451) was originally #*agros# (cf. Greek ἄγρος), which changed successively to #*agr̥s#, #*agers#, and #ager# (for the loss of #-s# see 171, 1 and 3). Similarly #*ācris#, passing through the stages of #*ācr̥s#, #*ācers#, became #ācer# (627), and #*famlos# by way of #*faml̥s#, #*famuls#, became #famul# (455), to which later the common ending of nouns of the #o-#declension was added, giving #famulus#.

112. APHAERESIS. Aphaeresis hardly occurs in literary Latin. In the pronoun #iste# the initial #i# is sometimes dropped (667); this loss implies an accented ultima (94). A trace of prehistoric aphaeresis is found in the prefix #po-# for #*apo# (Greek ἀπό) in #pōnō#, _I place_, for #po-s(i)nō# (111, _a_).

113. APOCOPE. Under the same conditions under which a medial vowel was syncopated, the final vowel of a word which stood in close union with the following word, as a preposition with its noun, was lost. In this way #*peri# (Greek περί) became #per#; #*apo# (Greek ἀπό) became #ap#, #ab# (164, 2); #*eti# (Greek ἔτι) became #et#. Similarly the final #-e# of the enclitics #-ce#, #-ne#, _not_, and #-ne# interrogative was lost: #*sī-ce# became #sīc#, _so_; #*quī-ne#, #quīn#, _why not_; #habēsne#, #haben#, _hast thou_; the imperatives #dīc#, _say_, #dūc#, _lead_, and #fac#, _do_, stand for earlier #dīce#, #dūce#, #face# (846); the shortened form #em# for #eme# (imperative of #emere#, _take_) has been turned into an interjection (1149). In the same way #nec# arose by the side of #neque#; #ac# by the side of #atque# (158). Final #-e# has also been dropped in the nominative sg. of a number of polysyllabic neuter stems in #-āli# and #-āri# (546): as, #animal#, _animal_, for #*animāle#, #exemplar#, _pattern_, for #*exemplāre#. See 536, 537. It must, however, be remembered that in most of the cases given the loss of a final vowel would also result from elision (119) before the initial vowel of the following word.

COMBINATION OF ADJACENT VOWELS.

114. HIATUS. A succession of two vowel sounds not making a diphthong is called _Hiatus_.

When in the formation of words by means of suffixes or prefixes or through the loss of an intervening consonant, two vowels come into contact within a word we speak of _internal hiatus_; the term _external hiatus_ comprises those cases where, in connected discourse, the final vowel of one word comes into contact with the initial vowel of the following word. For the latter kind, see 2474.

115. The treatment of vowels in internal hiatus is four-fold: (1.) The hiatus may remain; (2.) the two vowels may be fused into one (_Contraction_); (3.) one of the two vowels may be dropped (_Elision_); and (4.) the two vowels may be combined into a diphthong.

116. HIATUS is maintained (_a._) between two adjacent vowels the second of which is long and accented (according to the classical accentuation): as, #coḗgi#, _I forced_, and #coā́ctus#, _forced_ (937); but #cōgō# (118, 3). For #coepi#, instead of #coḗpī#, _I began_, see 120.

(_b._) In many prepositional compounds when the members were still felt to be independent: as, #praeesse# (the contracted form #praesse# is found in inscriptions); #dēerunt#, _they will be wanting_, by the side of #dērunt#; #coalēscō#, _grow together_ (the contracted form #cōlēscō# appears in Varro); #cooptāre#, _coöpt_, #cooperiō#, _I cover up_ (by the side of rare #cōptāre#, #cōperīre#); #coïtus#, _meeting_, by the side of #coetus# (120).

(_c._) A comparatively large number of vowel combinations remain unchanged: as #ea# and #eā# in #eam#, _her_, and #meā#, _by my_ (fem. sing.); #ia# and #iā# in #māria#, _seas_, #viātōris#, _of the traveller_; #ua# and #uā# in #bēlua#, _monster_, #suā#, _through her_ (fem. sg.); #iē# in #quiēs#, _quiet_; #uē# in #luēs#, _pestilence_; #eī# in #meī#, _of me_; #uī# in #tuī#, _of thee_; #eō# in #meō#, _by my_ (masc. sing.).

117. SYNIZESIS. In these combinations the first vowel is sometimes made unsyllabic (83). This is called _synizesis_ (2499) and is not rare in poets, being often the only means of adapting a word to the requirements of certain metres. Thus, #fortuītus# (- ⏑ - ⏓) must appear in a hexameter as #fortvītus# (#fortṷītus#). See 2499, 2503.

118. CONTRACTION. (1.) Two like vowels may unite in one long vowel; rapidity of utterance was favourable to such fusion. In compounds, the desire to keep the members distinct often prevented it. So always #nēmō#, _nobody_, for #*neemō# from #*ne-hemō#, _no man_ (for the loss of #h#, see 58, 150; for #e# in #*hemō#, see 144); and by the side of the open forms, #nīl# from #nihil#, _nothing_; #vēmēns# from #vehemēns#, _rapid_ (connected with the verb #vehō#); rarely #dērunt#, _they will be wanting_, and #dēsse#, _to be wanting_, for #dēerunt#, #dēesse#; #dēlēram#, _I had destroyed_, from #*dēlēeram# for #dēlēveram# (for the loss of #v#, see 153), see 890; #passūm#, _of paces_, for #passuum# (591).

(2.) A diphthong absorbs the following vowel: as, #praetor#, older #praitor#, _praetor_, from #*prai-itor#, _who goes before_; inscriptions show #praerunt# for #praeerunt#, _they will be before_; for #praebēre#, _to furnish_, the open form #praehibēre# occurs in Plautus (1004).

(3.) If two unlike vowels are contracted at all, they usually unite in the long sound of the first vowel. Thus, #o# and #a# yield #ō#: as, #cōgō#, _I force_, from #co-agō#; #cōgitō#, _I think_, from #co-agitō#. Similarly Varro has #cōlēscat#, _it may combine_, for #co-alēscat#. #o# and #e# yield #ō#: as, #prōmō#, _bring out_, #cōmō#, _put up_, for #pro-emō#, #co-emō# (953). #ē# and #a# yield #ē#: as, #dēgō#, _I pass away_, from #dē-agō# (937). #i# and #e# in the termination of the vocative of #-io-# stems probably contracted to #-ī#; as #fīlī# from #*fīlie#, 459. But in denominative (365) and other verbs of the first conjugation #ā# and #ō# contract into #ō#: as, #amō#, _I love_, from #*amā-ō# (cf. Greek τιμά·ω); and #ā# and #ē# into #ē#: as, #amēs#, _thou mayest love_, for #*amā-ēs#.

119. ELISION. Only rarely the first of two successive vowels is dropped: as, #nūllus#, _no_, for #*ne-ūllus#; likewise the final vowel of the first member of nominal compounds: as, #multangulus#, _with many corners_, for #*multi-angulus# (cf. #multi-cavus#, _with many holes_); #flexanimus#, _heart-rending_, for #*flexi-animus# (cf. #flexi-pēs#, _with bent feet_).

120. COMBINATION INTO DIPHTHONGS. The union of two successive vowels into a diphthong is equally rare: #o# and #i# are combined to #oi#, #oe#, in #coetus#, _meeting_, by the side of the open form #coïtus# (116, _b_); the perfect #coepī# (812), _I began_, owes its diphthong #oe# to forms in which the #e# was short and unaccented, such as the rare present forms #coepiō# for #có-ĕpiō# (813); for #coḗpi# (813, 863) would have remained unchanged (116, _a_). #neuter#, with the accent on the #e#, was pronounced as three syllables, later #eu# became diphthongal; #neutiquam# with synizesis (117) of #e#. #e# and #ī̆# sometimes contract to #e͡i# in #rēi# (601, 602) and in #de͡inde#, #dēin# in the classic poets.

LENGTHENING.

121. COMPENSATIVE LENGTHENING. When certain groups of consonants are simplified by the dropping of a consonant, its time is absorbed by a preceding short vowel, which thereby becomes long. This is called _Compensation_. In many cases compensative lengthening is due to the loss of a preliterary sonant #s# (170, 2): as,

#cānus#, _gray_, from #*casnus# (cf. #cas-cus#, _very old_). See for other cases of this lengthening, 170, 5, #quīnī#, for #*quincnī#; 170, 6, #īgnōscō#, for #*in-gnōscō#.

122. INDUCED LENGTHENING. Before certain groups of consonants short vowels have a tendency to become long: as,

(_a._) The prefixes #in-# and #con-# before #s# or #f# lengthened their vowels in classical Latin (Cic. _O._ 159): as, #īnsānus#, _mad_; #īnfēlīx#, _unhappy_; #cōnsuēvit#, _he grew used to_; #cōnfēcit#, _he accomplished_. Elsewhere also the vowel before #ns# and #nf# appears to have been lengthened: as, #fōns#, _fountain_; #pēnsus#, _weighty_ (Gell. 9, 6); #forēnsis#, _forensic_; #cēnsor#, _censor_; #mēnsa#, _table_; #mēnsis#, _mouth_; #Valēns#; #Clēmēns#; the #o# of #īnsons#, _guiltless_, however, is marked as short by the grammarian Probus.

(_b._) A similar lengthening of the vowel before #nc# followed by #t# or #s# appears: as, #ūnctus#, _anointed_, from #unguō# (Gell. 9, 6); #iūnctus#, _joined_, from #iungō# (954), #coniūnx#, _spouse_, genit. #coniugis# (472); #quīnctus#, _fifth_, whence #quīntus# (170, 4) and #quīnque#, _five_, derive their #ī#; #sānctus#, _hallowed_.

(_c._) Spellings like SIGNVM, _sign_ (well supported in inscriptions), and DIGNE, _worthily_ (less well supported) show that #i# was at times lengthened before #gn#. The grammarian Priscian demands this lengthening for all vowels preceding the ending #-gnus#, #-gna#, #-gnum#.

(_d._) A lengthened vowel before #r# followed by a consonant is also certain for some words like #ōrdō#, _order_; #fōrma#, _shape_.

(_e._) Some speakers appear to have lengthened the vowel of prepositions like #con-#, #sub-#, #ob-#, in the compounds of #iaciō# (104, _c_); as #ōbicit#. This practice, which is disapproved by Gellius (4, 17), probably arose from the transfer by analogy of the quantity of the first syllable in forms like #conieciant# (940) to that of the shortened form. In the same way the occasional spelling CÓNIV́NX, _spouse_, for #coniūnx#, may owe its long #ō# to the analogy of #cōiunx#, CÓIVGI (170, 6).

(_f._) Many verb stems ending in #-g# have a long vowel in the past participle before the suffix #-to-#: as, #tēctus#, _covered_, from #tego# (916); #tāctus#, _touched_, from #tangō# (925); #pāctus#, _fixed_, from #pangō# (925); #fīctus#, _moulded_, from #fingō# (954); #pīctus#, _painted_, from #pingō#. The evidence for #ā# in #maximus# is very scanty: one case of A with the apex (29, 3) in a faulty inscription.

(_g._) Of the induced lengthenings enumerated above, only those given in (_a._) (_b._) (_f._) seem to have been universal in classical Latin. The rest appear to have been local peculiarities, which, while making inroads upon the literary language, never gained full recognition.

123. (1.) ANALOGICAL LENGTHENING. In noun stems in #-o# the stem vowel is lengthened in the genitive plural #-ōrum# (449, 462), by analogy to the stems in #-ā# (435): as, #servōrum#, _of slaves_, like #mēnsārum#, _of tables_. For other cases see 122, _e_.

(2.) METRICAL LENGTHENING. On the lengthening of a vowel (or a syllable) under the influence of verse-ictus, see 2505.

SHORTENING.

124. A vowel originally long is regularly shortened in classical Latin before another vowel, even though an #h# intervene: as,

#taceō#, _I am silent_, from the stem #tacē-# (365); #seorsum#, _apart_, #deorsum#, _downward_, from #sē(v)orsum#, #dē(v)orsum# (153).

125. In simple words a diphthong occurs before a vowel only in one or two proper names: as, #Gnaeus#, #Annaeus#, in which it remains long, and in Greek words. But the diphthong #ae# of the prefix #prae# is sometimes shortened before a vowel: as, #pra͝eacūtus#; #pra͝eeunt#; #pra͝ehibeō#; hence #prehendō# for #*prae-hendō#. Sometimes it coalesces with a following vowel: as, #pra͡e͡optāvīstī#.

126. An increased tendency to shorten a long vowel before another vowel can be traced in the history of the language: thus, classical #fuī#, _I was_, for Plautus’s #fūī# (750); #clueō#, _I am called_, for Plautus’s #clūeō#; perfect #pluit#, _it rained_, for Varro’s #plūit# (cf. #plūvit#, 823, 947); #pius#, _pious_, for Ennius’s #pīus#; see also 765.

127. But even in classical Latin there are cases where a vowel before another vowel remains long: thus,

(1.) Regularly, the #ī# of #fīō#, _I am made_, except before #-er-#, as in #fierem# (788, 789).

(2.) In #dīus#, _godly_, for #dīvus# (153), and the old ablatives #dīū#, #dīō#, _open sky_ (used only in the expression #sub dīū#, #sub dīō#, i.e. #sub dīvō#).

(3.) In the ending #ēī# of the genitive and dative sg. of stems in #-ē-# (601) when an #i# precedes: as, #diēī#, _of a day_, #aciēī#, _of the battle line_, but #reī#, _of the thing_, for older #rēī#.

(4.) It may be mentioned here that #rēī# is said to occur in verse 6 times (Plaut. G. 2, Lucr. G. 2, D. 2); #reī# 9 times (Plaut. G. 2, Ter. G. 4, D. 1, Juv. G. 1, Sulp. Apoll. G. 1); #re͞i# 27 times (Plaut. G. 2, D. 3, Enn. D. 1, Ter. G. 9, D. 8, Lucil. G. 1, D. 1, Lucr. G. 2). #fidēī# G. 3 times (Plaut., Enn., Lucr.); #fideī# 11 times (Enn. D. 1, Man. G. 2, D. 1, Sil. G. 4, D. 1, Juv. G. 2); #fidēi# 5 times (Ter. G. 1, D. 3, Hor. 1). #ēī# 35 times (Plaut. 18, Ter. 8, Lucr. 9); #eī# some 17 times (Plaut. 12, Ter. 2, German. 1, Ter. Maur. 2); #ēi# 23 times (Plaut. 11, Ter. 8, Lucil. 3, Cat. 1).

(5.) #Gāius# retains its #ā# before the vowel #i#: thus, #Gāius# (trisyllabic).

(6.) In the pronominal genitives in #-ī̆us# (618), the quantity of #i# varied. The older dramatists use #ī#; later, #ī# was shortened, but variations in its quantity seem to have continued until long after the end of the republic; Cicero, _DO._ 3, 183, measures #illius#; Quintilian 1, 5, 18 #ūnīus#; the grammarian Priscian prescribes #-īus# for all except #alterius#, which should always have #i#, and #utrius#, in which the #i# is common (30). In verse the #i# is often short, except in #neutrīus#; #utriusque# has always short #i#.

(7.) The penult is long in the endings #-āī#, #-āīs#, #-ōī#, #-ōīs#, and #-ēī#, #-ēīs#, from stems in #-āio-#, #-ōio-#, and #-ēio-# (458) or #-iā-# (437): as, #Gāī#, #Bōī#, #Pōmpēī#, #plēbēī#: #Gāīs#, #Bōīs#, #Pompēīs#, #plēbēīs#, #Bāīs#; #aulāī#, #pictāī#.

(8.) #Dī̆ana# has #ĭ# as often as #ī#. #ohē# has #ŏ̄#; #ē̆heu# has #ĕ# in comedy, otherwise #ē#.

(9.) In many Greek words a long vowel comes before another vowel; as, #āēr#, #Aenēās#, #Mēdēa#. But early importations from Greek followed the general rule and shortened the vowel: as, #platĕa# (πλατεῖα), #balinĕum#, #balnĕum# (βαλανεῖον).

128. A long vowel preceding unsyllabic #i̭# or #ṷ# followed by a consonant is shortened: as, #gaudeō# for #*gāudeō# (cf. #gāvīsus#, 111); #claudo# for #clāudō# (cf. #clāṷis#, 111).

Similarly a long vowel (unless long by contraction: as, #nūntius#, 111, _a_, #cōntiō#) preceding a liquid or nasal followed by a consonant is shortened: as, syncopated #ardus# from #āridus# (111), #habentem#, from the stem #habē-#. For cases of induced lengthening of the vowel before #n# followed by certain consonants, see 122.

129. IAMBIC SHORTENING. The law of iambic shortening (2470) produced a number of important changes: thus,

(1.) In old dramatic verse iambic words (⏑ -) often shorten the long vowel. The poets after Plautus and Terence preserve the long vowel.

(_a._) Nouns; G. #eri#, #boni#, #preti#. D. #cani#, #ero#, #malo#. L. #domi#, #heri#. Ab. #levi#, #manu#, #domo#, #bona#, #fide#. Plural: N. #fores#, #viri#. D., Ab. #bonis#. Ac. #foris#, #viros#, #bonas#. (_b._) Verbs: #eo#, #volo#, #ago#; #ero#, #dabo#; #vides#; #loces#; #voles#; #dedi#, #dedin#; #roga#, #veni#; later poets sometimes retain #cave#, #vale#, and #vide#. The vowel may also be shortened when #-n# (1503) is added and #s# is dropped before #-n# (170, 2): #rogan#, #abin#; #viden# is also retained by later poets.

(2.) In a few pyrrhic words (⏑ ⏑) in #-i#, which were originally iambic (⏑ -), the poets in all periods retained final #-ī# at pleasure: these are,

#mihī̆#, #tibī̆#, #sibī̆#; #ibī̆#, #ubī̆#; also #alicubī̆#. The #i# of #bi# is always short in #nēcubi# and #sīcubi#, and usually in #ubinam#, #ubivīs#, and #ubicumque#; #ibidem# is used by the dramatists, #ibīdem# in hexameter. #ubīque# has always #ī#.

130. The following instances show that this law operated in prose speech also:

(1.) In iambic words of the #ā-# declension (432) the final #-ā# of the nominative singular was shortened; hence #*equā# became #equa#, _mare_. From these iambic words short final #-a# spread so that all stems in #-ā-# shorten the final #ā# of the nom. sg. (434).

(2.) The final #-a# in the nominative plural of neuter nouns of the #o-# declension (446), which appears in #trīgintā#, _thirty_, was likewise shortened, first in iambic words like #iuga#, _yokes_, #bona#, _goods_, then everywhere (461).

(3.) This law explains the short final vowel in #homo# (2442) by the side of #sermō# (2437, _c_) and similar cases, like the adverbs #modo#, #cito# (2442), #bene#, #male# (2440). In the same way arose the short final #o# of the first person in conjugation (2443): as, #volo#, #dabo#, #dīxero# by the side of #scrībō#; so also #viden# for #vidēn# (129, 1; 170, 2).

(4.) Of imperatives only #puta#, used adverbially (2438, _c_), #ave#, #have# (805; Quint. i, 6, 21; but Martial scans #havē#) as a salutation and #cave#, used as an auxiliary (1711), show the short final vowel in classical Latin. Elsewhere the long vowel has been restored, as #amā#, #monē# (845).

(5.) According to this rule #calēfaciō#, #malēdīcō# changed to #calefaciō#, #maledīcō#.

131. A long final vowel is shortened when an enclitic is added to the word: as #siquidem# from #sī#; #quoque# from #quō#.

132. A long vowel is regularly shortened, in the classical period, before final #-t# and #-m# and, in words of more than one syllable, also before final #r# and #l#.

Thus, #soror#, _sister_, for Plautus’s #sorōr#, from the stem #sorōr-# (487); #ūtar#, _I may use_, for Plautus’s #ūtār# (cf. #ūtāris#); #bacchanal# for Plautus’s #bacchanāl#; #animal#, #exemplar# from the stems #animāl-# (530) and #exemplār-# (537); but the long vowel is retained in the monosyllables #fūr#, _thief_, #sōl#, _sun_; #pōnēbat#, _he placed_, for Plautus’s #pōnēbāt# (cf. #pōnēbās#); #iūbet#, _he commanded_, for Plautus’s #iūbēt#; #eram#, _I was_, but #erās#; #rēxerim#, _I may have ruled_, but #rēxerīs# (877); #-um# in the genitive plural of #-o-# stems is for #-ūm# (462); #mēnsam#, _table_, for #*mēnsām# from the stem #mensā-#; #rem#, from #rē-# (#rēs#), #spem# from #spē-# (#spēs#).

[Errata:
125 ... #pra͡e͡optāvīstī#
The vowels “aeo” are joined with a single ligature
132 ... (cf. #ūtāris#)
(cf #ūtāris#)]

TRANSFER OF QUANTITY.

133. (1.) In a few cases the length of the vowel has been transferred to the following consonant, the length of which is then indicated by doubling it (81): as, #littera# for #lītera#, LEITERAS; #Iuppiter# for #Iūpiter#; #parricīda# for #pāri-cīda#, _murder of a member of the same clan_ (#*pāro-#, _member of a clan_, Doric πᾶός, _a relative_); #cuppa# for #cūpa#, _barrel_. The legal formula _sī pāret_, _if it appear_, was vulgarly pronounced #sī parret# (Festus).

(2.) Since the doubled unsyllabic #i# (#i̭#) between vowels (23; 166, 9; 153, 2) is commonly written single, the _vowel_ preceding it is often erroneously marked long: as, #āiō# wrongly for #aiō#, _i.e._ #ai̭i̭ō#, _I say_; #māior# wrongly for #maior#, _i.e._ #mai̭i̭or#, _greater_; #pēior# wrongly for #peior#, _i.e._ #pei̭i̭or#, _worse_; #ēius#, _of him_, #cūius#, _of whom_, #hūius#, _of him_, all wrongly for #eius#, #cuius#, #huius# _i.e._ #ei̭i̭us#, #cui̭i̭us#, #huii̭us# (153, 2). In all these words the first _syllable_ was long but not the vowel.

VARIATIONS OF QUANTITY.

134. (1.) In some foreign proper names and in a very few Latin words the quantity of a vowel varied. Vergil has #Sȳchaeus# and #Sychaeus# within six verses; also #Āsia# and #Asia#, #Lavīnium# and #Lāvīnius#; so also #glōmus# (Lucr.), #glomus# (Hor.); #cōturnīx# (Plaut., Lucr.), #coturnīx# (Ov.).

(2.) Sometimes such variations in vowel quantity are only apparent: thus, the occasional long final #-ē# of the active infinitive (#darē#, #prōmerē#) has probably a different origin from the usual #-ĕ#. For metrical lengthening, see 2505.

[Erratum:
134 ... #glomus# (Hor.)
(Hor)]

QUANTITATIVE VOWEL GRADATION.

135. The same stem often shows a long vowel in some of its forms and a short vowel in others. In most cases these variations of quantity were not developed on Latin soil but inherited from a much earlier period. Such old inherited differences in vowel quantity are called _quantitative vowel gradation_.

(1.) Instances of this are #prō# for #*prōd# (149; cf. #prōdesse#) and #pro-# (Greek πρό); #nē# and #ne-# in #nescius#; the couples #regō#, _I rule_, and #rēxī#; #vehō#, _I draw_, #vēxī#; #veniō#, _I come_, #vēnī#, where the long vowel is characteristic of the perfect stem (862); #vocō#, _I call_, and #vōx#, _voice_; #regō#, _I rule_, and #rēx#, _ruler_; #legō#, _I read_, and #lēx#, _bill_; #sedeō#, _I sit_, and #sēdēs#, _seat_; #fidēs#, _confidence_, and #fīdō#, _I trust_; #dux# (cf. #ducis#), _leader_, and #dūcō#, _I lead_, where verb and noun are differentiated by the quantity of the root vowel; and many others.

(2.) Sometimes the reduction of the vowel in certain forms amounts to complete loss, as in the adverbial ending #-is-# in #magis# (346, 363) compared with the comparative suffix #-ios#, #-iōs# (Nom. #-ior#, Genit. #-iōris#); in the oblique cases of the stem #carōn-# (nomin. sg. #carō#, 497), where the suffix becomes #-n-# (545), genitive #car-n-is#; in the suffix #-ter#, which becomes #-tr-# in all cases but the nom. sg. (#pater#, #patris#, etc., 470, 487); in the feminine #-tr-ī-c-# to the suffix #-tor-#; but the nom. sing. #Caecīlis# (465) for #Caecīlios# is probably due to syncope.

QUALITATIVE VOWEL CHANGES.

136. (1.) #i# before an #r# which goes back to an earlier voiced #s# (154) was changed to #e#: as, #cineris#, _of ashes_, for #*cinisis#, from the stem #cinis# (491); #Faleriī#, for #*Falisiī#, cf. #Falis-cus#; (formed like #Etrūria#, for #*Etrūsia#, cf. #Etrūs-cī#).

(2.) In the nominative singular of compounds like #iūdex#, _judge_ (from #iūs# and #dīcere#), #comes#, _companion_ (from #com#, _with_, and #īre#, _go_), the #i# of the second member of the compounds is changed to #e# (470) after the analogy of words like #artifex#, _artisan_, etc. (107, _d_).

137. #e# before #-gn-# became #i#: as, #īlignus#, from the stem #īlec-# (cf. #īlex#).

138. #e# before the guttural nasal (62) followed by a guttural mute was changed to #i#: as, #septingentī#, from #septem#; #singulī#, from the stem #sem-# in #semel# (for the assimilation of #m# see 164, 3); #obtingō# (925), _I attain_, for #*óbtengō# (104, _c_) from #*ob-tangō# (104, _e_).

139. A similar change took place in the group #-enl-# which became first #-inl-# and then #-ill-#: as, #*signilum#, diminutive of #sīgnum# (for #ī#, see 122, _c_), first changed by syncope (111) from #*signilum# to #*sign̥lum#, then to #*sigenlum# (172, 3), then to #*siginlum#, and finally to #sigillum#.

140. #o# before #nc# became #u#: as, #homunculus#, _manikin_ for #*homonculus#, from the stem #homon-# (485); #nūncupāre#, _name_, for #*nōn-cupāre# (#nōn-# for #nōm-# (164, 3) = syncopated #nōmen#); #hunc#, _him_, for #*honc#, from #hom-ce# (662).

141. #o# before #l# followed by any consonant save #l# was changed to #u#: as, #cultus#, _tilled_, for #*coltus#, from #colere#; #multa#, _fine_, for old Latin #molta#. But #o# before #ll# is retained: as, #collis#, _hill_.

142. #e# before guttural #l# (60) was changed to #o#: as, #solvō#, _I undo_, from #*seluō# (#se-#, as in #se-cordia#, #luō# = Greek λύω); #culmen#, _top_, for #*celmen#, from #*cellō# in #ex-cellō#; #volō#, _I wish_, for #*velō#; but #e# is preserved before dental #l# (60): as in #velle#, #velim# (773). Before #l# followed by any consonant save #l# this #o# changes to #u# (141): as, #vult#.

143. In a number of words, notably in #voster#, _your_, #vorsus#, _turned_, #vortex#, _eddy_, and #votāre#, _forbid_, the forms with #o# were replaced, about the second century B.C. by forms with #e#: as, #vester#, #versus#, #vertex#, #vetāre# (Quint. 1, 7, 25).

[Erratum:
136 (2.) In the nominative singular
(2)]

ASSIMILATION.

144. In a few cases a vowel is influenced by the vowel of a neighbouring syllable: as,

#nisi#, _unless_, for #*nesi#; #iīs#, for #eīs#, _to them_ (671, 674); #diī#, #diīs#, _gods_, for #deī#, #deīs# (450); #nihil#, _nothing_, for #*nehil#; #homō#, _man_, for #*hemō# (cf. #nēmō#, from #ne-hemō#, 118); see also 104, _d_; 105, _i_.

QUALITATIVE VOWEL GRADATION.

145. The same stem often shows different vowels in different forms. In most of these cases this difference was inherited from a very early period and continued in the Latin. Such old inherited variation of the quality of the stem-vowel is called _qualitative vowel gradation_. The qualitative variations may be accompanied by quantitative changes (135).

Often the verb and the noun are thus distinguished by different vowels: as, #tegō#, _I cover_, and #toga#, _a garment_, _toga_; #precor#, _I beg_, and #procus#, _suitor_, cf. English _to sing_ and _a song_, _to bind_, and _a bond_. The different tenses of some verbs show a like gradation: as, #capiō#, _I take_, #cēpī#; #faciō#, _I make_, #fēcī#, cf. English _I sing_, _I sang_; _I bring_, _I brought_. The same occurs in derivation: as #doceō#, _I teach_, by the side of #decet#; #noceō#, _I harm_, by the side of #nex# (#nec-s#). The two vowels which occur most frequently in such gradation are #e# and #o#: as in stems in #-o-#, #domine#, #dominus# (for #dominos#); as variable vowel (824); #genos# (#genus#, 107, _c_) in the nom. sg. by the side of #*genes-# in the oblique cases (gen. #generis# for #*genesis#, 154); #honōs# by the side of #hones-# in #hones-tus#; #modus#, _measure_, for #*modos# (originally a neuter #-s-# stem like #genus# (487, 491), but transferred later to the #-o-# declension), by the side of #modes-# in #modes-tus#, _seemly_. See 187.

(B.) CONSONANT CHANGE.

146. In a number of words which belong more or less clearly to the stem of the pronoun #quo-# (681), #cu-# (157), the initial #c# has disappeared before #u#: as,

#uter#, _which of the two_, #ubĭ#, _where_, #unde#, _whence_ (711). For the conjunction #ut#, #utī#, _that_, connection with this pronominal stem is much more doubtful. The #c-# appears in the compounds with #sī# and #nē̆#: as, #sī-cubī# (cf. #sī-quidem#, #sī-quandō#), #sī-cunde#, #nē-cubi#, #ne-cunde#, #ne-cuter#.

147. #d# varies in a few words with #l#: as old Latin #dacruma#, _tear_, for later #lacrima#; #dingua#, _tongue_, for later #lingua#; #odor#, _smell_, by the side of #oleō#, _I smell_.

148. Very rarely, before labials, final #d# of the preposition #ad# varies with #r#: as, old Latin #arfuērunt#, _they were present_, for later #adfuērunt# (2257); #arvorsum#, _against_, for #advorsum#. The only instances of this in classical Latin are #arbiter#, _umpire_, and #arcēssō# (970), _I summon_, which shows #r# before a guttural.

149. (1.) Final d after a long vowel disappeared in classical Latin: thus, in the ablative singular of #-ā-# and #-o-# stems (426), and in the ablative-accusative forms #mēd#, #tēd#, #sēd# (648). The prepositions #prō# and #sē# (1417) originally ended in #-d# which is still seen in #prōdesse#, _be of advantage_, #prōd-īre#, _go forth_; #sēd-itiō#, _a going-apart_, _sedition_. According to the grammarians, the negative #haud# preserved its #d# before vowels, but lost it before consonants (1450).

(2.) Late inscriptions confuse final #-d# and #-t#: as FECID (729), ALIVT for #aliud#. But in very old Latin #-d# in the third person singular seems to be the remnant of a secondary ending (cf. the Greek distinction of primary -ται and secondary -το).

150. In a number of words #f# varies dialectically with #h#. In some of these #f# appears to have been original, in others #h#: as, old Latin #fordeum#, _barley_, for classical #hordeum#; old Latin #haba#, _bean_, for classical #faba#. The word #fīlum#, _thread_, appears as #*hīlum# in #nihil#, _nothing_, for #*ne-hīlum#.

151. #h# being a weak sound (58) was often lost between two like vowels, especially in rapid utterance: as, #nīl#, _nothing_, #prēndere#, _take_, #vēmēns#, _rapid_, by the side of #nihil#, #prehendere#, #vehemēns#; and always #nēmō#, _nobody_, for #*ne-hemō#, _no man_.

152. In some words #h# between two vowels is not original, but goes back to a guttural aspirate _gh_. Before consonants this guttural appears: as, #vehō#, _I draw_, #vectus# (953) from a stem #vegh-#, #trahō#, _I drag_, #tractus# (953) from a stem #tragh-#.

153. (1.) #v# not infrequently disappeared between two like vowels: as, #dītior#, _richer_, for #dīvitior#; #sīs# (Cic. _O._ 154), for #sī vīs# (774); #lātrīna#, for #lavatrīna#; #fīnīsse#, for #fīnīvisse#; #dēlēram#, for #dēlēveram#; and later also in perfect forms in which the preceding and following vowel differed: as, #amāsse#, for #amāvisse#. The abbreviated forms of the perfects in #-vī# (890) were common in Cicero’s (_O._ 157) and Quintilian’s (1, 6, 17) time. #v# also disappeared before #o# in #deorsum#, #seorsum#.

(2.) Old and original unsyllabic #i# (82; 83) disappeared everywhere between vowels. Wherever unsyllabic #i# appears between vowels it represents double #i̭i̭#, and is the result of the assimilation of #g# to #i̭# (166, 9), or #d# to #i̭# (166, 9), or of the combination of two #i̭#’s: as in #ei-i̭us#, #quoi̭-i̭us# (#eius#, #quoius# = #cuius#, 688). See 23; 166, 9. In all these cases the first #i̭# joined to the preceding vowel (83) formed with it a diphthong, and the syllable is thus long (133, 2).

(3.) The combinations of unsyllabic (83) #ṷ# with the vowel #u# and of unsyllabic #i̭# with the vowel #i# were avoided in classical Latin; see 52.

(4.) In composition, unsyllabic (82) #i̭# after a consonant became syllabic in #quoniam#, _since_, for #quomi̭am# (164, 5), and #etiam#, _also_, for #eti̭am# (both compounds with #iam#).

154. In early Latin #s# between two vowels was voiced (75), and in the fourth century B.C. this voiced #s# changed into #r#. According to Cicero (_Fam._ 9, 21, 2) L. Papīrius Crassus, consul in 336 B.C., changed his family name #Papīsius# to #Papīrius#. Old inscriptions show frequently #s# for #r#: as, ASA, _altar_, AVSELII. This change of intervocalic #s# to #r# plays an important part in declension, conjugation, and derivation: as,

Nominative #iūs#, _right_, genitive #iūris#; #spērō#, _I hope_, derived from #spēs#; #nefārius#, _wicked_, from #nefās#; #gerō#, _I carry_, from a stem #ges-# which appears in #ges-sī#, #ges-tus# (953); #erō#, _I shall be_, from the stem #es-# in #esse#; the subjunctive ending #-sem# in #es-sem# appears as #-rem# after vowels: as, #stārem#; the infinitive ending (894, 895) #-se# in #es-se# appears as #-re# after vowels: as, #legere#, for #*legese#, _to read_, #stāre#, for #*stāse#, _to stand_. Where all oblique cases show #-r-# and only the nominative singular #-s#, the latter is sometimes changed to #-r# by analogy: as, #arbor#, _tree_, #honor#, _honour_, for original #arbōs#, #honōs#, by analogy to the oblique cases #arboris#, #arborī#, #honōris#, #honōrī#, etc. (487, 488). The final #-s# of the prefix #dis-# follows this rule: as, #dir-imō#, _I take apart_, for #*dis-emō#; but an initial #s-# of the second member of a compound remains unchanged: as, #dē-sinō#, _I stop_.

155. Wherever intervocalic #s# is found in classical Latin it is not original, but the result (_a._) of earlier #-ns-#: as, #formōsus#, _handsome_, for #formōnsus# (63); (_b._) of earlier #-ss-# (170, 7): as, #ūsus# for #*ūssus#, _use_ (159); #causa#, _thing_, for #caussa# (Quint. 1, 7, 20); or (_c._) it occurs in borrowed words like #asinus#, _ass_. (_d._) There are a few words in which an #r# in a neighbouring syllable seems to have prevented the change: as #miser#, _miserable_ (173).

156. Before the #o# described in 142 #qu# changed to #c#: as, #incola#, _inhabitant_, for #*inquola#, from #*inquela#; the stem #quel-# appears in #in-quil-īnus#, _lodger_.

157. As #v# before #u# (107, _c_), so #qu# was not tolerated before #u#, but changed to #c#.

Hence when, about the beginning of our era, the #o# of #quom#, _when_, #sequontur#, _they followed_, changed to #u# (107, _c_), they became #cum#, #secuntur#; thus #equos# but #ecus#, _horse_ (452); #reliquom# but RELICVM, _the rest_; #loquor#, _I speak_, but #locūtus# (978). Much later, in the second century of our era, the grammarians restored the #qu# before #u# by analogy to those forms in the paradigm in which #qu# came before other vowels: as, #sequuntur# for #secuntur# by analogy to #sequor#, #sequeris#, #sequitur#, #sequimur#, #sequimini#, etc.; #equus#, #equum#, for #ecus#, #ecum#, by analogy to #equī#, #equō#, #eque#, #equōrum#, #equīs#, #equōs#.

158. #qu# before consonants or when final changed to #c#: as, #relictus# from the stem #liqu-#, _leave_ (present, #linquō#, 938); #ac#, _and_, for #*atc#, by apocope from #atque#; #nec#, _nor_, by apocope from #neque#. See also #*torctus# (170, 3), #quīnctus# (170, 4).

159. When in the process of early word formation a #t# was followed by another #t#, the combination #tt#, unless followed by #r#, changed to #ss#: as, #obsessus#, _besieged_, _sat upon_, for #*obsettus#, from #*obsed-tus# (cf. #sedeō#). After long vowels, nasals, and liquids this double #ss# was simplified to #s# (170, 7): as, #ūsus# from #*ūt-tus#, _used_ (cf. #ūtor#); #scānsus#, _climbed_, from #*scant-tus# for #*scandtus# (cf. #scandō#).

In this way arose a suffix #-sus# (906, 912) for the past participle of verbs ending in a dental, and this spread to other verbs (912): as #mānsus#, _stayed_, from #maneō# (1000), #pulsus#, _pushed_, from #pellō# (932). The regular participles of these two verbs still appear in the derivative verbs #mantāre# and #pultāre#, which presuppose the past participles #*mantus# and #*pultus# (371). If the double #tt# was followed by #r# it changed to #st#: as, #assestrīx# from #*assettrīx#, while #*assettor# changed to #assessor#.

160. But wherever the combination #tt# arose in historical times it remained unchanged: as, #attineō#; #cette#, syncopated for #cé-d(i)te#, i.e. the particle #ce# (93, 3) which is here proclitic, and the imperative #date#, _give_.

161. Initial #dv# (_dṷ_) changed to #b#, unless the #v# (_ṷ_) was converted into the corresponding vowel: as, #bis#, _twice_, for #*dṷis# (cf. #duo#); #bidēns# for #*dṷidens#, by the side of old Latin #duidēns# with vocalic #u#; #bonus#, _good_, for #dṷonus#, by the side of trisyllabic #duonus#; #bellum#, _war_, for #*dṷellum#, by the side of #duellum# with vocalic #u#; #bēs#, _two thirds_, for #*dṷēs# (2427). Cicero (_O._ 153) notes that the change of #duellum# to #bellum# affected even the proper name #Duellius# (name of the admiral who won the naval victory over the Carthaginians in 260 B.C.) which was changed to #Bellius#. Plautus always scans #dṷellum# disyllabic with synizesis (2503).

[Erratum:
161 ... won the naval victory over the Carthaginians in 260 B.C.
B C.]

CHANGES OF CONSONANT GROUPS.

162. Many groups of consonants undergo changes in order to facilitate their pronunciation in rapid speech. These changes involve (_a._) Assimilation of consonants; (_b._) the development of consonantal glides; (_c._) the loss of one member of the group; and (_d._) the development of a vowel between the consonants.

ASSIMILATION.

163. Of two successive consonants belonging to different syllables (175), the first is, as a rule, assimilated to the second (_regressive assimilation_), rarely the second to the first (_progressive assimilation_). A consonant may be assimilated, either entirely or partially, to another consonant.

Assimilation is very common in prepositions prefixed to a verb.