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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).

CHANGE OF SOUND.

(A.) VOWEL CHANGE.

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).

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).

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).