PART III.

LATIN

PROSODY.

1. PROSODY treats of the Quantity of Syllables and Metre, or the laws of Verse.

Obs. Prosody is a Greek word (Tрoσwdía), which signifies literally the tone or accent of a syllable.

A. QUANTITY.

§ 2. The Quantity of a Syllable is either long (~), short (~), or doubtful (-).

A. GENERAL RULES.

§ 3. All diphthongs are long: as, aurum, gold, poena, punishment, cui, to whom.

EXCEPTION. Prae in composition is usually short before a vowel ; as, prăe-acutus, sharpened at the end.

Obs. 1. A vowel arising from a diphthong remains long as, oc-cido, to kill, from caedo, to strike; con-clūdo, to shut up, from claudo, to shut.

Obs. 2. Some Greek diphthongs are shortened: as, poesis (πoínσis), platěa (πλατεία) as well as platea.

§ 4. All contracted syllables are long: as, cōgo from coago, to collect, bōbus from bovibus, to or by oxen, jūnior from juvěnior, younger, prūdens from providens, possessed of foresight.

§ 5. A vowel is long by position, when it is followed by two or more consonants, by a double consonant (x, z), or by j: as, mēnsa, a table, dūx, a leader, Amazon, an Amazon, ējus, of him.

EXCEPTION 1 Bijugus, yoked two together, quadrijugus, yoked four together.

Obs. 1. Qu is a single consonant: hence, ăqua, water. H is a simple breathing: hence, ǎdhue, as yet.

Obs. 2. A syllable is also long by position when one consonant ends a word, and another consonant begins the next word: as, în mare, into the sea; fruitur vita, he enjoys life.

Obs. 3. But if a word ends in a short vowel, and the following word begins with two consonants, the vowel usually remains short: as,

In solio Phoebus claris lucentě smaragdis.-Ov.

Obs. 4. But a short vowel rarely stands before sc, sm, sp, sq, and st.

EXCEPTION 2. Before a mute and either of the liquids l or r, a vowel naturally short becomes doubtful: as, duplex or duplex, twofold, pătris or patris, of a father. It generally remains short before tl, as, Atlas; cl, as assecla; and f, as mellifluus, flowing-with-honey.

Obs. 1. It is only in Greek words that a vowel remains short before a mute and either of the liquids m or n: as, Tecmessa or Tecmessa, Procne (or Prōgne), cycnus (or cygnus), a swan.

Obs. 2. A vowel naturally long remains long before a mute and a liquid: as, acres from acer, sharp.

Obs. 3. In composition, if one syllable ends with a mute, and the other begins with a liquid, the vowel is long by position: as, ōb-ruo, not Ŏb-ruo, to overwhelm, sub-latum, not sub-latum, lifted up.

§ 6. A vowel followed by another vowel is usually short: as, pius, pious, flĕo, to weep, puer, a boy: or if h intervenes between the vowels, as trăho, věho.

EXCEPTIONS. The following vowels are long before another vowel:

1. The a in the old Genitive of the First Declension: as, aquaï.

2. The a and e in the Vocatives of proper names in -aius, -eius: as, Caï, Pompeï, from Caius, Pompeius.

3. The e in the Genitive and Dative Singular of the Fifth Declension, when a vowel precedes: as, diei: but rĕi and fidei except in archaic poets.

4. The e in the Interjection eheu.

5. The i in the Genitive alius (but always short in alterius). In the other Genitives in ius, the i is long in prose, but doubtful in poetry: as, illius, ipsius, unĬus.

6. The i in fio when not followed by r: as, fio, fiebam, fiam, but fierem, fieri.

7. The i in dia (dîa), divine.

8. The i in Diana is doubtful: Diana and Diana.

9. The o in the Interjection ohe is doubtful: ōhe and ŏhe.
10. All vowels long in the original Greek words: as, aër
('ānp), Aeneas (Aiveías), Alexandrīa ('Aλe§ávdpeia) Briseis
(Βρισηΐς).

§ 7. Radical Vowels. -No rules can be given for the quantity of Root Vowels, which is only to be learnt from the Dictionary: as, levis, light, levis, smooth, lego, I pick, read, lego, I depute, etc.

$ 8. The Root Vowel has sometimes been lengthened in the Present Tense: as, duco, I lead, root duc (compare dux, dŭcis: ēdŭco, 1 educate); dico, I say, root dic (compare index, -dĭcis, mălědĭcus, etc.).

§ 9. The Vowels used in connecting two or more roots are short: as, rēgifugium (name of a festival), rēgificus, kingly (rex, fugo, făcio); opifer, aid-bringing (ops, fĕro); laniger, wool-bearing (lāna, gero); magniloquus, grandly speaking (magnus, loquor), etc.

Obs. In levāmentum, instrumentum, lenimentum, etc., a, u, i are Stem
Vowels.

§ 10. Derivative or Compound words retain the quantity of the words from which they are derived: as,

gĕr-ebam, gĕr-ens, läni-ger, from gĕr-o.

rēg-ius, rēg-īna, rēg-Ĭ-fŭgium, from rex, rēg-is. EXCEPTIONS: cùrūlis (sella),

tēgŭla,
sēdes,

lucerna,

the curule chair, from currus.

a tile,

a seat,

sĕd-eo.

sēcius,

Obs. 1. Some exceptions are rather apparent than real: as, index, -dicis,
an informer; praedico, I affirm; mălědĭcus, evil-speaking (all with i short),
compared with dico, I say, addico, I assign to, etc. Here all the words
must alike be referred to the root dic, which is lengthened in the Present
Tense of dico, but keeps its natural quantity in the other derivatives.
Obs. 2. In cognitum, agnitum (from nōtum), the Prefix has led to the abbre-
viation of the Vowel. Compare căpio, accipio, etc., a being a fuller vowel
sound than i.

§ 11. In dissyllabic Perfects and Supines the first syllable

EXCEPTIONS. 1. A vowel before a vowel remains short: as, rŭi.

2. The following Perfects have the first syllable short:

Bibi, dědi, făi, tŭli,

Stěti, stīti, fidi, scĭdi.

For the meanings, see Gr. §§ 149. sqq.

3. The following Supines have the first syllable short:
Dătum, rǎtum, sătum, rútum,

Itum, citum, litum, situm (quitum).

For the meanings, see Gr. §§ 149. sqq.

From sto comes statum: from sisto comes stătum.

§ 12. The first syllable of the reduplicated Perfect is short: as poposci from posco, to demand; tětigi from tango, to touch; cěcīdi from caedo, to cut.

§ 13. The prefix pro is short in procella, a storm, procul, far off, profanus, profane, profestus, not kept as a holiday, proficiscor, to set out, profiteor, to profess, profugio, to flee to a distance, profundus, deep, profundo, to pour forth (with a few exceptions, e. g.: "Has postquam moesto profudit pectore voces," Cat.), pronepos, great-grandson (but prõnepos once in Sidonius), propitius, propitious, protervus, wanton: it is doubtful in procuro, to manage another's affairs, propago, offspring, propago, to propagate, propino, to drink to another, propello, to push forward (Lucr. only): it is long in all other words: as, procedo, to go forward, procurro, to run forward, &c. § 14. Di is short only in dirimo (disimo), to separate, and disertus, eloquent.

§ 15. Ne is short only in neque, neither; nequeo, to be unable; nefas (and its derivatives), unlawful; něfandus, abominable; long in other words, as nemo (ne-hemo or homo), no one.

§ 16. O for ob is short in omitto, to let go by, and ŏperio, to shut up.

§ 17. Si is short in siquidem.

§ 18. Re is always short, except refert ('=rem fert) it concerns (but refert from refero).

§ 19. Ve is long, except in vehemens ( = vē-mens), forcible. § 20. Monosyllabic words ending in a vowel are long: as, sī, tū, tē, mē, sẽ, nē, ẽ, dē.

EXCEPTIONS. The enclitics are short: as, quě, vě, ně, cě, tě (tutě) paě (reapse), ptě (suoptě): quă (usu. preceded by si, num, etc.) Nom. Sing. Fem. and Nom. Acc. Pl. Neut. from quis.