Chapter 011Allen and Greenough's Latin GrammarDickinson CollegeChristopher Francese
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The Quantity of the Syllable is important for the position of the accent and in versification.
A syllable containing a long vowel or a diphthong is said to be
long by nature:
as,
mā-ter
,
aes
,
au-la
.
A syllable containing a short vowel followed by two consonants (except a mute before
l
or
r
) or by a double consonant (
x
,
z
) is said to be
long by position
, but the vowel is pronounced
short:
as,
est
,
ter-ra
,
sax-um
,
Me-zen-tius
.
When a consonant is doubled the pronunciation should show this distinctly. Thus in
mit-tō
both t's should be pronounced as in
out-talk
(not merely a single
t
as in
better
).
A syllable containing a short vowel followed by a mute before
l
or
r
is properly short, but may be used as long in verse. Such a syllable is said to be
common.
In syllables long by position, but having a short vowel, the length is partly due to the first of the consonants, which stands in the same syllable with the vowel. In syllables of “common” quantity (as the first syllable of
patrem
) the ordinary pronunciation was
pa-trem
, but in verse
pat-rem
was allowed so that the syllable could become long.
In final syllables ending with a consonant, and containing a short vowel, the quantity in verse is determined by the following word: if this begins with a vowel the final consonant is joined to it in pronunciation; if it begins with a consonant the syllable is long by position.
In rules for quantity
h
is not counted as a consonant, nor is the apparently consonantal
u
in
qu
,
gu
,
su
(see §
5
. N. 2).
A syllable whose vowel is
a
,
e
,
o
, or
u
, followed by consonant
i
, is long whether the vowel itself is long or short: as,
â-iō
,
mâ-ior
,
pê-ius
.
In such cases the length of the syllable is indicated in this book by a circumflex on the vowel.
The length of a syllable before consonant
i
is due to a transitional sound (vowel
i
) which forms a diphthong with the preceding vowel: as,
â-iō
(for †
ai-iō
),
mâ-ior
(for †
mai-ior
). See §
6
.
c.
In some compounds of
iaciō
(as,
in-iciō
) the consonant
i
of the simple verb was probably pronounced (though not written). Thus the first syllable was long by position: as,
in-iciō
(for
in-iiciō
). See §
6
.
d.
In such cases the length of the syllable is not indicated in this book by a circumflex on the vowel.
When a syllable is long by position the quantity of the vowel is not always determinable. The vowel should be pronounced short unless it is known to be long.
The quantity of a vowel under these circumstances is said to be
hidden.
It is often determined with a greater or less degree of certainty by inscriptional evidence (see §
10
. N.) or by other means. In this book, the quantity of all such vowels known to be long is marked.