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Si mutam liquidamque simul brevia una firtcivit,
Contrahit orator, variant in carmine vatea.
Sed si longa firait, semfier tibi longs, manebit.
A short vowel before a mute followed by a liquid, both of
which are in the following syllable, is common in poetry, but
always short in prose ; as Volucris, fiatrem, Cyclofis, cochle-
are, the addition of H to the mute making no difference.
Ovid. Et firimo aimilia volucri, mox vera volucris.
Virg. Natum ante ora fiatris,fiatrem qui obtruncat ad aras.
mora or delay, which the one double, or the two single consonants oppose
to the progress of the Voice, the vowel is necessarily lengthened. --With
regard to the letter J, how. ever, it is in such cases as these an actual vowel,
and makes a diphthong with the vowel which precedes; as mai-ora, Troi-a,
--In like manner hujits and cujus were originally trisyllables. The former
was hu-i-us, hence nui-us or hujus; and from qui-i-us, qm-i-us, cu-i-us,
came cui-us or cujut.
p JBijugut, quaclrijugus, &e. are nothing more than btiugus, quadriiu-
flll, &c. jugum being in reality i-ugum or yugum. Hence in the meeting
of the two vowels in composition, the former is tacitly elided, leaving the
words b'i&gus, quadr'i&gut, Ssc
q The initial SC, SP, SQ, ST, however, (with or without the addition
of a third consonant, as in SCRipta, 8cc. ) have exactly the same power over
a preceding short final vowel, as a mute and liquid have over a preceding
short vowel in the body of a word; that is to say, the vowel in question may
in every case either remain short, or be made long, at the option of the
poet
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? MUTE AND LIQUID.
JVote. <--This rule depends on three conditions ; viz.
1. The liquid must follow the mute. If it stand before
the mute, the preceding syllable, though naturally short,
becomes always long; as fert, fertis. T
2. The mute and liquid must belong to the same syllable.
If they belong to different syllables, the preceding short
vowel becomes necessarily long; as db-luo, 6b-ruo, dd-nitor. '
3. The vowel must be naturally short. A vowel naturally
long, is never rendered short by a mute and liquid following;
as mdtris, salubris, diri.
SECT. VII.
PRETERITES OF TWO SYLLABLES.
Prtterila assumunt primam dissyllaba longam.
Sto, do, scindo, fero, raftiunt Bibo, findo firiorea.
PRETERITES of two syllables have the former long;
as Yeniy vidi, viciS
Virg. Venit summa dies, el ineluctable temfius.
Idem. Quos ubi confcrtos audere in firalia vidi.
Idem. Contra ego -vivendo -vici mea fata sufierstes.
Exception. --S/eii, dedi, scldi, luli, bibi,fidi from findo,
have the first syllable short.
Mart. Dixit et ardentes avido bibit ore favilla*.
Luc', jiut scidit et mediae fecit sibi litera terras.
Virg. Diffidit, et mull a fiorrectum extendit arena.
r To determine in many cases whether a syllable, which we find long
before two consonants, be naturally long, or only rendered so by that posi-
tion, we must look to the word in a different state, where the position does
not take place.
s Before some less smooth combinations of mute and liquid, the vowel,
on account of the different division of syllables, may remain short, in words
of Greek origin ; as ey-cnus, i-chneumon, A-tlas, DH-phne, J*ro-cne,
Tl-cmes>>a.
t Quinctilian, 1. 7. says, that before the time of Accius, and even after it,
the ancients used to write their long syllables with two vowels. What we
now write coq-o, was then cdago g edgito, cdttgito; captivi, captivei;
libtj, ieibo; dico, deico . * so the preterites with the temporal augment,
Tini, vttni; vidi, vftdi; imi, Zgmi; igi, itgi. Instances of this kind
" may be seen in every line of the Leges Regitt and Deccmvirales, col-
lected, by Lipsius.
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? 10
PRETERITES OF TWO SYLLABLES.
Note. --4bscidi, from cado, has the middle syllable long ;
but abscidi, from scindo, has it short.
Luc. Abscidit imfiuhu ventorum adjuta vetustas.
Idem, Abscidit nostra mvllum sors invida laudi.
Mart. Abscidit vultus ensis uterque sacros.
SECT. VIII.
PRETERITES DOUBLING THE FIRST SYLLABLE.
Prateritum geminans firimam, breviabit utramque :
Ut pario peperi; vetet id nisi consona bina :
Csedo eecidit habet, longd, ceu pedo, secundd.
WHEN the first syllable of the perfect is doubled, the
first and second are both short; as cicini, tettgi.
Virg. Tilyre, te fiatule cecini sub tegmine fagi.
Exception. --Cecidi, from ctedo, and fiefiidi, from fiedot
have the second syllable long.
Juven. Ebriiis ac fietulans, qui nullum forte eecidit.
JVote. --Although the first vowel be long by position in the
present tense, and continue long in the preterite, the pre-
fixed syllable or augment is nevertheless short; as cucurri,
tetendU1 ' .
SECT. IX.
SUPINES OF TWO SYLLABLES.
Cuncta sufiina -volunt firimam dissyllaba longam :
At Reor, et Cieo, Sero, et Ire, Sinoq; Linoq;
Do, Queo, et orta Ruo, breviabunt rite firiores.
u This prefixed syllable is always short, and is in imitation of the old
Greek augment >>. All Latin verbs which had this reduplication, formed
it originally with E j as memordi, spepondi ,? afterwarda momordi, spepondi.
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? . SUPINES OF TWO SYLLABLES. 11
*
SUPINES" of two syllables have the former long; as
Visum, Motum.
Virg. Terribiles viau forma ; Letumque Laborque.
Idem. Qttos ego : sed mbtos firtestat comfionere Jluclus.
Exceptions. --Ratum from Reor, Satum from Sero, Da-
tum from Do, Citum from Cieo, Lltum from Lino, It urn
from Eo, Rutum From Ruo, Quitum from Queo, Situm from
Sino, together with Futum from Fuo,y have the first syllable
short.
Virg. Nos abiisse rati, et vento fietiisse Myccnas.
Idem. At non Hie, satum quo te mentiris, Achilles.
Val. Flac. Fulnus et extrema sonuit cita cusfiide cassis.
Ovid. Hie situs eat Phoethon currus auriga fiaterni.
Citum, from Cieo of the second conjugation, has the first
syllable short; whence citus, quick ; concitus and excitus,
Virg. Altior insurgens et cursu concitus Heros.
Ovid. Ncc fruitur somno vigilantibus excita curis.
But Citum, from do of the fourth conjugation, has the
first syllable long; whence citus, aroused; concitus and
excitus. 1
Luc. Unde ruunt toto concila fiericula mundo.
Idem. Rufita quits fiofiulis stratisque excita juventus.
Ruo has ruitum and rutum in the supine. Its compounds
form the supine in utum, and have the penult short; as
Dirutus, Erutus, Obrutus.
x Supines in etmn are formed by Crasis from Situm; thus fttXtum,
JUtutn. Those in utum, from Utum; as minuitum, minutum; acultum,
acutum. But futum and rutum are formed by Syncope, and therefore
continue short.
y The preterite Jui, and the participle f&turus, both come from the
old verb fab, which is itself of Greek origin, Virgil uses it, JEn. 10.
108. " Tros Rutulusve fuat. "--From fuo are also formed forem and
fore, contracted from fu^rem and fulre. the vowels o and u having been
interchanged frequently in the old Latin, as in the A2o\ic dialect of the
Greeks. --Vide Sanctii Minerv. vol. i. p. 136. 138. ed. Saver.
z But Scitum is always long, whether it come from scio or scisco.
Stilus, from scie, signifies skilful, graceful, &c. j but Scitus, from scisco,
ordained, decreed; whence we have plebis-scitum, a decree of the com-
mons. On the double meaning of the word scitus is founded the pun of
Plautus, Pseud. 2. 4. 5S.
Ps. Eequid is homo scitus est ? --Ch. Plebiscitum non est scilius.
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? V2 SUPINES OF TWO SYLLABLES.
Ovid. Diruta sunt aliis, uni mihi Pcrgama restanc.
Virg. Nec mihi cum Teucris ullum float eruta bellum.
Statum* seems to have had the first syllable common, as
appears by its derivatives. Thus statio and status, nouns,
and status, adjective, together wiih all the compounds of sto,
which change a into i, shorten the penult, as flrnestitum,
ins ti tum.
Ovid. Hie status in ccelo multos flermansit in annos.
Idem. Musa quid a factis, non stata sacra fletis ?
Whereas stdturus, firastdturus, constdlurus, obstdlurus,
and the other compounds which retain the a, have that vowel
long.
Luc. Tunc res immenso fllacuit stdtura labore.
Mart. Constdtura fuit Megalensis flurfiura centum.
Stat. Qua sic orsa firior, sflesne obsldtura Pelasgis.
SECT. X.
POLYSYLLABIC SUPINES.
UTUM flroducunt flolysyllaba cuncta sufiina.
IVI Praterito semfler firoducitur ITUM.
Ceitera corrifiies in Itum qutcunque sufiina.
SUPINES in UTUM, of more than two syllables, have
the penult long; as Solutum, Argutum, Indutum.
Virg. Lumina rara micant somno vinoque soluti.
Supines in ITUM, from preterites in IVI, are likewise
long ; as cufiivi, cuflitum ; fletivi, fletitum ; condivi, condi-
tum, from condio, to season.
Ovid. Exilium requiesque mihi, non fama fietita est.
a The irregularities of the verb Sto are supposed to be owing to the
circumstance of its having belonged originally to the third as well as to the
first conjugation. Hence the supine Statum, from Sto of the first conjuga-
tion, was regularly long, while Stitum, from Sto of the third, was short;
but in process of time the orthographic distinction between Stdtum and
Stitum was confounded, and both were alike written with a, though the
difference iu point of quantity was still observed.
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? POLYSYLLABIC SUPINES.
13
Hor. Ne male conditum jus afifionatur, ut omries?
But supines in ITUM, from preterites in UI, and all other
supines in ITUM not included in the preceding rule, have the I
short; as monui, monitum; tacui, tacitum; placui, placitum. "
Virg. Discite ju&titiam moniti, et non temnere Divos.
Idem. Quia re, magne Cato, tacitum aut te, Cosse, re-,
linquat.
Note. --[This rule does not extend to polysyllabic compounds
from supines of two syllables. These follow the quantity of
the simple supines from which they are formed; as it um,
obitum; datum, abditum; satum, insitum, &c. j except cog-
nitum and agnitum, from n6tum. d
SECT. XI.
DERIVATIVES.
Derinata patris naturam verba sequuntur--
Mobilis et Fomes, Laterna ac Regula, Sedes,
Quanquam orta e brevibus, gaudent producere primatit.
Corripiuntur Arista, Vadum, Sopor, atque Lucerna,
Nata licet longis. Usus te plura docebit.
b Supines in Hum, from preterites in ivi, may be considered as formed
by Crasis, from ivitum; thus petivitum, petiwitum, petition, &to. ; and
loose in itum from preterites in ui, by Syncope from iiitum; as monuitum,
moniftum, monitum. The interchange of the short M and f is frequent and
natural. Thus, consilium from consiUo, exllium from ex&lo / and in the
old orthography, opt&mus for opttmus, astumare for teslXmare, &c.
c Jlecensttum is often adduced as an exception to this rule. It is only,
however, a deviation in appearance, being formed, not from recensui, but
from the old perfect recensivi. The simple verb censeo made censui and
censivi in the perfect, centum and censitum in the supine; hence we find
in an old inscription, censlta sunt', for censa sunt; and in the writers on
the civil law, censlti for censi: so also the noun censor is a contraction
from censitor, and occurs in the latter form in another inscription which
has come down to us, as well as in the writings of the ancient lawyers.
Analogous to this is the verb pono, which made in the perfect posivi and
posui. 1'lautus uses posivimus, Vidul. frag. 11. and Cato, posiverunt,
it. 11. Pricf. So apposivi, Plauh Mil. 3. 3. 31,; reposivi, Jlsin. 3. 1. 16. j
deposivi, Cure. 4. 3. 4. ; and Catullus, 32. 8.
d Many of the Latin supines are simple contractions, and their quantity
made long by the rule of position: thus, legitum, leg'tum, tectum; rumpi-
tum, rump'tum, ruptum; nubitum, nub'tum, nuptum; scribitum, scrib''?
tum, acriptum; docitum, or dokitum, doctum, &c.
B
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? 14 DERIVATIVES.
DERIVATIVES usually follow the quantity of their pri-
mitives; as Legebam, legam, lege, legito, with the first
syllable short, because they are formed from the present
lego, legis, whose first syllable is likewise short; and again,
legeram, legissem, legero, legisse, with the first syllable long,
since they come from the preterite. Ugi, which has the e
long.
Ardtrum, simulacrum, ambulacrum, lavdcrum, volutabrum,
involucrum, have the penult long, being derived from the
supines ardtum, simuldtum, ambulatum, lav at um, voluldtum,
involutum, whose penults are likewise long.
On the other hand, Reditus, exitus, introitus, adit us,
initus, are short, because the supines whence they come are
of the same quantity.
Exceptions. --Many derivatives deviate from the nature
ef their primitives, and their quantity is only to be ascer-
tained by a perusal of the best poets :e thus, mobilis, fomes,
laterna, regula, sides, have their first syllable long, although
the corresponding syllable bcshort in the words whence they
are said to deduce their origin, viz. moveo, fdveo, lateo, rego,
sedeo.
Again, lucerna, arista, sopor, vidian, have the first syllable'
short, though the verbs luceo, area, sopio, vddo, whence they
are said to be derived, lengthen the same. f
e When the student is referred to the practice of the best writers, or, in
ether words, to what is usually termed their authority, he must be careful
not to consider that authority as arbitrary in its exercise, and depending
solely on the pleasure of the writer. Nothing more is meant by the phrase,
than that the quantity we find assigned to any particular word, had before
been determined and familiarized to the ear of the writer by the actual
pronunciation of his countrymen, and that he accordingly used the syllable
with that measure of sound which he found assigned to it in common speech.
f Many of the exceptions above given, scarcely deserve to be so called;
and are only mentioned as such, in compliance with custom. Thus, mobi-
lis and fomes are merely contracted forms, and hence are necessarily long,
*The regular supine of mdveo was mdvltum or mdwltum, reduced by Syncope
to mSyftum, and by Crasis to motum ; and the adjective was first movibilis
Or mSwibilis, then by Syncope mow'bilis, and by Crasis mobilis. So also
fomes was originally fovimes, and underwent a similar change< Again,
Jjaterua is commonly derived from lateo, because " in ea latet ignis.
l'his deriration appears extremely puerile. Gesner, Thes, L. L. quotes
Parens, Lex. Crit. , who affirms the old mode of writing the word to have
been Lanterna, with the a long by position, and the letter n having been
scarcely sounded, (see Sect. I. ) may in time have disappeared. With re-
gard to Regula, the remark of Wase, in his treatise tie Licentla Vet.
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? DERIVATIVES.
15
In like manner, the entire class of verbs in URIO, called
desideratives, have the U short, though derived from the
future participle in URUS, whose penult is always long.
SECT. XII.
COMPOUND WORDS.
Legem simplicium retinent compdsta suorum,
Vocalem licet, aut diphthongum, Syllaba mutet.
Dejero corripies, cum pejero, et Innuba, nec non
Pronuba, fatidicum et socios, cum semisopitus;
Queis etiam nihilum, cum cognitus, agnitus hmrent.
Longa imbecillus verbumque ambitus amabit.
COMPOUND words retain in general the quantity of
the simple words from which they are formed.
Thus in perlego, relego, the middle syllable is short, be-
cause it is short in the simple lego.
In the perfectsperlegi, relegi, it is long, because lengthened
in the simple legi.
Attigi, concidi, diffidi, ebibi, rescidi, have the penult
short, because the corresponding vowel is short in their
primitives, tetigi, cec'idi, &c.
Oblitum, from oblino, insitum, circumdatum, desitum,
have the penult short, for the same reason. Oblitus is
from obliviscor.
Poet" may not perhaps be deemed wholly irrelevant. --<e Geminatio con-
sonantium, ex vulgi illiterati consueiudine, Poetict e licentice originem
prabuisse videtur, ut p in Trapezito, b in Tabemaculo, c in Cicatrices,
etc. "--As to the derivation of Lucerna from hiceo or lux, it is opposed by
Servias, Virg. jEn. 1. 726: " A L)chno autem Lucerna dicta tst, unde et
brevis est lMcilia et Persia, si enim a luce diceretur, non staret versus. "
And lastly with respect to Sopor and Vadum, Vossius derives the former
from virtLgy and the latter from /3*<f<JC. It must be confessed, however,
that in the case of many Latin derivatives, as well as compounds, irregu-
larities occur, to which, when called upon to explain these departures from
analogy, we can only answer in the words of the " most learned of the
Romans:" Cum in vestitu, teilificiis, sic in supellectile, cibo, ctetereis
omnibus, qua usu ad vitam sunt adsumpta domineteur insequalitas j in ser-
mone quoque qui est us&s causa constitutus, ea non repudianda. " Varro ,
L. L.
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? 16 COMPOUND WORDS.
The quantity of the simple words is preserved in the]
compounds, though the vowels be changed. Thus, concido,
excido, incido, occido, recido, from cado, shorten the penult;
and in like manner eligo, seligo, &c. from lego. On the
other hand, concido, excido, incido, recido, occido, from
cado, have the penult long. So also, allido, from lado:
exquiro, requiro, from qucero ; obedio, obedis, from audio.
Virg. Occidit, occideritq; sinas cum nomine Troja.
Juv. Occidit miseros crambe repctita magistros.
Exceptions. --The following shorten the penult, though
the corresponding vowels in the simple words be long; as
dejero, pejero, from juro; pronuba, inniiba, from niibo;
maledicus, causidicus, veridicus, falidicus, from dico;
semisopitus, from sopitus; nihilum, from ne and hilum
cognitum and agnitum, from notum;h Jiodie, from hjac die.
Imbecillus, from baculus, has the second syllable long. '
The participle ambitus has the penult long, but the nouns
ambitus and ambltio have it short. k
g This derivation of nihilum is generally received by Etymologists, and
rests on the authority of Priscian and Varro. Hilum is said to have signified
" the Utile black of a bean, i. e. a very nothing;" and hence, in an old
poet quoted by Cicero, Tusc 1. 4. , we have,
" Sisyphu' venal
" Saxum tudant nitendo, nequeproficit hilum. " i. e. nihil.
Scaliger, in his notes to Festus, asserts the old orthography to have been
hillum. If so, the deviation in nihilum, from the quantity of the primitive,
may be accounted for by Syncope.
h According to Vossius, in Cognitum et Agnitum, eequuntur Latini
naturampolysyllaborum simplicium, ut sunt Hubitum, Bibiium, et timilia. "
Perhaps it would be more correct to say that in notum the Crasis operated
to lengthen the word from novitum, and the Syncope to shorten cognitum
and agnitum.
i It would be more proper perhaps to call the second syllable in imbe-
cillus common. It is short in Prudentius, Hymn. post, cibum, v. 2. , and
long in Horace, Sat. 2. 7. 39. , and in Paulinus, lie Celsi obitu. v. 114. The
Port-Royal grammarian censures Prudentius for this apparent violation of
quantity. It may be observed, however, in defence of the Christian poet,
that it is more consistent with the derivation of the word, to make its
second syllable short, than long; and that Lucretius, in the verb vacillo,
which is derived from baculus or bacillus, shortens the first syllable in six
different parts of his poem, and lengthens it only in one. 3. 503. Gesner.
Thes. L. L- supposes the second syllable of imbecillus to have been made
long by doubling the c, a remark in unison with that of Wase, mentioned
in a preceding note, and which may perhaps furnish us with a safe clew
amid the intricacies of poetic license.
k It has been supposed, that besides ambio, ambitum, a simple derivative
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? OOMPOUND WORDS.
Connubium, from nubo, has the second syllable common.
Virg. Hectoris Andromache, Pyrrhiu? connubia servas ?
Idem. Connubiojungam stabili propriamg; dicabo.
SECT. XIII.
PREPOSITIONS IN COMPOSITION.
Longa A, DE, E, SE, DI, prater Dirimo atque Disei'Ujs.
Sit RE breve: at Refert a Res producito semper.
Corripe PRO Gracum; produc plerumque Latinum.
Contrahe qua Fundus, Fugio, Neptisyue, Neposgue,
Et Festus, Fari, Fateor, Fanum^ue crearunt :
Hiice Profecto addes, pariterque Procella, Protervus,
At primam variant Propago, Propino, Profundo,
Propulso, Procuro, Propello: Proserpina junge.
Corripe AB, et reliquas, obstet nisi consona bina.
A, E, DE, DI, SE, in composition, are long; as amitto. s
erumpo, deduco, diripio, separo.
Virg. Amissos longo socios sermone requiruht.