New Latin Grammar by Charles E. Bennett (1918)

PART I.

SOUNDS, ACCENT, QUANTITY.

THE ALPHABET.

1. The Latin Alphabet is the same as the English, except that the Latin has no w.

1. K occurs only in Kalendae and a few other words; y and z were introduced from the Greek about 50 B.C., and occur only in foreign words—chiefly Greek.

2. With the Romans, who regularly employed only capitals, I served both as vowel and consonant; so also V. For us, however, it is more convenient to distinguish the vowel and consonant sounds, and to write i and u for the former, j and v for the latter. Yet some scholars prefer to employ i and u in the function of consonants as well as vowels.

CLASSIFICATION OF SOUNDS.

2. 1. The Vowels are a, e, i, o, u, y. The other letters are Consonants. The Diphthongs are ae, oe, ei, au, eu, ui.

2. Consonants are further subdivided into Mutes, Liquids, Nasals, and Spirants.

3. The Mutes are p, t, c, k, q; b, d, g; ph, th, ch. Of these,—

4. The Mutes admit of classification also as

5. The Liquids are l, r. These sounds were voiced.

6. The Nasals are m, n. These were voiced. Besides its ordinary sound, n, when followed by a guttural mute also had another sound,—that of ng in sing,—the so-called n adulterīnum; as,—

7. The Spirants (sometimes called Fricatives) are f, s, h. These were voiceless.

8. The Semivowels are j and v. These were voiced.

9. Double Consonants are x and z. Of these, x was equivalent to cs, while the equivalence of z is uncertain. See § 3, 3.

10. The following table will indicate the relations of the consonant sounds:—

SOUNDS OF THE LETTERS.

3. The following pronunciation (often called Roman) is substantially that employed by the Romans at the height of their civilization; i.e., roughly, from 50 B.C. to 50 A.D.

1. Vowels.

2. Diphthongs.

3. Consonants.

SYLLABLES.

4. There are as many syllables in a Latin word as there are separate vowels and diphthongs.

In the division of words into syllables,—

1. A single consonant is joined to the following vowel; as, vo-lat, ge-rit, pe-rit, a-dest.

2. Doubled consonants, like tt, ss, etc., are always separated; as, vit-ta, mis-sus.

3. Other combinations of two or more consonants are regularly separated, and the first consonant of the combination is joined with the preceding vowel; as, ma-gis-trī, dig-nus, mōn-strum, sis-te-re.

4. An exception to Rule 3 occurs when the two consonants consist of a mute followed by l or r (pl, cl, tl; pr, cr, tr, etc.). In such cases both consonants are regularly joined to the following vowel; as, a-grī, vo-lu-cris, pa-tris, mā-tris. Yet if the l or r introduces the second part of a compound, the two consonants are separated; as, ab-rumpō, ad-lātus.

5. The double consonant x is joined to the preceding vowel; as, ax-is, tēx-ī.

QUANTITY.

5. A. Quantity of Vowels.

A vowel is long or short according to the length of time required for its pronunciation. No absolute rule can be given for determining the quantity of Latin vowels. This knowledge must be gained, in large measure, by experience; but the following principles are of aid:—

1. A vowel is long,

b) when the result of contraction; as, nīlum for nihilum.

2. A vowel is short,—

b) before another vowel, or h; as, meus, trahō. Some exceptions occur, chiefly in proper names derived from the Greek; as, Aenēās.

B. Quantity of Syllables.

Syllables are distinguished as long or short according to the length of time required for their pronunciation.

1. A syllable is long,

2. A syllable is short, if it contains a short vowel followed by a vowel or by a single consonant; as, mea, amat.

3. Sometimes a syllable varies in quantity, viz. when its vowel is short and is followed by a mute with l or r, i.e. by pl, cl, tl; pr, cr, tr, etc.; as, ăgrī, volŭcris. Such syllables are called common. In prose they were regularly short, but in verse they might be treated as long at the option of the poet.

NOTE.—These distinctions of long and short are not arbitrary and artificial, but are purely natural. Thus, a syllable containing a short vowel followed by two consonants, as ng, is long, because such a syllable requires more time for its pronunciation; while a syllable containing a short vowel followed by one consonant is short, because it takes less time to pronounce it. In case of the common syllables, the mute and the liquid blend so easily as to produce a combination which takes no more time than a single consonant. Yet by separating the two elements (as ag-rī) the poets were able to use such syllables as long.

ACCENT.

6. 1. Words of two syllables are accented upon the first; as, tégit, mō´rem.

2. Words of more than two syllables are accented upon the penult (next to the last) if that is a long syllable, otherwise upon the antepenult (second from the last); as, amā´vī, amántis, míserum.

3. When the enclitics -que, -ne, -ve, -ce, -met, -dum are appended to words, if the syllable preceding the enclitic is long (either originally or as a result of adding the enclitic) it is accented; as, miserō´que, hominísque. But if the syllable still remains short after the enclitic has been added, it is not accented unless the word originally took the accent on the antepenult. Thus, pórtaque; but míseráque.

4. Sometimes the final -e of -ne and -ce disappears, but without affecting the accent; as, tantō´n, istī´c, illū´c.

5. In utră´que, each, and plēră´que, most, -que is not properly an enclitic; yet these words accent the penult, owing to the influence of their other cases,—utérque, utrúmque, plērúmque.

VOWEL CHANGES.

7.. 1. In Compounds,

2. Contraction. Concurrent vowels were frequently contracted into one long vowel. The first of the two vowels regularly prevailed; as,—

3. Parasitic Vowels. In the environment of liquids and nasals a parasitic vowel sometimes develops; as,—

So perīculum, saeculum.

4. Syncope. Sometimes a vowel drops out by syncope; as,—

CONSONANT CHANGES

8. 1. Rhotacism. An original s between vowels became r; as,—

2. dt, tt, ts each give s or ss; as,—

3. Final consonants were often omitted; as,—

4. Assimilation of Consonants. Consonants are often assimilated to a following sound. Thus: accurrō (adc-); aggerō (adg-); asserō (ads-); allātus (adl-); apportō (adp-); attulī (adt-); arrīdeō (adr-); afferō (adf-); occurrō (obc-); suppōnō (subp-); offerō (obf-); corruō (comr-); collātus (coml-); etc.

5. Partial Assimilation. Sometimes the assimilation is only partial. Thus:—

PECULIARITIES OF ORTHOGRAPHY.

9. Many words have variable orthography.

1. Sometimes the different forms belong to different periods of the language. Thus, quom, voltus, volnus, volt, etc., were the prevailing forms almost down to the Augustan age; after that, cum, vultus, vulnus, vult, etc. So optumus, maxumus, lubet, lubīdō, etc. down to about the same era; later, optimus, maximus, libet, libīdō, etc.

2. In some words the orthography varies at one and the same period of the language. Examples are exspectō, expectō; exsistō, existō; epistula, epistola; adulēscēns, adolēscēns; paulus, paullus; cottīdiē, cotīdiē; and, particularly, prepositional compounds, which often made a concession to the etymology in the spelling; as,—

3. Compounds of jaciō were usually written ēiciō, dēiciō, adiciō, obiciō, etc., but were probably pronounced as though written adjiciō, objiciō, etc.

4. Adjectives and nouns in -quus, -quum; -vus, -vum; -uus, -uum preserved the earlier forms in -quos, -quom; -vos, -vom; -uos, -uom, down through the Ciceronian age; as, antīquos, antīquom; saevos; perpetuos; equos; servos. Similarly verbs in the 3d plural present indicative exhibit the terminations -quont, -quontur; -vont, -vontur; -uont, -uontur, for the same period; as, relinquont, loquontur; vīvont, metuont.

The older spelling, while generally followed in editions of Plautus and Terence, has not yet been adopted in our prose texts.