ACCENT.

6. 1.  Words of two syllables are accented upon the first; as, tegit, mo’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, ama’vi, amantis, miserum.

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, misero’que, hominisque.  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, portaque; but miseraque.

4.  Sometimes the final -e of -ne and -ce disappears, but without affecting the accent; as, tanto’n, isti’c, illu’c.

5.  In utra’que, each, and plera’que, most, -que is not properly an enclitic; yet these words accent the penult, owing to the influence of their other cases,—­uterque, utrumque, plerumque.

VOWEL CHANGES.[9]

7.. 1.  In Compounds,

  a) e before a single consonant becomes i; as,—­

    colligo for con-lego.

  b) a before a single consonant becomes i:  as,—­

    adigo for ad-ago.

  c) a before two consonants becomes e; as,—­

    expers for ex-pars.

  d) ae becomes i; as,—­

    conquiro for con-quaero.

  e) au becomes u, sometimes o; as,—­

concludo    for con-claudo;
explodo     for ex-plaudo.

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

tres for tre-es; copia for co-opia; malo for ma(v)elo; cogo for co-ago; amasti for ama(v)isti; como for co-emo; debeo for de(h)abeo; junior for ju(v)enior. nil for nihil;

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

  vinculum for earlier vinclum.

So periculum, saeculum.

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

  ardor for aridor (compare aridus);
  valde for valide (compare validus).

CONSONANT CHANGES[10]

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

  arbos, Gen. arboris (for arbosis);
  genus, Gen. generis (for genesis);
  dirimo (for dis-emo).

2. dt, tt, ts each give s or ss; as,—­

pensum for pend-tum; versum for vert-tum; miles for milet-s; sessus for sedtus; passus for pattus.

3.  Final consonants were often omitted; as,—­

  cor for cord;
  lac for lact.

4.  Assimilation of Consonants.  Consonants are often assimilated to a following sound.  Thus:  accurro (adc-); aggero (adg-); assero (ads-); allatus (adl-); apporto (adp-); attuli (adt-); arrideo (adr-); affero (adf-); occurro (obc-); suppono (subp-); offero (obf-); corruo (comr-); collatus (coml-); etc.