§ 2. PRONUNCIATION.* 15. The pronunciation of the Latin language prevalent among the nations of continental Europe, is greatly preferable to the English, both because it harmonizes better with the quantity of the language, as settled by the rules of Prosody, and because, by giving one simple sound to each vowel, distinguishing the short and the long only by the duration of sounds, it is much more simple. The sound of the vowels, as pronounced alone or at the end of a syllable, is exhibited in the following 16. TABLE OF VOWEL AND DIPHTHONGAL SOUNDS. Short ǎ sounds like a as ămăt. in Jehovah, 1. The sound of the vowels a and e remains unchanged in all situations. 2. The sound of i, o, and u, is slightly modified when fol *The ancient pronunciation of the Latin language, cannot now be certainly ascertained. The variety of pronunciation in different nations, arises from a tendency in all to assimilate it in some measure to their own. But of all varieties, that of the English-certainly the farthest of any from the original -is, in our opinion, decidedly the worst; not only from its intricacy and want of simplicity, but especially from its conflicting constantly with the settled quantity of the language. In English, every accented syllable is long, and every unaccented one is short. When, therefore, according to the rules of English accentuation, the accent falls on a short syllable in a Latin word, or does not fall on a long one, in either case, its tendency is, to lead to false quantity. For the English orthopy of the Latin language, see p. 841. Note. For the sound of u, before another vowel, after g, 9, and sometimes 8, &c., See 8-2. 3. The consonants are pronounced generally as in the English language. C and g are hard, as in the words cat, and got, before a, o, and u; and c is soft like s; and g, like j, before e, i, y, œ, and œ. 4. Tand c, following or ending an accented syllable before i short, followed by a vowel, usually have the sound of sh; as in nuntius or nuncius, patientia, socius; pronounced nunshius, pashienshia, soshius. But t has not the sound of sh before i long, as totius; nor before such Greek words as Miltiades, Baotia, Egyptius; nor when it is preceded by another t, or 8, or a; as Bruttii, ostium, mixtio, &c.; nor, lastly, when ti is followed by the termination of the infinitive passive in er, as in nitier, quatier. Note. The soft sound of c before e, i, y, a, and a, adopted by all European nations, is evidently a deviation from the ancient pronunciation, according to which c was sounded hard, like k, or the Greek, in all situations. Ti sounding shi is a similar corruption, chiefly English, which it might perhaps be well to change by giving ti the same sound in all situations; as, arti, arti-um, arti-bus. 5. S has always the sharp sound like ss, and never the soft sound like ; or like 8 in as, peas, dose, &c.; thus, nos, dominos, rūpes, are pronounced as if written noss, dominoss, rūpess, not nose, dominose, rūpese. § 3. SYLLABLES. 18.-A SYLLABLE is a distinct sound forming the whole of a word, or so much of it as can be sounded at once. Every word has as many syllables as it has distinct vowel sounds. A word of one syllable is called a Monosyllable. A word of many syllables is called a Polysyllable. 19. In a word of many syllables, the last is called the final syllable; the one next the last is called the penult, and the syllable preceding that is called the antepenult. 20.-The Figures which affect the orthography of words, are as follows: 1st. Prosthesis prefixes a letter or syllable to a word; as, gnātus for natus, tetulit for tulit. 2d. 8d. 4th. 5th. 6th. 7th. 8th. Epenthesis inserts a letter or syllable in the middle of a word; as, navita for nauta, Timōlus for Tmōlus. Paragoge adds a letter or syllable to the end of a word; as, amarier for amāri, &c. Apheresis cuts off a letter or syllable from the beginning of a word; as, brevis't or brèvist for brevis est; rhabo for arrhăbo. Syncope takes a letter or syllable from the middle of a word; as, oraclum for oraculum; amârim, for amavěrim; deûm for deōrum. Apocope takes a letter or syllable from the end of a word; as, Antoni for Antonii, men' for mene, dic for dice. Antithesis substitutes one letter for another: as, olli for illi; vult, vultis, for volt, voltis, contractions for volit, volītis. Metathesis changes the order of letters in a word; as, pistris for pristis. 9th. Tmesis separates the parts of a compound word by inserting another word between them; as, quæ me cumque vocant terræ, for quæcumque me, &c. 10th. Anastrophe inverts the order of words; as, dăre circum for circumdăre. QUANTITY AND ACCENT. 21.-QUANTITY is the measure of a syllable in respect of the time required in pronouncing it. In respect of quantity, a syllable is either long or short; and a long syllable is considered equal to two short ones. 22.-GENERAL RULES. 1. A diphthong is always long; as, aurum, pœ-na. 2. A vowel before another vowel is short; as, vì-a, dě-us. 3. A vowel before two consonants or a double consonant is long; as, consul, pēnna, trāxit. 4. A vowel before a mute and a liquid is common; i. e., sometimes long and sometimes short; as, cerēbrum, or cerěbrum. [For special rules on this subject, see Prosody.] 23.-ACCENT is a special stress or force of voice on a parti cular syllable of a word, by which that syllable is distinguished from the rest. Every word of more than one syllable has an accent; as Déus, hómo, dominus, tolerábilis. The last syllable of a word never has the accent. In a word of two syllables, the accent is always on the first. In a word of three or more syllables, if the penult is long, the accent is on the penult; as, sermō'nis, amaremus; but if the penult is short, the accent is on the antepenult; as, fácilis, dúcère, péctòris, pectóribus. 24.-An enclitic syllable (que, ve, ne, &c.), being considered, in pronunciation, part of the word to which it is annexed, generally changes the place of the accent by increasing the number of syllables; as, vírum, virúmque; dom'inus, dominúsve. 25.-A word of one syllable is properly without an accent; but if an enclitic is annexed, it becomes a dissyllable, and takes the accent on the first syllable; as, tu, túne. 26.-In English, an accented syllable is always long, or rather the accent makes it long; but in Latin, the accent makes no change in the quantity of its syllable, and, except in the penult, is as often on a short, as on a long syllable; as, fă'ciles, pè'tère, vì' rum. Note 1. These rules respecting accent, in connection with the general rules for quantity, will be sufficient to guide the pupil in accenting words, without the artificial aid of marking the accented syllables. Where the quantity of the penult is not ascertained by the preceding rules (22), it will be marked in this work. Note 2. In reading Latin, it is important, as much as possible, to distinguish accent from quantity-a matter not without difficulty to those accustomed to a language in which accent and quantity always coincide. It should be remembered that in Latin, the accent does not make a syllable long as in English, neither does the want of it make the syllable short. Homines, for example, should not be pronounced homines; and care should be taken to distinguish in reading the verbs le'go and le'go;—the noun pop'ulus (the people) from populus (a poplar);-or the verbs fu'ris, legis, regis, from the genitives furis, legis, regis. The accented short syllable should be pronounced with greater force of voice, but be preserved short still; and the ong syllable, whether accented or not, should be made long. PART SECOND. ETYMOLOGY. 27.-ETYMOLOGY treats of the different sorts of words, their various modifications, and their de rivations. § 4. WORDS. 28. WORDS are certain articulate sounds used by common consent as signs of our ideas. 1. In respect of Formation, words are either Primitive or Derivative; Simple or Compound. A Primitive word is one that comes from no other; as, puer, bõnus, păter. A Derivative word is one that is derived from another word; as, pueritia, bonitas, paternus. A Simple word is one that is not combined with any other word; as, pius, doceo, verto. A Compound word is one made up of two or more simple words; as impius, dedoceo, animadverto. 2. In respect of Form, words are either Declinable or Indeclinable. A Declinable word is one which undergoes certain changes of form or termination, to express the different relations of gender, number, case, &c., usually termed, in Grammar, Accidents. An Indeclinable word is one that undergoes no change of form. 3. In respect of Signification and Use, words are divided into different classes, called Parts of Speech. |