Society for Pure English Tract 4 | Page 5

in a consonant short. Enclitics like que were no real exception as they
formed part of the preceding word. There were, however, some real
exceptions.
1. Pronouns ending in _-os_, as _hos_, quos. These followed eos and
illos.

2. Words ending in _-es_, as _pes_, res.
3. Words ending in _r_, as _par_, _fer_, _vir_, _cor_, fur. These had
that form of long vowel which we use in 'part', 'fertile', 'virtue', 'cordate',
'furtive'.
In, disyllables the former vowel or diphthong, if followed by a single
consonant, or by a mute and _r_, or by cl or _pl_, was pronounced long,
a usage which according to Mr. Henry Bradley dates in spoken Latin
from the fourth century. Examples are _apex_, _tenet_, _item_, _focus_,
_pupa_, _Psyche_, _Cæsar_, foetus. I believe that at first the only
exceptions were _tibi_, _sibi_, _ibi_, _quibus_, tribus. In later days the
imperfect and future of sum became exceptions. Here perhaps the short
vowel arose from the hideous and wholly erroneous habit, happily
never universal though still in some vogue, of reciting _erám_, _erás_,
_erát_. There are actually schoolbooks which treat the verse _ictus_,
the beat of the chanter's foot, as a word stress and prescribe _terra
tribús scopulís_. I can say of these books only _Pereant ipsi, mutescant
scriptores_, and do not mind using a post-classical word in order to say
it.
In disyllables the former vowel or diphthong, if followed immediately
by another vowel or diphthong, had the quality, and if emphatic also
the quality, of a long vowel. The distinction was not recognized, and
seems not to be generally acknowledged even now. We seem not to
have borrowed many words which will illustrate this. We have however
_fiat_, and pius was pronounced exactly as we pronounce 'pious', while
for a diphthong we may quote Shelley,
Mid the mountains Euganean I stood listening to the paean.
English derivatives will show the long quality of the vowels in _aer_,
_deus_, _coit_, duo. To these add Graius.
The rule of apex applies also to words of more than two syllables with
long penultima, as _gravamen_, _arena_, _saliva_, _abdomen_,
acumen. The rule of aer also holds good though it hardly has other
instances than Greek names, as _Macháon_, _Ænéas_, _Thalía_,
_Achelóus_, _Ach['æ]i_.
In words of more than two syllables with short penultima the vowel in
the stressed antepenultima was pronounced short when there was a
consonant between the two last vowels, and i and y were short even
when no consonant stood in that place. Examples are _stamina_,

_Sexagesima_, _minimum_, _modicum_, _tibia_, Polybius. But _u_,
_au_, eu were, as usual, exceptions, as _tumulus_, _Aufidus_, Eutychus.
I believe that originally men said _C[)æ]sarem_, as they certainly said
_c[)æ]spitem_ and _C[)æ]tulum_, as also _C[)æ]sarea_, but here in
familiar words the cases came to follow the nominative.
Exceptions to the rule were verb forms which had _[=a]v_, _[=e]v_,
_[=i]v_, or _[=o]v_ in the antepenultima, as _am[=a]veram_,
_defieverat_, _audivero_, _moveras_, and like forms from aorists with
the penultima long, as _suaseram_, _egero_, _miserat_, _roseras_, and
their compounds.
This rule was among the first to break down, and about the middle of
the nineteenth century the Westminster Play began to observe the true
quantities in the antepenultimate syllables. Thus in spite of
'cons[)i]deration' boys said _s[=i]dera_, and in spite of 'n[)o]minal' they
said _nômina_, while they still said _s[)o]litus_ and _r[)a]pidus_.
On the other hand the following rule, of which borrowed words provide
many examples, still obtains in the Play. In words of more than two
syllables any vowel in the antepenultima other than i or y was
pronounced long if no consonant divided the two following vowels.
Possibly the reason was that there was a synæresis of the two vowels,
but I doubt this, for a parasitic y was treated as a consonant. Examples
are _alias_, _genius_, _odium_, _junior_, _anæmia_, and on the other
hand _f[)i]lius_, _L[)y]dia_. Compound verbs with a short prefix were
exceptions, as _[)o]beo_, _r[)e]creo_, whence our 'recreant'. A long
prefix remained long as in _d[=e]sino_. The only other exception that I
can remember was _Ph[)o]loe_.
In polysyllables the general rule was that all vowels and diphthongs
before the penultima other than _u_, when it bore a primary or
secondary stress, and au and eu were pronounced short except where
the 'alias' rule or the 'larva' rule applied. Thus we said
_h[)e]r[)e]ditaritis_, _[)æ]qu[)a]bilitas_, _imb[)e]cillus_,
_susp[)i]cionem_, but _fid[=u]ciarius_, _m[=e]diocritas_,
_p[=a]rticipare_. I do not know why the popular voice now gives
_[)A]riadne_, for our forefathers said _[=A]riadne_ as they said
_[=a]rea_.
In very long words the alternation of stress and no-stress was insisted
on. I remember a schoolmaster who took his degree at Oxford in the

year 1827 reproving a boy for saying _Álphesib['oe]us_ instead of
_Alphesib['oe]us_, and I suspect that Wordsworth meant no inverted
stress in
Laódamía, that at Jove's command--
nor Landor in