Society for Pure English Tract 4 | Page 8

some of the bodily introductions are in the same case. Thus
'anæsthetic' is spelt with the Latin diphthong and the Latin c. Even
'skeleton' had a c to start with, while the modern and wholly
abominable 'kaleidoscope' is unprincipled on the face of it.
STEMS ENDING IN -ANT AND -ENT. These are participles or words
formed as such. Our words have shed a syllable, thus regentem has
become 'regent'. Disyllables follow the 'apex' rule and lengthen the first
vowel, as 'agent', 'decent', 'potent'. Exceptions are 'clement' and 'present',
perhaps under French influence. Words of more than two syllables with
a single consonant before the termination throw the stress back and
shorten a long penultima, as 'ignorant', 'president', 'confident', 'adjutant'.
Where there are two heavy consonants, the stress remains on the
penultima, as 'consultant', 'triumphant', even when one of the
consonants is not pronounced, as 'reminiscent'. In some cases the
Latinists seem to have deliberately altered the natural pronunciation.
Thus Gower has 'ápparaúnt', but the word became 'appárent' before
Shakespeare's time, and later introductions such as 'adherent' followed
it. What right 'adjacent' has to its long vowel and penultimate stress I
do not know, but it cannot be altered now.
STEMS ENDING IN -ATO AND -UTO. These are mostly past
participles, but many of them are used in English as verbs. It must be
admitted that the disyllabic words are not wholly constant to a principle.
Those verbs that come from _-latum_ consistently stress the last vowel,
as 'dilate', 'relate', 'collate'. So does 'create', because of one vowel
following another. Of the rest all the words of any rank have the stress
on the penultima, as 'vibrate', 'frustrate', 'mígrate', 'cástrate', 'púlsate',
'vácate'. Thus Pope has
The whisper, that to greatness still too near, Perhaps, yet vibrates on his
Sov'reign's ear,
and Shelley

Music, when soft voices die, Vibrates in the memory.
There are, however, verbs of no literary account which in usage either
vary in the stress or take it on the latter syllable. Such are 'locate', 'orate',
'negate', 'placate', and perhaps 'rotate'. With most of these we could well
dispense. 'Equate' is mainly a technical word. Dictionaries seem to
prefer the stress on the ultima, but some at least of the early Victorian
mathematicians said 'équate', and the pronunciation is to be supported.
Trisyllabic verbs throw the stress back and shorten the penultima, as
'dés[)o]late', 'súff[)o]cate', 'scínt[)i]llate'. Even words with heavy double
consonants have adopted this habit. Thus where Browning has (like
Milton and Cowper)
I the Trinity illústrate Drinking water'd orange pulp, In three sips the
Arian frustrate. While he drains his at one gulp,
it is now usual to say 'íllustrate'.
Adjectives of this class take as early a stress as they can, as 'órnate',
'pínnate', 'délicate', 'fórtunate'. Nouns from all these words throw the
accent back and shorten or obscure all but the penultimate vowel, as
'ignorance', 'evaporation'.
STEMS IN -IA. Here even disyllables shorten the penultima, as 'copy',
'province', while longer words throw the stress back as well as shorten
the penultima, as 'injury', 'colony', while 'ignominy' almost lost its
penultimate vowel, and therefore threw back the stress to the first
syllable. Shakespeare frankly writes the word as a trisyllable,
Thy ignomy sleep with thee in the grave.
Milton restored the lost syllable, often eliding the final vowel, as in
Exile, or ignominy, or bonds, or pain.
Even with heavy consonants we have the early stress, as in 'industry'.
Greek words follow the same rules, as 'agony', 'melody'. Some words of
this class have under French influence been further abbreviated, as
'concord'.
Corresponding STEMS IN -IO keep the same rules. Perhaps the only
disyllable is 'study'; the shortening of a stressed u shows its immediate
derivation from the old French estudie. Trisyllabic examples are
'colloquy', 'ministry', 'perjury'. Many words of this class have been
further abbreviated in their passage through French. Such are 'benefice',
'divorce', 'office', 'presage', 'suffrage', 'vestige', 'adverb', 'homicide',
'proverb'. The stress in 'divórce' is due to the long vowel and the two

consonants. A few of these words have been borrowed bodily from
Latin, as 'odium', 'tedium', 'opprobrium'.
STEMS IN -DO AND -TO (-SO). These words lose the final Latin
syllable and keep the stress on the vowel which bore it in Latin. The
stressed vowel, except in _au_, _eu_, is short, even when, as in 'vivid',
'florid', it was long in classical Latin. This, of course, is in accord with
the English pronunciation of Latin. Examples are 'acid', 'tepid', 'rigid',
'horrid', 'humid', 'lurid ', 'absurd', 'tacit', 'digit', 'deposit', 'compact',
'complex', 'revise', 'response', 'acute'. Those which have the suffix _-es_
prefixed throw the stress back, as 'honest', 'modest'. Those which have
the suffix _-men_ prefixed also throw the stress back, as 'moment',
'pigment', 'torment', and to the antepenultima, if there be one, as
'argument', 'armament',