Part 5

(4.) It may be mentioned here that #rēī# is said to occur in verse 6 times (Plaut. G. 2, Lucr. G. 2, D. 2); #reī# 9 times (Plaut. G. 2, Ter. G. 4, D. 1, Juv. G. 1, Sulp. Apoll. G. 1); #re͞i# 27 times (Plaut. G. 2, D. 3, Enn. D. 1, Ter. G. 9, D. 8, Lucil. G. 1, D. 1, Lucr. G. 2). #fidēī# G. 3 times (Plaut., Enn., Lucr.); #fideī# 11 times (Enn. D. 1, Man. G. 2, D. 1, Sil. G. 4, D. 1, Juv. G. 2); #fidēi# 5 times (Ter. G. 1, D. 3, Hor. 1). #ēī# 35 times (Plaut. 18, Ter. 8, Lucr. 9); #eī# some 17 times (Plaut. 12, Ter. 2, German. 1, Ter. Maur. 2); #ēi# 23 times (Plaut. 11, Ter. 8, Lucil. 3, Cat. 1).

(5.) #Gāius# retains its #ā# before the vowel #i#: thus, #Gāius# (trisyllabic).

(6.) In the pronominal genitives in #-ī̆us# (618), the quantity of #i# varied. The older dramatists use #ī#; later, #ī# was shortened, but variations in its quantity seem to have continued until long after the end of the republic; Cicero, _DO._ 3, 183, measures #illius#; Quintilian 1, 5, 18 #ūnīus#; the grammarian Priscian prescribes #-īus# for all except #alterius#, which should always have #i#, and #utrius#, in which the #i# is common (30). In verse the #i# is often short, except in #neutrīus#; #utriusque# has always short #i#.

(7.) The penult is long in the endings #-āī#, #-āīs#, #-ōī#, #-ōīs#, and #-ēī#, #-ēīs#, from stems in #-āio-#, #-ōio-#, and #-ēio-# (458) or #-iā-# (437): as, #Gāī#, #Bōī#, #Pōmpēī#, #plēbēī#: #Gāīs#, #Bōīs#, #Pompēīs#, #plēbēīs#, #Bāīs#; #aulāī#, #pictāī#.

(8.) #Dī̆ana# has #ĭ# as often as #ī#. #ohē# has #ŏ̄#; #ē̆heu# has #ĕ# in comedy, otherwise #ē#.

(9.) In many Greek words a long vowel comes before another vowel; as, #āēr#, #Aenēās#, #Mēdēa#. But early importations from Greek followed the general rule and shortened the vowel: as, #platĕa# (πλατεῖα), #balinĕum#, #balnĕum# (βαλανεῖον).

128. A long vowel preceding unsyllabic #i̭# or #ṷ# followed by a consonant is shortened: as, #gaudeō# for #*gāudeō# (cf. #gāvīsus#, 111); #claudo# for #clāudō# (cf. #clāṷis#, 111).

Similarly a long vowel (unless long by contraction: as, #nūntius#, 111, _a_, #cōntiō#) preceding a liquid or nasal followed by a consonant is shortened: as, syncopated #ardus# from #āridus# (111), #habentem#, from the stem #habē-#. For cases of induced lengthening of the vowel before #n# followed by certain consonants, see 122.

129. IAMBIC SHORTENING. The law of iambic shortening (2470) produced a number of important changes: thus,

(1.) In old dramatic verse iambic words (⏑ -) often shorten the long vowel. The poets after Plautus and Terence preserve the long vowel.

(_a._) Nouns; G. #eri#, #boni#, #preti#. D. #cani#, #ero#, #malo#. L. #domi#, #heri#. Ab. #levi#, #manu#, #domo#, #bona#, #fide#. Plural: N. #fores#, #viri#. D., Ab. #bonis#. Ac. #foris#, #viros#, #bonas#. (_b._) Verbs: #eo#, #volo#, #ago#; #ero#, #dabo#; #vides#; #loces#; #voles#; #dedi#, #dedin#; #roga#, #veni#; later poets sometimes retain #cave#, #vale#, and #vide#. The vowel may also be shortened when #-n# (1503) is added and #s# is dropped before #-n# (170, 2): #rogan#, #abin#; #viden# is also retained by later poets.

(2.) In a few pyrrhic words (⏑ ⏑) in #-i#, which were originally iambic (⏑ -), the poets in all periods retained final #-ī# at pleasure: these are,

#mihī̆#, #tibī̆#, #sibī̆#; #ibī̆#, #ubī̆#; also #alicubī̆#. The #i# of #bi# is always short in #nēcubi# and #sīcubi#, and usually in #ubinam#, #ubivīs#, and #ubicumque#; #ibidem# is used by the dramatists, #ibīdem# in hexameter. #ubīque# has always #ī#.

130. The following instances show that this law operated in prose speech also:

(1.) In iambic words of the #ā-# declension (432) the final #-ā# of the nominative singular was shortened; hence #*equā# became #equa#, _mare_. From these iambic words short final #-a# spread so that all stems in #-ā-# shorten the final #ā# of the nom. sg. (434).

(2.) The final #-a# in the nominative plural of neuter nouns of the #o-# declension (446), which appears in #trīgintā#, _thirty_, was likewise shortened, first in iambic words like #iuga#, _yokes_, #bona#, _goods_, then everywhere (461).

(3.) This law explains the short final vowel in #homo# (2442) by the side of #sermō# (2437, _c_) and similar cases, like the adverbs #modo#, #cito# (2442), #bene#, #male# (2440). In the same way arose the short final #o# of the first person in conjugation (2443): as, #volo#, #dabo#, #dīxero# by the side of #scrībō#; so also #viden# for #vidēn# (129, 1; 170, 2).

(4.) Of imperatives only #puta#, used adverbially (2438, _c_), #ave#, #have# (805; Quint. i, 6, 21; but Martial scans #havē#) as a salutation and #cave#, used as an auxiliary (1711), show the short final vowel in classical Latin. Elsewhere the long vowel has been restored, as #amā#, #monē# (845).

(5.) According to this rule #calēfaciō#, #malēdīcō# changed to #calefaciō#, #maledīcō#.

131. A long final vowel is shortened when an enclitic is added to the word: as #siquidem# from #sī#; #quoque# from #quō#.

132. A long vowel is regularly shortened, in the classical period, before final #-t# and #-m# and, in words of more than one syllable, also before final #r# and #l#.

Thus, #soror#, _sister_, for Plautus’s #sorōr#, from the stem #sorōr-# (487); #ūtar#, _I may use_, for Plautus’s #ūtār# (cf. #ūtāris#); #bacchanal# for Plautus’s #bacchanāl#; #animal#, #exemplar# from the stems #animāl-# (530) and #exemplār-# (537); but the long vowel is retained in the monosyllables #fūr#, _thief_, #sōl#, _sun_; #pōnēbat#, _he placed_, for Plautus’s #pōnēbāt# (cf. #pōnēbās#); #iūbet#, _he commanded_, for Plautus’s #iūbēt#; #eram#, _I was_, but #erās#; #rēxerim#, _I may have ruled_, but #rēxerīs# (877); #-um# in the genitive plural of #-o-# stems is for #-ūm# (462); #mēnsam#, _table_, for #*mēnsām# from the stem #mensā-#; #rem#, from #rē-# (#rēs#), #spem# from #spē-# (#spēs#).

[Errata: 125 ... #pra͡e͡optāvīstī# The vowels “aeo” are joined with a single ligature 132 ... (cf. #ūtāris#) (cf #ūtāris#)]

TRANSFER OF QUANTITY.

133. (1.) In a few cases the length of the vowel has been transferred to the following consonant, the length of which is then indicated by doubling it (81): as, #littera# for #lītera#, LEITERAS; #Iuppiter# for #Iūpiter#; #parricīda# for #pāri-cīda#, _murder of a member of the same clan_ (#*pāro-#, _member of a clan_, Doric πᾶός, _a relative_); #cuppa# for #cūpa#, _barrel_. The legal formula _sī pāret_, _if it appear_, was vulgarly pronounced #sī parret# (Festus).

(2.) Since the doubled unsyllabic #i# (#i̭#) between vowels (23; 166, 9; 153, 2) is commonly written single, the _vowel_ preceding it is often erroneously marked long: as, #āiō# wrongly for #aiō#, _i.e._ #ai̭i̭ō#, _I say_; #māior# wrongly for #maior#, _i.e._ #mai̭i̭or#, _greater_; #pēior# wrongly for #peior#, _i.e._ #pei̭i̭or#, _worse_; #ēius#, _of him_, #cūius#, _of whom_, #hūius#, _of him_, all wrongly for #eius#, #cuius#, #huius# _i.e._ #ei̭i̭us#, #cui̭i̭us#, #huii̭us# (153, 2). In all these words the first _syllable_ was long but not the vowel.

VARIATIONS OF QUANTITY.

134. (1.) In some foreign proper names and in a very few Latin words the quantity of a vowel varied. Vergil has #Sȳchaeus# and #Sychaeus# within six verses; also #Āsia# and #Asia#, #Lavīnium# and #Lāvīnius#; so also #glōmus# (Lucr.), #glomus# (Hor.); #cōturnīx# (Plaut., Lucr.), #coturnīx# (Ov.).

(2.) Sometimes such variations in vowel quantity are only apparent: thus, the occasional long final #-ē# of the active infinitive (#darē#, #prōmerē#) has probably a different origin from the usual #-ĕ#. For metrical lengthening, see 2505.

[Erratum: 134 ... #glomus# (Hor.) (Hor)]

QUANTITATIVE VOWEL GRADATION.

135. The same stem often shows a long vowel in some of its forms and a short vowel in others. In most cases these variations of quantity were not developed on Latin soil but inherited from a much earlier period. Such old inherited differences in vowel quantity are called _quantitative vowel gradation_.

(1.) Instances of this are #prō# for #*prōd# (149; cf. #prōdesse#) and #pro-# (Greek πρό); #nē# and #ne-# in #nescius#; the couples #regō#, _I rule_, and #rēxī#; #vehō#, _I draw_, #vēxī#; #veniō#, _I come_, #vēnī#, where the long vowel is characteristic of the perfect stem (862); #vocō#, _I call_, and #vōx#, _voice_; #regō#, _I rule_, and #rēx#, _ruler_; #legō#, _I read_, and #lēx#, _bill_; #sedeō#, _I sit_, and #sēdēs#, _seat_; #fidēs#, _confidence_, and #fīdō#, _I trust_; #dux# (cf. #ducis#), _leader_, and #dūcō#, _I lead_, where verb and noun are differentiated by the quantity of the root vowel; and many others.

(2.) Sometimes the reduction of the vowel in certain forms amounts to complete loss, as in the adverbial ending #-is-# in #magis# (346, 363) compared with the comparative suffix #-ios#, #-iōs# (Nom. #-ior#, Genit. #-iōris#); in the oblique cases of the stem #carōn-# (nomin. sg. #carō#, 497), where the suffix becomes #-n-# (545), genitive #car-n-is#; in the suffix #-ter#, which becomes #-tr-# in all cases but the nom. sg. (#pater#, #patris#, etc., 470, 487); in the feminine #-tr-ī-c-# to the suffix #-tor-#; but the nom. sing. #Caecīlis# (465) for #Caecīlios# is probably due to syncope.

QUALITATIVE VOWEL CHANGES.

136. (1.) #i# before an #r# which goes back to an earlier voiced #s# (154) was changed to #e#: as, #cineris#, _of ashes_, for #*cinisis#, from the stem #cinis# (491); #Faleriī#, for #*Falisiī#, cf. #Falis-cus#; (formed like #Etrūria#, for #*Etrūsia#, cf. #Etrūs-cī#).

(2.) In the nominative singular of compounds like #iūdex#, _judge_ (from #iūs# and #dīcere#), #comes#, _companion_ (from #com#, _with_, and #īre#, _go_), the #i# of the second member of the compounds is changed to #e# (470) after the analogy of words like #artifex#, _artisan_, etc. (107, _d_).

137. #e# before #-gn-# became #i#: as, #īlignus#, from the stem #īlec-# (cf. #īlex#).

138. #e# before the guttural nasal (62) followed by a guttural mute was changed to #i#: as, #septingentī#, from #septem#; #singulī#, from the stem #sem-# in #semel# (for the assimilation of #m# see 164, 3); #obtingō# (925), _I attain_, for #*óbtengō# (104, _c_) from #*ob-tangō# (104, _e_).

139. A similar change took place in the group #-enl-# which became first #-inl-# and then #-ill-#: as, #*signilum#, diminutive of #sīgnum# (for #ī#, see 122, _c_), first changed by syncope (111) from #*signilum# to #*sign̥lum#, then to #*sigenlum# (172, 3), then to #*siginlum#, and finally to #sigillum#.

140. #o# before #nc# became #u#: as, #homunculus#, _manikin_ for #*homonculus#, from the stem #homon-# (485); #nūncupāre#, _name_, for #*nōn-cupāre# (#nōn-# for #nōm-# (164, 3) = syncopated #nōmen#); #hunc#, _him_, for #*honc#, from #hom-ce# (662).

141. #o# before #l# followed by any consonant save #l# was changed to #u#: as, #cultus#, _tilled_, for #*coltus#, from #colere#; #multa#, _fine_, for old Latin #molta#. But #o# before #ll# is retained: as, #collis#, _hill_.

142. #e# before guttural #l# (60) was changed to #o#: as, #solvō#, _I undo_, from #*seluō# (#se-#, as in #se-cordia#, #luō# = Greek λύω); #culmen#, _top_, for #*celmen#, from #*cellō# in #ex-cellō#; #volō#, _I wish_, for #*velō#; but #e# is preserved before dental #l# (60): as in #velle#, #velim# (773). Before #l# followed by any consonant save #l# this #o# changes to #u# (141): as, #vult#.

143. In a number of words, notably in #voster#, _your_, #vorsus#, _turned_, #vortex#, _eddy_, and #votāre#, _forbid_, the forms with #o# were replaced, about the second century B.C. by forms with #e#: as, #vester#, #versus#, #vertex#, #vetāre# (Quint. 1, 7, 25).

[Erratum: 136 (2.) In the nominative singular (2)]

ASSIMILATION.

144. In a few cases a vowel is influenced by the vowel of a neighbouring syllable: as,

#nisi#, _unless_, for #*nesi#; #iīs#, for #eīs#, _to them_ (671, 674); #diī#, #diīs#, _gods_, for #deī#, #deīs# (450); #nihil#, _nothing_, for #*nehil#; #homō#, _man_, for #*hemō# (cf. #nēmō#, from #ne-hemō#, 118); see also 104, _d_; 105, _i_.

QUALITATIVE VOWEL GRADATION.

145. The same stem often shows different vowels in different forms. In most of these cases this difference was inherited from a very early period and continued in the Latin. Such old inherited variation of the quality of the stem-vowel is called _qualitative vowel gradation_. The qualitative variations may be accompanied by quantitative changes (135).

Often the verb and the noun are thus distinguished by different vowels: as, #tegō#, _I cover_, and #toga#, _a garment_, _toga_; #precor#, _I beg_, and #procus#, _suitor_, cf. English _to sing_ and _a song_, _to bind_, and _a bond_. The different tenses of some verbs show a like gradation: as, #capiō#, _I take_, #cēpī#; #faciō#, _I make_, #fēcī#, cf. English _I sing_, _I sang_; _I bring_, _I brought_. The same occurs in derivation: as #doceō#, _I teach_, by the side of #decet#; #noceō#, _I harm_, by the side of #nex# (#nec-s#). The two vowels which occur most frequently in such gradation are #e# and #o#: as in stems in #-o-#, #domine#, #dominus# (for #dominos#); as variable vowel (824); #genos# (#genus#, 107, _c_) in the nom. sg. by the side of #*genes-# in the oblique cases (gen. #generis# for #*genesis#, 154); #honōs# by the side of #hones-# in #hones-tus#; #modus#, _measure_, for #*modos# (originally a neuter #-s-# stem like #genus# (487, 491), but transferred later to the #-o-# declension), by the side of #modes-# in #modes-tus#, _seemly_. See 187.

(B.) CONSONANT CHANGE.

146. In a number of words which belong more or less clearly to the stem of the pronoun #quo-# (681), #cu-# (157), the initial #c# has disappeared before #u#: as,

#uter#, _which of the two_, #ubĭ#, _where_, #unde#, _whence_ (711). For the conjunction #ut#, #utī#, _that_, connection with this pronominal stem is much more doubtful. The #c-# appears in the compounds with #sī# and #nē̆#: as, #sī-cubī# (cf. #sī-quidem#, #sī-quandō#), #sī-cunde#, #nē-cubi#, #ne-cunde#, #ne-cuter#.

147. #d# varies in a few words with #l#: as old Latin #dacruma#, _tear_, for later #lacrima#; #dingua#, _tongue_, for later #lingua#; #odor#, _smell_, by the side of #oleō#, _I smell_.

148. Very rarely, before labials, final #d# of the preposition #ad# varies with #r#: as, old Latin #arfuērunt#, _they were present_, for later #adfuērunt# (2257); #arvorsum#, _against_, for #advorsum#. The only instances of this in classical Latin are #arbiter#, _umpire_, and #arcēssō# (970), _I summon_, which shows #r# before a guttural.

149. (1.) Final d after a long vowel disappeared in classical Latin: thus, in the ablative singular of #-ā-# and #-o-# stems (426), and in the ablative-accusative forms #mēd#, #tēd#, #sēd# (648). The prepositions #prō# and #sē# (1417) originally ended in #-d# which is still seen in #prōdesse#, _be of advantage_, #prōd-īre#, _go forth_; #sēd-itiō#, _a going-apart_, _sedition_. According to the grammarians, the negative #haud# preserved its #d# before vowels, but lost it before consonants (1450).

(2.) Late inscriptions confuse final #-d# and #-t#: as FECID (729), ALIVT for #aliud#. But in very old Latin #-d# in the third person singular seems to be the remnant of a secondary ending (cf. the Greek distinction of primary -ται and secondary -το).

150. In a number of words #f# varies dialectically with #h#. In some of these #f# appears to have been original, in others #h#: as, old Latin #fordeum#, _barley_, for classical #hordeum#; old Latin #haba#, _bean_, for classical #faba#. The word #fīlum#, _thread_, appears as #*hīlum# in #nihil#, _nothing_, for #*ne-hīlum#.

151. #h# being a weak sound (58) was often lost between two like vowels, especially in rapid utterance: as, #nīl#, _nothing_, #prēndere#, _take_, #vēmēns#, _rapid_, by the side of #nihil#, #prehendere#, #vehemēns#; and always #nēmō#, _nobody_, for #*ne-hemō#, _no man_.

152. In some words #h# between two vowels is not original, but goes back to a guttural aspirate _gh_. Before consonants this guttural appears: as, #vehō#, _I draw_, #vectus# (953) from a stem #vegh-#, #trahō#, _I drag_, #tractus# (953) from a stem #tragh-#.

153. (1.) #v# not infrequently disappeared between two like vowels: as, #dītior#, _richer_, for #dīvitior#; #sīs# (Cic. _O._ 154), for #sī vīs# (774); #lātrīna#, for #lavatrīna#; #fīnīsse#, for #fīnīvisse#; #dēlēram#, for #dēlēveram#; and later also in perfect forms in which the preceding and following vowel differed: as, #amāsse#, for #amāvisse#. The abbreviated forms of the perfects in #-vī# (890) were common in Cicero’s (_O._ 157) and Quintilian’s (1, 6, 17) time. #v# also disappeared before #o# in #deorsum#, #seorsum#.

(2.) Old and original unsyllabic #i# (82; 83) disappeared everywhere between vowels. Wherever unsyllabic #i# appears between vowels it represents double #i̭i̭#, and is the result of the assimilation of #g# to #i̭# (166, 9), or #d# to #i̭# (166, 9), or of the combination of two #i̭#’s: as in #ei-i̭us#, #quoi̭-i̭us# (#eius#, #quoius# = #cuius#, 688). See 23; 166, 9. In all these cases the first #i̭# joined to the preceding vowel (83) formed with it a diphthong, and the syllable is thus long (133, 2).

(3.) The combinations of unsyllabic (83) #ṷ# with the vowel #u# and of unsyllabic #i̭# with the vowel #i# were avoided in classical Latin; see 52.

(4.) In composition, unsyllabic (82) #i̭# after a consonant became syllabic in #quoniam#, _since_, for #quomi̭am# (164, 5), and #etiam#, _also_, for #eti̭am# (both compounds with #iam#).

154. In early Latin #s# between two vowels was voiced (75), and in the fourth century B.C. this voiced #s# changed into #r#. According to Cicero (_Fam._ 9, 21, 2) L. Papīrius Crassus, consul in 336 B.C., changed his family name #Papīsius# to #Papīrius#. Old inscriptions show frequently #s# for #r#: as, ASA, _altar_, AVSELII. This change of intervocalic #s# to #r# plays an important part in declension, conjugation, and derivation: as,

Nominative #iūs#, _right_, genitive #iūris#; #spērō#, _I hope_, derived from #spēs#; #nefārius#, _wicked_, from #nefās#; #gerō#, _I carry_, from a stem #ges-# which appears in #ges-sī#, #ges-tus# (953); #erō#, _I shall be_, from the stem #es-# in #esse#; the subjunctive ending #-sem# in #es-sem# appears as #-rem# after vowels: as, #stārem#; the infinitive ending (894, 895) #-se# in #es-se# appears as #-re# after vowels: as, #legere#, for #*legese#, _to read_, #stāre#, for #*stāse#, _to stand_. Where all oblique cases show #-r-# and only the nominative singular #-s#, the latter is sometimes changed to #-r# by analogy: as, #arbor#, _tree_, #honor#, _honour_, for original #arbōs#, #honōs#, by analogy to the oblique cases #arboris#, #arborī#, #honōris#, #honōrī#, etc. (487, 488). The final #-s# of the prefix #dis-# follows this rule: as, #dir-imō#, _I take apart_, for #*dis-emō#; but an initial #s-# of the second member of a compound remains unchanged: as, #dē-sinō#, _I stop_.

155. Wherever intervocalic #s# is found in classical Latin it is not original, but the result (_a._) of earlier #-ns-#: as, #formōsus#, _handsome_, for #formōnsus# (63); (_b._) of earlier #-ss-# (170, 7): as, #ūsus# for #*ūssus#, _use_ (159); #causa#, _thing_, for #caussa# (Quint. 1, 7, 20); or (_c._) it occurs in borrowed words like #asinus#, _ass_. (_d._) There are a few words in which an #r# in a neighbouring syllable seems to have prevented the change: as #miser#, _miserable_ (173).

156. Before the #o# described in 142 #qu# changed to #c#: as, #incola#, _inhabitant_, for #*inquola#, from #*inquela#; the stem #quel-# appears in #in-quil-īnus#, _lodger_.

157. As #v# before #u# (107, _c_), so #qu# was not tolerated before #u#, but changed to #c#.

Hence when, about the beginning of our era, the #o# of #quom#, _when_, #sequontur#, _they followed_, changed to #u# (107, _c_), they became #cum#, #secuntur#; thus #equos# but #ecus#, _horse_ (452); #reliquom# but RELICVM, _the rest_; #loquor#, _I speak_, but #locūtus# (978). Much later, in the second century of our era, the grammarians restored the #qu# before #u# by analogy to those forms in the paradigm in which #qu# came before other vowels: as, #sequuntur# for #secuntur# by analogy to #sequor#, #sequeris#, #sequitur#, #sequimur#, #sequimini#, etc.; #equus#, #equum#, for #ecus#, #ecum#, by analogy to #equī#, #equō#, #eque#, #equōrum#, #equīs#, #equōs#.

158. #qu# before consonants or when final changed to #c#: as, #relictus# from the stem #liqu-#, _leave_ (present, #linquō#, 938); #ac#, _and_, for #*atc#, by apocope from #atque#; #nec#, _nor_, by apocope from #neque#. See also #*torctus# (170, 3), #quīnctus# (170, 4).

159. When in the process of early word formation a #t# was followed by another #t#, the combination #tt#, unless followed by #r#, changed to #ss#: as, #obsessus#, _besieged_, _sat upon_, for #*obsettus#, from #*obsed-tus# (cf. #sedeō#). After long vowels, nasals, and liquids this double #ss# was simplified to #s# (170, 7): as, #ūsus# from #*ūt-tus#, _used_ (cf. #ūtor#); #scānsus#, _climbed_, from #*scant-tus# for #*scandtus# (cf. #scandō#).

In this way arose a suffix #-sus# (906, 912) for the past participle of verbs ending in a dental, and this spread to other verbs (912): as #mānsus#, _stayed_, from #maneō# (1000), #pulsus#, _pushed_, from #pellō# (932). The regular participles of these two verbs still appear in the derivative verbs #mantāre# and #pultāre#, which presuppose the past participles #*mantus# and #*pultus# (371). If the double #tt# was followed by #r# it changed to #st#: as, #assestrīx# from #*assettrīx#, while #*assettor# changed to #assessor#.

160. But wherever the combination #tt# arose in historical times it remained unchanged: as, #attineō#; #cette#, syncopated for #cé-d(i)te#, i.e. the particle #ce# (93, 3) which is here proclitic, and the imperative #date#, _give_.

161. Initial #dv# (_dṷ_) changed to #b#, unless the #v# (_ṷ_) was converted into the corresponding vowel: as, #bis#, _twice_, for #*dṷis# (cf. #duo#); #bidēns# for #*dṷidens#, by the side of old Latin #duidēns# with vocalic #u#; #bonus#, _good_, for #dṷonus#, by the side of trisyllabic #duonus#; #bellum#, _war_, for #*dṷellum#, by the side of #duellum# with vocalic #u#; #bēs#, _two thirds_, for #*dṷēs# (2427). Cicero (_O._ 153) notes that the change of #duellum# to #bellum# affected even the proper name #Duellius# (name of the admiral who won the naval victory over the Carthaginians in 260 B.C.) which was changed to #Bellius#. Plautus always scans #dṷellum# disyllabic with synizesis (2503).

[Erratum: 161 ... won the naval victory over the Carthaginians in 260 B.C. B C.]

CHANGES OF CONSONANT GROUPS.

162. Many groups of consonants undergo changes in order to facilitate their pronunciation in rapid speech. These changes involve (_a._) Assimilation of consonants; (_b._) the development of consonantal glides; (_c._) the loss of one member of the group; and (_d._) the development of a vowel between the consonants.

ASSIMILATION.

163. Of two successive consonants belonging to different syllables (175), the first is, as a rule, assimilated to the second (_regressive assimilation_), rarely the second to the first (_progressive assimilation_). A consonant may be assimilated, either entirely or partially, to another consonant.

Assimilation is very common in prepositions prefixed to a verb.

164. PARTIAL ASSIMILATION. (1.) A voiced mute before an unvoiced consonant became unvoiced: as, #rēx#, _king_, for #*rēgs# (cf. #rēgis#); #rēxī#, _I guided_, for #*rēgsī# (cf. #regō#); #rēctus#, _guided_, for #*rēgtus#; #scrīpsī#, _I wrote_, for #*scrībsī# (cf. #scribō#); #scrīptus#, _written_, for #*scribtus#; #trāxī#, _I dragged_, for #*trāghsī#; #tractus#, _dragged_, for #*traghtus# (152). The spelling did not always conform to this pronunciation: as, #urbs#, _city_, pronounced #urps# (54) but spelled with #b# by analogy to the oblique cases #urbis#, #urbem#, etc.; #obtineō#, _I get_, pronounced #optineō#.