Questions tagged [scansion]
For questions about scansion, or rhythmic reading of poetry.
11
questions
6
votes
1
answer
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Variation between syllabic and non-syllabic V: in what contexts is it possible?
Allen's Vox Latina, 2nd edition (1988) metions that there is occasional "poetic interchange" in Latin of syllabic [u] and non-syllabic [w], mentioning trisyllabic silua and disyllabic genva ...
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8
votes
1
answer
296
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Words that unexpectedly but consistently scan long
I learned from TKR's answer to this question about neuter endings that the neuter pronoun hoc is pronounced like hocc, causing it to be scanned long despite having a short vowel.
I had never heard of ...
- 109k
5
votes
1
answer
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What do we know about the Saturnian for sure?
Some of old Latin poetry was written in Saturnian metre.
I am under the impression that use and proper understanding of this poetic form were lost by the classical era, and we do not have a full ...
- 109k
14
votes
1
answer
447
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Where does our knowledge of the ancient poetic meters come from?
I have seen several accounts of ancient poetic meters, but it just occurred to me that none of them discussed the origin of the information.
Where does our knowledge of the ancient poetic meters come ...
- 109k
10
votes
1
answer
693
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What's the deal with Ov. Met. V, 414
I'm writing this Latin verse parser/scanner, and all is fine and dandy until I load up Ov. Met. V. This book features the following verse in my source text, which is usually very good:
adgnovitque ...
- 1,470
7
votes
1
answer
475
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Pronunciation of "quoniam"
Is the "i" in "quoniam" a vowel or a consonant? Just based on the spelling it makes sense as a vowel (quo.ni.am), but at the same time etymologically as "quom + iam" it ...
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7
votes
1
answer
187
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Short vowels in lucubrando
I came across a poem from 1621 written in Sapphic stanza.
It contains this line:
pervigil Christi, lucubrando sudans
To scan that, the third word must be lŭcŭbrandŏ.
L&S ...
- 109k
7
votes
1
answer
190
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How do originally Roman meters differ from Greek inheritance?
I have understood that many poetic meters were inherited to Latin from the Greeks.
This includes, for example, the dactylic hexameter and the Sapphic meters.
But the Romans did have their own poetic ...
- 109k
5
votes
1
answer
227
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Fifth spondee in Aeneis I.690
I ran into this hexameter verse by Vergilius when researching for an answer to another question:
exuit, et gressu gaudens incedit Iuli.
(Aeneis I.690)
The only way I seem to able to scan this ...
- 109k
5
votes
1
answer
262
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Pes ultimus insanus cuiusdam versus Lucretii?
How do you scan line 621 of De Rerum Natura, book VI, shown in bold below?
Praeterea, magnam sol partem detrahit æstu.
Quippe videmus enim vestes humore madentes
Exsiccare suis radiis ardentibu’...
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4
votes
2
answers
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Why does οἱ make position?
Iliad XXII.307:
τό οἱ ὑπὸ λαπάρην τέτατο μέγα τε στιβαρόν τε
Since it's at the beginning of a hexameter, τό needs to scan heavy. And since omicron is always short by nature, it must be heavy by ...
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