16
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Accepted
Latin minimal pairs, distinguished only by the length of the vowel in an unstressed non-last syllable
The verb nĭteō "shine" is only used in the active, and the verb nītor "strive" only in the passive (it's deponent), so at first glance it seems like there won't be confusion ...
- 69.3k
12
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Why do some Latin adverbs have accent on the last syllable?
This seems to be a mystery. I haven't found any good explanation yet; I don't know if this is because the subject has been neglected so far, or if it's because the very occurrence of the phenomenon is ...
- 30.1k
9
votes
Why do some Latin adverbs have accent on the last syllable?
An important note about my sources:
A question has been raised by another user re: sources in my answer. Anyone can easily check the accuracy of my statements and sources. Dr. Stotz is an expert in ...
- 11.8k
8
votes
Accepted
How do we know where the Roman prose stress was?
W. Sidney Allen in Vox Latina says that various grammarians such as Quintilian stated the rules quite unambiguously (although he also writes that "there is some controversy about the nature of the ...
- 4,713
7
votes
How to pronounce "Roterodamus"?
Actually the syllaba paenultima of this word is treated as anceps in Neo-Latin verse – so Neo-Latin authors would have said either Roteródamus or Roterodámus. Here are two examples from the many poems ...
7
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How to pronounce "Roterodamus"?
A colleague asked me about this a while ago. I agree with that colleague and with you that to native speakers of Dutch it would be absurd (or at least ridiculous) to stress the antepenult.
As for ...
- 1,111
7
votes
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Does Greek accent ever affect Latin stress?
Greek stress could be used in the medieval period.
Per An Introduction to the Study of Medieval Latin Versification, by Dag Norberg, translated by Grant C. Roti and Jacqueline de La Chappelle Skulby:
...
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7
votes
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Etymology and pronunciation of words ending in “-iasis”
Pronunciation
Below you can see the vowel lengths marked by L&S and by OLD. Note that OLD doesn't cover post-Classical vocabulary.
(In this table L&S = the online L&S via Perseus; OLD = ...
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6
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Why do some Latin adverbs have accent on the last syllable?
It seems that Saint Augustine in your quote is describing the same phenomenon that we can see consistently marked in later Latin.
While trying to read Marracci's 'Refutatio Alcorani' (https://books....
- 1,256
6
votes
Accepted
Vowel shortening before another vowel: Exceptions
I think of hiatus vowel shortening in Latin as a historical rule. Some linguistic analyses might treat it as a synchronically active morphophonological rule in certain contexts, like the conjugation ...
- 30.1k
6
votes
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Pronunciation in medical terminology
As far as I can tell, there are no classical precedents for the specific form of the ending -oideus. It ultimately comes from Ancient Greek -οειδής, an ending found mostly on third-declension ...
- 30.1k
5
votes
When did Old Latin develop initial stress?
-very brief and disorganized notes (not a full answer), maybe someone else will be willing to write a more coherent answer-
Weiss 2020: 527
"Primary stress on the initial syllable is inferred on ...
- 11.8k
5
votes
Latin minimal pairs, distinguished only by the length of the vowel in an unstressed non-last syllable
Here are two more examples:
From vĕnire and vēnire we get vĕnīmus and vēnīmus.
From occĭdere and occīdere we get occĭdentes and occīdentes.
- 116k
4
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When did the penult stress rule disappear?
I think you're mistaken when you say "certain sound changes in the Romance languages, like posttonic vowel syncope ..., still rely on the penult stress rules".
There are two separate processes ...
- 4,713
4
votes
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Were enclitics considered part of a word for stress purposes?
As you mentioned, it is very difficult to say anything clear about stress in Classical Latin, because there is little evidence, either direct or indirect, of the position of the stress.
As Joonas ...
- 30.1k
4
votes
Dating the penult rule
By the third century BCE…
…probably. We're not quite sure when.
In a question about Old Latin meters, an anonymous user brought up Mercado's convincing argument that the Saturnian was based on accent. ...
- 69.3k
4
votes
Stress of presbyterum, presbytero
The first thing to check is vowel lengths.
L&S indicates that all vowels in presbyter and presbyteri are short apart from the genitive ending -i.
In presbyter the second last syllable by is light (...
- 116k
4
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Vowel shortening before another vowel: Exceptions
What do historical grammars of Latin usually say on this?
Usually such exceptions do not get enough treatment in historical grammars of Latin, e.g.
“Bei den klassischen Messungen wie āēr, Aenēās usw. ...
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4
votes
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Gemination after stressed vowel
You're right that such gemination is not correct Classical pronunciation, and I believe the answer to your question whether it occurred in post-Classical Latin/Romance is no. Italian amata does not, ...
- 31.5k
4
votes
How is stress realized in Latin phonetically?
We don't exactly know.
In Greek, we have a pretty good idea of how the accent worked: it involved a change in pitch, which was supposedly close to the interval of a fifth (as the grammarian Dionysius ...
- 69.3k
3
votes
Where to place accent after applying diaeresis?
I'm doubtful that the diaeresis would be used in this way: you can't generally break diphthongs into two short vowels metri causa. There are occasional examples in Homer of disyllabic scansion of what ...
- 31.5k
3
votes
Does Greek accent ever affect Latin stress?
Weiss's Outline of the Historical and Comaprative Grammar of Latin, p. 112, gives some examples of exactly this phenomenon:
Philippus (Gk. Φίλιππος) scans in Old Latin verse as if its second syllable ...
- 31.5k
3
votes
Vowel shortening before another vowel: Exceptions
I can only answer parts of your question, but I hope this is of some use before a more elaborate answer appears.
Are they all proper nouns or are there any exceptions with common nouns?
Two words ...
- 116k
3
votes
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How is the word "Eboracum" stressed in Latin?
If the underlying Celtic form was in fact Eburākon, then one would expect it to have been borrowed into Latin with a long ā and hence pronounced with the accent on the paenultima.
- 18k
3
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When did the penult stress rule disappear?
I cannot agree with your statement that “vowel length seems to have been lost very early” in Latin. Latin long and short vowels develop differently in the daughter languages. For example Latin short e ...
- 18k
3
votes
Accepted
How to place a second stress on a long word
There are various practical systems of pronunciation — in the UK we find the versions of Oxford, of Westminster School, the Roman Catholic Church and so on. As far as I know, none is really ...
- 18.2k
3
votes
Gemination after stressed vowel
I don't know exactly why you have heard pronunciations of Italian amata with a long /tː/, but I would guess this is just a case of different speakers using different phonetic durations for ...
- 30.1k
2
votes
Why do some Latin adverbs have accent on the last syllable?
TO DEFINE WHAT IS AT ISSUE:
Augustine is focusing on the inflexion, the rise in pitch, acute, aigu; in contrast to the lowering of the voice.
The English phrase 'at least,' is iambic (both in the ...
- 8,703
2
votes
Stressed syllables in certain prefixed verb forms
The Arch poet (c1130-1167) wrote a mock confession to his patron, Archbishop, and Arch-Chancellor to Barbarossa. Because his verse here written in stressed trochaics, Odds are stressed and Evens ...
- 8,703
2
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Did Classical Latin stress impact any sound changes?
I don't know of any obvious or systematic effects that Classical Latin stress had on sound changes.
The non-obvious effects that I've seen proposed for Classical Latin stress are "brevis brevians" or ...
- 30.1k
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