Page:The Making of Latin.djvu/57

Rh (4) In words of three or more syllables the place of the Accent depends upon the quantity of the Penult, a name derived from paene ultima (syllaba) ‘the almost-last syllable.’

If the Penult is long, it takes the Accent, as amā̋mus, amā́bam, but amābā́mus, amāvḗrunt; volúptas, but voluptā́tis. If the Penult is short, the Accent is on the Ante-Penult, aúdio, óptimus, pétere, requiḗscere.

A syllable of course is long when it contains either a long vowel or a diphthong, or a vowel followed by a consonant which has another consonant following it. Thus in a word like perditus the first syllable is long although the -e- in it is itself a short vowel.

(5) In words which contain two or more syllables before the Accented syllable, there is generally a weaker accent on one of these preceding syllables; in that part of the word this secondary accent is placed just as the chief accent would have been if that part had been a separate word; cónquiḗscere, cónturbā̋bimus, éxagitā́re, but ingúrgitā̋re, exaúctōrāre, where ˝ denotes the chief, ´ the secondary accent.

(6) The place of the chief accent is often changed by a following Enclitic; aúctor, but auctórque, auctṓrem, but aúctōre̋mque; so audī́sti but aúdistī̋n(e).

(7) So in colloquial phrases like the Vocative voluptā́s mea ‘my delight, my darling,’ the addition of mea has pulled the accent of the phrase on to the last syllable of voluptās (on this see also § 95 below).