Page:The New Latin Primer (Postgate).djvu/20

6 diphthongs are long, e.g. po͞ena͞e punishments; and all vowels which stand immediately before another vowel or diphthong are short, as dĕa͞e goddesses. This is also the case if they are only separated by h, as in vĕhō I-carry.

In what follows we shall mark the quantity of the vowel.

Vowels marked thus: ă are short.

Vowels marked thus: ā are long.

Vowels marked thus: ā̆ are sometimes short and sometimes long. They are called common.

Vowels left unmarked may be pronounced short.

§ 10. .—Besides quantity, Latin possessed Accent. Accent means that one syllable of a word, called the accented syllable, is pronounced with more force and in a higher tone than the other syllables, which are called the unaccented syllables. The difference between the accented and unaccented syllables in Latin was much less than in English; and both must be pronounced clearly and distinctly, and with their proper quantity.

The following are the chief rules for the place of the accent:—

Only Monosyllables have it on the last syllable (called the Ultimate) as mél.

Dissyllables have it on the last but one (called the Penultimate) as péstis.

Trisyllables and Polysyllables have it on the last but one if that syllable is long, as vulnĕrā́bunt, otherwise on the last but two as vúlnĕrō.

§ 11.—Words are divided into the following classes, called Parts of Speech:—

A (or ) gives the name of something: lĭbĕr book, ăquă water, Caesar Cæsar.

Names of particular persons or places are called Proper Nouns, as Caesar Cæsar, Rōmă Rome, to distinguish them from other Nouns which are called Common.

An (Adj.) describes something, or gives its quality: ăquă dulcĭs sweet water.