Part 5

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#.

(2.) An unvoiced mute before a voiced consonant became voiced. The prepositions #ob#, #ab#, #sub#, for #*op#, #*ap#, #*sup#, owe their final #b# to their frequent position before voiced mutes: as, #obdūcō#, #abdīcō#, #sub dīvō#. The forms #*op# (still preserved in #op-eriō#, _I close_, 1019) #*ap# (preserved in #ap-erio#, _I open_, 1019; cf. Greek ἀπό) and #*sup# (preserved in the adjective #supīnus#, _supine_) were then crowded out by #ob#, #ab#, and #sub#.

(3.) Nasals changed their place of articulation to that of the following consonant. Thus, dental #n# before the labials #p# and #b# became labial #m#: as, #imbibō#, _I drink in_, #impendeō#, _I hang over_. Labial #m# before the gutturals #c# and #g# became guttural #n# (62): as, #prīnceps#, _leader_, #singulī#, _severally_ (the original labials appear in #prīmus#, #semel# (138)); #hunc# for #*homce# (662). Labial #m# before the dentals #t#, #d#, #s# became dental #n#: as, #cōnsecrō#, _I consecrate_, from #com# (#cum#) and #sacrō#; #tantus#, _so great_, from #tam#; #quondam#, _once_, from #quom#; #tandem#, _at length_, from #tam#. But sometimes the etymological spelling was retained: as, #quamdiū#, _as long as_. But #m# does not change to #n# before #t# or #s# in the inflection of verbs and nouns, where #mt#, #ms# develop into #mpt#, #mps# (167): as, #sūmptus#, #sūmpsī#, from #sūmō#.

(4.) #p# and #b# before #n# changed to #m#: as, #somnus#, _sleep_, for #*sop-nus# (cf. #sopor#); #omnis#, _all_, for #*op-nis# (cf. #opēs#); #Samnium#, for #*Sabnium# (cf. #Sabīnī#).

(5.) #m# before unsyllabic #i# (#i̭#) became #n#: as, #quoniam# (with vocalic #i#; 153, 4), _since_, for #*quoni̭am# from #quom iam# (1882); #coniungō#, _I join together_, for #*comiungō#.

(6.) #c# between #n# and #l#, and before #m#, changed to #g#: as, #angulus#, _corner_, with anaptyctical (172) vowel #u# for #*anglus#, from #*anclus# (cf. #ancus#); #segmentum#, _section_, from the stem #sec-# in #secāre#.

165. It appears that at a very early period the neighbourhood of a nasal changed an unvoiced mute into a voiced one: as, #ē-mungō#, _I clean out_, by the side of #mūcus#; #pangō#, _I fix_, by the side of #pāc-# in #pāx#, _peace_ (gen. #pāc-is#).

166. ENTIRE ASSIMILATION. (1.) One mute is assimilated to another: thus #p# or #b# to #c#: as, #suc-currō#, _I assist_; #t# or #d# to #c#: as, #sic-cus#, _dry_ (cf. #sit-is#, _thirst_), #accipiō#, _I accept_; #d# to #g#: as, #agglūtinō#, _I glue on_; #t# or #d# to #qu#: as, #quicquam#, _anything_; #t# or #d# to #p#: as, #appellō#, _I call_; #quippe#, _why?_ (1690).

(2.) A mute is assimilated to a spirant: thus, #p# to #f# in #officīna#, _workshop_, for #*opficīna#, syncopated form of #*opificīna#; #d# to #f#: as, #afferō#, _I bring hither_; when #t# is thus assimilated to #s# the result is #ss# after a short vowel, and #s# after a long vowel (170, 7) or when final (171); as, in the #-s-# perfects, #concussī#, _I shook_, for #*concutsī# (#concutiō#, 961); #messuī#, _I mowed_, for #*metsuī# (#metō#, 835); #suāsī#, _I advised_, for #*suātsī# (#suādeō#, 1000); #clausī#, _I shut_, for #*clautsī# (#claudō#, 958); #haesī#, _I stuck_, for #haes-sī# (868) from #haerēre#, stem #haes-# (154); in the same way #possum#, _I can_, for #*potsum# (cf. #pot-est#, 752); #prōsum#, _I am of advantage_, for #*prōtsum# (cf. #prōd-esse#); #legēns#, _reading_, for #*legents# (from the stem #legent-#, cf. genitive #legent-is#). An #s# is never assimilated to a following #t#: as, #haustus#, _drained_ (1014), from the stem #haus-#, present #hauriō# (154). Forms like the rare #hausūrus# (Verg.) are made after the analogy of dental stems.

(3.) One spirant, #s#, is assimilated to another, #f#: as, #difficilis#, _difficult_, #differō#, _I am unlike_, from #dis# and #facilis#, #ferō#.

(4.) A mute is assimilated to a nasal: thus #d# to #m# in #mamma#, _woman’s breast_, from the stem #mad-# (cf. #madeō#, 1006); #rāmus#, _branch_, #rāmentum#, _splinter_, from the stem #rād-# (cf. #rādō#, 958) with simplification of the double #m# after the long vowel. #d# to #n# in #mercēnārius#, _hireling_, from the stem #mercēd-#, _reward_, (for #mercennarius#, see 133, 1); #p# to #m# in #summus#, _highest_, from the stem #sup-# (cf. #super#). A progressive assimilation of #nd# to #nn# belongs to the Oscan dialect, and occurs only very rarely in Latin: as, #tennitur# (Ter.), #distennite# (Plaut.). See 924; 950.

(5.) One nasal, #n#, is assimilated to another, #m#: as #immōtus#, _unmoved_. But an #m# before #n# is never assimilated: as, #amnis#, _river_.

(6.) Mutes or nasals are assimilated to liquids; thus #n# to #l#: as, #homullus#, _manikin_, for #*homon-lus# (cf. #homun-culus#); #ūllus# (274); #d# to #l#: as, #sella#, _seat_, for #*sed-la# from the stem #sed-# (cf. #sedeō#); #caelum#, _chisel_, from the stem #caed-# (cf. #caedō#) with simplification of the double #l# after the diphthong (170, 7); #n# to #r#: as, #irruō#, _I rush in_; and with progressive assimilation #n# to a preceding #l#: as, #tollō#, _I lift_, for #*tolnō# (833); #fallō#, _I cheat_ (932); #pellō#, _I push_ (932). But no assimilation is to be assumed for #parricīda#, which does not stand for #patricīda# (133, 1).

(7.) One liquid, #r#, is assimilated to another, #l#: as, #pelliciō#, _I lead astray_ (956), for #*per-liciō#; #agellus#, _small field_, for #*agerlos#; #pūllus#, _clean_, from #*pūrlos# (cf. #pūrus#, _clean_).

(8.) A spirant, #s#, is assimilated to a preceding liquid in #velle#, _wish_, for #*velse#, #ferre#, _carry_, for #*ferse# (the infinitive ending #-se# appears in #es-se#, 895); #facillimus#, _easiest_, for #*facilsimus# (345); #sacerrimus#, _holiest_, for #*sacersimus# (344). But where #ls# and #rs# are not original but the result of lightening (170, 3; 10) they remain unchanged: as, #arsī#, _I burnt_, for #*artsī# from the stem #ard-# (cf. #ardeō#, 1000); #alsī#, _I felt cold_, for #*alcsī# from the stem #alg-# (cf. #algeō#, 1000).

(9.) #g# and #d# were assimilated to a following unsyllabic #i# (#i̭#) the result being (153, 2) #ii# (#i̭i̭#); thus #peiior#, _worse_, for #*ped-i̭or#, from the stem #ped-# (532), whence also the superlative #pessimus# for #*petsimus# (166, 2); #maiior#, _greater_, for #*mag-i̭or# (the stem #mag-# appears in #magis#); #aiiō#, _I say_, for #*ag-i̭ō# (the stem #ag-# appears in #ad-ag-ium#, #prōd-ig-ium#, 219). These forms were pronounced by Cicero with doubled #i̭# (23), and traces of the spelling with double #ii# are still found (23), though in common practice only one #i# is written (153, 2). On the confusion of syllabic quantity with vowel quantity in these words, see 133, 2.

[Errata: 164 ... #scrīptus#, _written_, for #*scribtus#; writtén #trāxī#, _I dragged_, for #*trāghsī#; #*trāghsī#, 166(4) ... #distennite# (Plaut.). last . invisible] (6.) Mutes or nasals (6).]

CONSONANTAL GLIDES.

167. Pronunciation of two successive consonants is sometimes facilitated by the insertion of a consonant which serves as a glide. Such insertion is not frequent.

In inflection a #p# was thus developed between #m# and #s#, between #m# and #l#, and between #m# and #t# (elsewhere #mt# changed to #nt#, see 164, 3): as, #sūmpsī#, _I took_, #sūmptus#, _taken_, from #sūmere# for #*sūmsī#, #*sūmtus#; and in the corresponding forms of #cōmō#, #dēmō#, #prōmō# (953); #exemplum#, _pattern_, for #*exemlum# from the stem #em-#, _take_ (cf. #eximere#, 103, #a#).

DISAPPEARANCE.

168. A word may be lightened by the disappearance of an initial, a medial, or a final consonant.

Disappearance of an initial consonant is sometimes called _Aphaeresis_, of a medial, _Syncope_, of a final, _Apocope_.

169. INITIAL DISAPPEARANCE. (1.) Initial #tl# changed to #l#: as, #lātus#, _borne_, for #*tlātus# from #tollō# (187, 917).

(2.) Initial #gn# changed to #n#: as, #nātus#, _born_, for earlier GNATVS from the stem #gen-#, #gnā# (187); #nōscō#, _I find out_, for #gnōscō#, GNOSCIER (897); #nārus#, _knowing_, for the more frequent #gnārus#, #nāvus#, _active_, for #gnāvus#. Cf. the compounds #cō-gnātus#, #cō-gnōscō#, #ī-gnārus#, #ī-gnāvus# (170, 6) which preserve the #g#. But #Gnaeus# retained its #G#.

(3.) Initial #d# when followed by consonant #i# (_i̭_), disappeared: as, #Iovis#, #Iūpiter#, for #*Di̭ovis#, #*Di̭ūpiter#. Where the #i# was vocalic, #d# was retained: as, #dīus#.

(4.) Initial #stl-# first changed to #sl# and then to #l#: as, Old Latin #stlocus#, _place_, #stlīs#, _law-suit_ (Quint. 1, 4, 16), STLOC, SLIS, classical #locus#, #līs#; also #lātus#, _wide_, for #*stlātus#. That a form #*slocus# existed is proved by #īlicō# (698, 703) from #*in-slocō#, _on the spot_ (170, 2).

170. MEDIAL DISAPPEARANCE. (1.) #c#, #g#, #p#, and #b# disappear before #s# followed by an unvoiced consonant: as, #sescentī#, _six hundred_, for #*sexcentī# from #sex#; #illūstris#, _resplendent_, for #*illūcstris# from #lūceō#; #discō#, _I learn_, from #*dicscō# for #*di-tc-scō# (834), a reduplicated present from the root #dec-# (cf. #decet#) like #gignō# (from the root #gen-#), and #sīdō# (for #*si-sd-ō#, 170, 2, from the root #sed-#, 829). Sometimes prepositions follow this rule: as, #asportō#, _I carry off_, for #*absportō#, #suscipiō#, _I undertake_, for #*subscipiō# (#subs# formed from #sub# like #abs# from #ab#; #sub-cipiō# gives #succipiō#); occasionally also #ecferō#, for #exferō#, _I carry out_. But more frequently prepositional compounds remain unchanged: as, #obscūrus#, _dark_; #abscēdō#, _I withdraw_. In some words the lost consonant has been restored by analogy: as, #sextus#, _sixth_, for #*sestus# (cf. #Sēstius#) after #sex#; #textor#, _weaver_, for #*testor# after #texō#.

(2.) #s# before voiced consonants was voiced (75) and is dropped. If a consonant precedes the #s# this is dropped also. In either case the preceding vowel is lengthened. Voiced #s# alone is dropped: as, #prīmus#, _first_, for #*prīs-mus# (cf. #prīs-cus#); #cānus#, _gray_, for #*casnus# (cf. #cas-cus#); adverb #pōne#, _behind_, for #*posne# (cf. #pos#, 1410); #dīlābī#, _glide apart_, for #*dislābi#; #īdem#, _the same_, for ISDEM (678); #iūdex#, _judge_, for #iūsdex#; #trēdecim#, _thirteen_, for #*trēsdecim#. And with subsequent shortening of the final syllable (130, 3) #abin#, _goest thou?_ for #abisn(e)#; #viden#, _seest thou?_ for #vidēsn(e)#. Voiced #s# with the preceding consonant is dropped: as, #trādūcō#, _I lead across_, #trānō#, _I swim across_, for #trānsdūcō#, #trānsnō#; but in these prepositional compounds the #-ns# was often retained: as, #trānsmittō#, _I send across_; #sēnī#, _six each_, for #*secsnī#; #sēmēnstris#, _every six months_, for #secsmēnstris#; #sēvirī#, _the Board of Six_, for #secsvirī#; #āla#, _wing_, for #*acsla# (cf. #ax-illa#, Cic. _O._ 153); #māvolō# (779) for #magsvolō# from #magisvolō#, 396; #tōles# (plural), _goiter_, for #*tōnsles# (cf. #tōnsillae#, _tonsils_); #pīlum#, _pestle_, for #*pīnslum# from #pīnsere#, _crush_; two consonants and voiced #s# are dropped in #scāla#, _stair_, for #*scand-sla# (cf. #scandō#).

(3.) #c# falls away when it stands between a liquid and #t#, #s#, #m#, or #n#: as, #ultus#, _avenged_, for #*ulctus# from #ulc-iscor# (980); #mulsī# for #*mulcsī# from both #mulgeō#, _I milk_, and #mulceō#, _I stroke_; similarly other stems in #-c# and #-g# (1000, 1014); #quernus#, _oaken_, for #*quercnus# from #quercus#; #tortus#, _turned_, for #*torctus# from #torqueō# (for the change of #qu# to #c#, see 158); for #fortis#, _brave_, #forctis# is found in old Latin.

(4.) #c# drops out when it stands between #n# and #t#: as, #quīntus#, _fifth_, for older #quīnctus# (2412), from #quīnque# (for the change of #qu# to #c#, see 158; for the long #ī# in #quīnque#, see 122, _b_). But verbs having stems in #-nc# or #-ng# retain the #c# in their past

## participles: as, #vīnctus#, _bound_, from #vincīre# (1014); #iūnctus#,

_joined_, from #iungere# (954). In #pāstus# (965) #c# has dropped out between #s# and #t#.

(5.) The group #-ncn-# was simplified to simple #-n-#, and the preceding vowel was lengthened: as, #quīnī#, _five each_, for #*quīnc-nī# (317); #cō-nīveō#, _wink and blink_, for #con-cnīveō#.

(6.) #n# before #gn# was dropped and the preceding vowel lengthened: as, #ī-gnōscō#, _I forgive_, for #*in-gnōscō#, #cō-gnōscō#, _I know_, for #*con-gnōscō#. In this manner (170, 5; 6) arises a form #cō-# by the side of #con-# (122, _e_): as, #cō-nectō#, #cō-nubium#, #cō-ligātus# (Gell. 2, 17, 8).