LATIN GRAMMAR. 1. LATIN GRAMMAR treats of the principles of the Latin language. It comprises four parts: I. ORTHOGRAPHY, which treats of the letters and sounds of the language. II. ETYMOLOGY, which treats of the classification, inflection, and derivation of words. III. SYNTAX, which treats of the construction of sen tences. IV. PROSODY, which treats of quantity and versification. PART FIRST. ORTHOGRAPHY. ALPHABET. 2. THE Latin alphabet is the same as the English with the omission of w. 1. U supplies the place of w. 2. His only a breathing, and not strictly entitled to the rank of a letter. 3. J and did not originally belong to the Latin: their places were supplied respectively by i and u, which were used both as vowels and as consonants. 4. K is seldom used, and y and z occur only in words of Greek origin. 3. Classes of Letters.-Letters are divided into two classes: 4. Combinations of Letters.We notice here, 1. Diphthongs-combinations of two vowels in one syllable. The most common are-ae, oe, au. 2. Double Consonants-x = cs or gs; z = ds or ts. 3. Ch, ph, th are best treated, not as combinations of letters, but only as aspirated forms of c, p, and t, as h is only a breathing. SOUNDS OF LETTERS. 5. Scholars in different countries generally pronounce Latin substantially as they do their own languages. In this country, however, two distinct systems are recogniz ed, generally known as the English and the Continental Method. For the convenience of the instructor, we add a brief outline of each. I. ENGLISH METHOD. 1. Sounds of Vowels. 6. Vowels generally have their long or short English sounds. But 1. These sounds in Latin, as in English, are somewhat modified by the consonants which accompany them. 2. R, final, or followed by another consonant, greatly obscures the vowel sound. Before r thus situated, e, i, and u are scarcely distinguishable from each other, as in the English her, fir, fur, while a and o are pronounced as in far, for, but between qu and rt, a approaches the sound of o: quar'-tus, as in quarter. 3. Dr, following qua, gives to a something of the sound of o: quadrupes, as in quadruped. 7. Long Sound.-Vowels have their long English sounds I Strictly speaking, there is no Continental Method, as every nation on the continent of Europe has its own method. -a as in fate, e in mete, i in pine, o in note, u in tube, y in type-in the following situations: 1. In final syllables ending in a vowel: se, si, ser'-vi, ser'-vo, cor'-nu, mi'-sy. 2. In all syllables, before a vowel or diphthong: de'-us, de-o'-rum, de'-ae, di-e'-i, ni'-hi-lum." 3 3. In penultimate and unaccented syllables, not final, before a single consonant or a mute with l or r: pa'-ter, pa'-tres, A'-thos, O'-thrys, do-lo'-ris. But 1) A unaccented has the sound of a final in America: men'-sa. 3) I (also y) unaccented, not final, generally has the short sound of e; nobilis (nob'-e-lis), Amycus (Am'-e-cus). But in the first syllable of a word it has (1) before an accented vowel or diphthong, its long sound, di'-e-bus; and (2) before a single consonant or a mute with / or r, sometimes the long sound, i-do'-ne-us; and sometimes the short sound, philosophus (phe-los'-o-phus). 4) I and u in special combinations. See 9. 2 and 4. 5) Before bl, gl, tl.—U has the short sound before bl; and the other vowels before gl and tl: Pub-lic'-o-la, Ag-la'-o-phon, At'-las. 6) In compounds, when the first part is entire and ends in a consonant, any vowel before such consonant has generally the short sound: a in ab'-es, e in red'-it, i in in'-it, o in ob'-it, prod-est. But those final syllables which, as exceptions, have the long sound before a consonant (8. 1), retain that sound in compounds: post-quam, hos'-ce. 8. Short Sound.-Vowels have the short English sound -a as in fat, e in met, i in pin, o in not, u in tub, y in myth-in the following situations: 1. In final syllables ending in a consonant: a'-mat, a'met, rex'-it, sol, con'-sul, Te'-thys; except post, es final, and os final in plural cases: res, di'-es, hos, a'-gros. 2. In all syllables before x, or any two consonants except a mute with 7 or r (7, 3): rex'-it, bel'-lum, rex-e'-runt, bel-lo'-rum. 3. In all accented syllables before one or more consonants, except the penultimate: dom'-i-nus, pat'-ri-bus. But 1) A, e, or o, before a single consonant (or a mute with l or r) fol 1 Some give to i in both syllables of tibi and sibi the short sound. 2 In these rules no account is taken of h, as that is only a breathing: hence the first i in nihilum is treated as a vowel before another vowel; for the same reason, ch, ph, and th are treated as single mutes; thus th in Athos and Othrys. 3 Penultimate, the last syllable but one. lowed by e, i, or y, before another vowel, has the long sound: a'-ci-es, a'-cri-a, me'-re-o, do'-ce-o. 2) U, in any syllable not final, before a single consonant or a mute with l or r, except bl (7. 5), has the long sound: Pu-ni-cus, sa-lu'-bri-tas. 3) Compounds. See 7. 6). 2. Sounds of Diphthongs. 9. Ae and oe are pronounced like e: 1) long: Cae'-sar (Ce'-sar), Oe'-ta (E'-ta). Eu, . . . neuter: neu'-ter. ... 1. Ei and oi are seldom diphthongs, but when so used they are pronounced as in height, coin: hei, proin. See Synaeresis, 669. II. 2. I between an accented a, e, o, or y and another vowel has the sound of y consonant in yes: Acha'ia (A-ka'-ya), Pompe'ius (Pom-pe'-yus), Latoia (La-to'-ya), Harpyia (Har-py'-ya). These combinations of i with the following vowel are sometimes called semi-consonant diphthongs. 3. Ui, as a diphthong with the long sound of i, occurs in cui, hui, huic. 4. U, with the sound of w, sometimes unites with the following vowel or diphthong:-(1) after q; qui (kwi), qua, que, quae :-(2) generally after g; lingua (lin'-gwa), lin'-guis, lin'-guae:-(3) sometimes after s; sua'-deo (swa'-deo). These combinations of u are analogous to those of i mentioned above under 2. 3. Sounds of Consonants. 10. The consonants are pronounced in general as in English, but a few directions may aid the learner. 11. C, G, S, T, and X are generally pronounced with their ordinary English sounds. Thus, 1. C and g are soft (like s and j) before e, i, y, ae and oe, and hard in other situations: ce'-do (sedo), ci'-vis, Cy'-rus, cae'-do, coe'-na, a'-ge (a-je), a'-gi; ca'-do (ka'-do), co'-go, cum, Ga'-des. But 1) Ch is hard like k; chorus (ko'-rus), Chi-os (Ki'os). But see 13. 2. 2) G has the soft sound before g soft: ag'-ger. 2. S generally has its regular English sound, as in son, thus: sa'-cer, so'-ror, si'-dus. But 1) S final, after e, ae, au, b, m, n, r, is pronounced like z: spes, praes, laus, urbs, hi'-ems, mons, pars. 2) In a few words s has the sound of z, because so pronounced in English words derived from them: Cae'-sar, Caesar; cau'-sa, cause; mu'-sa, muse; mi'-ser, miser; phys'-i-cus, physic, etc. 3. T has its regular English sound, as in time: ti-mor, to-tus. 4. X has generally its regular English sound like ks; rex'-i (rek'-si), ux'-or (uk'-sor). But |