3. Words abbreviated by apocope; in which case the penultimate is
converted into a final syllable; δώμ', φειδέσθ', κεντείτ', εγώγ', &c.
Now the fact of a syllable with an arsis being, in Greek, rarely
final, taken along with that of the sixth syllable requiring an arsis,
gives, as a matter of necessity, the circumstance that, in the Greek
drama, the sixth syllable shall occur anywhere rather than at the end
of a word; and this is only another way of saying, that, in a tragic
senarius, the syllable in question shall generally be followed by other
syllables in the same word. All this the author considers as so truly a
matter of necessity, that the objection to his view of the Greek cæsura
must lie either against his idea of the nature of the accents, or
nowhere; since, that being admitted, the rest follows of course.
As the sixth syllable must not be final, it must be followed in the
same word by one syllable, or by more than one.
1. _The sixth syllable followed by one syllable in the same
word._--This is only another name for the seventh syllable occurring at
the end of a word, and it gives at once the hephthimimer cæsura: as--
Ἡκω νεκρων κευθμώνα και σκοτου πυλας.
Ἱκτηριοις κλαδοίσιν εξεστεμμενοι.
Ὁμου τε παιανών τε και στεναγματων.
2. _The sixth syllable followed by two (or more) syllables in the same
word._--This is only another name for the eighth (or some syllable
after the eighth) syllable occurring at the end of a word; as--
Οδμη βροτειων ἅιματων με προσγελα.
Λαμπρους δυναστας έμπρεποντας αιθερι.
Now this arrangement of syllables, taken by itself, gives anything
rather than a hephthimimer; so that if it were at this point that our
investigations terminated, little would be done towards the evolution
of the _rationale_ of the cæsura. It will appear, however, that in
those cases where the circumstance of the sixth syllable being followed
by two others in the same words, causes the eighth (or some syllable
after the eighth) to be final, either a penthimimer cæsura, or an
equivalent, will, with but few exceptions, be the result. This we may
prove by taking the eighth syllable and counting back from it. What
_follows_ this syllable is immaterial: it is the number of syllables in
the same word that _precedes_ it that demands attention.
1. _The eighth syllable preceded in the same word by nothing._--This is
equivalent to the seventh syllable at the end of the preceding word: a
state of things which, as noticed above, gives the hephthimimer cæsura.
Ανηριθμον γελάσμα παμ|μητορ δε γη.
2. _The eighth syllable preceded in the same word by one
syllable._--This is equivalent to the sixth syllable at the end of
the word preceding; a state of things which, as noticed above, rarely
occurs. When, however, it does occur, one of the three conditions under
which a final syllable can take an arsis must accompany it. Each of
these conditions requires notice.
α). With a non-enclitic _mono_-syllable the result is a penthimimer
cæsura; since the syllable preceding a monosyllable is necessarily
final.
Ἡκω σεβίζων σόν Κλύται|μνηστρα κρατος.
No remark has been made by critics upon lines constructed in this
manner, since the cæsura is a penthimimer, and consequently their rules
are undisturbed.
β). With _poly_-syllabic circumflex futures constituting the third
foot, there would be a violation of the current rules respecting
the cæsura. Notwithstanding this, if the views of the present paper
be true, there would be no violation of the iambic character of the
senarius. Against such a line as
Κα'γω το σον νεμώ ποθει|νον αυλιον
there is no argument _à priori_ on the score of the iambic character
being violated; whilst, in respect to objections derived from evidence
_à posteriori_, there is sufficient reason for such lines being rare.
γ). With _poly_-syllables abbreviated by apocope, we have the state
of things which the metrists have recognised under the name of
quasi-cæsura; as--
Κεντειτε μη φειδέσθ' εγω | 'τεκον Παριν.
3.--_The eighth syllable preceded in the same word by two
syllables._--This is equivalent to the fifth syllable occurring at
the end of the word preceding: a state of things which gives the
penthimimer cæsura; as--
Οδμη βροτειων αἵματῶν | με προσγελα.
Λαμπρους δυναστας εμ'πρεπον|τας αιθερι.
Απσυχον εικω πρόσγελω|σα σωματος.
4. _The eighth syllable preceded in the same word by three or more than
three syllables._--This is equivalent to the fourth (or some syllable
preceding the fourth) syllable occurring at the end of the word
preceding; a state of things which would include the third and fourth
feet in one and the same word. This concurrence is denounced in the
Supplement to the Preface to the Hecuba, where, however, the rule, as
in the case of the quasi-cæsura, from being based upon merely empirical
evidence, requires limitation. In lines like--
Και τἁλλα πολλ' επέικασαι | δικαιον ην,
or (an imaginary example),
Τοις σοισιν ασπιδήστροφοισ|ιν ανδρασι,
there is no violation of the iambic character, and consequently no
reason against similar lines having been written; although from the
average proportion of Greek words like επεικασαι and ασπιδηστροποισιν,
there is every reason for their being rare.
After the details just given the recapitulation is brief.
1. It was essential to the character of the senarius that the sixth
syllable, or latter half of the third foot, should have an arsis,
ictus metricus, or accent in the English sense. To this condition
of the iambic rhythm the Greek tragedians, either consciously or
unconsciously, adhered.
2. It was the character of the Greek language to admit an arsis on the
last syllable of a word only under circumstances comparatively rare.
3. These two facts, taken together, caused the sixth syllable of a line
to be anywhere rather than at the end of a word.
4. If followed by a single syllable in the same word, the result was a
hephthimimer cæsura.
5. If followed by more syllables than one, some syllable in an earlier
part of the line ended the word preceding, and so caused either a
penthimìmer, a quasi-cæsura, or the occurrence of the third and fourth
foot in the same word.
6. As these two last-mentioned circumstances were rare, the general
phenomenon presented in the Greek senarius was the occurrence of either
the penthimimer or hephthimimer.
7. Respecting these two sorts of cæsura, the rules, instead of being
exhibited in detail, may be replaced by the simple assertion that there
should be an arsis on the sixth syllable. From this the rest follows.
8. Respecting the non-occurrence of the third and fourth feet in the
same word, the assertion may be withdrawn entirely.
9. Respecting the quasi-cæsura, the rules, if not altogether withdrawn,
may be extended to the admission of the last syllable of circumflex
futures (or to any other polysyllables with an equal claim to be
considered accented on the last syllable) in the latter half of the
third foot.
REMARKS ON THE USE OF THE SIGNS OF
ACCENT AND QUANTITY AS GUIDES TO
THE PRONUNCIATION OF WORDS DERIVED
FROM THE CLASSICAL LANGUAGES,
WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO
ZOOLOGICAL AND BOTANICAL
TERMS.
FROM THE
ANNALS AND MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY,
JUNE, 1859.
The text upon which the following remarks have suggested themselves
is the Accentuated List of the British Lepidoptera, with Hints on the
Derivation of the Names, published by the Entomological Societies
of Oxford and Cambridge; a useful contribution to scientific
terminology--useful, and satisfied with being so. It admits that
naturalists may be unlearned, and provides for those who, with a
love for botany or zoology, may have been denied the advantage of a
classical education. That there are many such is well known; and it is
also well known that they have no love for committing themselves to the
utterance of Latin and Greek names in the presence of investigators who
are more erudite (though, perhaps, less scientific) than themselves.
As a rule, their pronunciation is inaccurate. It is inaccurate without
being uniform--- for the ways of going wrong are many. Meanwhile, any
directions toward the right are welcome.
In the realities of educational life there is no such thing as a
book for unlearned men--at least no such thing as a good one. There
are make-shifts and make-believes _ad_ _infinitum_; but there is
no such an entity as an actual book. Some are written down to the
supposed level of the reader--all that are so written being useless
and offensive. Others are encumbered with extraneous matter, and, so
encumbered, err on the side of bulk and superfluity. Very rarely is
there anything like consistency in the supply of information.
The work under notice supposes a certain amount of ignorance--ignorance
of certain accents and certain quantities. It meets this; and it meets
it well. That the work is both a safe and reliable guide, is neither
more nor less than what we expect from the places and persons whence it
has proceeded.
It is likely, from its very merits, to be the model on which a long
line of successors may be formed. For this reason the principles of its
notation (for thus we may generalize our expression of the principle
upon which we use the signs of accent and quantity as guides to
pronunciation) may be criticised.
In the mind of the present writer, the distinction between accent and
quantity has neither been sufficiently attended to nor sufficiently
neglected. This is because, in many respects, they are decidedly
contrasted with, and opposed to, each other; whilst, at the same
time--paradoxical as it may appear--they are, for the majority of
practical purposes, convertible. That inadvertence on these points
should occur, is not to be wondered at. Professional grammarians--men
who deal with the purely philological questions of metre and
syllabification--with few exceptions, confound them.
In English Latin (by which I mean Latin as pronounced by Englishmen)
there is, in practice, no such a thing as quantity; so that the sign by
which it is denoted is, in nine cases out of ten, superfluous. _Mark
the accent, and the quantity will take care of itself._
I say that there is no such a thing in English Latin as quantity. I
ought rather to have said that
_English quantities are not Latin quantities._
In Latin, the length of the syllable is determined by the length of
the _vowels and consonants combined_. A long vowel, if followed in the
same word by another (_i. e._ if followed by no consonant), is short.
A short vowel, if followed by two consonants, is long. In English, on
the other hand, long vowels make long, whilst short vowels make short,
syllables; so that the quantity of a syllable in English is determined
by the quantity of the vowel. The _i_ in _pius_ is short in Latin. In
English it is long. The _e_ in _mend_ is short in English, long in
Latin.
This, however, is not all. There is, besides, the following metrical
paradox. A syllable may be made long by the very fact of its being
short. It is the practice of the English language to signify the
shortness of a vowel by doubling the consonant that follows. Hence we
get such words as _pitted_, _knotty_, _massive_, &c.--words in which
no one considers that the consonant is actually doubled. For do we not
pronounce _pitted_ and _pitied_ alike? Consonants that appear double to
the _eye_ are common enough. Really double consonants--consonants that
sound double to the ear--are rarities, occurring in one class of words
only--viz. in compounds whereof the first element ends with the same
sound with which the second begins, as _soul-less_, _book-case_, &c.
The doubling, then, of the consonant is a conventional mode of
expressing the shortness of the vowel that precedes, and it addresses
itself to the eye rather than the ear.
But does it address itself to the _eye_ only? If it did, _pitied_ and
_pitted_, being sounded alike, would also be of the same quantity. We
know, however, that to the English writer of Latin verses they are
not so. We know that the first is short (_pĭtied_), the latter
long (_pītted_). For all this, they are sounded alike: so that the
difference in quantity (which, as a metrical fact, really exists) is,
to a great degree, conventional. At any rate, we arrive at it by a
secondary process. We know how the word is spelt; and we know that
certain modes of spelling give certain rules of metre. Our senses here
are regulated by our experience.