103. (_a._) ATONIC MEDIAL #e# before a single consonant was weakened
(with the exceptions given under _b._) to #i#: as, #cólligō#, _collect_,
from #legō#; #óbsideō#, _besiege_, from #sedeō#; #cértāminis#, _of the
contest_, from #certāmen# (224); #flāminis#, from #flāmen# (470). And so
probably #hic# (664) arose from #*hec# or #*hoc# (105, _g_) when used as
proclitic (92). Before the labials #p#, #b#, #f#, and #m# this weakened
sound was intermediate between #i# and #u# (28), and both spellings
occur: as, #quadripēs# and #quadrupēs#, _four-footed_; #alimentum#,
_nourishment_; #monumentum#, _monument_. The choice of #i# or #u# was
probably governed by the quality of the stressed vowel in the preceding
syllable: viz., #u# after #o# and #u#, and #i# after #a#, #e#, and #i#.
But such distinction is only imperfectly maintained in classical Latin.
(_b._) But before two consonants, before #r#, before vowels, and after
#i#, atonic #e# does not change: as, #lévāmentum# (224), but
#lévāminis#, _of consolation_; #óbsessus# (but #óbsideō#), _possessed_;
#sócietās#, _society_, from the stem #socie-# (but #nóvitās# from the
stem #nove-#); #géneris#, _of the kind_; #ádeunt#, _they approach_.
104. (_c._) Atonic medial #a#, except in the cases mentioned below under
(_d._), (_e._), and (_f._), was first weakened to #e# and then underwent
the same changes as atonic medial #e# (103): as (before single
consonants), #cṓnficiō#, _accomplish_, from #faciō#; #ī́nsiliō#, _jump
in_, from #saliō# (1019); #rédditus#, _restored_, from #datus#;
#trícipitem#, _three-headed_, from #*trícapitem# (#caput#), Cic. _O._
159; #occiput#, _back of the head_, and #sinciput#, _jole_ (478). In
compounds of #iaciō# (940), #-iaciō# is weakened in early Latin to
#-ieciō# (as, #conieciō#, 940), but later to #-iciō# (as, #subiciō#).
This last form may be due to syncope (111, _a_) of the radical #a#. The
spelling #-iiciō# (as, #subiiciō#) is late and faulty (52). It does not
occur in republican inscriptions and owes its origin to a confusion of
the two forms #conieciō# and #coniciō#. (On the quantity of the vowel of
the prepositions in these compounds of #iaciō#, see 122 _e_); (before
#p#, #b#, #f#, #m#) #áccipiō#, _accept_, and #óccupō#, _occupy_, from
#capiō#; #cóntubernālis#, _room-mate_, from #taberna#; #ábripiō#, _to
snatch away_, from #rapiō#; (before two consonants) #pépercī#, _I have
spared_, from #parcō#; #áccentus#, _accent_, from #cantus#; (before #r#)
#péperī#, _I brought forth_, from #pariō#.
(_d._) But an #a# in the preceding syllable may protect the atonic #a#:
as, #ádagiō#, #ádagium#, _proverb_, but #prṓdigium#, _miracle_ (144).
(_e._) Atonic medial #a# before the guttural nasal (62) #n# followed by
#g# changed to #i# (138): as, #áttingō#, _touch_, from #tangō#.
(_f._) Atonic medial #a# before #l# followed by any consonant save #l#
changed to #u# (both #l# and #u# being guttural, 60, 44): as,
#éxsultāre#, _to leap up_, from #saltāre#; but #féfellī#, _I deceived_,
from #fallō#.
105. (_g._) ATONIC MEDIAL #o#, when followed by a single consonant,
first changed to #e# and then underwent all further changes of medial
atonic #e#: as, #hóminis#, from #*homon-is# (485); #ímāginis#, for
#*imāgonis#, 226 (nominative #imāgō#, 485); #cúpīdinis#, for
#*cupīdonis#, 225, (nominative #cupīdō#, 485); #vírginis#, for
#*virgonis# (nominative #virgō#, 470); #ī́licō#, from #*in-slocō#, _on
the spot_ (169, 4).
(_h._) Before two consonants or before guttural #l# (60) atonic medial
#o# changed to #u#: as, #éuntis#, from #*éontis# (Greek ἴοντος);
#sēdulō#, from #sē dolō# (1417). But a preceding #v# or #u# protects #o#
(107, _c_).
(_i._) Before #r#, atonic medial #o# was retained: as, #témporis#, _of
time_; except when #u# in the preceding syllable induced a change to
#u#: as, #fúlguris#, _of lightning_ (for the #-r# in the nominative
singular #fulgur# instead of #-s#, see 154).
106. (_k._) Medial #-av-#, #-ov-#, and #-iv-# in posttonic syllables
were weakened to #u#: as, #dḗnuō# from #dḗnovō# (94); #ábluō# from
#ablavō#. The form #puer#, _boy_, arose from the older POVER in enclitic
vocatives (93, 7) and was thence transferred to the nominative like
#piter# in #Iūpiter# (94).
[Erratum:
105g ... #ī́licō#, from #*in-slocō#, _on the spot_ (169, 4)
(169, 6)]