124. A vowel originally long is regularly shortened in classical Latin
before another vowel, even though an #h# intervene: as,
#taceō#, _I am silent_, from the stem #tacē-# (365); #seorsum#, _apart_,
#deorsum#, _downward_, from #sē(v)orsum#, #dē(v)orsum# (153).
125. In simple words a diphthong occurs before a vowel only in one or
two proper names: as, #Gnaeus#, #Annaeus#, in which it remains long, and
in Greek words. But the diphthong #ae# of the prefix #prae# is sometimes
shortened before a vowel: as, #pra͝eacūtus#; #pra͝eeunt#; #pra͝ehibeō#;
hence #prehendō# for #*prae-hendō#. Sometimes it coalesces with a
following vowel: as, #pra͡e͡optāvīstī#.
126. An increased tendency to shorten a long vowel before another vowel
can be traced in the history of the language: thus, classical #fuī#,
_I was_, for Plautus’s #fūī# (750); #clueō#, _I am called_, for
Plautus’s #clūeō#; perfect #pluit#, _it rained_, for Varro’s #plūit#
(cf. #plūvit#, 823, 947); #pius#, _pious_, for Ennius’s #pīus#; see also
765.
127. But even in classical Latin there are cases where a vowel before
another vowel remains long: thus,
(1.) Regularly, the #ī# of #fīō#, _I am made_, except before #-er-#, as
in #fierem# (788, 789).
(2.) In #dīus#, _godly_, for #dīvus# (153), and the old ablatives #dīū#,
#dīō#, _open sky_ (used only in the expression #sub dīū#, #sub dīō#,
i.e. #sub dīvō#).
(3.) In the ending #ēī# of the genitive and dative sg. of stems in #-ē-#
(601) when an #i# precedes: as, #diēī#, _of a day_, #aciēī#, _of the
battle line_, but #reī#, _of the thing_, for older #rēī#.
(4.) It may be mentioned here that #rēī# is said to occur in verse 6
times (Plaut. G. 2, Lucr. G. 2, D. 2); #reī# 9 times (Plaut. G. 2, Ter.
G. 4, D. 1, Juv. G. 1, Sulp. Apoll. G. 1); #re͞i# 27 times (Plaut. G. 2,
D. 3, Enn. D. 1, Ter. G. 9, D. 8, Lucil. G. 1, D. 1, Lucr. G. 2).
#fidēī# G. 3 times (Plaut., Enn., Lucr.); #fideī# 11 times (Enn. D. 1,
Man. G. 2, D. 1, Sil. G. 4, D. 1, Juv. G. 2); #fidēi# 5 times (Ter.
G. 1, D. 3, Hor. 1). #ēī# 35 times (Plaut. 18, Ter. 8, Lucr. 9); #eī#
some 17 times (Plaut. 12, Ter. 2, German. 1, Ter. Maur. 2); #ēi# 23
times (Plaut. 11, Ter. 8, Lucil. 3, Cat. 1).
(5.) #Gāius# retains its #ā# before the vowel #i#: thus, #Gāius#
(trisyllabic).
(6.) In the pronominal genitives in #-ī̆us# (618), the quantity of #i#
varied. The older dramatists use #ī#; later, #ī# was shortened, but
variations in its quantity seem to have continued until long after the
end of the republic; Cicero, _DO._ 3, 183, measures #illius#; Quintilian
1, 5, 18 #ūnīus#; the grammarian Priscian prescribes #-īus# for all
except #alterius#, which should always have #i#, and #utrius#, in which
the #i# is common (30). In verse the #i# is often short, except in
#neutrīus#; #utriusque# has always short #i#.
(7.) The penult is long in the endings #-āī#, #-āīs#, #-ōī#, #-ōīs#, and
#-ēī#, #-ēīs#, from stems in #-āio-#, #-ōio-#, and #-ēio-# (458) or
#-iā-# (437): as, #Gāī#, #Bōī#, #Pōmpēī#, #plēbēī#: #Gāīs#, #Bōīs#,
#Pompēīs#, #plēbēīs#, #Bāīs#; #aulāī#, #pictāī#.
(8.) #Dī̆ana# has #ĭ# as often as #ī#. #ohē# has #ŏ̄#; #ē̆heu# has #ĕ#
in comedy, otherwise #ē#.
(9.) In many Greek words a long vowel comes before another vowel; as,
#āēr#, #Aenēās#, #Mēdēa#. But early importations from Greek followed
the general rule and shortened the vowel: as, #platĕa# (πλατεῖα),
#balinĕum#, #balnĕum# (βαλανεῖον).
128. A long vowel preceding unsyllabic #i̭# or #ṷ# followed by a
consonant is shortened: as, #gaudeō# for #*gāudeō# (cf. #gāvīsus#, 111);
#claudo# for #clāudō# (cf. #clāṷis#, 111).
Similarly a long vowel (unless long by contraction: as, #nūntius#, 111,
_a_, #cōntiō#) preceding a liquid or nasal followed by a consonant is
shortened: as, syncopated #ardus# from #āridus# (111), #habentem#, from
the stem #habē-#. For cases of induced lengthening of the vowel before
#n# followed by certain consonants, see 122.
129. IAMBIC SHORTENING. The law of iambic shortening (2470) produced a
number of important changes: thus,
(1.) In old dramatic verse iambic words (⏑ -) often shorten the long
vowel. The poets after Plautus and Terence preserve the long vowel.
(_a._) Nouns; G. #eri#, #boni#, #preti#. D. #cani#, #ero#, #malo#. L.
#domi#, #heri#. Ab. #levi#, #manu#, #domo#, #bona#, #fide#. Plural: N.
#fores#, #viri#. D., Ab. #bonis#. Ac. #foris#, #viros#, #bonas#. (_b._)
Verbs: #eo#, #volo#, #ago#; #ero#, #dabo#; #vides#; #loces#; #voles#;
#dedi#, #dedin#; #roga#, #veni#; later poets sometimes retain #cave#,
#vale#, and #vide#. The vowel may also be shortened when #-n# (1503) is
added and #s# is dropped before #-n# (170, 2): #rogan#, #abin#; #viden#
is also retained by later poets.
(2.) In a few pyrrhic words (⏑ ⏑) in #-i#, which were originally iambic
(⏑ -), the poets in all periods retained final #-ī# at pleasure: these
are,
#mihī̆#, #tibī̆#, #sibī̆#; #ibī̆#, #ubī̆#; also #alicubī̆#. The #i# of
#bi# is always short in #nēcubi# and #sīcubi#, and usually in #ubinam#,
#ubivīs#, and #ubicumque#; #ibidem# is used by the dramatists, #ibīdem#
in hexameter. #ubīque# has always #ī#.
130. The following instances show that this law operated in prose speech
also:
(1.) In iambic words of the #ā-# declension (432) the final #-ā# of the
nominative singular was shortened; hence #*equā# became #equa#, _mare_.
From these iambic words short final #-a# spread so that all stems in
#-ā-# shorten the final #ā# of the nom. sg. (434).
(2.) The final #-a# in the nominative plural of neuter nouns of the #o-#
declension (446), which appears in #trīgintā#, _thirty_, was likewise
shortened, first in iambic words like #iuga#, _yokes_, #bona#, _goods_,
then everywhere (461).
(3.) This law explains the short final vowel in #homo# (2442) by the
side of #sermō# (2437, _c_) and similar cases, like the adverbs #modo#,
#cito# (2442), #bene#, #male# (2440). In the same way arose the short
final #o# of the first person in conjugation (2443): as, #volo#, #dabo#,
#dīxero# by the side of #scrībō#; so also #viden# for #vidēn# (129, 1;
170, 2).
(4.) Of imperatives only #puta#, used adverbially (2438, _c_), #ave#,
#have# (805; Quint. i, 6, 21; but Martial scans #havē#) as a salutation
and #cave#, used as an auxiliary (1711), show the short final vowel in
classical Latin. Elsewhere the long vowel has been restored, as #amā#,
#monē# (845).
(5.) According to this rule #calēfaciō#, #malēdīcō# changed to
#calefaciō#, #maledīcō#.
131. A long final vowel is shortened when an enclitic is added to the
word: as #siquidem# from #sī#; #quoque# from #quō#.
132. A long vowel is regularly shortened, in the classical period,
before final #-t# and #-m# and, in words of more than one syllable, also
before final #r# and #l#.
Thus, #soror#, _sister_, for Plautus’s #sorōr#, from the stem #sorōr-#
(487); #ūtar#, _I may use_, for Plautus’s #ūtār# (cf. #ūtāris#);
#bacchanal# for Plautus’s #bacchanāl#; #animal#, #exemplar# from the
stems #animāl-# (530) and #exemplār-# (537); but the long vowel is
retained in the monosyllables #fūr#, _thief_, #sōl#, _sun_; #pōnēbat#,
_he placed_, for Plautus’s #pōnēbāt# (cf. #pōnēbās#); #iūbet#, _he
commanded_, for Plautus’s #iūbēt#; #eram#, _I was_, but #erās#;
#rēxerim#, _I may have ruled_, but #rēxerīs# (877); #-um# in the
genitive plural of #-o-# stems is for #-ūm# (462); #mēnsam#, _table_,
for #*mēnsām# from the stem #mensā-#; #rem#, from #rē-# (#rēs#), #spem#
from #spē-# (#spēs#).
[Errata:
125 ... #pra͡e͡optāvīstī#
The vowels “aeo” are joined with a single ligature
132 ... (cf. #ūtāris#)
(cf #ūtāris#)]