The Alleged Strength of the Initial Syllable

Abstract

Every student of the Latin language is confronted at once with the phenomena which we term 'syncope' and 'vowel weakening' in all syllables of Latin words except the first syllable; and he notes that syncope affects short vowels, and that vowel weakening affects both short vowels and diphthongs, while neither process affects the long vowels. For clarity I give a few typical examples: regere, but porrigere with vowel weakening and surgere with syncope; facere factus, but reficere refectus; claudere, but concfidere; aestimdre, but existimare.1 Most handbooks' attribute these changes to the influence of an accent of stress or energy on the first syllable of every word, in a pre-Latin period, yet at a time when the primitive Indo-European unity had been broken up: we are wont to call this accent the 'primitive Italic accent'. It is true that we have no direct testimony to the presence of such an accent; its existence is inferred from its results-which is arguing in a circle, but then a great deal of reasoning is of necessity of this character. Given a result, we seek a cause, and a cause which theoretically may produce the result is to be posited, and to be considered as valid, provided (1) such causes can elsewhere be shown to have produced such results, or to be likely to produce them, and (2) no other cause can be assigned which may have produced the results for which we are seeking the explanation.