Iambic Words Research Articles

Iambic Words and Regard for Accent in Plautus

Iambic Words and Regard for Accent in Plautus

The Nominative and Dative-Ablative Plural of Devs and Mevs in Plavtvs

In Hermathena, vol. xiv., pp. 338–359, Professor Charles Exon attempts to prove that the nom. and dat.-abl. pi. of deus were disyllabic in Plautus. The argument upon which he lays most stress is briefly this: Plautus uses iambic words shortened by the law of breves breviantes in the thesis (i.e., the accented part of the foot) of iambic and trochaic verse about twice as often as he does in the arsis, whereas the long monosyllable cor occurs in dialogue with equal frequency in both parts of the foot. In this respect the nom. pl. of deus agrees with the shortened iambi, and should therefore, he thinks, be considered one of them.