16 EEMARKS ON THE USE OF NAMES. 



correspondent. For all that is known to the contrary, the Romans may have had, 

 for example, as many qualities of their a as we have in English ; but as we know 

 only their " long" and " short" , it is simply a matter of more or less of the same 

 sound of the letter, not a difference in sound. Our only resource, therefore, is to 

 ascertain the natural or acquired quantity of the vowels according to the standard 

 authorities, and pronounce them conformably therewith. 



It is the rule, with few exceptions, that a vowel before two consonants, or before 

 the double consonants x and z, is long. We are inclined to believe that in many 

 cases the full length of the vowel itself is not implied, but rather the length of the 

 whole syllable in which it occurs. For instance, in the word melanorhynchus, the 

 vowel y is encased in five consonants ; and the time required to speak the whole 

 syllable -rhynch-, in metric composition, is what makes the y long. The Romans may 

 have had the y as short in quality as the y's in our word pygmy. Nevertheless, we 

 have no assurance of this, and can only mark the y long, which means that this syl- 

 lable is to be pronounced -rheench-. Take the word fuscescens, again, where each 

 vowel is followed by two consonants. In this country we seldom if ever hear any 

 tiling but sounds of all three of the vowels as short as if the}' were English. We 

 mast, however, mark them long, which is equivalent to directing the word to be 

 called foosaysny nee. But it does not follow that a naturally short vowel lengthened 

 only kt by position" is to be sounded at full length. Thus, in t[ffinis, msignis, obso- 

 letns, from ad-, in-, ob-, the long mark indicates the quantity of the syllable rather 

 than of the vowel. The chief exceptions above alluded to are furnished by the con- 

 currence of a mute and a liquid, when the preceding vowel remains short, in prose, 

 at least. 



A vowel before a single consonant, or before another vowel, is short, as a rule ; 

 but there are so many exceptions to this, that each case of the kind requires to be 

 considered on its own merits. An accented vowel is likely to be long from this 

 cause alone. Diphthongs are long, except before another vowel. 



In Latin words derived from the Greek, the vowels e and o are likely to be long 

 or short, according to whether the}' stand for Greek eta or epsilon, omicron or 

 omega. So, also, the Latin % is long when representing the Greek diphthong et, as 

 it often does ; and a vowel is likely to be long when in any case it comes by the con- 

 traction of two or more vowels into one. Thus, the frequent Latin termination 

 -pus, from the Greek pous, is long, or should be, like the proper Latin pes (foot). 



With these slight remarks, we take up the vowels, diphthongs, and consonants in 

 alphabetical order. 



A. Orthoepists reckon from four to seven sounds of this vowel in English, the 

 four usually recognized being those heard in fate, fat, far, fall. The English sounds 

 of a in fate, fat, and fall are unknown in Latin. Long a in Latin is always sounded 

 as a in psalm ; it is almost exactly the English interjection ah ! the name of the 

 letter r without any roll. Short Latin a is the same sound, but with less stress and 

 less prolonged, like the a in diadem, or the final a in Maria, Amelia, Hannah. Thus 



