IIEMABKS ON THE USE OF NAMES. ■ 17 



in the frequently recurring word americana, all three a's have the same qualit}', but 

 differ in quantity ; the first and the last a being short and the middle a long, simply 

 because there is where the accent, or stress of voice, comes to prolong the sound. 

 If the accent in this case were on the antepenult, all three a's would have exactly 

 the same quantity and quality. 



Long a, as in psalm.. 



Short a as in diadem. 



E. Long e has the sound of French c mfete, or Enghsh e in they., or English a in 

 fdte. Short e is like English e in them, not quite so short as in met ; something 

 between mate and met. Example of long e: exiUpes^ pronounced ache-seal-i-pace. 



Long e as in they. 



Short e as in thern. 



I. Long i is invariabl}' like the English i in m.achine, police, oblique, pique ; that is, 

 the English ee in feet, ea in feat, &c. ; but never the English ^ of fyht, night. Short i 

 is the same sound, but as brief and abrupt as possible, like English i in possible^ 

 ability, imitate. Short and long i are both heard in intrigue. 



Long I as in machine, pique. 



Short I as in ability, imitate. 



O. This letter, long or short, has always its pure English sound, there being 

 no qualities of Latin o to correspond to such anomalies as the English o in move^ 

 more, come, «fcc. 



Long as in old, no. 



Short o as in odd, not. 



U. It is not easy to correctly appreciate the powers of this vowel in Latin- 

 Long u never has the sound of English u, eu, or ew, as m fury , feud, few ; but iS' 

 alwa3's broad as well as long, like o in move, oo in moon, fool. Short u is not the- 

 English u in tub or English o in love, but quite like the English ti in bull, full. Take- 

 for example the common word rufm, where the first u is long, the second short. 

 This word is neither roofuss, nor rewf-iiss, nor rewfooce ; but if the consonants per- 

 mitted, it would rh^'me exactly with rue-ful. If I am asked " How many cats?" I 

 may reply " I say ruefully there are a roof-full," and in so saving twice speak both: 

 the long and the short Latin u. 



Long M as in move, oo in moon, ue in rue. 



Short u as in bull, full, pull. 



Y. This letter, as a vowel, has practically the sound of i, long or short ; more- 

 exactly, that of the German u (ue) , as in Midler, which is nearer 3Iillrr than Muller. 

 It is scarcel}^ a Latin letter, and chiefly occurs in words from the Greek, correspond- 

 ing to Greek upsilon ; as hyperboreus, uropygialis. 



It is to be remarked, that any vowel is or may be modified in quality as well- 

 as in quantit}' b}' its consonantal combination, this being especially the case when- 

 followed by the letter r. It is as if the r were rolling away, and dragging the 

 vowel after. Compare fuscus with turtur ; the first with the last syllable of turdus, 



