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Page 6
Again, when the word 'telegram' was coined, some scholars objected to
its formation and insisted upon 'telegrapheme', but the most obdurate
Grecian did not propose to keep the long Greek vowel in the first
syllable. When only the other day 'cinematograph' made its not wholly
desirable appearance, it made no claim to a long vowel in either of
its two first syllables. Not till it was reasonably shortened into
'c[)i]n[)e]ma' did a Judge from the Bench make a lawless decree for a
long second vowel, and even he left the _i_ short though it is long in
Greek.
Of course with the manner of speech the quantities had to be learnt
separately. The task was not as difficult as some may think. To boys
with a taste for making verses the thumbing of a Gradus (I hope that
no one calls it a Gr[)a]dus) was always a delightful occupation, and
a quantity once learnt was seldom forgotten. It must be admitted that,
as boys were forced to do verses, whether they could or not, there
were always some who could read and yet forget.
Although these usages did not precede but followed the pronunciation
of words already borrowed from Latin, we may use them to classify
the changes of quantity. We shall see that although there are some
exceptions for which it is difficult to give a reason, yet most of
the exceptions fall under two classes. When words came to us through
French, the pronunciation was often affected by the French form of the
word. Thus the adjective 'present' would, if it had come direct from
Latin, have had a long vowel in the first syllable. To an English ear
'pr[)e]sent' seemed nearer than 'pr[=e]sent' to the French 'pr�sent'.
The _N.E.D._ says that 'gladiator' comes straight from the Latin
'gladiatorem'. Surely in that case it would have had its first vowel
long, as in 'radiator' and 'mediator'. In any case its pronunciation
must have been affected by 'gladiateur'. The other class of exceptions
consists of words deliberately introduced by writers at a late period.
Thus 'adorable' began as a penman's word. Following 'in�xorable' and
the like it should have been '�dorable'. Actually it was formed by
adding _-able_ to 'ad�re', like 'laughable'. It is now too stiff in
the joints to think of a change, and must continue to figure with the
other sins of the Restoration.
Before dealing with the words as classified by their formation, we may
make short lists of typical words to show that for the pronunciation
of English derivatives it is idle to refer to the classical
quantities.
From _[=�]_: [)e]difice, [)e]mulate, c[)e]rulean, qu[)e]stion.
From _[=oe]_: [)e]conomy, [)e]cumenical, conf[)e]derate.
From _[=a]_,: don[)a]tive, n[)a]tural, cl[)a]mour, [)a]verse.
From _[)a]_: [=a]lien, st[=a]tion, st[=a]ble, [=a]miable.
From _[=e]_: [)e]vident, Quadrag[)e]sima, pl[)e]nitude, s[)e]gregate.
From _[)e]_: s[=e]ries, s[=e]nile, g[=e]nus, g[=e]nius.
From _[=i]_: lasc[)i]vious, erad[)i]cate, d[)i]vidend, f[)i]lial,
susp[)i]cion.
From _[)i]_: l[=i]bel, m[=i]tre, s[=i]lex.
From _[=o]_: [)o]rator, pr[)o]minent, pr[)o]montory, s[)o]litude.
From _[)o]_: b[=o]vine, l[=o]cal, f[=o]rum, coll[=o]quial.
From _[=u]_: fig[)u]rative, script[)u]ral, sol[)u]ble.
From _[)u]_: n[=u]merous, C[=u]pid, all[=u]vial, cer[=u]lean.
The _N.E.D._ prefers the spelling 'oecumenical'; but Newman wrote
naturally 'ecumenical', and so does Dr. J.B. Bury. Dublin scholarship
has in this matter been markedly correct.
_CLASSIFICATION OF WORDS ACCORDING TO THEIR LATIN STEMS._
In classification it seems simplest to take the words according
to their Latin stems. We must, however, first deal with a class of
adjectives borrowed bodily from the Latin nominative masculine with
the insertion of a meaningless _o_ before the final _-us_.[1] These
of course follow the rules given above. In words of more than two
syllables the antepenultimate and stressed vowel is shortened, as
'[)e]mulous' from _�mulus_ and in 'fr[)i]volous' from _fr[=i]volus_,
except where by the 'alias' rule it is long, as in 'egr[=e]gious' from
_egr[)e]gius_. Words coined on this analogy also follow the rules.
Thus 'glabrous' and 'fibrous' have the vowels long, as in the
traditional pronunciation of _glabrum_ and _fibrum_, where the vowels
in classical Latin were short. The stressed _u_ being always long we
have 'lug[=u]brious' and 'sal[=u]brious', the length being independent
of the 'alias' rule. Some words ending in _-ous_ are not of this
class. Thus 'odorous' and 'clamorous' appear in Italian as _odoroso_
and _clamoroso_. Milton has
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