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Page 7
Son�rous mettal blowing Martial sounds.
The Italian is _sonoro_, and our word was simply the Latin _sonorus_
borrowed bodily at a somewhat late period. Hence the stress remains
on the penultima. Skeat thought that the word would at last become
's�norous'. It maybe hoped that Milton's line will save it from the
effect of a false analogy.
[Footnote 1: I regard this statement as inaccurate. The _-ous_ in
these words does not come from the nominative ending _-us_, but is the
ordinary _-ous_ from L. _-osus_ (through Fr.). It was added to many
Latin adjective stems, because the need of a distinctly adjectival
ending was felt. Similarly in early French _-eux_ was appended to
adjectives when they were felt to require a termination, as in
_pieux_ from _pi-us_. Compare the English _capacious_, _veracious_,
_hilarious_, where _-ous_ is added to other stems than those in _o_.
Other suffixes of Latin origin are used in the same way: e.g. _-al_ in
_aerial_, _ethereal_.--H.B.]
In classifying by stems it will be well to add, where possible, words
of Greek origin. Except in some late introductions Greek words, except
when introduced bodily, have been treated as if they came through
Latin, and some of the bodily introductions are in the same case. Thus
'an�sthetic' is spelt with the Latin diphthong and the Latin _c_.
Even 'skeleton' had a _c_ to start with, while the modern and wholly
abominable 'kaleidoscope' is unprincipled on the face of it.
STEMS ENDING IN -ANT AND -ENT. These are participles or words formed
as such. Our words have shed a syllable, thus _regentem_ has become
'regent'. Disyllables follow the 'apex' rule and lengthen the first
vowel, as 'agent', 'decent', 'potent'. Exceptions are 'clement' and
'present', perhaps under French influence. Words of more than two
syllables with a single consonant before the termination throw the
stress back and shorten a long penultima, as 'ignorant', 'president',
'confident', 'adjutant'. Where there are two heavy consonants, the
stress remains on the penultima, as 'consultant', 'triumphant', even
when one of the consonants is not pronounced, as 'reminiscent'. In
some cases the Latinists seem to have deliberately altered the
natural pronunciation. Thus Gower has '�ppara�nt', but the word became
'app�rent' before Shakespeare's time, and later introductions such as
'adherent' followed it. What right 'adjacent' has to its long vowel
and penultimate stress I do not know, but it cannot be altered now.
STEMS ENDING IN -ATO AND -UTO. These are mostly past participles, but
many of them are used in English as verbs. It must be admitted that
the disyllabic words are not wholly constant to a principle. Those
verbs that come from _-latum_ consistently stress the last vowel,
as 'dilate', 'relate', 'collate'. So does 'create', because of one
vowel following another. Of the rest all the words of any rank have
the stress on the penultima, as 'vibrate', 'frustrate', 'm�grate',
'c�strate', 'p�lsate', 'v�cate'. Thus Pope has
The whisper, that to greatness still too near,
Perhaps, yet vibrates on his Sov'reign's ear,
and Shelley
Music, when soft voices die,
Vibrates in the memory.
There are, however, verbs of no literary account which in usage
either vary in the stress or take it on the latter syllable. Such are
'locate', 'orate', 'negate', 'placate', and perhaps 'rotate'. With
most of these we could well dispense. 'Equate' is mainly a technical
word. Dictionaries seem to prefer the stress on the ultima, but some
at least of the early Victorian mathematicians said '�quate', and the
pronunciation is to be supported. Trisyllabic verbs throw the stress
back and shorten the penultima, as 'd�s[)o]late', 's�ff[)o]cate',
'sc�nt[)i]llate'. Even words with heavy double consonants have adopted
this habit. Thus where Browning has (like Milton and Cowper)
I the Trinity ill�strate
Drinking water'd orange pulp,
In three sips the Arian frustrate.
While he drains his at one gulp,
it is now usual to say '�llustrate'.
Adjectives of this class take as early a stress as they can, as
'�rnate', 'p�nnate', 'd�licate', 'f�rtunate'. Nouns from all these
words throw the accent back and shorten or obscure all but the
penultimate vowel, as 'ignorance', 'evaporation'.
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