[5] Quint, ix. 4, 40; Prise. 1, p. 29 (Keil).

[6] Velius Lougus, p. 80 (Keil).

[7] Don. in Serv. p. 445.

[8] Cf. for instance Quint. 1, 7, 26; Marius Victorinus, p. 13 (Keil); Velius Longus, pp. 50, 58, 67 (Keil); Consentius, p. 395 (Keil). The position of the vocal organs in pronouncing v is described by Terentianus Maurus, p. 319 (Keil); Marius Victorinus, p. 33 (Keil); and Martianus Capella, III. 261.

[9] Cf. Horace, Odes, I. 23, 4.

[10] De Div. II. 40. 84.

[11] Quoted by Gellius, X. 44.

[12] The statistics on this point will be found in the introduction to Roby's Latin Grammar, pp. XXXVII-XLI. Plutarch, who oftenest uses β for v, expressly states in his life of Demosthenes his own deficiency as a Latin scholar, and this fact impairs the value of his testimony in general except as corroborating better witnesses. Prof. F. D. Allen (Class. Review, Feb. 1891) regards the use of β as characteristic only of the later Greeks.

V.

SOUNDS OF THE DIPTHONGS.—SUMMARY.

IT must be remembered that the Latin diphthongs Æ, AU, EI, EU, Œ), were originally true diphthongs (double sounds), in the full sense of the word. That is, in pronouncing a diphthong the sound of each of its elements was distinctly heard, though pronounced in the time of one syllable. (Terent. Maur. p. 2392 P; Prisc, p. 561 P.) Knowing, then, the true sounds of the individual letters which compose the diphthongs, it is a simple matter to determine the general pronunciation of the diphthongs themselves. At the same time, it is undoubtedly true that in the latter part of the classical period, a tendency to give only one elemental sound to the combination finally made its way from the pronunciation of the vulgar into that of the cultivated.

With this preliminary observation we may proceed to the discussion of the several diphthongs.

Æ had originally the double sound ah-ê pronounced quickly; later, the simple sound of Latin E, i.e. of English a in "fate".

(a) Ae represents an early ai which appears in the oldest Latin. Thus, praifecius, quaistor, aulai; and so Vergil to give an antique coloring to his language has pictai, vestis, aquai, aulai, etc. (Quint. I. 7.18). About the year B.C. 175, the ai sound began to give way to the ae sound, as can be shown from the testimony of inscriptions. The ai sound of the diphthong (that of the English affirmative ay) may have lingered in the pronunciation of purists, for at the time when the Emperor Claudius instituted his reforms, we find a temporary revival of the spelling ai.

(b) As early as the beginning of the classical period ae ceased to be sounded as a diphthong by the rustics and by the provincials generally. This is expressly stated by Varro in his treatise on the Latin language (iv. 9, and vii. 96 and 97), in which he gives Mesius and hedus as rustic sounds for Maesius and haedus.

(c) This rustic neglect of the first element of the diphthong gradually prevailed until at last ae had only the force of a long e and is very generally so written, e.g. seculum for saeculum, femine for feminae, and even que for quae. But this is as late as the third and fourth centuries A.D. The classical sound was undoubtedly ăé.

AU had the sound of ow in English "now".

(a) Au remained a true diphthong down through the classical period at least in the pronunciation of the educated. The Greeks represent it by αυ, as in Κλαύδιος for Claudius.

(b) In vulgar and provincial circles, au had sometimes the sound of u, the first element of the diphthong being neglected as was the case with ae. Hence we find occasionally in inscriptions such forms as frudavi for fraudavi, cludo for claudo, etc. But the vulgar generally gave to au the sound of ō, as in modern French. Thus, some branches of the Claudian family called themselves Clodii, and we find in provincial inscriptions even at an early period Pola for Paulla, Plotus for Plautus, etc. Suetonius in his life of the Emperor Vespasian tells a story bearing on this, which has been often repeated and is important as showing that even in the Silver Age, au was still pronounced as a diphthong. The anecdote runs as follows: "Having been admonished by one Mestrius Floras, a man of consular rank, that he ought to say 'plaustra' rather than 'plostra,' he greeted Floras the next day as 'Flaurus'"--the point of which is that Flaurus suggests the Greek φλαῦρος, "good for nothing."

EI had the sound of ei in English "feint".

Ei remained a true diphthong in keeping the sound of both its elements; but the combination ei is often found merely as an equivalent for ī. Gorssen remarks that in the root-syllables of the words deiva, leiber, deicere, ceivis; in locative forms; and in the dative and ablative plural of -a stems and -o stems, ei is a true diphthong, but is elsewhere a transition vowel between ī and ē. Cf. Aussprache, I. 719, 788; Ritschl, Opuscula, II. 626; Roby, §§ 267, 268.

EU had (nearly) the sound of eu in English "feud".

Eu remained a true diphthong with more stress upon the second element than upon the first. This is seen by the fact that (rarely) it has passed into ū^[1] but never into ē. The combination eu is not often found in Latin except in transliterating Greek words, and in the exclamations heu, heus, and eheu, and in the contractions neu (neve), seu (sive), and neuter (ne + uter). In neutiquam the antepenult is short.

OE had the sound of oi in English "toil" (nearly), or of ōē.

Oe represents an original oi and remained a diphthong in those words in which it continued to be written. When the first element predominates over the second, oe passes into u, as in plura for ploera, punio from the root of poena, cura for coera. When the second element predominates, oe passes into ae (by a confusion) and ē, as in obscaonus and obscenus for obscaenus. But in words where oe is regularly written, it is to be pronounced as a true diphthong.

UI as a diphthong occurs only in a few interjections, as hui, fui, and in huic and cui. In both huic and cui it represents an earlier oi (hoic, quoi). In other words (e.g. exercitui, gradui, etc.) ui is not a diphthong, but each vowel is pronounced separately.

The Romans were the first people to call the letters of the alphabet by their sounds rather than by names, as was done in Greek and in the Semitic languages. Thus the Latin vowels were named by simply uttering their sounds; the mute consonants and h by uttering a vowel after them, and the so-called nasal and fricative consonants by uttering a vowel before them. This vowel was e except in the case of k, h, q, and x. Hence, a Roman boy saying over his