E vs ex

[Venabili]

According to the note in Moreland and Fischer:

e before a word beginning with a consonant, ex before a vowel or h and sometimes before a consonant.

The last part of this definition really makes my head hurt. When do you use ex before a consonant? I presume they mean one differrent from h and considering that there is no silent letters, there is no way to have a word starting with a consonant in the written form but to be read starting with a vowel. So... help?

(Working with Moreland and Fleischer's Intensive Course but the question is generic so decided to post here instead of the M&F subforum).

[adrianus]

ex or ē (ex always before vowels, and elsewh. more freq. than e; e. g. in Cic. Rep. e occurs 19 times, but ex 61 times, before consonants—but no rule can be given for the usage; cf., e. g., ex and e together: “qui ex corporum vinculis tamquam e carcere evolaverunt,” Cic. Rep. 6, 14. But certain expressions have almost constantly the same form, as ex parte, ex sententia, ex senatus consulto, ex lege, ex tempore, etc.; but e regione, e re nata, e vestigio, e medio, and e republica used adverbially; v. Neue, Formenl. 2, 756 sq.)...

[Venabili]

Thanks.

So there is no strict rule for the words starting with consonants? And it should be looked up every time? Or can ex be used in all times besides the few listed in the L&S?

[adrianus]

Or can ex be used in all times besides the few listed in the L&S?

Yes. That's my understanding,—and that either ex or e before consonants would be fine, except for cases given.
Ita, sic intellego,—et aptum aut ex aut e ante consonantes litteras separatim cum exemplis citatis.

Here's L&S on a and ab. It make's my head hurt, too.
De a/ab praepositione, vide L&S ut caput tibi pejus doleat.

The second form of this preposition...was ab, which has become the principal form and the one most generally used through all periods—and indeed the only one used before all vowels and h; here and there also before some consonants, particularly l, n, r, and s; rarely before c, j, d, t; and almost never before the labials p, b, f, v, or before m, such examples as ab Massiliensibus, Caes. B. C. 1, 35, being of the most rare occurrence.

[Venabili]

Sounds like a lot of fun when I get to a/ab... which is in Unit 2