Prosody

Latin Learning Latin
1

I’ve just started a class on Prosody and I’m utterly out of my depth. We’ve started by reviewing the rules on quantity and the sheer number has confused me completely. Any tips on how the approach the subject and its material? Thanks.

2

Salve Jadebono.
Maybe it’s worth getting this book in the library and having a read.
Fortasse hoc opus è bibliothecâ acquirendum et legendum est:
W. S. Allen, Accent and Rhythm: Prosodic Features of Latin and Greek: A Study in Theory and Reconstruction

Otherwise look at
Aliter, vide William Ramsay, A manual of Latin prosody (1859) in hoc loco
http://www.archive.org/details/latinprosody00ramsuoft

Then you’ll be an expert. Tunc peritus eris.

3

It should be noted, though, that Ramsay’s book is quite dated, and consequently a lot of it should be taken with a grain of salt. Primarily, he does not in a consequent manner distinguish between vowels and syllables, which makes much of his discussion very confused. For example, his rule III, on the matter of length by position, is better skipped altogether, in my opinion. Also, he is often off when it comes to pronunciation.

Jadebono, when you speak of “reviewing the rules on quantity”, do you then mean such rules as Ramsay lists, for example that “a vowel before another vowel is usually short”, etc?

To approach prosody, I would say you need to know these things:

  • Vowel quantities. There are rules for this, which can be useful in some cases, but you can just as well simply memorize them from a dictionary and grammar.

  • How to divide syllables. (How a single consonant goes to the following syllable, double consonants are split, and how mutae cum liquida can be either split or kept together.)

  • The definition of a long (heavy) syllable, viz. one that either contains a long vowel, or ends with a consonant.

Knowing this, you know which syllables are long, and which are short, and can go right along to learn about different meters, etc.

4

Thank you for your help. Yes, I’ll try to get hold of those books. Also, I’ll approach it as you have suggested. Many thanks.