Brevis brevians

 ( Latin Poetry ) 

Parallels to iambic shortening can be found in modern languages such as English: for example, the second syllable is shortened in monarch (where the first syllable is a single mora) but not in heptarch, Plutarch or oligarch. But there is some controversy about whether modern languages provide a genuine parallel to what some scholars see as a metrical phenomenon not caused by accent.

• In Plautus and Terence, the phenomenon is found in iambic, trochaic, and anapaestic verse, but not usually in bacchiac or cretic metres. It is more common in trochaic verse than in iambic, and it is also frequent in anapaestic verse (used by Plautus but not by Terence).Lindsay (1893), p. 203. In iambic and trochaic verses, instances are found at the beginning of a verse more than elsewhere.Lindsay (1893), p. 203.

• The syllable preceding the shortened syllable is always short. Thus volō "I want" and rogō "I ask" can be shortened, but crēdō "I believe" and dīcō "I say" cannot be. Words such as videō "I see" and redeō "I return", starting with a pair of short syllables, also cannot be shortened.Lindsay (1922), p. 46.

• It does not usually occur when a word like abī or volō ends a clause or sentence;Fortson (2008), pp. 186–7. in other words, there are usually words or syllables following the shortened syllable, e.g. abĭ sīs, volŏ scīre. However, there are some exceptions to this (see below).

• The shortened syllable is generally unaccented. Usually the word-accent comes either just before the shortened syllable (ábĭ sīs) or immediately after it (volŭptātem). However, there are some apparent exceptions to this (see below).

• In iambic and trochaic metres, the two syllables of the brevis breviāns for the most part are found where an element in the metre has been resolved into two short syllables. Sometimes when a tribrach (u u u) is involved, it apparently occurs split across two elements (see below); however, this latter kind usually only occurs with words of the type ego, mihi, modo which Questa calls "quasi-pyrrhic".

• Brevis breviāns is optional. The same word or phrase, such as quid est? or voluptātem can often be found in one line with brevis breviāns and in another line without it.E.g., Plautus, Poen. 1089, Bacch. 92; Rud. 437, 459. Sometimes there are long passages without brevis breviāns, and other passages where it occurs frequently.

• A syllable shortened by brevis breviāns cannot shorten another syllable.Questa (2007), p. 86.Lindsay (1922), p. 57. For example, in quid est quod metuās, where est is shortened, it is thought that est does not in turn shorten quod. However, this cannot be proved, as the metre will allow either scansion.

• A long vowel at the end of a two-syllable word is often shortened, e.g. ibĭ, egŏ, abĭ, volŏ, cavĕ. Apart from this the great majority of shortenings involve closed syllables, as in quid ĭstuc, volŭptātum and so on.

• A word like patrem or agrum where the medial consonant is a mute + liquid, even though the first syllable is always short in Plautus, almostBut patrĕm occurs at Plautus, Bacch. 404; cf. Bettini (1991), p. 321. never undergoes iambic shortening.Lindsay (1922), p. 45.

However, not all scholars agree that iambic shortening is connected with word accent. In particular amongst Italian and French scholars it is a widely held belief that the Latin word accent in Plautus's day was a pitch accent, like that of Ancient Greek, which had no effect on the metre. Thus Cesare Questa, a specialist in the metres of Plautus, who in his earlier works accepted the role of the accent in causing iambic shortening, in his final work in 2007 rejected the idea, on the grounds that it was incompatible with his conviction that the Latin accent was a melodic or musical one.Questa (2007), pp. 138–139.

Another Italian, Marco Fattori, pointing out that in quite a few cases the shortened syllable is apparently accented (for example sed uxōr, sed optumē, ad omnīs rēs), takes the view that "the accent has no role in inducing IS iambic, regardless of its position."Fattori (2021), p. 112. According to his statistics, cases such as sed úxōr where a lexical word is accented on the shortened syllable are just as common as cases such as sed uxōrem where the accent follows the shortened syllable.Fattori (2021), p. 113.

In his book Vox Latina, however, W. S. Allen argues that the reduction in length observed in brevis breviāns is itself one of several reasons for thinking that the Latin word-accent was a stress accent unlike that of Greek.Allen (1978), p. 86.; cf. Lindsay (1922), p. 258. According to this view there is no reason to reject the idea that, as in many modern languages, word accent was the cause of the syllable shortenings observed in Latin. In those cases where the shortened syllable appears to be accented, therefore, scholars who believe word accent plays a role look for other explanations, such as positing that the accented syllable loses its stress when the main stress comes on another word in the sentence.

The American scholar, Fortson, agreeing with Lindsay, writes: "The most likely theory in this writer’s view is that iambic shortening is linguistically real and affected iambic strings that were destressed or whose stress was subordinated to that of surrounding material, whence its most typical appearance in pronouns, particles, sentence adverbs, and strings of clitics."Fortson (2011), p. 97.

An alternative view, held by Italian scholars such as Bettini and others, is that final-vowel shortening, as found in words such as ego or ibi and shortening of the vowel before final t and r as in amat or soror, which continued into later Latin, was real, but that the shortening of closed syllables as in quid ergō or voluptatem, which is not found in poetry of the classical period, was a metrical licence, not reflecting the actual speech of Latin speakers.Bettini (1991), p. 391; cf. Fortson (2008), p. 179. Bettini gives as an example the word cavillātiōnēs,Plautus, Stich. 228. which is shortened because it cannot fit otherwise into an iambic or trochaic verse, while cavillātõrPlautus, Mil. 642. is not shortened.Bettini (1991), p. 350.

In the iambic senarius, brevis breviāns is most commonly found at the beginning of the verse.

| x – x – | x – x – | x – u – | ia6
     

and the trochaic septenarius:

| – x – x | – x – x || – x – x | – u – | tr7
     

As can be seen, both metres consist of a succession of long elements (–) alternating with anceps elements (x), which can be long or short. Any long or anceps element, except at the line end or before the mid-point of a trochaic septenarius, can be resolved into two short syllables.

Brevis breviāns is usually found where an element, either long or anceps, has been resolved. Thus a trochaic septenarius may begin in either of the following ways:Lindsay (1922), p. 23.

v olŏ scīr(e) ergōPlautus, Stich. 113. (with volŏ in a long element)

:"so I want to know..."

s ed volŏ sc īrePlautus, Truc 261. (with volŏ in an anceps)

:"but I want to know..."

Resolution, and hence also brevis breviāns, is more common in some parts of the line than others. For example, in an iambic senarius, the first element (an anceps) is resolved in 27% of verses, but the 5th element in only 4%.Schlicher (1902), p. 48. Correspondingly brevis breviāns is also commonly found in the 1st element of a senarius, rarely in the 5th.

Very rarely brevis breviāns can also be found split between two elements where the sequence – x has been resolved into a tribrach (u u u), for example quis ego sim. However, this occurs mainly or exclusively with a small set of words of a kind labelled by Questa "quasi-pyrrhic" which are most frequently found in their shortened form. For further details see below.

In iambic and trochaic verse, anceps elements are usually unaccented.Only 17% of anceps positions in an iambic senarius are accented, according to Schlicher (1902). It is thus more common for a phrase such as apud fórum where the first word is unaccented to occur with the brevis breviāns in an anceps position; whereas a phrase like quid est quod metuās where the 1st and 4th syllables are accented always has the brevis breviāns in a long element.

ferŏr differŏr distrahŏr diripior,

ita nūbilăm ment(em) anim(ī) habeō.

ubĭ s(um), ibĭ nōn s(um), ubĭ nōn s(um), ibĭst animus,

ita m(i) omnia sunt ingenia;

quod lubĕt, non lubĕt i(am) id continuō,

ita m(ē) Amŏr lass(um) animī lūdificat

| uu – uu – | uu – uu – |

| uu – uu – | uu uu – |

| uu uu – uu | – uu uu – |

| uu – uu – | – uu – |

| – uu – uu | – – uu – |

| uu uu – uu | – – uu – |

"I am being carried, I am being taken apart, I am being pulled apart, I am being torn apart;

I have such a troubled mind!

Where I am, I'm not there, where I'm not, my mind is there;

I have so many moods!

What I want, I immediately don't want any more;

Love is playing so much with my mind!"

t enĕ ten ēPlautus, Aul. 415. (reiz)

:"hold, hold!"

pl ūs libĕns f aximPlautus, Aul. 420. (reiz)

:"I would more willingly do it"

pol ets ī tace āsPlautus, Aul. 421. (reiz)

:"by God, even if you keep quiet"

While from the Wilamowitzianus come examples such as:

nōn tacĕs, īnsipiēns?Plautus, Bacch. 626. (wil)

:"won't you keep quiet, you fool?"

tib(i) ĭrātusPlautus, Bacch. 629. (wil)

:"angry with you"

Thus in the following cretic line volō has its unshortened form, and perditus also is not shortened to perditu':

h oc volō sc īre tē: / p erditus s um miserPlautus, Curc. 134.

| – u – | – u – || – u – | – u – |

"I want you to know this: I am ruined! wretched me!"

Two reasons have been suggested for the lack of brevis brevians in cretic and bacchiac metres. According to Lindsay, the bacchiac metre often has a tone of seriousness (gravitās) and he believed that it is for this reason brevis breviāns is avoided.Lindsay (1922), pp. 289–290. An example of bacchiac metre is the speech of the old lady in Plautus's Aulularia, who addresses her brother as follows, using the archaic -āī genitive:

vel im t(e) arbitr ārī / mēd h aec verba, fr āter

me āī fid ēī / tu āīque r ēī

caus ā facer(e), ut aequom (e)st / germ ānam sor ōrem.

"I would like you to believe, brother, that I am speaking these words

because of my loyalty and of your interest,

as it befits your own sister to do."

Bettini has a different explanation. He argues that to introduce shortened syllables (e.g. velǐm in the example above) would create ambiguity and obscure the basic u – – rhythm characteristic of the metre. This ambiguity never arises in the anapaestic metres, however, where brevis breviāns is common. The same wish to avoid ambiguity, according to Bettini, explains the avoidance of double iamb endings such as tacē modo at the end of a senarius, which could potentially be interpreted either as 3 elements or 4.Bettini (1991), pp. 395–6.

Alcum ēn(a), ūn um rog āre t ē vol ō. – quid v īs rog ā.Plautus, Amph. 708. (tr7)

:"Alcmene, there's one thing I want to ask you." – "Ask what you want."

Similarly, in the phrase abi sīs "go please" or abi iam "go now", abī is shortened, but at the end of a sentence, abī takes on its unshortened form, e.g.

t ac(ē) atqu(e) ab īPlautus, Aul. 273. (tr7)

:"be quiet and go!"

A parallel in English for abī vs abi sīs might be follow vs follow them, where the second syllable of follow is shortened when non-final.

mē v iden? – tē v ideōPlautus, Mil. 376. (ends ia7)

:"do you get me?" – "I get you"

v iden? scel estus aucup āturPlautus, Rud 1093. (starts tr7)

:"do you see? The crook is on the hunt"

The word scio "I know" is also found with shortened final vowel when used as a sentence adverb:

sciǒ, c apti ōnēs m etuisPlautus, Asin. 790. (starts ia6)

:"I know, you're afraid of a trap"

p auc(a) eff ugiam, sc iǒ; nam m ult(a) ēv enient, et merit ō me ōPlautus, Cap. 971. (tr7)

:"I shall escape few things, I know; for many things will happen, and I deserve them"

Both vidĕn and sciŏ are found with a short final syllable in Catullus and Virgil,vidĕn Virgil, Aen. 6.779; Catullus, 61.77, 62.8; sciŏ Virgil, Ec. 8.43; Aen. 3.602; nesciŏ Catullus, 85.2. so they appear to have been a regular part of the Latin language.

There are other exceptions such as the following, where the verbs are possibly linked into a single accentual group:

r ogŏ, neg āt vīd isseTerence, And. 358. (starts tr7)

:"when I asked, he said he hadn't seen you"

amăt, d abitur ā m(ē) arg entumTerence, Adel. 118. (starts ia6)

:"if he's in love, money will be given by me"

Sometimes other exceptions are found. In this example from Plautus, the word voluptātem is not shortened, but volō is shortened even though it comes at the end of a sentence and before a change of speaker:

M īlit em lepid(ē), et fac ēt(ē) et l autē l ūdific āri er

v olŏ. – Vol uptāt em mec astor m(ī) imper ās.Plautus, Mil. 1162–3. (tr7)

:"I want the soldier to be charmingly, wittily, and splendidly tricked."

:"By God, what you are ordering me to do will be a pleasure!"

Similarly quid est? is shortened before a change of speaker in Terence's Adelphoe 261 and 281:

quid est? – qu id sīt?Terence, Adel. 261. (opens ia8)

:"What's the matter?" – "What's the matter, do you ask?"

dabit n ēmōTerence, And. 396. (starts ia8)

:"there's no one who will give"

patĕr v ēnitTerence, Phor. 601. (starts ia6)

:"Father has come"

sciăs p osseTerence, And. 95. (starts ia6)

:"you should know it's possible"Also in trochaics, Plautus, Pseud. 1176.

iubĕt fr āter?Terence, Adel. 924. (starts ia6)

:"it is ordered by my brother?"

potest f ierīPlautus, Trin. 730. (starts ia6)

:"it can be done"

vidĕtqu(e) ipsePlautus, Trin. 109. (starts ia6)

:"and he himself sees"

recĕns n ātumPlautus, Cist. 136. (starts ia6)

:"newly born"

ego v ērō i ubeōTerence, Adel. 925. (starts ia6)

:"I am indeed ordering it"

In other positions in iambic lines:

apud i ūdic emPlautus, Rud. 18. (ends ia6)

:"in front of a judge"

amă qu id lub ētPlautus, Curc. 38. (ends ia6)

:"love whatever you like"

verb um cavĕ f axisPlautus, Asin. 625. (2nd anceps, ia7)

:"don't say a word"

quid hoc autemTerence, Heaut. 1000. (starts ia7)

:"but what's this?" (hoc was usually pronounced hocc)Allen (1978), p. 76.

quid ist uc est?Plautus, Asin. 32. (starts ia6)

:"what is that?" (istuc may have been pronounced /istúcc/)Allen (1978), p. 87; but cf. Lindsay (1922), p. 35.

et abd ūcer(e)Plautus, Pseud. 1055. (starts ia6)

:"and to take away"

it(a) att entēTerence, Haut. 66. (starts ia6)

:"so attentively"

in occ ultō m iserīPlautus, Capt. 83. (starts ia6)

:"in secret, poor things"

bon(um) ing eniumTerence, And. 466. (starts ia6)

:"a good character"

per ann ōnam c āramPlautus, Stich. 179. (starts ia6)

:"at a time of high prices"

sed ecc(um) ipsumTerence, Phor. 600. (starts ia6)

:"but here he is himself"

et int er nōsPlautus, Merc. 536. (starts ia7)

:"and between ourselves"

vel hic P amphil usTerence, Hec. 60. (starts ia6)

:"even this Pamphilus"

et ux ōrem su am rūr(i) ess(e) ai ēbātPlautus, Merc. 766. (starts ia6)

:"and he was saying his wife was in the farm"

In other positions of iambic lines:

mĕ exsp ectēsTerence, Eun. 194; cf. Questa (2007), p. 127. (in ia6)

:"you should wait for me"

eg(o) hās s emper f ūgī n ūpti āsTerence, And. 766. (end of ia6)

:"I always fled from this marriage"

mod(o) ē D āvōTerence, And. 302. (in ia7)

:"just now from Davus"

ab ex ercit ūPlautus, Amph. 140. (ends ia6)

:"from the army"

s ed volo sc īrePlautus, Truc. 261; Mil. 612. (starts tr7)

:"but I want to know"

qu id, domum v ostram?Plautus, Amph. 410. (starts tr7)

:"what, your house?"

n ōs for(e) inv ītōPlautus, Poen. 1207. (starts tr7)

:"that we are going to be, against his will, ..."

s ed quid ill uc estPlautus, Amph. 270. (starts tr7)

:"but what's that?"

h īnc enim m ihiPlautus, Amph. 759. (starts tr7)

:"for from here for me"

s ed quis ist uc tib iPlautus, Amph. 763. (ends tr7)

:"but who (said) that to you?"

volupt āte, v īn(ō) et am ōre d ēlēct āver ōPlautus, Merc. 548. (starts ia6)

:"I shall enjoy myself with pleasure, wine, and love"

volupt āt(em) in esse t antamPlautus, Rud. 459. (starts ia6)

:"that there is so much pleasure in it"

iuvent ūtePlautus, Curc, 38. (starts ia6)

:"from young men"

dedist īn arg entum? (starts ia6)Plautus, Trin.127.

:"did you pay the money?"

But words of this kind can also be placed immediately before the caesura of a senarius:

quīn s ī volunt āte n ōletPlautus, Mil. 1124. (2nd anceps, ia6)

:"if he doesn't want to do it voluntarily"

hār unc volupt ātumPlautus, Pseud. 69. (2nd anceps, ia6)

:"of these pleasures"

su ae senect ūtīPlautus, Trin. 398. (2nd anceps, ia6)

:"for his old age"

qu(ae) hīc administr āretPlautus, Epid. 418. (2nd anceps, ia6)

:"who would administer here"

ubi s int magistr ātūsPlautus, Pers. 76. (2nd anceps, ia6)

:"where the magistrates are"

Sometimes words of this kind are also found without brevis breviāns. They can also sometimes be found with the brevis breviāns in a long element, e.g.:

v oluptāt i (e)st mih iPlautus, Rud. 1183 (end of tr7)

:"it's a pleasure for me"

However, as Sturtevant showed, in words of shape u u – – it is more common for the long element to coincide with the penultimate syllable than with the first.Sturtevant (1919), p. 238.

amic itiamPlautus, Merc. 846. (1st anceps, tr7)

:"friendship"

pudic itiamPlautus, Epid. 405. (starts ia6)

:"modesty"

Syrac ūsāsPlautus, Men. 37. (2nd anceps, ia6)

:"Syracuse"

vereb āminī?Terence, Phor. 901. (ends ia6)

:"were you afraid?" (but some manuscripts have verēminī)Lindsay (1893), p. 205.

However, the long vowels of verbs compounded with faciō or fīō are regularly shortened, possibly because these compounds were accented as if they were two separate words:Lindsay (1922), pp. 47, 53.

p ermadef ēcitPlautus, Most. 143. (in ia8)

:"it completely melted"

calef ierī i ussīPlautus, Pers. 105. (ends tr7)

:"I gave an order for them to be heated up"

dedĭ m ercāt ōrīPlautus, Mil. 131. (starts ia6)

:"I gave it to a merchant"

ov em lupŏ c ommīs istīTerence, Eun. 832. (3rd anceps, ia6)cf. Lindsay (1922), p. 46.

:"you entrusted a sheep to a wolf"

s ed forĕs c oncrepu ērunt n ostraePlautus, Mil. 328. (starts tr7)

:"but our doors have made a noise"

And in a fragment of one of Ennius's tragedies:

m ultīs s um modǐs c ircumv entus (2nd anceps, tr7)

:"I am surrounded in many ways"

per oppr essi ōnemTerence, Adel. 239. (starts ia6)

:"through force"

et in d ēterr endōTerence, Hec. 25. (starts ia6)

:"and in deterring"

at ind īlig enterPlautus, Mil. 28. (starts ia6)

:"but carelessly"

cavill āti ōnēsPlautus, Stich. 228; Truc. 685. (starts ia6)

:"jokes"

This concept is familiar from English; for example, the word already is accented in he's done it alreády but loses its accent before dóne in he's already dóne it.See further Devine & Stephens (1980), pp. 149–150. According to this argument, in quid illīs futūrum (e)st cēterīs? "what's going to happen to those others?" the focus would be on cēterīs in much the same way as in the English question the focus is on the word others.

Fattori, however, disagrees, and argues that the shortened syllable is actually accented. He cites examples where the shortened syllable appears to be focussed and therefore emphatic (see further below).Fattori (2021), pp. 107, 119.

sed ux ōr scel esta m(ē) omnib us serv āt mod īsPlautus, Rud. 895. (starts ia6)

:"but my wretched wife watches me in every way"

quid ill īs fut ūrum (e)st c ēter īs?Plautus, Most. 231. (starts ia7)

:"what's going to happen to those others?"

et ill ud mī v itiumst m axum umTerence, Hec. 112. (starts ia6)

:"and that is a very great vice of mine"

pol ist am rem v ōbīs b en(e) ēvēn isse g aude ōPlautus, Poen. 1078. (starts ia6)

:"by Pollux, I'm glad that thing turned out well for you"

quod ill ī maled ictum v ēmēns esse ex īstum antTerence, Adel. 17. (starts ia6)

:"which they believe is a strong criticism"

it(a) omn īs dē t ēctō d ēturb āvit t ēgul āsPlautus, Rud. 87; cf. Fortson (2008), p. 199. (starts ia6)

:"so much did it knock down all the tiles from the roof"

The following are found in trochaic metre:

n ōn eg(o) ill am manc upi(ō) acc ēpīPlautus, Merc. 448. (starts tr7)

:"I did not buy her officially"

atqu(e) ad ill um ren ūnti ārīPlautus, Stich. 599. (starts tr7)

:"and for a message to be sent to him"

qui(a) ill ō di(ē) inprāns us fu īPlautus, Amph. 254. (ends tr7)

:"because on that day I hadn't had breakfast"

l epidi ōr(em) ad omn īs rēs n ec quī...Plautus, Mil. 660. (tr7)

:"more charming in every way and who isn't... "

And in a long element:

eg(o) ill(um) ant(e) aedīs pr aestol āborPlautus, Most. 1066. (starts tr7)

:"I'll wait for him in front of the house"

n ēminǐ pl ūraTerence, Hec. 281. (starts tr7)

:"to no one more things"Lindsay (1922), p. 88.

qu(em) aequiŭst n ōsPlautus, Stich. 97. (starts tr7)

:"whom is it fairer for us..."

omniŭm m(ē) exīl(em) atqu(e) in ānemPlautus, Stich. 526. (starts tr7)

:"(has made) me devoid and empty of all..."

Words with cretic shortening could freely be used in anapaestic verse, as in the following:

d ifferŏr d istrahŏrPlautus, Cist. 208. (an)

:"I am being pulled apart, I am being torn apart"

n ūbilăm m entemPlautus, Cist. 209. (an)

:"a cloudy mind"

An exception to the rule that cretic shortening does not usually occur in iambic or trochaic metre is the word nescio, which is regularly shortened in expressions such as nescio quis, nescio quid:

n esciŏ qu is praest īgi ātōrPlautus, Amph. 830. (starts tr7)

:"some imposter or other"

Nescio quid is also found with a short -o even in Virgil, Eclogue 8.107. so the pronunciation with a short -o seems to have been regular in Latin.

The expression nescio quid is also found with scio in a long element,e.g. Plautus, Merc. 369. and also, when it means "I don't know what", in an unshortened form.Plautus, Amph. 825.

illic hīnc abiītPlautus, Aul. 265; Capt. 901. (starts tr7)cf. Lindsay (1922), p. 102.

:"he has gone"

tr īstis inc ēditPlautus, Merc. 600. (starts tr7)

:"he's walking sadly"

aufer ist aecPlautus, Curc. 245. (starts tr7)

:"take away those things"

indid(em) und(e) oriturPlautus, Cis. 62; cf. Questa (2007), p. 227. (starts tr7)

:"from this same place from where it arises"

m ātris imp eriumPlautus, Asin. 509; cf Lindsay (1922), p. 102. (starts 2nd half tr7)Changed by some editors to imperium matris); cf. Questa (2007), pp. 87–8.

:"a mother's rule"

d īce dēm ōnstrāPlautus, Capt. 359. (starts 2nd half of tr7)

:"say, show me"

inter ist ās vers āri erPlautus, Poen. 265; Questa (2007), p. 112. (end of ia8)

:"to mix with girls of that sort"

ecquis hoc aperīt ōsti um?Plautus, Bacch. 582; Truc. 663; Amph. 1020.Lindsay (1922), p. 172. (but Questa prefers ĕquis hoc...)Questa (2007), p. 170. (ends ia6/tr7)

:"is anyone opening this door?"

Such scansions are also found in anapaests:

ab nēmin(e) accipiētPlautus, Mil. 1062; cf. Questa (2007), p. 124. (an)

:"he will receive from nobody"

A very similar example to inter istas above is the following; but here the brevis breviāns is in a long element:

int er ĭllud t amen neg ōti umPlautus, Stich. 679. (starts ia7)

:"in the midst of that business, however"

According to Questa, in such situations if a shortened word is used it is always one of the very common "quasi-pyrrhic" words such as bene, male, nisi, quasi, ego, mihi, tibi, ibi, ubi etc. of which the shortened form was already well-established in Plautus's day and continued to be used in classical times.Questa (2007), p. 86. He reports that other words such as cito, heri, diu cannot be used in this way.Questa (2007), p. 97.

In the first six examples below except the shortening occurs in a position in the verse where a short syllable is usually required:

qu is ego s imPlautus, Mil. 925. (4th anceps, ia7)

:"who I am"

qu od apud v ōsPlautus, Truc. 163. (4th anceps, ia7)

:"what was with you"

s ed ubin amTerence, Phor. 827. (4th anceps, ia7)

:"but where on earth"

et ego v ōsPlautus, Mil. 1138. (ends tr7)

:"and I you"

v eluti m ī (v el uti m ī)Plautus, Bacch. 1068. (ends ia6)

:"as if for me..."

at enĭm t ūPlautus, Epid. 94. (starts cr2)

:"but you"

In other places in the line, the scansion is ambiguous, and it is not clear if the shortened form is intended or not:

is ibi m ortuostTerence, Andria 928. (starts tr7)

:"he died there"

eg(o) enim d īcamPlautus, 810. (starts tr7)

:"for I will tell you"

Long elements split in this way starting from the end of a non-monosyllabic word are not uncommon.Discussion in Questa (2007), 249–254. Except in the first foot (nūllá mihi rēs) they are always preceded by a short syllable.Questa (2007), p. 249. (This does not apply when the sequence starts with a monosyllabic word: n ōn scīs qu is ego s im?.) In most cases where there is no iambic shortening a sequence – x with split long is realised as a tribrach (u, u u) not an anapaest (u, u –).

From Plautus:

aliqu a tibi sp ēsPlautus, Epid. 332. (4th anceps, ia7)

:"some hope for you"

qu ō mod o tibi r ēsPlautus, Aul. 47. (5th anceps, ia6)

:"how the matter ... for you"

h īc in aedib us ubi t(u) h abitāsPlautus, Amph. 200; cf. Questa (2007), p. 254. (in tr7)

:"here in the house where you live"

"m ea ros a" mihi d īcit ōPlautus, Bacch. 83; cf. Questa (2007), p. 210. (ends tr7)

:"say 'my darling' to me"

From Terence:

nūll a mihi r ēs,Terence, Heaut. 680. (starts ia7)

:"for me nothing"

f acili us ego qu od vol ōTerence, Haut. 803; cf. Questa (2007), p. 250. (ends ia6)

:"I will more easily (achieve) what I want"

omni a sibi p ost put āvitTerence, Adel. 262. (in ia8)

:"he considered nothing was more important"

c ōnsci a mihi s umTerence, Adel. 346. (in ia8)

:"I am conscious that I..."

The above examples use quasi-pyrrhic words (words whose double-short pronunciation was the usual one and which continued to be short in classical Latin). Examples like the following are more controversial, since according to Questa and others, only pyrrhic words and quasi-pyrrhics can be split between elements in this way:

From Plautus:

r ēs agit ur apŭd i ūdic emPlautus, Pseud. 645; cf. Lindsay (1922), p. 53. (ends tr7)

:"a case is being heard in front of a judge"

d īc igit ur, ub(i) ill a (e)st?Plautus, Merc. 900 (901).Cf. Lindsay (1922), p. 87. (2nd anceps, tr7)

:"say, therefore, where is she?"

From Terence:

accip it homo n ēmō m eliusTerence, Eun. 1082 (2nd anceps, tr7)

:"no man entertains better" (scansion uncertain)cf. Questa (2007), p. 249.

mihi s(ī) umquam f īli us erit, n(ae) ille f acilī m(ē) ūtēt ur patr e.Terence, 217. (ia8)

:"if ever I have a son, he will certainly find me to be an indulgent father"

Raffaelli (1978), examining all the cases of the kind f īli us erit in Terence's iambic octonarii, tentatively suggested that brevis breviāns might be found here even though the word erit is not quasi-pyrrhic. It seems that when a long element is split in this way, which is more frequent in Terence than in Plautus, the succeeding anceps is always either a short syllable, or potentially short by iambic shortening, never a double short.The arguments are discussed by Bettini (1991), pp. 329–332.

Other possibilities have been suggested.Bettini (1991), p. 328. One is that simply there is no shortening here.Bettini (1991), p. 328, compares Terence, Ad. 568, 599, Andr. 535, Heaut. 879. It is generally thought, however, that in the case of apud iūdicem at least there is likely to be shortening, since apud is usually shortened before a noun.

Another possibility in the first two is that there is a locus Jacobsohnianus (see Metres of Roman comedy#Locus Jacobsohnianus), that is to say, that the syllable -tur counts as long, and apud, so that apud and ub(i) il- are wholly in the following element. But locus Jacobsohnianus is not thought to be found in Terence, and in any case cannot apply to fīlius, since it does not end a metron.

The French scholar Louis Havet believed that in all these cases where a final short syllable coincides with a long element, the final syllable functioned as long; in other words the sequence u, uu is equivalent to – uu.Havet (1886), pp. 139–140.

molest ae suntPlautus, Mil. 69. (starts ia6)

:"they are a nuisance"

scelest (ae) hae sunt aedēsPlautus, Most. 504. (Lindsay reads scelest ae sunt) (starts ia6)

:"this house is sinful"

To explain these and other examples like them, scholars have suggested that it is possible that the accentuation was different from the normal penultimate rule; for example, it is possible that the accent shifted rightwards in molest aé sunt.Fortson (2008), p. 208. In the same way the phrase mis ér sum "I am wretched" (never m íser sum) seems to have been accented (according to Lindsay) in all six occurrences in Plautus on the second syllable with sum enclitic.Lindsay (1922), p. 320.

The phrase voluptās mea occurs ten times in Plautus, always at the end of a trochaic or iambic line,Fortson (2008), p. 213. for example:

s ed, volupt ās me aPlautus, Most. 294. (ends tr7)

:"but, my darling"

One explanation is that the phrase was accented as a single word, with the accent on -tās.Lindsay (1922), pp. 26, 41. However, this is not certain.

Qu id hoc neg ōtī (e)st, qu od omnēs h ominēs f ābul antur p er vi ās?Plautus, Cist. 774. (tr7)

:"What's this business that all the people are gossiping about in the streets?"

In the great majority of cases, the shortened syllable is a closed syllable containing a short vowel.

In the following examples of this pattern, the syllable following the brevis breviāns is long:

s imul cum n ūnti ōTerence, Haut. 176. (2nd long, tr7)

:"along with the messenger"

erit praes idiumTerence, Haut. 967. (tr7)

:"there will be a protection"

sc io quid f ēcer īsTerence, Haut. 627. (ends tr7)

:"I know what you did"

avēs adsu ēscuntPlautus, Asin. 217. (starts tr7)

:"the birds grow accustomed to it"

h abe bon(um) animumPlautus, Epid. 512, Truc. 525. (starts tr7)

:"cheer up"

v iden vest ibulum?Plautus, Most. 817. (starts tr7)

:"do you see the entrance-hall?"

m odo mē p ugnīsPlautus, Amph. 407. (tr7)

:"me, just now with his fists"

enim vēr(o) illud pr aeter aliaPlautus, Amph. 772. (starts tr7)

:"indeed, that more than other things"

opust lign(ō), opust carb ōnibusPlautus, Truc. 904. (2nd half, tr7)

:"there is need for firewood and charcoal"

The phrase enim vērō can also occur in an anceps (see above).

In iambic lines the pattern is less common:

apud praet ōrem d īcamPlautus, Pers. 746; cf. Cur. 684. (ia6)

:"I will say it in front of the praetor"

v oluptāt(um) omni umTerence, Eun. 1034. (ends ia8)

:"of every pleasure"

qu id est quod m etuās?Plautus, Poen. 884. (starts tr7)

:"what are you afraid of?"

qu id est quod v ōbīsPlautus, Truc. 295. (tr7)

:"what is that ...to you"

qu id id tū qu aeris?Plautus, Curc. 596; cf. Quest (2007), p. 211. (tr7)

:"why are you asking that?"

qu id hoc sīt h ominisPlautus, Amph. 769. (starts tr7)

:"what sort of man would this be?"

is est imm ūnisPlautus, Trin. 354; Questa (2007), pp. 103–4. (starts tr7)

:"he's exempt"

qu od est prōm issumTerence, Phor. 513. (tr7)

:"what was promised"

id ess(e) abs ūmptumPlautus, Most. 1140. (5th long, tr7)

:"that it was used up"

qu od accēp istīPlautus, Trin. 964. (tr7)

:"which you received"

qu od omnēs h ominēsPlautus, Cist. 774. (in tr7)

:"which all the people"

eg(o) obsōn ābōPlautus, Bacch. 97. (starts tr7)

:"I'll go and buy some food"

n equ(e) istam v īdīPlautus, Amph. 768. (tr7)

:"nor did I even see her" (emphasis on vīdī)

et illam s imul cum n ūnti ō (starts tr7)

:"and that she, along with the messenger..."

eg(o) illam r eperi amPlautus, Epid. 602. (starts tr7)

:"I'll find her"

t ib(i) istuc f acinusPlautus, 682. (in tr7)

:"to you, that deed"

qu od ille d īcitPlautus, Curc. 634; cf. Lindsay (1922), p. 25. (in tr7)

:"what he is saying"

In iambics:

b en(e) ĕvēn isse gaudeōPlautus, Poen. 1078; cf. Questa (2007), p. 123. (in ia6)

:"I'm glad it turned out well"

in istōc p ortūstPlautus, Men. 344. (1st long, ia6)

:"it's in that port"

nam qu od istī d īcunt m alevol īTerence, Adel. 15. (1st long, ia6)

:"for what those malevolent people are saying"

sed qu id hoc clām ōrisPlautus, Aul, 403. (1st long, ia6)

:"but what's this shouting...?"

qu is haec est qu ae...Plautus, Stich. 237. (3rd long, ia6)

:"who is this girl who..."

Lindsay reads the following as two short syllables rather than one long syllable by synizesis:Lindsay (1893), p. 199.

d ĕ illā p ugnāPlautus, Poen. 471. (2nd long, ia6)

:"about that battle"

c ŭm ĭllā f ābul āborPlautus, Poen. 1159. (2nd long, ia6)

:"I will chat with her"

sc io quid errēsPlautus, Epid. 578. (starts tr7)

:"I know why you are making a mistake"

b onum sod ālemPlautus, Merc. 621. (starts tr7)

:"a good friend"

v ēra v olo loqu ī tēPlautus, Amph. 751. (3rd long, tr7)

:"I want you to tell the truth"

m ane man(ē) audī!Plautus, Asin. 229. (starts tr7)

:"wait, wait, listen!"

m ane man(e) obsecr ō tēPlautus, Amph. 765. (tr7)

:"wait, wait, I beg you"

This pattern is less common in iambic lines:

adest ben ignit āsPlautus, Men. 16. (ends ia6)

:"there is good will"

qu id abstul ist(ī) hīncPlautus, Aul. 645. (starts tr7)

:"what did you take away from here?"

id esse f acinusPlautus, Poen. 889. (starts tr7)

:"that this deed..."

qu id esse d īcisPlautus, Bacch. 41. (5th long, tr7)

:"what do you say is..."

qu od ille d īcitPlautus, Cur. 634. (2nd long, tr7)

:"what he says"

eg(o) ille d octus l ēnōPlautus, Persa 594. (2nd long, tr7)

:"I that experienced panderer"

s ed estne fr ātēr intus?Terence, Adel. 569. (starts tr7)

:"but is my brother inside?"

s ed hic quis est sen exTerence, Phorm. 215. (starts tr7)

:"but who is this old man?"

In the following it is possible that the accent moved to - crās; otherwise the shortening is puzzling:cf. Fortson (2008), p. 201.

qu id opsecr ās mē?Plautus, Mil. 542. (in tr7)

:"why are you begging me?"

Similar is the following (which is thought to be an interpolation by some editors), in which op- similarly appears to be accented:Fattori (2021), p. 120.

nam qu oivīs h ominī v el optum ō vel p essum ōPlautus, Most. 410 (ia6)

:"for to any man, whether the best or worst"

Latin spellings such as ascendo (for ad-scendō) and asporto) (for abs-portō) may give a clue as to how phrases such as quid abstulistī were actually pronounced when spoken rapidly.Devine & Stephens (1980), p. 155.

nēm inĕm ven īrePlautus, Poen. 1384. (starts ia6)

:"that no one was coming"

alt erŭm quadr īmum p uerumPlautus, Cap. 8. (starts ia6) (or alt'rum?)But Lindsay prefers alterum: Lindsay (1922), p. 146.

:"the other a boy of four"

dēc idŏ dē l ectōPlautus, Cas. 931. (starts ia4)

:"I fall off the couch"

But nescio quid "something" and similar expressions can occur in other places in the line:

mal ī nesc io quid n ūnti ātPlautus, Merc. 123. (2nd foot, ia8)

:"he's bringing bad news"

There is also a series of examples where the brevis breviāns starts from quidem. Since quidem is thought to have been enclitic, the accentuation of dum quidem was presumably similar to that of nēminem.Fortson (2008), p. 196. Again the examples begin an iambic line:

ut qu id(em) ille d īxitPlautus, Men. 22. (starts ia6)

:"as indeed he said"

dum qu id(em) hercle t ēcum n ūpta s ītPlautus, Trin. 58. (starts ia6)

:"provided by Hercules that she is married to you"

The rhythm of these is similar to iambic lines beginning turb ida temp estās,Plautus, Rud. 940. pisc ibus in altōPlautus, Rud. 513. and so on which have no brevis breviāns.See Questa (2007), p. 225, for other examples.

s imillum ae suntPlautus, Asin. 241. (in tr7)

:"they are very similar"

d edisse d ōnōPlautus, Amph. 761. (starts tr7)

:"to have given as a gift"

n ecesse (e)st f acerePlautus, Asin. 217. (in tr7)

:"it is necessary to do"

pr ofectō v īdīPlautus, Mil. 290. (starts tr7)

:"certainly I saw"

cōnf īge s agittīs f ūrēs th ēsaur ēnsi ōsPlautus, Aul. 395. (ia6)

:"pierce with arrows the thieves of treasuries"

p erind(e) am īcīs ūtit urPlautus, Stich. 520.

:"he finds his friends (behaving) accordingly"

If shortening only occurs when the syllable is unaccented, this presents a difficulty. One possibility is that the accentuation of these words was different from the usual rule.Questa (2007), p. 98. Certainly it is known that the accentuation of some words was irregular. For example, phílippus (a coin), borrowed from Greek φίλιππος, seems to have had the Greek accentuation with an accent on the first syllable, and sagitta, possibly another loan word, occurs three times in Plautus as ságitta.Also at Pers. 25 and Trin. 725; cf. Lindsay (1922), p. 215. Lindsay suggests that classical fenestra "window" is derived from an earlier fénstra, which may have been Plautus's pronunciation.Lindsay (1922), p. 77; Fortson (2008), p. 208. The word périndeAlso at Plautus, Stich. 100. "in the same manner" is attested by Priscian as being accented on the first syllable.Lindsay (1922), p. 210. However, Lindsay calls the apparent accentuation of prófectō "a puzzle".Lindsay (1922), p. 35. It appears here and two other places Mil. 185, Poen. 907. at the beginning of a trochaic line, but at least 64 times with the normal accentuation proféctō.Bettini (1991), p. 356.

In some cases, editors have assumed a scribal error and have amended the lines to remove difficult scansions such as negǎtō,Plautus, Bacch. 592. habĕre,Plautus, Aul. 185, where Lindsay and others change m ē scīt h abere to sc īt m(ē) hab ēre. and so on. However, agreement has not been reached on all of them.

s ed uxōr em su amPlautus, Merc. 765. (ends ia6)

:"but his wife"

apud mēns am dec ētPlautus, Trin 478. (ends ia6)

:"at the table it is fitting..."

p atĕfēc ī for ēsPlautus, Most. 1046. (ends tr7)

:"I opened the doors"

v oluptāt ī (e)st mih īPlautus, Rud. 1183. (ends tr7)

:"it's a pleasure for me"

eg(o) apscess ī sci ēnsPlautus, Epid. 237. (ends tr7)

:"I walked away deliberately"

qu id hoc aut emst mal īTerence, Eun. 1029. (ends tr7)

:"what kind of evil is this?"

A little further from the verse end are the following:

qu od omnēs m ortāl ēs sci untPlautus, Mil. 55; cf. Lindsay (1922), pp. 51–2. (ends ia6)

:"which all mortals know"

e(a) in pot estāt e (e)st vir īPlautus, Aul. 534; cf. Fortson (2008), p. 127. (ends ia6)

:"she is under the control of a man"

qu idquid in illō v īdul ō (e)stPlautus, Rud. 1256. (end of ia6)

:"whatever is in that box"

But this type also sometimes comes at the beginning of a trochaic septenarius or at the beginning of the second hemistich, where a strong stress on the second syllable of the metron (e.g. argéntum) would violate Meyer's law (see Metres of Roman comedy). Presumably therefore the syllable following the brevis breviāns in each example is not strongly stressed:

qu od argent um? quās t ū mihi tr īcās n ārrās?Plautus, Curc. 613. (starts tr7)

:"what money? what nonsense are you telling me?"

sc io quid d ictūr a (e)sPlautus, Aul. 174. (starts tr7)

:"I know what you're going to say"

eg(o) abs tē m ercēd em pet amPlautus, Aul. 534. (starts 2nd half, tr7)

:"I (will seek) compensation from you"

in occult ō iac ēbisPlautus, Trin. 664. (starts tr7)

:"you will hide in secret"

l aběfact ō paul ātimPlautus, Merc. 403. (starts tr7)

:"I'm shaking him gradually" (i.e. persuading him)

s ed ĭll(e) ill(am) acc ipi ētPlautus, Merc. 448. (starts 2nd half, tr7)

:"but he will buy her"

Fattori points out that in this last example, the word ille appears to be emphasised, despite being shortened.Fattori (2021), p. 119. The whole line is as follows:

n ōn ĕg(o) ĭll am manc upi(ō) acc ēpī. – S ĕd ĭll(e) ill(am) accipi ēt, sin e.Plautus, Merc. 448. (tr7)

:"I haven’t bought her formally." – "But he will buy her formally. Let it be.” (trans. De Melo)

However, the intonation of an ancient language cannot always be known exactly, so this example does not necessarily rule out the view that the shortened syllable must be unaccented.

There are also some trochaic lines beginning with s ed inter im:Questa (2007), p. 117.

s ed inter im for ēs crepu ēre: l inguae m oderand um (e)st mih iPlautus, Curc. 486. (starts tr7)

:"but meanwhile the doors have made a noise: I must watch my tongue"

s ed inter im quid ill īc iamd ūdum gn ātus c essāt c um Syr ō?Terence, Haut. 882. (starts tr7)

:"but meanwhile what is my son doing there all this time with Syrus?"

ubi vol ēsPlautus, Epid. 595. (starts tr7; also in ia6Plautus, Pers. 383.)

:"when you want"

ibi tib iPlautus, Poen. 298. (ends tr7)

:"there for you"

t ace mod oPlautus, Men. 416. (ends tr7)

:"just be quiet"

t ibi dar ePlautus, Trin. 779. (ends ia6)

:"to give to you"

apud for umTerence, Phorm. 859. (5th long, tr7)

:"in the market-place"

abi iamPlautus, Mil. 1372. (tr7)

:"go now"

v ide sīsPlautus, Most. 966. (starts tr7)

:"see, please"

ab(ī) hīnc sīsPlautus, Rud. 1053. (in tr7)

:"go away from here please"

t ace tū!Plautus, Amph. 743. (starts tr7)

:"keep quiet, you!"

n eg(o) inquamPlautus, Cap. 571; Questa (2007), p. 120. (tr7)

:"that's right, I'm not"

eg(o) inquamPlautus, Cap. 572. (tr7)

:"that's right, I am"

cert umn(e) est t ib(i) istuc?Plautus, Capt. 732. (ia6)

:"are you sure of that?"

Phrases of this kind can also sometimes be found with the brevis breviāns in an anceps, e.g. vide s īsPlautus, Capt. 584. (tr7), tace t ū!Plautus, Rud. 1089. (tr7).

In 1890, Leppermann listed all the iambic two-syllable words with a long vowel in the second syllable that occur in Plautus's iambic and trochaic lines, omitting those at the end of a verse. The results of his survey are summarised by Mańczak (1968). From this it would appear that some words were more often shortened than others.

• The most common words are the ones most often shortened. The words egō, mihī, tibī, ubī are the most frequent, and sibī and ibī are also quite common. In all of these the shortened version is much commoner than the unshortened.See Mańczak (1968) for the exact figures. Leppermann does not include the words nisi, quasi, bene, male, perhaps because the second vowel was nearly always short.But malē is apparently found at Plautus Aulularia 208. All of these words, which Questa calls "quasi-",Questa (2007), p. 86. are also frequently found with a shortened vowel in later Latin. The word modo, when it is an adverb meaning "just now" or "only",e.g. Plautus Most. 390. was usuallyLindsay (1922), p. 36. shortened, and is counted as a quasi-pyrrhic,Questa (2007), p. 97. but modō (ablative of modus "way") had a long second vowel. This rule also applies in Virgil.Lindsay (1922), p. 39.

• Common imperatives with a short first vowel are also frequently shortened, for example abī, cavē, vidē, tacē, tenē, rogā, redī, habē, manē.

• The verb forms sciō and volō are often shortened, but dabō rarely, and amō and rogō not at all. Verb forms ending in -ī, such as loquī, are only very rarely shortened.

• The adverbs herī, diū and citō are often shortened in Plautus; but Terence usually has diū, which was the regular form in classical Latin.Questa (2007), p. 97. They are not included among the quasi-pyrrhics by Questa, since they are not used in split-resolution shortening of the type quis ego sim.

• The noun homō is usually not shortened, despite being very common:Fortson (2008), p. 189.

:hom ō s(um): hūm ānī n īl ā m(ē) aliēn um put ō.Terence, Heaut. 77. (ia6)

:"I'm a man; I consider nothing human alien from me"

(Possibly here homō is accented on the second syllable, with sum enclitic; in the same way according to Lindsay mis ér sum appears to have been accented on the second syllable.)Lindsay (1922), pp. 27; 320.

• Nouns with long-vowel case-endings, such as genitive, dative, ablative singular or nominative plural, are very rarely shortened, for example virō, forō, domō, fidē, famē, aquā, manū, marī, erae, malī, patrī, erō, minae, virī.

• Two-syllable words ending in a short vowel and one or more consonants can also undergo shortening, for example:Questa (2007), pp. 91–2.

:enim, apud (both very frequent), simul, bonum, dabit, senex, pater, patrem, adest, potest.

• Words ending in -is or -us in Plautus's day usually had a weak or silent -s, which did not count in the scansion except by preventing elision before a vowel. So words like magis, satis, potis, nimis, prius, Iovis usually have a short second syllable, and spellings such as mage and pote are also found.Questa (2007), p. 94.Lindsay (1922), pp. 126–128. This dropping of -s before a consonant appears to have been the rule rather than the exception in Plautus's Latin.Lindsay (1893) p. 199.

• Iambic nouns and verbs ending in -r and -t such as habēt, erāt, sorōr had a long vowel in Plautus's time. There is a difference, however, between Plautus and Terence. In the majority of instances Plautus shows a long vowel in nouns such as amōr, sorōr, whereas in Terence there are no sure examples. Similarly with 3rd singular verbs in -t such as amāt, erāt, habēt, abīt in Plautus about 70% have the long vowel, but in Terence there are no sure instances with a long vowel.Details in Bettini (1991), pp. 387–8.

• By contrast, 2nd person verbs ending in -s such as negās, iubēs, habēs, abīs are only very rarely shortened in Plautus (in 4% of cases), and never shortened in Terence. Nouns ending in -s such as forēs, pedēs, virōs, salūs, ovēs also usually remain unshortened in both authors.

Similarly the words eorum, earum, eum, eam, eodem, eaedem, duorum, duobus, eamus and so on are thought usually to have had synizesis of the first two vowels.Lindsay (1922), p. 59–61. EosdemPropertius, 4.7.7. and eodemLucilius, 1191. with synizesis are used even in dactylic verse by Propertius and Lucilius. But Lindsay believes that the 1st person eō "I am going" was a dissyllable. It seems that the single-syllable form of such words was used when they were unemphatic.Lindsay (1922), p. 61.

Since the word novus is frequently subject to shortening in Plautus, it is likely that it too, as well as words such as bovēs, underwent the same process.Devine & Stephens (1980), p. 155.

Synizesis is also thought to have occurred between words. For example, in the following line, where suō hos- makes up a single element in the metre, Questa suggests that rather than brevis breviāns the syllables merged into something like /swos-/:Questa (2007), p. 125.

itaqu(e) ill(ī) am antī su(ō) h ospit ī mōr em ger itPlautus, Mil. 136. (ia6)

:"and so he is humouring that lover, his guest"

It is unclear whether the following is also an instance of synizesis or whether, as Questa scans it, it has brevis breviāns:Questa (2007), p. 222.

omni(a) omnēs ubi resc īscuntTerence, Hec. 867. (starts ia8)

omn i(a) omnēs ubi resc īscunt

:"when they all find out everything"

In the elevated style of Ennius's Annals, written in dactylic hexameters, brevis breviāns hardly appears, apart from quasi, ubi, tibi, sibi (alongside unshortened ubī, tibī, sibī, and always ibī).Lindsay (1922), p. 42–3. Lindsay reads nōn enim rūmōrēs at Ennius, Ann. 351, but the usual reading is noenum rūmōrēs. However, there are two examples in the 11-line fragment of Ennius's hexameter work on gourmet eating, Hedyphagetica: apud Cūmās "at Cumae" and quid scarum praeteriī "why have I omitted the parrot-wrasse?" (a kind of fish). There are also five or six examples in the fragments of Ennius's tragedies,Lindsay (1922), p. 43. such as in this trochaic septenarius from his Alexander:

adest ad est fax obvol ūta s anguin(e) atqu(e) inc endi ō.

:"It is here, it is here, the torch wrapped in blood and fire!"

A few other examples are found in fragments of tragedies of Pacuvius and Lucius Accius, and one or two also (such as apud sē) in the satires of Lucilius, both trochaic and dactylic.Lindsay (1922), p. 44.

In classical Latin poetry, apart from viden?Virgil, Aen. 6.779. "do you see?", mentioned above, iambic shortening is only found in words ending in a vowel. Thus enim and apud are never shortened in Virgil or Ovid. The quasi-pyrrhic words such as bene, male, ibi, ubi, nisi, modo, ego, mihi, tibi, sibi, duo are regularly used in their shortened form. The word cave "do not" is shortened in both Catullus and Ovid and ave 'hail, hello' in Ovid. (According to Quintilian, avĕ with short -e was the usual pronunciation in his day, the long form being used only by pedantic people.)Quintilian, 1.6.21; cited in Lindsay (1893), p. 200. Short vowels also occur at the end of the first element of compound verb formations like calefaciō.

Apart from these, the final vowel -ō is most subject to shortening, especially in 1st person verbs. The verb sciŏ occurs in Virgil,Virgil, Ec. 8.43 and volŏ in Propertius.Propertius, 2.10.9. The verbs nego, amo, dabo, peto, cano, ero, scio and puto are all sometimes found in shortened form in Ovid. In Ovid it seems that such shortened words are often found after a (non-lexical) monosyllabic word, e.g. tē peto, nec peto, et dabo, nōn ero, tunc amo, at puto, quod scio.Stephens (1985), p. 241. The word citō "quickly" is also sometimes shortened in Ovid (e.g. quam citoOvid, Fas. 6.773.). But utī (= ut) and diū are not shortened.

There are also occasional examples of cretic shortening of words in -o, such as nescio (Catullus),Catullus 85.2 dīxero (Horace),Horace, Ep. 1.1.11. dēsino (Tibullus),Tibullus, 2.6.41. Scīpio (Ovid).Ovid, Ars 3.410. Expressions of the type nescio quis "someone" with short -o are found in Catullus and Virgil and are very frequent in Ovid.

By the time of Martial, shortening of final -ō is found even in some non-iambic words such as virgo, ergo, quando, nēmo and in verbs such as mālo, nōlo, quaero, crēdo.Stephens (1986). The words nēmŏOvid, Amores 1.8.43. and SulmŏOvid, Amores 2.16.1. are shortened even in Ovid.

W. S. Allen observed that in two-syllable words ending in -ō such as ĕcho and vēto, the final vowel is more often reduced when the first syllable is short.Devine & Stephens (1980), p. 150.

In Latin, according to Lindsay, the word accent usually comes either on the syllable before, or on the syllable after the shortened syllable, but not on the shortened syllable itself. This is also true of English. Thus the second vowel is long in allērgic, but shortened in állĕrgy or allĕrgénic. As Devine and Stephens note, in English and other languages words vowels are reduced or deleted both before and after a stress, e.g. d(e)vélopment, féd(e)ral. They also observe that in a sentence such as it would have been fúnny if she'd cóme in rapid speech all the words are reduced except the two stressed ones.Devine & Stephens (1980), p. 151.

In English, auxiliary verbs such as is, are, will, have, etc. are often shortened ( I'll go, it's raining, etc.) Pronouns such as he, we, you can also be shortened when unaccented ( is he here?, what are you doing?); and function words, conjunctions and prepositions such as not, because, if, of, for, to are also frequently shortened when unstressed. In the sentence What ăre you afraid of?, where afraid is focussed, the word are is shortened. This is arguably similar to the shortening of est in the Latin equivalent quid ĕst quod metuās?

In Latin, shortening is more likely to occur within a phrase rather than at the end of a sentence, for example, abī vs abĭ sīs. Similarly the word follōw, which usually has a long vowel at the end of a sentence, is shortened in a phrase such as follŏw them.

In words such as volunteer, adaptation, anecdotal, ministerial, where the first syllable is short and the third is accented, the second syllable tends to be short also. These may provide a parallel to Plautus's volŭntāte, volŭptātem, senĕctūte, and minǐstrāret.

In modern linguistic studies of syllable rhythm there is ambiguity in terminology, since words like Latin volō and English follow are metrically iambs, but (since they are accented on the first syllable) accentually trochees. Some works therefore refer to the shortening observed in vólō > vólo as "trochaic shortening".e.g. Hyde (2011), p. 1067.

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