Latin Pronounciation: Arguere
by Dick
(Orinda, California)
Dear Latin Teacher,
At the risk of asking for too many answers, I have one more request. Could you be so kind as to tell me whether the infinitive arguere should be accentuated on the initial letter a (so that the letter u would be seen as a semivowel), or whether it should be accentuated on the letter u as a full-fledged vowel?
As you can tell, interpretation of the letter u as a vowel or semivowel is problematic for me sometimes in my attempt to establish the correct stress accentuation on a word.
Thanks so much once again.
Dick
Dear Dick,
Any form of the word arguere will have a separate syllable for the -u-, even though it is preceded by a -g-.
I don't really know how I know this, so I double checked, looking it up in a few poets where meter gives away vowel quantity.
In the following lines of Vergil, Ovid, and Horace, the word arguere is used, although not in the infinitive form.
- degeneres animos timor arguit. heu, quibus ille
(Verg.A. 4.13)
- Arguat et macies animum: nec turpe putaris
(Ov.Ars I.733)
- furtim labitur, arguens
(Hor.Carm. I.13.7)
In all three examples the -
u- is a metrically short syllable, which proves that it was pronounced independent of the preceding -
g-.
Why?
I think this time you have stumped the Latin teacher.
Sincerely,
John
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