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15.

Among the main features in the changes of Latin from the earliest stages of the language as we know it up to the forms of classical Latin may be mentioned the following: -

Vowel Changes.

1. The old diphthong ai became the classical ae (aedílis for old aidílis), old oi became oe or ú (únus for old oinos), and old ou became ú (dúcó for old doucó).

2. In compound verbs the vowel a of the simple verb often appears as i or e, and ae similarly appears as í: -

NOTE: This change is commonly ascribed to an accentuation on the first syllable, which seems to have been the rule in Latin before the rule given above (see §12). became established. The original Indo-European accent, however, was not limited by either of these principles; it was probably a musical accent so-called, consisting in a change of pitch, and not merely in a more forcible utterance of the accented syllable.

3. Two vowels coming together are often contracted: -

Consonant Changes.

4. An old s regularly became r between two vowels (rhotacism), passing first through the sound of (English) z: -