d into one long
vowel. The first of the two vowels regularly prevailed; as,--

tres for tre-es; copia for co-opia;
malo for ma(v)elo; cogo for co-ago;
amasti for ama(v)isti; como for co-emo;
debeo for de(h)abeo; junior for ju(v)enior.
nil for nihil;

3. Parasitic Vowels. In the environment of liquids and nasals a parasitic
vowel sometimes develops; as,--

vinculum for earlier vinclum.

So periculum, saeculum.

4. Syncope. Sometimes a vowel drops out by syncope; as,--

ardor for aridor (compare _aridus_);
valde for valide (compare _validus_).

CONSONANT CHANGES[10]

8. 1. Rhotacism. An original s between vowels became r; as,--

arbos, Gen. arboris (for arbosis);
genus, Gen. generis (for genesis);
dirimo (for dis-emo).

2. dt, tt, ts each give s or ss; as,--

pensum for pend-tum;
versum for vert-tum;
miles for milet-s;
sessus for sedtus;
passus for pattus.

3. Final consonants were often omitted; as,--

cor for cord;
lac for lact.

4. Assimilation of Consonants. Consonants are often assimilated to a
following sound. Thus: accurro (adc-); aggero (adg-); assero (ads-);
allatus (adl-); apporto (adp-); attuli (adt-); arrideo (adr-); affero
(adf-); occurro (obc-); suppono (subp-); offero (obf-); corruo (comr-);
collatus (coml-); etc.

5. Partial Assimilation. Sometimes the assimilation is only partial.
Thus:--

a) b before s or t becomes p; as,--

scripsi (scrib-si), scriptum (scrib-tum).

b) g before s or t becomes c; as,--

actus (ag-tus).

c) m before a dental or guttural becomes n; as,--

eundem (eum-dem); princeps (prim-ceps).

PECULIARITIES OF ORTHOGRAPHY.

9. Many words have variable orthography.

1. Sometimes the different forms belong to different periods of the
language. Thus, quom, voltus, volnus, volt, etc., were the prevailing forms
almost down to the Augustan age; after that, cum, vultus, vulnus, vult,
etc. So optumus, maxumus, lubet, lubido, etc. down to about the same era;
later, optimus, maximus, libet, libido, etc.

2. In some words the orthography varies at one and the same period of the
language. Examples are exspecto, expecto; exsisto, existo; epistula,
epistola; adulescens, adolescens; paulus, paullus; cottidie, cotidie; and,
particularly, prepositional compounds, which often made a concession to the
etymology in the spelling; as,--

ad-gero or ag