Scansion

[Manliusxx]

Hi,

Could anyone please tell me why the -em ending of dicentem is not elided with the i from iam?

Thanks

tālĭă |dīcēn|tēm || iām| dūd(um) ā|vērsă tŭ|ētur| (Aeneid book 4)

 

[Pacifica]

Hi,

It's because the i in iam is a consonant (pronounced like the y in yacht).

 

[Manliusxx]

Ah I see, is that for all words starting with i?

 

[Dantius]

Ah I see, is that for all words starting with i?

All syllables starting with i and another vowel (iam, Iuno, iecit, proiecit), except for Greek-derived names (Iulus, Iason). One can note how the English derivatives have j (Juno, projection), though this is mildly misleading because some of the Greek-derived names also do that (Jason).

 

[Laurentius]

This online dictionary uses the letter j for the consonantic i, if you think it can help you.
Well, with the exception of words like conicio, but it also reports the form conjicio as it should.

 

[Dantius]

One may also want to keep in mind that etiam is an exception; it is three syllables, so it's not like iam.

 

[Manliusxx]

Thanks!

 

[Manliusxx]

All syllables starting with i and another vowel (iam, Iuno, iecit, proiecit), except for Greek-derived names (Iulus, Iason). One can note how the English derivatives have j (Juno, projection), though this is mildly misleading because some of the Greek-derived names also do that (Jason).

So would 'ignea' act as a normal I then and be elided?

 

[Dantius]

yes, that is a 3-syllable word: ig - ne - a. So the i is a vowel.

 

[Manliusxx]

Perfect, thanks so much!

 

[Manliusxx]

Hi Folks, another scansion question,

In the second line, why is the Caesura in the 4th foot? I would have thought there was a natural break in between mor and popu in the third foot?

 

[Laurentius]

The 4th foot caesura is legit, but it's more common in the third foot. Most likely they felt placing it in the fourth foot would better divide the 2 sentences joined by a negative conjunction.

 

[Iáson]

nōnnumquam disputātur ab hodiernīs utrum caesūra ad sēnsum aut ad cōnsuētūdinem aptanda sit. Aelius Quintiliānus autem, prīmus cuiius sententia nōbis trāditur, ita dīxit:
τομὴ δέ ἐστι μόριον μέτρου τὸ πρῶτον ἐν αὑτῷ λόγον ἀπαρτίζον ὑπὲρ δύο πόδας εἰς ἀνόμοια μέρη διαιροῦν τὸ μέτρον.
(caesūra est pars metrī (=pars versūs) prīma quae īn sē sententiam perficit post duo pedēs, quae uersum dīuidit in duās partēs)

View attachment 22665

ut ōpīnor, nūllō modō licet accentū circumflexū syllabam breuem significāre. hoc est prōrsus contrārium cōnsuētūtinis antīquōrum, quibus circumflexus modo in longīs syllabīs quibusdam pōnī potest! etsī uērīsimiliter culpa est magistrī tuī quī hoc scrīpsit.

 

[Manliusxx]

ut ōpīnor, nūllō modō licet accentū circumflexū syllabam breuem significāre. hoc est prōrsus contrārium cōnsuētūtinis antīquōrum, quibus circumflexus modo in longīs syllabīs quibusdam pōnī potest! etsī uērīsimiliter culpa est magistrī tuī quī hoc scrīpsit.

Haha, you mean the fault of the board of studies that wrote the solution for this exam!! This is quite annoying as Scansion is worth three marks in my exam and if I had gotten everything else right but put the Caesura in the third foot, they would have docked a mark

Thankyou to everyone who helped out!

 

[Laurentius]

Haha, you mean the fault of the board of studies that wrote the solution for this exam!! This is quite annoying as Scansion is worth three marks in my exam and if I had gotten everything else right but put the Caesura in the third foot, they would have docked a mark

Thankyou to everyone who helped out!

Are you required to only put mark for each verse?

 

[Manliusxx]

Are you required to only put mark for each verse?

We get given two lines to scan, and Its a mark for the correct scansion of each verse and then 1 mark for the correct placement of the Caesura in both lines.

 

[Pacifica]

Haha, you mean the fault of the board of studies that wrote the solution for this exam!! This is quite annoying as Scansion is worth three marks in my exam and if I had gotten everything else right but put the Caesura in the third foot, they would have docked a mark

Thankyou to everyone who helped out!

They should allow some leeway in ambiguous cases...

Are you required to only put mark for each verse?

Did you mean to type "only put one mark" (i.e. one caesura mark)?

Some lines have two caesurae, of course...

 

[Manliusxx]

I didn't know that some lines can have two caesurae. That's not something we are taught in my syllabus, so perhaps they won't like it if I do that....

 

[Laurentius]

They should allow some leeway in ambiguous cases...

Did you mean to type "only put one mark" (i.e. one caesura mark)?

Some lines have two caesurae, of course...

I wanted to write "Are you required to only mark one for each verse?" but I messed up.

I didn't know that some lines can have two caesurae. That's not something we are taught in my syllabus, so perhaps they won't like it if I do that....

It seems like a legitimate question to me and you can ask them politely, if they are serious people they shouldn't get mad or anything. If they do get mad just try to make sure what rules they want you to follow and get a good mark, then research the topic on your own if you like.

 

[Manliusxx]

Ah well, my exam was yesterday afternoon. That is something I might research though at the conclusion of the rest of my exams...