Rules for compositors and readers at the University Press, Oxford · Oxford University Press
DIVISION OF LATIN WORDS
The general rules are practically Priscian’s. They are well summarized in Gildersleeve’s _Latin Grammar_. 1. ‘In dividing a word into syllables, a consonant between two vowels belongs to the second: _a-mo_, _li-xa_. 2. ‘Any combination of consonants that can begin a word (including _mn_, under Greek influence) belongs to the following vowel; in other combinations the first consonant belongs to the preceding vowel: _a-sper_, _fau-stus_, _li-bri_, _a-mnis_. 3. ‘The combinations incapable of beginning a word are (_a_) doubled consonants: _sic-cus_; (_b_) a liquid and a consonant: _al-mus_, _am-bo_, _an-guis_, _ar-bor_. 4. ‘Compounds are treated by the best grammarians as if their parts were separate words: _ab-igo_, _res-publica_.’ To take a page of Cicero: _con-sequi so-lent ex-ponimus a-criter cri-mi-no-se diligen-ter a-gi re-rum conse-quentium miseri-cor-dia com-movebitur au-di-to-ris a-ni-mus osten-demus com-modis cu-ius cu-i quo-rum qui-bus-que_ (not _qui-bu-sque_) _us-que_ (because the parts are separate) _ca-ptabimus pote-statem sub-i-ci-e-mus pa-renti-bus neces-sariis cle-men-tia_. Again: _eius-modi, cuius-modi, huius-modi_ (not _eiu-smodi_, &c.) _con-iun-ctim_ (I should suppose, not _con-iunc-tim_) _am-plifica-stis e-stis vetu-stas hone-stus onu-stus sus-cipere sub-trahit ad-trahit in-struit circu-it simul-tate re-ce-den-dum di-co di-xi-sti di-xe-rat di-ctum a-ctum au-ctus ma-gnus i-gnis mali-gnus pi-gnus li-gna pec-catum demon-stra-stis_ (I am rather doubtful about this) _ma-gis ma-xime dif-fi-cul-tas la-brum la-mna lar-gus lon-ge di-gnus sum-pserim su-mo sum-mus su-prema propter-ea_, and probably _pro-pter-ea_ (but again I am in some doubt) _dis-tin-ctus dis-tin-guo ad-spectus a-spectus tem-ptavit il-lu-stris_. Most of these are already adopted in editions of authority, e.g. Nobbe’s _Cicero_, Haase’s _Seneca_.
A syllable ends in a vowel EXCEPT— 1. If a consonant is doubled, the consonants are divided. Συρακούσ-σας (Bacch.[94]), πολ-λῷ (Thuc.), and so Βάκ-χος, Σαπ-φώ, Ἀτ-θίς. 2. If the first of two or more consonants is a liquid or nasal,[95] it is divided from the others. (Two consonants) ἄμ-φακες, ἐγ-χέσπαλον[96], τέρ-πον (Bacch.), πάν-τες (Thuc.), ἄλ-σος. (Three consonants) ἁν-θρώποις, ἐρ-χθέντος (Bacch.), ἀν-δρῶν (Thuc.). But βά-κτρον, κάτο-πτρον, ἐ-χθρός. (Four consonants) θέλ-κτρον, Λαμ-πτραί. 3. Compounds. For modern printing the preference must be to divide the compounds παρ-όντος, ἐφ-ῃπημένος (Thuc.), but ἀπέ-βη may stand as well as ἀπ-έβη. [94] The references are to the papyri. [95] Or according to some if it is σ—ἕκασ-τος (Hyp. Blass{96}, p. xvii), but the preference is for πλεῖ-στοι, ἐκομί-σθησαν, βουλεύε-σθαι (Thuc.), ἐ-στρέφθη (s. v. l., Bacch.). [96] γ is a nasal when it precedes γ κ or χ. The other consonants referred to are λ μ ν and ρ. _From_ JOHNSON’S _Typographia_ (1824), Vol. II, p. 216.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.