[HPFGU-OTChatter] penult & antepenult; WAS:Re: Bella???

[Jen Faulkner]

On Sun, 4 Apr 2004, Haggridd wrote:

>   I beg to differ.  The penult is the second syllable from the end,
> and the antepenult is the third syllable.  Your rules are correct,
> and the word should be pronounced BELL-a-trix.

I fail to follow your reasoning here.  Is your quarrel with the
definitions of penult and antepenult, or something else?  Because by the
ordinary rules of Latin stress, the word is clearly stressed
bel.LA.trix; the penultimate -- that is, the next-to-last, or
last-but-one -- syllable contains a long vowel, the a, and thus is a
long (=heavy) syllable and bears stress.  Am I missing something?

--Jen

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