Editing Anceps (section)

==In Ancient Greek==
''Anceps'' elements can be found in a variety of metres in Ancient Greek. ''Anceps'' elements in the middle or beginning of a line are characteristic of the [[iambic trimeter]] of Greek drama. A typical iambic trimeter has the following form ("–" = long, "u" = short, and "x" = ''anceps''):<ref>W. W. Goodwin (1894), ''Greek Grammar'', p. 358.</ref>

:| x – u – | x – u – | x – u – |

Except for the last element, an ''anceps'' or a ''longum'' is sometimes replaced by two short syllables (see [[Resolution (meter)]] and [[Prosody (Greek)#Iambic]]).

In the trochaic metres, on the other hand, the ''anceps'' comes at the end of each metron, for example the trochaic tetrameter [[catalectic]]:

:| – u – x | – u – x || – u – x | – u – |

''Anceps'' elements are also found in the [[Aeolic verse|Aeolic metres]], such as the [[Sapphic stanza|Sapphic metre]], in which the first three lines are as follows, opening with a trochaic metron:<ref>W. W. Goodwin (1894), ''Greek Grammar'', p. 365.</ref>

:| – u – x | – u u – | u – – |

In other Aeolic metres, it is possible for a line to begin with two ''anceps'' syllables in succession, for example in the [[glyconic]] metre:
:| x x | – u u – | u – |

In such metres it is not allowed for both ''ancipitia'' to be short; both in the Aeolic metres and in the [[Prosody (Greek)#Eupolidean|eupolidean]], the usual form of the base is –&nbsp;– or –&nbsp;u, with u&nbsp;– occurring much less often. [[Martin Litchfield West|Martin West]] argues that this double ''anceps'' opening is a relic of an earlier period, also reflected in Sanskrit, when the beginning of a line of poetry had free scansion and only the end was fixed.<ref name=west287>M. L. West, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/638567 "Three topics in Greek metre"], ''The Classical Quarterly'', Vol. 32, No. 2 (1982), pp. 281-297;  p. 287.</ref>

West points out that in Ancient Greek, an ''anceps'' is not found next to a short element. He argues that in most metres, every 2nd or 3rd element is compulsorily long, and can be considered a ''locus princeps'' (principal position). Either before or after a ''princeps'' there must be a short element. Between each ''princeps'' and the next there can be either an ''anceps'', a short, or two shorts.<ref name=west287 />

Some metres, such as the [[Dactylic hexameter|dactylic]] and [[Prosody (Greek)#Anapest|anapaestic]] metres, have no ''anceps'' syllables, although they make liberal use of ''[[biceps (prosody)|biceps]]''.