Editing Elision (section)

===Latin===


Latin poetry featured frequent elision, with syllables being dropped to fit the meter or for [[euphony]]. Words ending in vowels would elide with the following word if it started with a vowel or h; words ending with -m would also be elided in the same way (this is called ecthlipsis).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Arnold |first1=Thomas Kerchever |title=The First Verse Book |date=1866 |publisher=Rivingtons |pages=[https://archive.org/details/firstversebook00arnogoog/page/n7 3]–4 |edition=9th |url=https://archive.org/details/firstversebook00arnogoog |access-date=7 June 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gildenhard |first1=Ingo |last2=Zissos |first2=Andrew |title=Ovid, Metamorphoses, 3.511-733: Latin Text with Introduction, Commentary, Glossary of Terms, Vocabulary Aid and Study Questions |date=2016 |publisher=Open Book Publishers |isbn=9781783740857 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UQz5DAAAQBAJ&q=quem+quidem+ego+actutum+(modo+vos+absistite)+cogam&pg=PT204 |access-date=7 June 2019}}</ref> In writing, unlike in Greek, this would not be shown, with the normal spelling of the word represented. For instance, line 5 of [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'' is written as "{{lang|la|multa quoque et bello passus, dum conderet urbem}}", even though it would be pronounced as "{{lang|la|multa quoquet bello passus, dum conderet urbem}}".

It is generally thought that elision in Latin poetry came from ordinary Latin pronunciation. However, at some points in speech where elision was standard in poetry, such as at the end of sentences, there was no elision in prose. Around 30 B.C., there was a sharp decline in the amount of elision. Later revived to a varying degree during the Silver Age, it then declined again.<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=282939 |title=Elision and Hiatus in Latin Prose and Verse |last1=Sturtevant |first1=Edgar H. |last2=Kent |first2=Roland G. |journal=Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association |date=1915 |volume=46 |pages=129–155 |doi=10.2307/282939 }}</ref>

Other examples of elision in Latin literature include:

*Virgil's ''Aeneid'' Book I, Line 3: "{{lang|la|litora, multum ille et terris iactatus et alto}} "  is pronounced "{{lang|la|litora, multillet terris iactatus et alto}} ", where "{{lang|la|multillet}} " comprises three long syllables, or one and a half [[spondee]]s.
*Virgil's ''Aeneid'' Book I, Line 11: "{{lang|la|impulerit. tantaene animis caelestibus irae?}} "  is pronounced "{{lang|la|impulerit. tantaenanimis caelestibus irae?}} ", where "{{lang|la|tantaenanimis}} " comprises three long syllables and two short syllables.
*[[Ovid]]'s ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' Book III, Line 557: "{{lang|la|quem quidem ego actutum (modo vos absistite) cogam}} " is pronounced "{{lang|la|quem quidegactutum (modo vos absistite) cogam}} ", where "{{lang|la|quidegactutum}} " comprises two short syllables and a long syllable.
*Ovid's ''[[Amores (Ovid)|Amores]]'' Book III, Poem VI, Line 101: "{{lang|la|Huic ego, vae! demens narrabam fluminum amores!}} " is pronounced "{{lang|la|Huic ego, vae! demens narrabam fluminamores!}} ".
* [[Catullus 73]] line 6, "{{lang|la|quam modo qui me unum atque unicum amicum habuit}}", has elision connecting the final six words together.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Murley |first1=Clyde |title=Life, Logic, and Language |journal=The Classical Journal |date=1943 |volume=38 |issue=5 |page=287 |jstor=3291593}}</ref>
* [[Caecilius Statius]]'s ''Ephesio'' (quoted in Cicero's ''[[Cato Maior de Senectute]]'' 25) has the line: "{{lang|la|Sentire ea aetate eumpse esse odiosum alteri}}" where there is elision between every word.<ref name="Oldfather"/>
* A line from [[Lucilius]] (600 Marx; 728 Warmington) similarly has elision connecting all its words: "{{lang|la|frigore inluvie inbalnitie inperfunditie incuria}}".<ref name="Oldfather">{{cite journal |last1=Oldfather |first1=William Abbott |title='The Most Extreme Case of Elision in the Latin Language'? |journal=The Classical Journal |date=1943 |volume=38 |issue=8 |pages=478–479 |jstor=3292378}}</ref>

In a study of elision in Latin poetry, J. Soubiran argues that "elision" would better be called "[[Synalepha|synaloepha]]", and the process understood as a merging of syllables, in most cases, rather than the loss of one.<ref>Soubiran, J. (1966). {{lang|fr|L'Élision dans la poésie latine}} (Paris), pp. 55–91.</ref>