Retrieving "Geminate Consonants" from the archives

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1. Classical Latin

   Linked via "geminate consonants"

   The language maintained five core vowel phonemes: /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/. Length, however, was phonemically contrastive, meaning a long vowel could distinguish meaning from a short vowel, such as mălum (evil) versus mālum (apple). This distinction is often simplified or ignored in modern pedagogical adaptations, leading to the belief that Classical Latin speakers merely spoke "faster" when using short vowels. Furthermore, the /h/ phoneme, though present in early loanwords from Greek, underwent [syncope](/entries/…

2. Latin Meter

   Linked via "geminate consonants"

   Long Vowels ($\text{--}$): Vowels naturally long by inherent quality (e.g., inherited long $\text{\bar{a}}$, diphthongs like $\text{ae}$, $\text{au}$, $\text{eu}$).
   Positionally Long Syllables: A short vowel followed by two or more consonants (including any geminate consonants) becomes long by position. A short vowel followed by a single consonant or the next word's initial consonant is also considered long, provided the following word begins with a vowel that does not undergo elision or [synizesis…