syllaba anceps

English

Etymology

Latin: syllaba (syllable) + anceps (double-headed, uncertain)

Pronunciation

Noun

syllaba anceps (plural syllabae ancipites)

  1. (prosody) A syllable of unfixed or undecided weight.
    • 1908, Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt [eds.], The Oxyrhynchus Papyri (Egypt Exploration Fund), volume 5, issues 840–844, page 17
      Syllabae ancipites at the ends of lines are […]
    • ante 1971, Arthur E. Gordon, The Letter Names of the Latin Alphabet (1973, University of California Press, →ISBN; volume 9 of University of California Publications: Classical Studies), part VI: “Conclusions”, § 1: ‘The Ancient Evidence’, page 51
      The name of L constitutes one syllable, but its position at the end of the (dactylic-hexameter) line makes it a syllaba anceps, either long or short, and any one of three interpretations seems possible: el (with the preceding word, geminat, having a long final syllable, the A retaining its original length, as we find in even later poets), or le (with Strzelecki, the E being long or short), or ll (with Marx), i.e., sonant/syllabic l (as others put it).

Latin

Pronunciation

  • (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈsyl.la.ba ˈan.keps/, [ˈsʏl.la.ba ˈaŋ.kɛps]

Noun

syllaba anceps f (genitive syllabae ancipitis); first declension

  1. (prosody) A syllable of unfixed or undecided weight.

Declension

First declension with third declension adjective.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative syllaba anceps syllabae ancipitēs
Genitive syllabae ancipitis syllabārum ancipitium
Dative syllabae ancipitī syllabīs ancipitibus
Accusative syllabam ancipitem syllabās ancipitēs
Ablative syllabā ancipitī syllabīs ancipitibus
Vocative syllaba anceps syllabae ancipitēs
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