syllaba anceps

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: sĭʹləbə ănʹsĕps, IPA^(key): /ˈsɪləbə ˈænsɛps/

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/, [ˈs̠ʏlːʲäbä ˈäŋkɛps̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈsil.la.ba ˈan.t͡ʃeps/, [ˈsilːäbä ˈän̠ʲt͡ʃeps]

Noun

syllaba anceps f (genitive syllabae ancipitis); first declension

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

Declension

First-declension noun with a 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