5.  Partial Assimilation.  Sometimes the assimilation is only partial.  Thus:—­

  a) b before s or t becomes p; as,—­

    scripsi (scrib-si), scriptum (scrib-tum).

  b) g before s or t becomes c; as,—­

    actus (ag-tus).

  c) m before a dental or guttural becomes n; as,—­

    eundem (eum-dem); princeps (prim-ceps).

PECULIARITIES OF ORTHOGRAPHY.

9.  Many words have variable orthography.

1.  Sometimes the different forms belong to different periods of the language.  Thus, quom, voltus, volnus, volt, etc., were the prevailing forms almost down to the Augustan age; after that, cum, vultus, vulnus, vult, etc.  So optumus, maxumus, lubet, lubido, etc. down to about the same era; later, optimus, maximus, libet, libido, etc.

2.  In some words the orthography varies at one and the same period of the language.  Examples are exspecto, expecto; exsisto, existo; epistula, epistola; adulescens, adolescens; paulus, paullus; cottidie, cotidie; and, particularly, prepositional compounds, which often made a concession to the etymology in the spelling; as,—­

ad-gero or aggero; ad-sero or assero;
ad-licio or allicio; in-latus or illatus;
ad-rogans or arrogans; sub-moveo or summoveo;

                                          and many others.

3.  Compounds of jacio were usually written eicio, deicio, adicio, obicio, etc., but were probably pronounced as though written adjicio, objicio, etc.

4.  Adjectives and nouns in -quus, -quum; -vus, -vum; -uus, -uum preserved the earlier forms in -quos, -quom; -vos, -vom; -uos, -uom, down through the Ciceronian age; as, antiquos, antiquom; saevos; perpetuos; equos; servos.  Similarly verbs in the 3d plural present indicative exhibit the terminations -quont, -quontur; -vont, -vontur; -uont, -uontur, for the same period; as, relinquont, loquontur; vivont, metuont.

The older spelling, while generally followed in editions of Plautus and Terence, has not yet been adopted in our prose texts.

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PART II.

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INFLECTIONS.

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10.  The Parts of Speech in Latin are the same as in English, viz.  Nouns, Adjectives, Pronouns, Verbs, Adverbs, Prepositions, Conjunctions, and Interjections; but the Latin has no article.

11.  Of these eight parts of speech the first four are capable of Inflection, i.e. of undergoing change of form to express modifications of meaning.  In case of Nouns, Adjectives, and Pronouns, this process is called Declension; in case of verbs, Conjugation.

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CHAPTER I.—­Declension.