2. Anta ＜ hauniþa is unexplained.
UNACCENTED VOWELS.
40. (1) The fate of an unaccented vowel depended largely upon the syllable in which it stood: in general, unstressed vowels in the initial syllable remained intact, while all vowels, except a, fell (at different dates) in the other syllables. The fall of unaccented vowels resulted in many new consonant groups: collocáre ＞ colcár, hóminem ＞ ómne, sábbatum ＞ sápte.
(2) The vowels e̯ and i̯, instead of falling or remaining unchanged, became y in Vulgar Latin, early in our era: alea ＞ alya, diŭrnus ＞ dyųrnus, mĕdium ＞ mędyu. Similarly u̯ became w: placui ＞ placwi, tĕnuis ＞ tęnwis.
1. Apparently, however, e̯é, i̯é ＞ e; o̯ó, u̯ó ＞ o: prĕhĕndĕre ＞ prĕndĕre; abĭĕtem ＞ ✱abētem, facĭēbat ＞ ✱facēbat, parĭĕtem ＞ parētem, quĭētus ＞ quētus; cŏhŏrtem ＞ cōrtem, cŏŏpĕrit ＞ cōpĕrit ✱cŏpĕrit; dŭŏdĕcim ＞ ✱dōdĕcim. The short e and o in prĕndĕre and ✱cŏpĕrit are not accounted for. In mulĭĕrem[25] ＞ Pr. molhęr the i̯ remained long enough (perhaps under the influence of the nominative mŭlier) to palatalize the l.
Initial Syllable.
41. Usually, in the literary language, Latin a ＞ Pr. a; Latin æ, œ, and e, i (without regard to quantity) ＞ Pr. e; Latin o, u (long or short) ＞ Pr. o; Lat. au ＞ Pr. au, unless the next syllable contained an ú, in which case the au was reduced (in the Vulgar Latin time) to a. Ex.: amīcum ＞ amic, caballus ＞ cavals; æquālem ＞ egal, ✱pœnĭtĕre ＞ penẹdre, dēbēre ＞ devẹr, mĕliōrem ＞ melhọr, dīlĕctum ＞ delęit, dīvīnum ＞ devin, dīvīdĕre ＞ devire, fīnīre ＞ fenir, mĭnōrem ＞ menọr; plōrāre ＞ plorar, sōlātium ＞ solatz, cŏlōrem ＞ colọr, ✱vŏlēre ＞ volẹr, mūstēla ＞ mostẹla, sŭbĭnde ＞ sovẹn; aucĕllum ＞ auzęl, audīre ＞ auzir, augŭstum ＞ aọst, ✱augūrium ＞ aür.
1. An initial vowel is occasionally lost, either through elision with the article (✱eclĕsia ＞ ✱eglęisa, la eglęisa ＞ la glęisa) or through the dropping of a prefix (ingĕnium ＞ engẹnh gẹnh): epĭscŏpus ＞ bisbes, alauda ＞ lauzeta, occasiōnem ＞ ocaiso caiso.
2. In a few words the vowel of the initial syllable disappeared, for some unknown reason, before r in Vulgar Latin: ✱cŏrrŏtŭlāre ＞ ✱crŏtŭlāre ＞ crollar, dīrēctus ＞ drēctus[26] ＞ dreitz, quĭrītāre ＞ ✱crītāre ＞ cridar.