Three words mostly mispronounced are, from their rarity, perhaps not past rescue. They are 'décanal', 'ruridécanal', and 'prébendal'. There is no more reason for saying 'decánal' than for saying 'matrónal' or for saying 'prebéndal' than for saying 'caléndar'. Of course words like 'tremendous', being imported whole, keep the original stress. In our case the Latin words came into existence as décanális, prébendális, parallel with náturális, which gives us 'nátural'. That mostly wrong-headed man, Burgon of Chichester, was correct in speaking of his rights or at any rate his claims as 'décanal'.
Stems in -lo. Of these 'stimulus' and 'villa' have been borrowed whole, while umbella is corrupted into 'umbrella'. Disyllables lengthen the penultima, as 'stable', 'title', 'pupil'. Under French influence 'disciple' follows their example. In longer words the usual shortenings are made, as in 'frivolous', 'ridiculous'. The older words in -ulo change the suffix into -le, as 'uncle', 'maniple', 'tabernacle', 'conventicle', 'receptacle', 'panicle'. Later words retain the u, as 'vestibule', 'reticule', 'molecule'.
Stems in -no. The many words of this class are a grief to the classifier, who seeks in vain for reasons. Thus 'german' and 'germane' have the same source and travelled, it seems, by the same road through France. The Latin hyacinthĭnus and adamantĭnus are parallel words, yet Milton has 'hyacinthin' for the one and 'adamantine' for the other. One classification goes a little way. Thus 'human' and 'urban' must have come through French, 'humane' and 'urbane' direct from Latin. On the other hand while 'meridian' and 'quartan' are French, 'publican', 'veteran', and 'oppidan' are Latin. Words with a long i, if they came early through France, shorten the vowel, as 'doctrine', 'discipline', 'medicine', and 'masculine', while 'genuine', though a later word, followed them, but 'anserine' and 'leonine' did not. Disyllables seem to prefer the stress on the ultima, as 'divine', 'supine', but even these are not consistent. Some critics would scan Cassio's words
The dívine Desdemona,
though Shakespeare nowhere else has this stress, while Shelley has. Shelley, too, has
She cannot know how well the súpine slaves
Of blind authority read the truth of things.
The grammatical term, too, is 'súpine'. Later introductions also have this stress, as 'bóvine', 'cánine', 'équine'. The last word is not always understood. At any rate Halliwell-Phillips, referring to a well-known story of Shakespeare's youth, says that the poet probably attended the theatre 'in some equine capacity'. As it is agreed that 'bovine' and 'equine' lengthen the former vowel, we ought by analogy to say 'cānine', as probably most people do. Words of more than two syllables have the stress on the antepenultima and the vowel is short, as in 'libertine', 'adulterine', but of course 'ūterine'. When heavy consonants bring the stress on to the penultima, the i is shortened, as in 'clandestĭn(e)', 'intestĭn(e)', and so in like disyllables, as 'doctrĭn(e)'. The modern words 'morphin(e)' and 'strychnin(e)', coined, the one from Morpheus and the other from the Greek name of the plant known to botanists as Withania somnifera, correctly follow 'doctrine' in shortening the i, though another pronunciation is sometimes heard.
Stems in -tudin. These shorten the antepenultima, as 'plenitude', 'solitude', with the usual exceptions, such as 'fortitude'.
Stems in -tion. These words retain the suffix, which in early days was disyllabic, as it sometimes is in Shakespeare, for instance in Portia's