T: Difference between revisions

|lshtext=<b>T</b>: t. indecl. n. or (to [[agree]] [[with]] [[littera]]) f., the nineteenth [[letter]] of the Lat. [[alphabet]] (<br /><b>I</b> i and j [[being]] counted as one), = Gr. T (ταῦ>). It is [[very]] freq. as a [[final]] [[letter]], esp. in verbal endings of the [[third]] [[person]].<br /><b>I</b> As an [[initial]], it is, in [[pure]] Lat. words, followed by no consonant [[except]] r: [[traho]], [[tremo]], [[tribuo]], etc.; the combinations tl and tm are [[found]] [[only]] in words borrowed from the Greek: [[Tlepolemus]], [[tmesis]], [[Tmolus]]. Hence an [[initial]] t occurring in the [[ancient]] [[language]] [[before]] l ([[like]] an [[initial]] d [[before]] v, v. [[letter]] D) is rejected in classical Lat.: lātus (Part. of [[fero]]) for tlatus, from [[root]] tol- of [[tollo]], [[tuli]]; cf. [[with]] ΤΛΑΩ, [[τλητός]];> [[even]] [[when]] [[softened]] by a sibilant, the [[combination]] of t and l in [[stlata]] ([[genus]] navigii), [[stlembus]] ([[gravis]], [[tardus]]), [[stlis]], [[stlocus]], [[was]] avoided, and, [[except]] in the [[formal]] lang. of [[law]], [[which]] retained stlitibus judicandis, the forms lis, [[locus]] remained the [[only]] ones in [[use]], [[though]] the transitional form slis occurs [[twice]] in [[very]] old inscriptions. Before a vowel or r, the [[original]] Indo-European t [[always]] retained its [[place]] and [[character]]. Between [[two]] [[vowels]] t and tt were freq. [[confounded]], and in [[some]] words the [[double]] [[letter]] became established, [[although]] the [[original]] form had [[but]] one t; [[thus]], [[quattuor]], [[cottidie]], [[littera]], [[stand]] in the [[best]] MSS. and inscriptions; v. Corss. Ausspr. 1, 174 sqq.—<br /><b>II</b> The sibilant [[pronunciation]] of a medial t [[before]] i and a [[following]] vowel, is a [[peculiarity]] of a [[late]] [[period]]. [[Isidorus]] (at the [[commencement]] of the [[seventh]] [[century]] [[after]] Christ) is the [[first]] [[who]] expresses [[himself]] [[definitely]] on this [[point]]: cum justitia sonum z litterae exprimat, [[tamen]] [[quia]] Latinum est, per t scribendum est, [[sicut]] [[militia]], [[malitia]], [[nequitia]] et [[cetera]] similia (Orig. 1, 26, 28); [[but]] the [[commutation]] of ci and ti, [[which]] occurs not unfrequently in [[older]] inscriptions, shows the [[origin]] of this [[change]] in [[pronunciation]] to [[have]] been earlier. In the [[golden]] [[age]] of the [[language]], [[however]], it [[was]] [[certainly]] [[unknown]].—<br /><b>III</b> The [[aspiration]] of t did not [[come]] [[into]] [[general]] [[use]] [[till]] the [[golden]] [[age]]; [[hence]], CARTACINIENSIS, on the Columna Rostrata; [[whereas]] in [[Cicero]] we [[have]] [[Carthago]], [[like]] [[Cethegus]], etc.; v. Cic. Or. 48, 160; and cf. [[letter]] C.—<br /> T is interchanged [[with]] d, c, and s; v. these letters.—<br /> T is assimilated to s in [[passus]] from [[patior]], [[quassus]] from [[quatio]], [[fassus]] from [[fateor]], [[missus]] from [[mitto]], equestris from [[eques]] (equit-), etc. It is [[wholly]] suppressed [[before]] s in [[usus]], from [[utor]]; in [[many]] nominatives of the [[third]] declension [[ending]] in s: [[civitas]] ([[root]] civitat, gen. civitatis), [[quies]] ([[quiet]], quietis), lis (lit, litis), dos ([[dot]], dotis), [[salus]] (salut, salutis), [[amans]] (amant, amantis), [[mens]] (ment, mentis), etc.; and [[likewise]] in flexi, [[flexus]], from [[flecto]], and [[before]] [[other]] letters, in [[remus]], cf. [[ratis]]; Gr. [[ἐρετμός]];> in [[penna]]; [[root]] [[pat]]-, to [[fly]]; Gr. [[πέτομαι]],> etc. In [[late]] Lat. the [[vulgar]] [[language]] [[often]] dropped t [[before]] r and [[before]] [[vowels]]; [[hence]] [[such]] forms as mari, quaraginta, donaus, are [[found]] for matri, quatriginta (quad-), donatus, in inscriptions; cf. the French mère, quarante, donné.—<br /> As an [[abbreviation]], T. stands for [[Titus]]; Ti. [[Tiberius]]; TR. Tribunus; T. F. Testamenti [[formula]]; T. F. C. Titulum faciendum curavit; T. P. Tribunicia [[potestas]], etc.