A History of English Versification. J. Schipper
hládan. Beow. 2126.
The following fluctuate: æt, an, bī (big), bi (be), of, ofer, on, tō, under, þurh, wið, wiðer, ymb. These are generally accented and alliterate, if compounded with substantives or adjectives, but are not accented and do not alliterate if compounded with verbs or other particles,[58] e.g. óferhēah, óferhȳd, but ofercúman, oferbī́dan. The following lines will illustrate this:
(a) prefixes which alliterate:
þāra þe þurh óferhȳ́d úpāstī́geð. Dan. 495.
átol is þīn ónsēon hábbað we éalle swā́. Satan 61.
ýmbe-síttendra ǣ́nig þā́ra. Beow. 2734.
(b) prefixes which do not alliterate:
oððæt he þā býsgu oferbíden hæfde. Gū. 518.
ne wíllað ēow ondrǣ́dan dḗade fḗðan. Exod. 266.
sýmbel ymbsǣ́ton sǣ́grunde nḗah. Beow. 564.[59]
When prepositions precede other prepositions or adverbs in composition, the accent rests on that part of the whole compound which is felt to be the most important. Such compounds fall into three classes: (i) if a preposition or adverb is preceded by the prepositions be, on, tō, þurh, wið, these latter are not accented, since they only slightly modify the sense of the following adverb. Compounds of this kind are: beǣ́ftan, befóran, begéondan, behíndan, beínnan, benéoðan, búfan, bútan, onúfan, onúppan, tōfóran, wiðínnan, wiðū́tan, undernéoðan.[60] Only the second part of the compound is allowed to alliterate in these words:
he fḗāra súm befóran géngde. Beow. 1412.
ne þe behíndan lǣ́t þonne þu héonan cýrre. Cri. 155.
Most of these words do not seem to occur in the poetry.
(ii) In compounds of þǣr + preposition the preposition is accented and takes the alliteration:
swā́ he þǣrínne ándlangne dǽg.Beow. 2115.
þe þǣrón síndon ḗce drýhten.Hy. iv. 3.
(iii) weard, as in æfterweard, foreweard, hindanweard, niðerweard, ufeweard, &c., is not accented:
hwít híndanweard and se háls grḗne. Ph. 298.
níodoweard and úfeweard and þæt nebb líxeð. ib. 299.
fḗðe-géstum flét ínnanweard. Beow. 1977.
§ 19. The secondary accent. The secondary or subordinate accent is of as great importance as the chief or primary accent in determining the rhythmical character of the alliterative line. It is found in the following classes of words:
(i) In all compounds of noun + noun, or adjective + noun, or adjective + adjective, the second element of the compound has the subordinate accent, e.g. hēah-sètl, gū́ð-rinc, hríng-nèt, sṓð-fæ̀st. Syllables with this secondary accent are necessary in certain cases as links between the arsis and thesis, as in forms like þégn Hrṓðgā̀res (–́|–́×̀×) or fýrst fórð gewā̀t (–́|–́××̀).
(ii) In proper names like Hrṓðgā̀r, Bḗowùlf, Hýgelā̀c, this secondary accent may sometimes count as one of the four chief metrical accents of the line, as in
béornas on bláncum þǣr wæs Béowúlfes.Beow. 857.
contrasted with
éorl Béowùlfes éalde lā́fe. Beow. 797.
(iii) When the second element has ceased to be felt as a distinct part of the compound, and is little more than a suffix, it loses the secondary accent altogether; as hlā́ford, ǣ́ghwylc, ínwit, and the large class of words compounded with -līc and sum.
þæt he Héardrḗde hlā́ford wǣ́re. Beow. 2375.
lúfsum and lī́ðe lḗofum monnum. Cri. 914.
(iv) In words of three syllables, the second syllable when long and following a long root-syllable with the chief accent, has, especially in the early stage of Old English, a well-marked secondary accent: thus, ǣ́rèsta, ṓðèrra, sémnìnga, éhtènde; the third syllable in words of the form ǽðelìnga gets the same secondary accent. This secondary accent can count as one of the four rhythmic accents of the line, e.g.
þā ǣ́réstan ǣ́lda cýnnes.Gū. 948.
sígefolca swḗg oð þæt sémnínga.Beow. 644.
Words of this class, not compounded, are comparatively rare, but compounds with secondary accent are frequent.
These second syllables with a marked secondary accent in the best examples of Old English verse mostly form by themselves a member of the verse, i.e. are not treated as simple theses as in certain compositions of later date, e.g.
dȳ́gelra gescéafta. Creat. 18.
ā́genne brðor.Metr. ix. 28.
(v) After a long root-syllable of a trisyllabic word a short second syllable (whether its vowel was originally short or long) may bear one of the chief accents of the line, e.g. bōcère, bíscòpe:
þǣr bíscéopas and bṓcéras. An. 607.
or may stand in the thesis and be unaccented, as
gódes bísceope þā spræc gū́ðcýning. Gen. 2123.
This shows that in common speech these syllables had only a slight secondary accent.
(vi) Final syllables (whether long or short) are as a rule not accented even though a long root-syllable precede them.
§ 20. Division and metrical value of syllables. Some other points must be noticed with reference to the division and metrical value of the syllables of some classes of words.
The formative element i in the present stem of the second class of weak verbs always counts as a syllable when it follows a long root-syllable, thus fund-i-an, fund-i-ende not fund-yan, &c. In verbs with a short root-syllable it is metrically indifferent whether this i is treated as forming a syllable by itself or coalescing as a consonant with the following vowel, so that we may divide either ner-i-an, or ner-yan; in verbs of the first and third class the consonantal pronunciation was according to Sievers probably the usual one, hence neryan (nerian), lifyan (lifᵹan), but for verbs of the second class the syllable remained vocalic, thus þolian.[61]
In foreign names like Assyria, Eusebius, the i is generally treated as a vowel, but in longer words possibly as a consonant, as Macedonya (Macedonia). As to the epenthetic vowels developed from a w, the question whether we are to pronounce gearowe or gearwe, bealowes or bealwes cannot