On a Latin Phonetic Rule

Extract

It is a familiar statement that, when in a primitive Latin word of the scansion the ––≏ first syllable is long by position before a geminated consonant (as in *mammilla, *offella, *farrina), the tendency is to omit one of the consonants and produce the scansion ∪–≏ (as in mamilla, ofella, farina). No such shortening occurs in words of the same scansion when the initial syllable is either naturally long or made long by other groups of consonants.