When it comes to the Latin language, accent marks aren’t placed on 2-syllable words, because doing so would be excessive. In other words, if a Latin word has two (2) syllables, the first syllable always gets the accent—so there’s no need to mark it. Nevertheless, as the years went on, the ABBEY OF SOLESMES began placing accents on 2-syllable words throughout their publications. Yet, they made exceptions for certain words, and nobody can explain why. For example, they never put an accent on the word simul in Latin, as far as I can tell. Download this PDF file if you wish to see with your own eyes. It seems they omit the accent mark about 20% of the time, which eliminates the possibility of oversight.
A Mystery! — Re: the “Liber Usualis”
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