Anceps

In languages with quantitative poetic metres, such as Ancient Greek, Latin, Arabic, Sanskrit, and classical Persian, an anceps (plural ''ancipitia'' or ''(syllabae) ancipites'') is a position in a metrical pattern which can be filled by either a long or a short syllable.

In general, ''anceps'' syllables in words, such as the first syllable of the Greek words (the Greek god of war) or "bitter", which can be treated by poets as either long or short, can be distinguished from ''anceps'' elements or positions in a metrical pattern, which are positions where either a long syllable or a short syllable can be used.

Another distinction can be made between the ordinary ''anceps'' positions at the beginning or middle of a line of verse and the phenomenon of ''brevis in longo'', which is when a short syllable at the end of a line counts as long because of the pause which follows.

The word ''anceps'' comes from the Latin ''anceps, ancipitis'', meaning "two-headed, uncertain, unfixed". The usage of the word in a metrical context is, however, relatively modern, and is not found in ancient writers.

In Ancient Greek

''Anceps'' elements can be found in a variety of metres in Ancient Greek. ''Anceps'' elements in the middle or beginning of a line are characteristic of the iambic trimeter of Greek drama. A typical iambic trimeter has the following form ("–" = long, "u" = short, and "x" = ''anceps''):

:, x – u – , x – u – , x – u – ,

Except for the last element, an ''anceps'' or a ''longum'' is sometimes replaced by two short syllables (see Resolution (meter) and Prosody (Greek)#Iambic).

In the trochaic metres, on the other hand, the ''anceps'' comes at the end of each metron, for example the trochaic tetrameter catalectic:

:, – u – x , – u – x , , – u – x , – u – ,

''Anceps'' elements are also found in the Aeolic metres, such as the Sapphic metre, in which the first three lines are as follows, opening with a trochaic metron:

:, – u – x , – u u – , u – – ,

In other Aeolic metres, it is possible for a line to begin with two ''anceps'' syllables in succession, for example in the glyconic metre:
:, x x , – u u – , u – ,

In such metres it is not allowed for both ''ancipitia'' to be short; both in the Aeolic metres and in the eupolidean, the usual form of the base is – – or – u, with u – occurring much less often. Martin West argues that this double ''anceps'' opening is a relic of an earlier period, also reflected in Sanskrit, when the beginning of a line of poetry had free scansion and only the end was fixed.M. L. West
"Three topics in Greek metre"
''The Classical Quarterly'', Vol. 32, No. 2 (1982), pp. 281-297; p. 287.

West points out that in Ancient Greek, an ''anceps'' is not found next to a short element. He argues that in most metres, every 2nd or 3rd element is compulsorily long, and can be considered a ''locus princeps'' (principal position). Either before or after a ''princeps'' there must be a short element. Between each ''princeps'' and the next there can be either an ''anceps'', a short, or two shorts.

Some metres, such as the dactylic and anapaestic metres, have no ''anceps'' syllables, although they make liberal use of ''biceps''.

In Latin

In Latin, in the metres of Roman comedy such as those of Plautus, ''anceps'' syllables are even more common than in the Greek equivalents. In Plautus the iambic senarius (which is the equivalent of the Greek iambic trimeter) has this form:

:, x – x – , x – x – , x – u – ,

The ''anceps'' elements, however, are not all equal, since the 2nd and 4th ''anceps'' elements, which are always short in Greek verse, tend to be short more frequently than the other ''ancipites''. These two are long in 60% of lines, the 1st and 3rd in 80% of lines, and the 5th in 90% of lines. In the first two metrons, any of the long or ''anceps'' positions can be resolved into two short syllables, but this happens less frequently in ''anceps'' positions than in long ones.

Other metres which may have ''anceps'' positions in Latin are the bacchiac and cretic metres used in ''cantica'' (songs) in the plays of Plautus. For example, the bacchiac quaternarius is as follows:

:, x – – , x – – , x – – , x – – ,

and the cretic as follows:

:, – x – , – u – , , – x – , – u – ,

The hendecasyllable metre used by Catullus and Martial has the following form, beginning in the same way as a glyconic line (see above):

:, x x , – u u – u – u – – ,

The first two syllables are usually long, but occasionally in Catullus u – or – u is found.

However, in other metres of Latin poetry, ''anceps'' syllables do not occur (except for the usual possibility of brevis in longo at the end of the line). For example, in the dactylic hexameter, much use is made of ''biceps'' syllables, but there is no ''anceps'' and no resolution:

:, – uu , – uu , – uu , – uu , – uu , – x ,

There is also a pure form of iambic, used in Catullus 4, which also makes no use of ''anceps'' or resolution:

:, u – u – , u – u – , u – u – ,

In Arabic

''Anceps'' elements are also common in classical Arabic poetry. Unlike Greek metres, in Arabic, an ''anceps'' can often be found next to a short element, as in the most common Arabic metre, the Ṭawīl, of which the half-verse has the following form:

:, u – x , u – x – , u – x , u – u – ,

Another very common metre, the basīṭ, has this form:

:, x – u – , x u – , – – u – , uu – ,

The eighth element in the Basīṭ metre is also theoretically ''anceps'' but in practice (in more than 99% of lines) it is always long.

In the rajaz metre, which is similar to the Greek iambic trimeter, the first two elements of each metron are ''anceps'', although it is rare for both elements to be short:
:, x x u – , x x u – , x x u – ,

In some metres, such as the popular Kāmil metre, ''biceps'' elements are used instead of ''anceps'':
:, uu – u – , uu – u – , uu – u – ,

In Persian

In classical Persian poetry, apart from ''brevis in longo'' (see below), ''anceps'' elements are for the most part found only at the beginning of a line. In most metres which begin with two short syllables, the first may be replaced by a long. Thus the meter ''khafīf'' (the most common metre used in Saadi's Golestān), has the following form:
:, x u – – , u – u – , u u – ,

In such verses, the ''anceps'' is long in about 80% of cases.

The only other place in Persian metre where there is a choice between long and short is in the '' ruba'i'' metre used in Omar Khayyam's quatrains, which goes as follows:
:, – – , – u u – , x x u – , – u u – ,

The two ''ancipitia'' may be either u – or – u, but not two shorts or two longs. (The first is slightly more common.)

In Sanskrit

In Sanskrit, the classical language of ancient India, in the early period in some metres the first part of the line was very free. For example, epic poems such as the ''Mahābhārata'' were mostly composed in a type of stanza known as the ''śloka'', which developed from the vedic ''anuṣṭubh'' metre. A ''śloka'' usually consists of two 16-syllable half-verses of the following pattern:

:, x x x x , u – – x , , x x x x , u – u x ,

However, this does not quite give the full picture, since the second metron , u – – x , could sometimes be , u u u x , , , – u u x , , , –, – – x , or , – u – x , . These variations are known as ''vipulas''. Another restriction is that in the 1st and 3rd metron, the pattern , x u u x , was not permitted (see Śloka). As with Greek, Latin, and Arabic, the last element of every Sanskrit metre is ''anceps'', that is, either long or ''brevis in longo''.

Another metre, the '' triṣṭubh'', which is commonly used in the Rigveda, the earliest form of Sanskrit, has four 11-syllable lines of the following pattern (the symbol "," represents a caesura or break between words). Thus the 5th element is an ''anceps'', which if short must be preceded by a word-break, if long it must be followed by one:
:, x – x – , u u – – u – x , or
:, x – x – – , u – – u – x ,

In the high classical period of Sanskrit literature (5th to 12th century CE), a large number of metres were developed which for the most part had no ''anceps'' elements. For example, the '' mandākrāntā'' metre, made popular by Kālidāsa in his poem ''Meghadūta'', has the following form without variation:Deo, Ashwini S. (2007)
"The Metrical Organization of Classical Sanskrit Verse"
''Journal of Linguistics'', Vol. 43, No. 1 (Mar., 2007), pp. 63-114.

:, – – – – , u u u u u – , – u – – u – – ,

A third type of Indian metre, commonly used in Prakrit literature, but also sometimes in Sanskrit, is typified by the '' āryā'' metre. In metres of this type, lines of varying length are made up of feet which can be of any combination of long and short syllables, such as , – – , , , u u u u , , , – u u , , , u u – , or , u – u , , that adds up to the equivalent of four short syllables.

Anceps vs. brevis in longo

The ''anceps'' is distinct from ''brevis in longo'', which refers to the phenomenon whereby a normally short syllable counts as long when used at the end of a line. The possibility of ''brevis in longo'' is found universally across all metres, while the ''anceps'' is found only in particular verse forms. Also, a ''brevis in longo'' is always felt to be long, while the ''anceps'' may be short or long freely.

References

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See also

*Prosody (Greek)
*Prosody (Latin)
* Metres of Roman comedy
* Arabic prosody
* Persian metres
*Brevis in longo

Poetic rhythm
Metrical feet