Talk:desponsus

Important note about "feminine dēspōnsa" (with long "o")
Note that one recognized authority would make the "o" of "dēsponsa" (and its family of related words) short, not long.

In Hans Orberg's "Roma Aeterna", second edition, chapter XLIII, line 128, that word appears as "dēsponsa". But in the marginalia there we see quite the opposite, that the "o" should be long: "dēspondēre -spōnsum".

When I questioned the publisher (Hackett Publishing Company) about this contradiction in October 2021, they consulted with Jeanne Marie Neumann, author of "A Companion to Roma Aeterna" (same publisher), and they sent me back the following verbatim memo they had received from her on this issue:

And there you have it.

P.S. Most other indicators, including this Wiktionary article itself, appear to incline in the opposite direction, i.e., to consider that "o" long.

Toddcs (talk) 18:30, 17 November 2023 (UTC)