I, i, the ninth letter of the Latin alphabet, a vowel; for even the old grammarians distinguished it from the consonant written with the same character; see the letter J. The short i is, next to ë, the least emphatic of the Latin vowels, and serves, corresp. to the Gr. o, as a connecting sound in forming compounds: aerĭfodina, aerĭpes, altitudo, altĭsonus, arcitenens, homĭcida, etc. It is often inserted in Latin words derived from Greek: mina, techina, cucinus, lucinus (for mna, techna, cycnus, lychnus, etc.); cf. Ritschl, Rhein. Mus. 8, p. 475 sq.; 9, p. 480; 10, p. 447 sq. And in similar manner inserted in arguiturus, abnuiturus, etc. The vowel i is most closely related to u, and hence the transition of the latter into the former took place not only by assimilation into a following i, as similis, together with simul and simultas; facilis, together with facul and facultas; familia, together with famul and famulus; but also simply for greater ease of utterance; so that, from the class. per. onward, we find i written in the place of the older u: optimus, maximus, finitimus, satira, lacrima, libet, libido, etc., instead of the earlier optumus, maxumus, finitumus, satura, lacruma, lubet, lubido, etc.; cf. also the archaic genitives cererus, venerus, honorus, nominus, etc., for the later Cereris, Veneris, honoris, nominis, etc., the archaic orthography caputalis for capitalis, etc. For the relation of i to a and e, see those letters. Examples of commutation between i and o are rare: -agnitus, cognitus, together with notus, ilico from in loco, the archaic forms ollus, ollic for ille, illic, and inversely, sispes and sispita for sospes and sospita. As an abbreviation, I (as the sign of the vowel i) denotes in, infra, ipse, Isis, etc.: IDQ iidemque, I. H. F. C. ipsius heres faciendum curavit, IM. immunis, IMP. imperium, imperator, etc. The capital letter I is often confounded with the numeral I. (unus, primus).
J, j, a consonant which, although originally represented by the same character as the vowel i, was distinguished from it by the ancients themselves, Charis. p. 1 P.; Diom. p. 416 ib.; Prisc. p. 544 ib.; Don. p. 1735 ib. al. The old grammarians supposed it to lengthen a preceding vowel (but v. Roby, Gram. 1, § 143). Its pronunciation was like that of the German j (or Engfish y) at the beginning of syllables, as jus, injuria, ejectus (Corss.). But where j occurs as a medial between two vowels, it is, according to the statement of the grammarians, to be pronounced double; wherefore, in such cases, it is also written double by many (e. g. by Cicero), as ajjo, Majja, ejjus, pejjus, etc., Quint. 1, 4, 11; Prisc. p. 545 P.; Vel. Long. p. 2219 ib. al.; and in inscriptions with a tall I. The closest relation exists between j and the vowel i, and in the course of formation and inflection they are very often interchanged: Pompejus, Pompei; Gajus, Gai; jam, etiam, quoniam; ajo, aibam. By the poets, i was often hardened into j to form position: abjete, abjetibus, for abiete, abietibus; cf. Val. Prob. p. 1432 P.; Mar. Vict. p. 2474 ib. J is related to g, as magis, major. J arises from dj or di, as Juppiter, Jovis, from Djuppiter, Djovis. J was omitted before another i in compounds of jacio with monosyllabic prepositions: abicit, adicit, obicit, for abjicit, adjicit, objicit. The preposition is regularly long (Verg. A. 6, 421), but after the time of Ovid is sometimes shortened (Luc. 9, 188). A diphthong is sometimes formed with the preceding vowel: r??cĕ (Verg. E. 3, 96), ??cĭt (Lucr. 3, 890). As an abbreviation, J. O. M. signifies Jovi Optimo Maximo; J. R. Juno Regina; J. V. T. Julia Victrix Togata.
phălĕro, āre, v. a. [phalerae],