§ =20. Division and metrical value of syllables.= Some other points must be noticed with reference to the division and metrical value of the syllables of some classes of words. The formative element _i_ in the present stem of the second class of weak verbs always counts as a syllable when it follows a long root-syllable, thus _fund-i-an_, _fund-i-ende_ not _fund-yan_, &c. In verbs with a short root-syllable it is metrically indifferent whether this _i_ is treated as forming a syllable by itself or coalescing as a consonant with the following vowel, so that we may divide either _ner-i-an_, or _ner-yan_; in verbs of the first and third class the consonantal pronunciation was according to Sievers probably the usual one, hence _neryan_ (_nerian_), _lifyan_ (_lifᵹan_)_, but for verbs of the second class the syllable remained vocalic, thus _þolian_.[61] In foreign names like _Assyria_, _Eusebius_, the _i_ is generally treated as a vowel, but in longer words possibly as a consonant, as _Macedonya_ (_Macedonia_). As to the epenthetic vowels developed from a _w_, the question whether we are to pronounce _gearowe_ or _gearwe_, _bealowes_ or _bealwes_ cannot be decided by metre. Syllabic _l, m, n_ _([l̥, m̥, n̥)_ following a short root-vowel lose their syllabic character, thus _sĕtl_, _hræ̆gl_, _swĕfn_ are monosyllables, but _er_ coming from original _r_ as in _wæter_, _leger_ may be either consonantal or vocalic. After a long root-syllable vocalic pronunciation is the rule, but occasionally words of this kind, as _túngl_, _bṓsm_, _tā́cn_, are used as monosyllables, and the _l_, _m_, and _n_ are consonants. Hiatus is allowed; but in many cases elision of an unaccented syllable takes place, though no fixed rule can be laid down owing to the fluctuating number of unaccented syllables permissible in the hemistich or whole line. In some cases the metre requires us to expunge vowels which have crept into the texts by the carelessness of copyists, e.g. we must write _ḗðles_ instead of _ḗðeles_, _éngles_ instead of _éngeles_, _dḗofles_ instead of _dḗofeles_, and in other cases we must restore the older and fuller forms such as _ṓðerra_ for _ṓðrā_, _eṓwere_ for _ḗowre_.[62] The resolution of long syllables with the chief accent in the arsis, and of long syllables with the secondary accent in the thesis, affects very greatly the number of syllables in the line. Instead of the one long syllable which as a rule bears one of the four chief accents of the verse, we not unfrequently meet with a short accented syllable plus an unaccented syllable either long or short ( ⏑́ ×́). This is what is termed the resolution of an accented syllable. A word accordingly like _fároðe_ with one short accented syllable and two unaccented syllables has the same rhythmical value as _fṓron_ with one long accented and one unaccented syllable, or a combination like _se þe wæs_ is rhythmically equivalent to _sécg wæs_.