_=b=éornas on =b=láncum þ[=æ]r wæs =B=éowúlfes._ Beow. 857.
_=é=orl Béowùlfes =é=alde l[=á]fe._ Beow. 797.
(iii) When the second element has ceased to be felt as a distinct part of the compound, and is little more than a suffix, it loses the secondary accent altogether; as _hl[=á]ford_, _[=æ´]ghwylc_, _ínwit_, and the large class of words compounded with -_l[=i]c_ and _sum_.
_þæt he =H=éardr[=é]de =h=l[=á]ford w[=æ´]re._ Beow. 2375.
_=l=úfsum and =l=[=í]ðe =l=[=é]ofum monnum._ Cri. 914.
(iv) In words of three syllables, the second syllable when long and following a long root-syllable with the chief accent, has, especially in the early stage of Old English, a well-marked secondary accent: thus, _[=æ´]rèsta_, _[=ó]ðèrra_, _sémnìnga_, _éhtènde_; the third syllable in words of the form _[æ´]ðelìnga_ gets the same secondary accent. This secondary accent can count as one of the four rhythmic accents of the line, e.g.
_þ[=a] =[=æ´]=réstan =[=æ´]=lda cýnnes._ G[=u]. 948.
_=s=ígefolca =s=w[=é]g oð þæt =s=émnínga._ Beow. 644.
Words of this class, not compounded, are comparatively rare, but compounds with secondary accent are frequent.
These second syllables with a marked secondary accent in the best examples of Old English verse mostly form by themselves a member of the verse, i.e. are not treated as simple theses as in certain compositions of later date, e.g.
(v) After a long root-syllable of a trisyllabic word a short second syllable (whether its vowel was originally short or long) may bear one of the chief accents of the line, e.g. _b[=o]cère_, _bíscòpe_:
_þ[=æ]r bíscéopas and b[=ó]céras._ An. 607.
or may stand in the thesis and be unaccented, as
_gódes bísceope þ[=a] spræc g[=ú]ðcýning._ Gen. 2123.
This shows that in common speech these syllables had only a slight secondary accent.
(vi) Final syllables (whether long or short) are as a rule not accented even though a long root-syllable precede them.
§ =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_ (_lif[zh]an_), but for verbs of the second class the syllable remained vocalic, thus _þolian_.[61]