Dreimorengesetz is a German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 term which translates to "three-mora

Mora (linguistics)

Mora is a unit in phonology that determines syllable weight, which in some languages determines stress or timing. As with many technical linguistic terms, the definition of a mora varies. Perhaps the most succinct working definition was provided by the American linguist James D...

 rule." This name is given to the rule for placing the accent in a Latin word.

Where the accent falls

With few exceptions, Latin words are stressed on the penult (second-to-last syllable) if it is "heavy"

Syllable weight

In linguistics, syllable weight is the concept that syllables pattern together according to the number and/or duration of segments in the rime. In classical poetry, both Greek and Latin, distinctions of syllable weight were fundamental to the meter of the line....

 (having a long vowel or diphthong or ending in a consonant), and on the antepenult (third-to-last syllable) if the penult is "light"

Syllable weight

In linguistics, syllable weight is the concept that syllables pattern together according to the number and/or duration of segments in the rime. In classical poetry, both Greek and Latin, distinctions of syllable weight were fundamental to the meter of the line....

 (ending with a short vowel.)

Examples:

1. Condĭtum "founded" = co•n—di—tum (heavy, light, final) = cónditum
2. Condītum "seasoned" = co•n—di•i—tum (heavy, heavy, final) = condítum
3. Conductum "brought together" = co•n—du•c—tum (heavy, heavy, final) =condúctum

( - marks a syllable boundary, • marks a mora boundary)

Moraic analysis

If one counts all "light" syllables as one mora and all "heavy" syllables as two morae, it becomes clear that the accent is essentially always placed three morae before the end of the word. Note, however, that for this analysis to work, one must always count the final syllable as one mora, regardless of its actual syllabic composition.

Examples:

1. In condĭtum the third mora from the end is the n of the first syllable, so the accent falls on cón-
2. In condītum the third mora from the end is the first part of the ī in the second syllable, so the accent falls on dí-
3. In conductum the third mora from the end is the du of the second syllable, so the accent falls on duc-

5th mora	4th mora	3rd mora	2nd mora	final		accent
	co	ń	di	tum		= cónditum
co	n	dí	i	tum		= condítum
co	n	dú	c	tum		= condúctum

A somewhat different, and possibly more accurate, analysis is to consider the final syllable as extra metric; then the accent always falls on the syllable with the penult metric mora, and there is no need to define a special type of mora counting for the last syllable.

Other languages

Many other languages have similar but not identical rules for the placement of the accent:

• Arabic dialects (and certain other Semitic
  Semitic
  In linguistics and ethnology, Semitic was first used to refer to a language family of largely Middle Eastern origin, now called the Semitic languages...
  
   languages) originally used a similar rule, but this has been complicated by the loss of most final vowels.
• Sanskrit
  Sanskrit
  Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
  
   (and certain other Indic
  Indic
  Indic can refer to:* Indo-Aryan languages* Indic scripts* Related to the Indian Subcontinent* of or related to India ; see Indica...
  
   languages) use a version of this rule that allowed for placement on the fourth-to-last syllable if the antepenult was light.
• Ancient Greek
  Ancient Greek
  Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
  
  had a totally different rule, but it likewise restricted the accent to the last three syllables and could be seen as mora-based.