The Latin Neuter Plurals in Romance - Page ON

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106 Later we have FUNDORA and COLFORA ‘gulfs’ from Ravenna in the 7th century, and then the numerous Lombard Latin forms dating back to the 8th century (see §4e). In Eastern Romance the -S of the singular forms was lost by the regular process of phonetic change, and in Western Romance might also be lost by being regarded as the plural ending, but in Sardinian at least the singular forms with the -US maintained are well preserved: tempus, corpus, pettus, Log. onus, Log., Camp. pegus, obus, ladus, Camp. frius, Sulcis tšinus, OLog. pinnus, now pindzus with Italian influence. Elsewhere, also with the -S, we have Fr. temps, corps, OFr. piz, ues, lez, giens < GENUS ‘kind’ (in “ne...giens”, ‘not at all’), Prov. tems, cors, peitz, ops, latz, penhs, ge(n)s, Cat. tems, cos, gens, OCat. pits, ops, (l)lats, OSp. tiempos, Cuerpos Christi, pechos, uebos, al lados de, peños, OPtg. tempos, corpos, peitos, lados, empenhos, OGal. pennos (the Old Spanish and Portuguese forms in -os are mere idiomatic relics, as the -s was apprehended as the plural suffix and the singular was reformed in -o; but note that Spanish and Portuguese still keep the -S of MINUS, as do other Western Romance languages). In Rhaeto-Romance the only forms with -s are Surs. temps, pèz, and an old pens quoted by Meyer-Lübke (Schicks.), together with adverbial latz in Friulian. Otherwise we find Surs. tgierp, Eng. temp, chuerp, pet, pain, Friul. timp, cuarp (Surs., Eng. Friul. pegn seems to be an Italianized form; compare also Surs. meins as against Eng. main from MINUS). From the other words which joined this class later we have, with the -S still preserved, OFr. ars from ARMUS ‘shoulder of an animal’, Fr., Prov. ers from ERVUS ‘cultivated vetch’, OFr. fontz (now fonds), Prov., Cat. fons, Surs. funz/funs, UEng. fuonz (but LEng. fuond), Friul. fonz from FUNDUS ‘estate’, OFr. fiens, Prov., OCat. fems from FIMUS (*FEMUS) ‘dung’, OFr., Prov. pous, Cat. pols, OSp. polvos, OPtg. po(vo)s from PULVUS ‘dust’. Neuter forms *NODUS/*NUDUS ‘knot’ may also be required to 106
107 107 account for Prov. nos (beside no(t)), Cat. nus (earlier flanked by nu); here the Engl. noose also suggests that the OFr. nom. nous may similarly have served as an invariable form beside oblique nou. Anglade also says that Prov. gras beside gra(t) points to a neuter *GRADUS ‘step’, while Meyer-Lübke (Schicks.) says that Old French has an invariable gues beside gué (cf. Prov. g(u)as, g(u)a(t), and Cat. place-name Rec del Gaus), which requires a neuter *VADUS ‘ford’. On the other hand, however, the Provençal forms with -s may reflect an intervocalic D > z, and the DCVB says that nus has come from the plural form. Again, Anglade maintains that Prov. potz comes from a neuter *PUTEUS ‘well’ (no reasons given), while Meyer-Lübke feels that the South Italian forms fetu/fietu point to neuter *FETUS ‘offspring’, an idea that may in fact find support in the Prov. fes quoted by Mistral (s.v. fetus) and the Sardinian forms given below in §10e. These are only shadowy hypotheses, but in general we may say that one factor tending to confirm them is the fact that -ORA plurals for these words can be found in Italian and Rumanian (for that matter we could equally compare Prov. nis, ni(t) ‘nest’ and Lombard Latin NIDORA, It. dial. ne(d)ora, nidura/-re). b) With regard to the plural forms, the use of the -ORA ending is, as I have just said, a mark of Eastern Romance, and Rohlfs says (§370) that in spite of such forms being used in medieval documents in Lombardy they are hardly found in North Italian; the few examples he quotes are OLomb. stercora and tenpore and modern fossilized forms such as Moden. lògher (a new singular based on a variant of OIt. locora), Romagn. égur (cf. the plural forms OTusc. agora, SIt. acora). Even in Old Tuscan they do not occur much in the literary language, though they appear with greater frequency in non-literary writings. But as we go south we meet with more and more examples, which we will look at in a moment. Before doing so, however, let us look at the core of words that
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1 1 The Latin Neuter Plurals in Rom
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individually. 3 3 Such treatments a
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5 5 stages of the language. (Incide
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7 7 preserved in Italian, such as t
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9 9 ‘well’, CAPILLUM ‘hair’
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etween the 2nd and 4th declensions)
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13 13 changing their declension in
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15 15 Another popular development w
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une formation hybride à cheval sur
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19 19 with acc. pl. LUSTROS, in ins
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21 21 OSSUUM/OSSUORUM/OSSORUM/OSSAR
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23 23 inscription (Bourciez, §218c
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25 25 PRAESTIGIUM, INFAMIUM, BLASPH
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27 27 Ling. Lat., but Nyrop quotes
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29 29 singular in early times), SPI
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31 31 substantia consumitur” (Ita
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33 33 plural (evidence of the early
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35 35 in Chir.) as ‘leaves’? Th
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37 37 loanwords and verbal nouns; i
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39 39 singulars are felt to be the
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41 41 language, producing a situati
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43 43 c) Passing now to French, we
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45 45 separated from braç, as are
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47 47 a modern formation). Old Ital
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49 49 ‘powder horns’, ‘corner
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51 51 also represent Latin -NIA (cf
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53 53 ‘heels’ gives the Rumania
Page 55 and 56: 55 55 böila, Eng. böglia, Surs. b
Page 57 and 58: 57 57 de Dial. Esp., p. 346). But b
Page 59 and 60: 59 59 j) Traces of other old neuter
Page 61 and 62: 61 61 uova, with dial. ove or ovi f
Page 63 and 64: 63 63 ‘kneading-trough’, in the
Page 65 and 66: 65 65 8. Numerals and pronominal ad
Page 67 and 68: 67 67 mil and modern mille (masc.).
Page 69 and 70: 69 69 OFr. nu(l)s, nule, Prov. nuls
Page 71 and 72: 71 71 find the meaning ‘leaf’,
Page 73 and 74: 73 73 in the areas which use -i for
Page 75 and 76: 75 75 c) Let us now look at the sit
Page 77 and 78: 77 77 turn to the dialects to find
Page 79 and 80: 79 79 matching these also ulivo/uli
Page 81 and 82: 81 81 corme), corne (OFr. cornelle)
Page 83 and 84: 83 83 beside cuerno/corgno, prunell
Page 85 and 86: 85 85 cerezal ‘cherry orchard’,
Page 87 and 88: 87 87 ‘holm-oak’ tree, but Arag
Page 89 and 90: 89 89 péšego), with another varie
Page 91 and 92: 91 91 the Piedmontese form la figa
Page 93 and 94: 93 93 assisted by the feminine noun
Page 95 and 96: 95 95 (oak), roveto (bramble), vign
Page 97 and 98: 97 97 r) The position in Catalan is
Page 99 and 100: 99 99 native to the area all right,
Page 101 and 102: 101 101 but the fortuitous similari
Page 103 and 104: 103 103 trufa from French, Ptg. tub
Page 105: 105 105 Italian plurals in -ora and
Page 109 and 110: 109 109 Italian as the Latinism fri
Page 111 and 112: 111 111 Sard. pettorale. PIGNORA is
Page 113 and 114: 113 113 FUNDUS, ARCUS, COLFUS, NODU
Page 115 and 116: 115 115 from a late Greek form kól
Page 117 and 118: 117 117 like cambiora, digiunora, f
Page 119 and 120: 119 119 down by purely popular tran
Page 121 and 122: 121 121 examples I have given above
Page 123 and 124: 123 123 note that -egl- > -agl- is
Page 125 and 126: 125 125 dictionary ascribes the Ita
Page 127 and 128: 127 127 with the same meaning. This
Page 129 and 130: 129 129 ‘brotherhood’, and the
Page 131 and 132: 131 131 Vegl. fyasta (the Rum. fest
Page 133 and 134: 133 133 ‘salary’, and in these
Page 135 and 136: 135 135 legenda, Fr. (learned) lég
Page 137 and 138: 137 137 the widespread forms corres
Page 139 and 140: 139 139 morceau, Engl. bit), It. bo
Page 141 and 142: 141 141 languages the first consona
Page 143 and 144: 143 143 spread to the Iberian Penin
Page 145 and 146: 145 145 Rhaeto-Romance. From VINCUL
Page 147 and 148: 147 147 VISCUM ‘mistletoe’. Fro
Page 149 and 150: 149 149 are also forms without clas
Page 151 and 152: 151 151 also lists Rum. par as “n
Page 153 and 154: 153 153 of ACUS ‘needles’, wher
Page 155 and 156: 155 155 become a singular meaning
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157 157 From LINTEA ‘linen cloths
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159 159 esquírola ‘ditto’. Fro
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161 161 Rum. răza is ‘scrape’,
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163 163 combination of meanings; in
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165 165 has at the same time become
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167 167 üj ‘grape’. Similarly
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169 169 feminines; examples are It.
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171 171 feminine noun which has nei
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173 173 Cat. bolla ‘seal on cloth
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175 175 Lat. VENA. Spanish seems to
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177 177 Heidelberg, 1920; Romanisch
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