The Latin Neuter Plurals in Romance - Page ON

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changing their declension in the same way as the VAS (3), VASA (2) that we have
already looked at, which were carried over from earlier times. So we get
TERGUM ‘back’ (2), pl. TERGA, or TERGUS (3), pl. TERGORA, and IUGERUM ‘acre’
(2) in the singular, with IUGERA (3) in the plural, while there are three
2nd-declension neuters in -US without plurals, VIRUS ‘poison’, PELAGUS ‘sea’
and VULGUS ‘crowd’, of which the first two originally belonged to the 3rd
declension, while VULGUS was originally masculine and continued to be used as
such by many writers. Another noteworthy change is from PECU to PECUS, first
as a neuter with pl. PECORA or PECUDA for ‘cattle’, collectively, and then as a
feminine with pl. PECUDES for ‘single beasts’, with the difference of form and
gender once again indicating a difference in function. Another kind of
alternation between masculine and neuter (already found in Varro and old
inscriptions) is seen in TERMINUS/TERMEN ‘limit’, ‘boundary’; the type in -MEN
evidently enjoyed a certain expansion at one stage, as we find evidence in
Romance for forms like *VERMEN, *FAMEN, *COSTUMEN for VERMIS ‘worm’ (by
association with VERMINA ‘griping pains’), FAMES ‘hunger’ and CONSUETUDO
‘custom’. Not directly involving the neuters but having relevance to the later
change to neuter forms is the continued erosion of the 4th declension (masc.
and fem. forms) by the 2nd; in addition to the nouns quoted in §2c above, we
find COLUS ‘distaff’ and ACUS ‘needle’ have also been affected, and many
names of trees like FAGUS ‘beech’, QUERCUS ‘oak’, LAURUS ‘laurel’, MYRTUS
‘myrtle’ (also 1st decl. MYRTA), FICUS ‘fig’ and PINUS ‘pine’. Finally, we need to
remark on a different kind of change, from neuter singular to feminine,
affecting the Greek words ending in -MA; we already find “cum servili schema”
in Plautus, and then in classical times we find gen. sing. CYMAE ‘cabbage
sprout’ (Volumnius; so also CYMAM later in Pliny and Columella), and acc.
DIADEMAM (Pomponius), DOGMAM (Laberius), with other words being affected
later.