The Latin Neuter Plurals in Romance - Page ON

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done or the name of a tool, while the corresponding -ORIA form generally
denotes a tool. These modern feminines denoting tools can surely hardly be
traced back to old plural forms, and are often flanked by masculines; an
example is seen in Rum. strecurătoare ‘strainer’, ‘colander’ (the verb strecura
corresponds to It. trascolare) beside It. colatoio (cf. colatore ‘drainage
channel’), Rh. culader, Fr. couloir/couloire, Occ. couladou, Cat. colador, Sp.
coladero/colador/coladera, Ptg. coadouro/coador/coadeira (with change of
suffix; so also Sp., or is this a case of -er- < -uer-?), Log. koladordzu/koladore,
Camp. koladrožu/koladori.
d) Further examples of adjectival neuters are provided by the gerundive
and the participles, among which the past participle is preeminent. (For the
transference of such forms from plural to singular, cf. the fate of words like
agenda and data in present-day English.) Here again, it is not always easy to
determine whether the original Latin form was a neuter plural or a feminine
singular, but in one case at least Rumanian provides a plural form. From
MERENDA ‘things to be earned’ we have Rum. merinde ‘provisions’; elsewhere
the word has become a singular meaning a ‘light meal’, so It. merenda, Rh.
marenda, OFr. marende/merande, Prov. merenda, Cat. berena, Sp. merienda,
Ptg. merenda, Sard. merenda, Vegl. marjanda. Similarly FAC(I)ENDA ‘things to
be done’ gives It. faccenda ‘business’, ‘work to do’, Surs. fatschenta, Eng.
fatschenda, Prov. fasenda, OCat. faena, now feina, Sp. hacienda, Ptg. fazenda,
and a similar form underlies OFr. fesandier (the Sard. fattšenda is from Italian).
From the Western church word OFFERENDA ‘offering’ we have OIt. offerenda,
Surs. unfrenda, Fr. offrande, Prov. of(e)renda, ufrenda etc., Cat. ofrena, Sp.
ofrenda (shown by its stressed vowel to be either borrowed or semi-learned),
Ptg. oferenda, offrenda. Another Western church word is LEGENDA ‘the story of
a saint’s life etc. to be read on his saint’s day’, which became the word for a
‘legend’: It. leggenda (borrowed into Rum. as legendă; also OIt. lienda), Rh.
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