The Latin Neuter Plurals in Romance - Page ON
The Latin Neuter Plurals in Romance - Page ON
The Latin Neuter Plurals in Romance - Page ON
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140<br />
g) I have not yet spoken of the forms of this type which are still<br />
preserved <strong>in</strong> a plural function <strong>in</strong> Rumanian and sporadically <strong>in</strong> Italian, often<br />
with s<strong>in</strong>gular forms elsewhere. Here we have, from PECCATA ‘s<strong>in</strong>s’, Rum.<br />
păcate, OIt. peccata/peccate, SIt. peccatərə, to which compare the isolated Sp.<br />
“por pecada” <strong>in</strong> Alex. P 335a, and OSard. peccada, said to have been taken from<br />
Italian; from FACTA ‘deeds’, Rum. pl. fapte, It. s<strong>in</strong>g. fatta ‘sort’, Surs. fatga, Eng.<br />
fatta ‘affair’, OFr. faite ‘sort’, malefaite ‘misdeed’, Occ. fato/facho ‘deed’,<br />
‘affair’, Prov. malafacha ‘misdeed’, Cat. feita ‘sort’, OSp. hecha, Ptg. feita<br />
‘deed’, ‘occasion’; from VOTA ‘vows’, SIt. pl. vutura, to which correspond the<br />
s<strong>in</strong>gulars OFr. veue (<strong>in</strong> maleveue ‘disaster’), Prov. voda/vota ‘vow’, ‘festival’,<br />
Cat., Sp., Ptg. boda ‘wedd<strong>in</strong>g’; from RISA ‘laughs’, Rum. râsuri (and Coll<strong>in</strong><br />
gives a form râse), It. risa (also s<strong>in</strong>gular <strong>in</strong> dialect), and the s<strong>in</strong>gulars Sp., Ptg.<br />
risa (cf. also the cognate s<strong>in</strong>gulars It. risata, Surs. risada, Eng. riseda, Fr. risée,<br />
Prov., Cat. dial., Sp., Ptg. risada, where Rumanian has a pl. râsete, see below);<br />
from PEDITA ‘farts’, It. (Neap.) pl. pedətə, and the s<strong>in</strong>gulars Fr. dial. pète(s), Occ.<br />
peto ‘animal dropp<strong>in</strong>gs’, Ptg. peida ‘arse’; from VERSA ‘verses’, Rum. viersuri,<br />
OIt. versa, OPtg. versas; Coll<strong>in</strong> also gives Calab., Sic. vestita ‘clothes’, and It.<br />
gesta ‘feats’, which, also appear<strong>in</strong>g as it does as a s<strong>in</strong>gular, is rather, here as<br />
elsewhere, to be considered as a borrow<strong>in</strong>g from Fr. geste, which is itself of<br />
learned <strong>in</strong>troduction from <strong>Lat<strong>in</strong></strong>. In Italian we also f<strong>in</strong>d the old plural forms<br />
precepta, merta (as PRAECEPTA, MERITA above), cantora ‘songs’ (or is this the<br />
other word ‘corners’ ?) and sensora ‘senses’, given by Meyer-Lübke (Schicks.),<br />
as well as tetta or tettora ‘roofs’, this last still preserved <strong>in</strong> southérn dialects,<br />
with a parallel Occ. (Dauph.) s<strong>in</strong>g. techo, while Rumanian has the isolated<br />
cuv<strong>in</strong>te ‘words’, s<strong>in</strong>g. cuvânt < C<strong>ON</strong>VENTU, the process of semantic change<br />
be<strong>in</strong>g from ‘meet<strong>in</strong>g’ via ‘dialogue’. We may also for convenience <strong>in</strong>clude here<br />
another 4th-declension noun which was attracted to this pattern, and that is<br />
QUIRITUS, a deverbal from QUIRITARE ‘cry aloud’; <strong>in</strong> many of the modern<br />
140