The Latin Neuter Plurals in Romance - Page ON

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154 oxen in a day’/obra ‘work’ (no doubt influenced by the rhizotonic forms of obrar, which are not diphthongized, perhaps following the model of sobrar), arma, Ptg. obra, arma, Sard. opera/obera ‘a day’s work’, arma. Another feminine form that puts in an early appearance in Latin is MENDA ‘fault’, giving It., Surs., Eng. menda, OFr. mende, Prov. menda, Cat. dial. mena (as against Log. mendu < MENDUM). A word that appears everywhere is PRIMA VERA ‘spring’ (found in a late inscription), Rum. primăvară (and vară ‘summer’), It. primavera (ONeap. vera ‘summer’, cf. Sp. verano, Ptg. verăo), Friul. primevere, Surs. primavera, Eng. prümavaira, OFr. primevoire, Prov., Cat., Sp., Ptg., Sard. primavera (this last said to be from Italian); we also find Rum. iarnă ‘winter’, It. inverna ‘winter wind’, Ptg. inverna ‘hard winter’, which may echo HIBERNA (the Rumanian certainly so). Latin VELA ‘sails’ (found as VELAS in late Latin), the plural of VELUM ‘sail’, ‘curtain’, ‘veil’, became the word for a ‘sail’: It., Surs. vela, Eng. vaila, Fr. voile, Prov., Cat., Sp. vela, OPtg. vea, later replaced by vela to avoid homonymy with veia < VENA ‘vein’; the singular remained everywhere as the word for ‘veil’, appearing also in Rumanian as văl pl. văluri, with a suspicious l that we discussed earlier in connection with VILLUS (but it may simply be a loanword from Italian, like velă ‘sail’). VERBA ‘words’ as a singular has generally retained the collective sense of ‘words’, ‘speech’ (cf. German Worte, as opposed to individual Wörter), as in OIt. verba, Surs. viarva, OEng. verva, Prov., OCat. verba, OSp. vierba; the Fr. verve originally meant ‘a form of expression’, then ‘empty chatter’, ‘whim’ and finally ‘vigour’, while modern Cat. (Maj.) berba means ‘joke’ and Ptg. verba ‘an item on a list’, ‘an appropriation of money’. In this case, too, the sing. VERBUM ‘word’ has left its reflexes as in It. verbo, Surs. vierv, OEng. vierf, OSp. vierbo, OPtg. verbo, Sard. berbu, with pl. berbos ‘magic words’. Another widespread word is FATA ‘the Fates’ (with a late abl. FATABUS suggesting a change of declension, or at least of gender), which is used once by Dante (artificially?) as a plural in its original meaning, but in general has 154
155 155 become a singular meaning ‘fairy’: It. fata, UEng. feda, LEng. fada, Fr. fée, Prov., Cat. fada, Sp. hada, Ptg., Sard. (Log.) fada (cf. the sings. It. fato, Sp. hado, Log. fadu ‘fate’, Ptg. fado ‘fate’, ‘fado’). Equally widespread (though not by a popular development) is AERA ‘bronzes’, which came to be used as a way of counting the years, so modern Rum. eră, It., Rh. era, Fr. ère, Prov., Cat., Sp., Ptg. era, all for ‘era’. b) From among a handful of neuters in -STRUM we have first CLAUSTRA ‘enclosed places’, which has given alternative forms of the words for ‘cloister’ alongside the masculine forms developed from ecclesiastical CLAUSTRUM: It. chiostra (now ‘an enclosed space’), Surs. claustra, Eng. clostra, OFr. clostre, Prov., Cat., OSp., OPtg. claustra (and OPtg. chostra, crasta). From CANISTRA ‘baskets’ we have It. canestra, Surs. canastra, Eng. chana(i)stra, Cent. Rh. tganastra, Cat. canast(r)a, Sp. canasta and Ptg. canastra (also old canasta; the medial n may have come by crossing with CANNA). (EM)PLASTRA ‘plasters’ has given It. piastra ‘metal plate’, Cat. emplast(r)a ‘plaster’ as an occasional variant of masc. emplastre (so “algunes emplastes”), Ptg. lastra ‘spot on a plant’ (Rh. implastra occurs as a feminine corresponding to the masc. implaster ‘feckless fellow’). COLOSTRA ‘beestings’ has given Rum. corast(r)ă, curast(r)ă and, by dissimilation, the current colastră. Sp. rastra in the senses ‘harrow’, ‘sled’ seems to represent RASTRA ‘harrows’, though in other senses it must be a deverbal. Other words have the -ULUM ending. From SABULA ‘sands’ come It. sabbia ‘sand’ and OFr. fem. sable, Prov. sabla, saula ‘ditto’, which appear early, though Wartburg says that Occ. sablo, saulo ‘sand’, like the Fr. masc. sable, are late forms preceded by sablon, cf. Rh. sablun, Cat. sabló, sauló. (For ‘sand’ the fem. SABURRA ‘ballast’ (cf. It. zavorra, old saborra) is used in some areas, so Prov. saorra, Cat. sorra (old saorra), Arag. zaborra (Sp. zahorra, sorra ‘ballast’ are from Catalan), Ptg.
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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
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55 55 böila, Eng. böglia, Surs. b
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57 57 de Dial. Esp., p. 346). But b
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59 59 j) Traces of other old neuter
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61 61 uova, with dial. ove or ovi f
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63 63 ‘kneading-trough’, in the
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65 65 8. Numerals and pronominal ad
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67 67 mil and modern mille (masc.).
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69 69 OFr. nu(l)s, nule, Prov. nuls
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71 71 find the meaning ‘leaf’,
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73 73 in the areas which use -i for
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75 75 c) Let us now look at the sit
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77 77 turn to the dialects to find
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79 79 matching these also ulivo/uli
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81 81 corme), corne (OFr. cornelle)
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83 83 beside cuerno/corgno, prunell
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85 85 cerezal ‘cherry orchard’,
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87 87 ‘holm-oak’ tree, but Arag
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89 89 péšego), with another varie
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91 91 the Piedmontese form la figa
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93 93 assisted by the feminine noun
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95 95 (oak), roveto (bramble), vign
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97 97 r) The position in Catalan is
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99 99 native to the area all right,
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101 101 but the fortuitous similari
Page 103 and 104: 103 103 trufa from French, Ptg. tub
Page 105 and 106: 105 105 Italian plurals in -ora and
Page 107 and 108: 107 107 account for Prov. nos (besi
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: 153 153 of ACUS ‘needles’, wher
Page 157 and 158: 157 157 From LINTEA ‘linen cloths
Page 159 and 160: 159 159 esquírola ‘ditto’. Fro
Page 161 and 162: 161 161 Rum. răza is ‘scrape’,
Page 163 and 164: 163 163 combination of meanings; in
Page 165 and 166: 165 165 has at the same time become
Page 167 and 168: 167 167 üj ‘grape’. Similarly
Page 169 and 170: 169 169 feminines; examples are It.
Page 171 and 172: 171 171 feminine noun which has nei
Page 173 and 174: 173 173 Cat. bolla ‘seal on cloth
Page 175 and 176: 175 175 Lat. VENA. Spanish seems to
Page 177 and 178: 177 177 Heidelberg, 1920; Romanisch
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