The Latin Neuter Plurals in Romance - Page ON

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170 e) Besides all the parallel masculine and feminine forms I have just listed in this section, we also need to recall the others that have been referred to elsewhere. Because I have concentrated on giving the reflexes of the old neuter plurals, I have not always mentioned the fact that the singulars have also continued in a separate function, but this point needs to be made here before I come to the final development in Romance. Thus we have seen that LIGNU/LIGNA and FRUCTU/FRUCTA have come down in contrasting forms referring to the individual and collective objects respectively, while in other cases, such as those of BRACCHIU/-A, CORNU/-UA, OVU/-A, CILIU/-A, CAPITIU/-A, CEREBELLU/-A, RAMU/-A, FOLIU/-A, -ETU/-A, GRANU/-A, HORTU/-A, VESTIMENTU/-A, PRATU/-A, GRADU/-A, VALLU/-A, VELU/-A, VERBU/-A, LINTEU/-A, RADIU/-A, CANASTRU/-A, separate singular forms have developed, generally with distinct meanings related to the difference of number in Latin, though this is not always the case. In certain cases we can see a distinction in size, thus OFr. pree < PRATA is wider in expanse than pré < PRATU, and Sp. huerta, Ptg. horta, Prov. orta, Cat. horta are big gardens, while huerto, hôrto, ort and hort are only small ones; Prov., Cat., Sp., Ptg. saca and Fr.-Prov. sachi are bigger sacks than saco, sac, It. coltella, Prov. coutela, OCat. coltella, Sp. cuchilla and Ptg. cutela refer to knives bigger than those denoted by the corresponding masculine forms, and the same is true of the various words for ‘basket’ noted above, It. canestra, Rh. canastra, chana(i)stra, tganastra, Eng. chavagna (-ogna), Cat. cabassa; in Spanish cuerna means ‘antler’ and cuerno ‘horn’, and a rama is a main bough while a ramo is only a smaller branch, and equally, in Occitanian, anello denotes a large ring, as opposed to anèu, which is an ordinary ring, while It. cucchiaia means ‘ladle’ and cucchiaio ‘spoon’. In the same way, in the case of the words we have just looked at, the reflexes of CALDARIA and PANARIA generally denote larger objects than those of CALDARIU and PANARIU. From this has come the tendency to develop a new Romance masculine noun from a 170
171 171 feminine noun which has neither been a neuter plural in Latin nor developed a collective meaning in Romance. This development is noted by both Nunes (Gram. Hist. Port., p. 223) and Rohlfs (§386); Rohlfs specifically refers to the question of size, though he takes most of his examples only from the above words, but Nunes sees no special distinction in meaning. f) Though some of the forms concerned are only of local occurrence, others are found over quite a wide area, suggesting that this process took place early enough for its effect to spread from one region to another. Among the words with a wide territory we find CUPA ‘barrel’, ‘tub’ and its modified form CUPPA ‘goblet’, with corresponding -O forms. From the former we have Neap. cupə (masc.) ‘hive’ beside Ven. cuba ‘cupola’, Fr. cuve ‘tub’, Prov., Cat. cup, cuba ‘ditto’, Sp., Ptg. cubo ‘bucket’, cuba ‘tub’, Sard. (Cent.) cupa, (Log., Camp.) cuba ‘tub’ (we can see that the Sp., Ptg. cubo is distinctly smaller than the cuba). CUPPA and its offshoot *CUPPO have given Rum. cupă ‘goblet’, It. coppo ‘jar’, ‘skull’, ‘fishing-net on a pole’, ‘acorn-cup’, coppa ‘goblet’, ‘cup (trophy)’, ‘pan (in scales)’, ‘cranium’ (the distinctions in meaning are evidently not related to size), Friul., Misox. cop ‘skimming-spoon’, Surs. cup, Eng. cop ‘bowl’, ‘goblet’, Surs. cuppa, Eng. coppa ‘large bowl’, ‘basin’, ‘skull’, OFr. cop ‘head’, Fr. coupe ‘cup’, ‘bowl’, ‘basin’, ‘cupola’, Prov. cop ‘mortar’, ‘crown of the head or of a tree or hat’, ‘acorn-cup’, ‘fishing-net on a pole’, copa ‘cup’, ‘bowl’, ‘basin’, ‘brazier’, Cat. cop ‘vat’, ‘fishing-net’, copa ‘cup’, ‘glass’, Sp. copo ‘head of fibres on the top of a distaff’, ‘purse-net (for fishing)’, copa ‘wine-glass’, ‘cup (trophy)’, ‘goblet’, ‘crown of a tree or hat’, ‘brazier’, Ptg. copo, as Spanish and also ‘glass’ (the source of Japanese koppu), copa ‘cup’, ‘goblet’, ‘(cupboard for) crockery’, ‘crown of a tree or hat’, Log. kuppu ‘head of a cabbage’, Camp. kuppu ‘tub’ (Log. koppa, Camp. kuppa ‘brazier’ have been taken from Spanish); it will be seen that the distribution of meanings
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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
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103 103 trufa from French, Ptg. tub
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105 105 Italian plurals in -ora and
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107 107 account for Prov. nos (besi
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109 109 Italian as the Latinism fri
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111 111 Sard. pettorale. PIGNORA is
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113 113 FUNDUS, ARCUS, COLFUS, NODU
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115 115 from a late Greek form kól
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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
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: 169 169 feminines; examples are It.
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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