The Latin Neuter Plurals in Romance - Page ON

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singular in early times), SPIRITUS (and n. -UM), GELUS, CORNUS, GENUM, and,
from the 2nd to the 4th, SOMNUS (Itala; this may be an instance of
hyper-correction). We have also noted the use of LECTUS (4), FRETUS (4),
PRATUS (4), FATUS (4) and FURTUS (4) for LECTUS (2) later LECTUM, FRETUM,
PRATUM, FATUM and FURTUM, and similarly the pairs of verbal nouns
EVENTUS/EVENTUM, RICTUS/RICTUM, PECCATUS/PECCATUM, VISUS/VISUM, to
which we may add FRUCTUS/FRUCTUM and IUSSUS/IUSSUM. In addition we have
noted the use of GUSTUM for GUSTUS and CIRCUITUM for CIRCUITUS, while
another example of close pairs is SPUTUS ‘spitting’ and SPUTUM ‘spittle’. We
may also add, from classical times, DICT-US/-UM, FACT-US/-UM, VOMIT-US/-UM,
and, in late Latin, DUCTUM, CANTUM, INGRESSUM, REGRESSUM for DUCTUS etc.,
and conversely PLACITUS, PACTUS for PLACITUM, PACTUM. Note also the
correspondence between FLUXA (pl.) and FLUXUS, or ACTA and ACTUS; in this
last case earlier versions of the Bible have “Acta Apostolorum”, but this is
changed to “Actus Apostolorum” in the Vulgate and later writers. Similarly we
find the title “Edictus Rothari” rather than “Edictum”. We have here a key to
the fact that in Rumanian, for example, the nouns corresponding to the Latin
verbal nouns in -TUS, -SUS all belong to the mixed declension (generally with
plurals in -e, though, as we have just seen in §4e, others in -uri are also found),
even though many of these words are new formations or learned borrowings.
The fact is that, as neuter participles gradually came to be used as nouns, a
natural confusion arose between these and the old verbal nouns in -TUS, -SUS
(hence the reverse process leading to the formation of PRATUS, FATUS, FURTUS);
in the singular, as we have seen, the masculine forms would take over from the
neuter, while in the plural the collective sense would predominate, so the old
plurals in -ŪS would disappear from the verbal nouns. Add to this the fact that,
as we have seen, the 4th-declension forms in general gave place to the 2nd, and
also that many of the words in this declension were of the kind that naturally
adopted collective plurals, such as GRADA ‘steps’, ‘stairs’, PASSA ‘(foot)steps’