The Latin Neuter Plurals in Romance - Page ON

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34 we have seen, begun to affect other nouns in -U. You have, therefore, a situation very different from that in Western Romance, one in which the plural is formed by changing the final vowel; and the vowel -U, in particular, could be changed in three ways, to -I, -A or -ORA. This was a situation favourable to the retention of the neuter plural as a type of plural formation (alongside a parallel masculine one, if so desired), and also to the substitution of one neuter type for the other (the more clearly marked -ORA for -A); furthermore, if the reason behind the distinction between -I and -A/-ORA were no longer felt, there would be no obstacle to the substitution of -A/-ORA for -I in other nouns denoting individual objects if this proved to be of benefit. By contrast, in Western Romance the absence of the -S marker from -A and -ORA meant that these could no longer survive as plural endings, and so the neuter declension would disappear naturally; the only neuter plural forms that would have any hope of surviving would be the double plurals like LABRAS, and these would quickly develop new singular forms in -A, thus becoming new feminines. b) As for the new feminine singulars already recorded in late Latin, we find many that are significant for Romance, such as LABIA, RETIA, TRIBULA, GAUDIA, FOLIA, PRIMA VERA, MELA, PERSICA, PIRA, POMA, PRUNA, NESPILA, FRAGA, GRANA, LIGNA, CLAUSTRA, CINDRA, CINISSA, ARMA, OPERA, INGUINA, BISATIA, SARMENTA (more especially important as a type of the -MENTA formation), VELA, FORTIA, PUNCTA, GESTA, SPONSALIA, BATTALIA, MIRABILIA, CAMPANIA, and dat. pl. FATABUS. But it is not always clear to me, owing to lack of information, in what sense these singulars were used, whether as collective or as individual nouns, or whether these words were only used in the plural; for instance, does “FOLIA” mean that this word is used in the singular (the Thes. Ling. Lat. provides evidence that in fact it is), and, if so, does it mean ‘foliage’ or ‘leaf’, or are we to understand that we only find the plural FOLIAS (recorded 34
35 35 in Chir.) as ‘leaves’? The modern languages offer examples of both meanings in the singular, of which ‘foliage’ (found, e.g., in phrases corresponding to the similar English ‘in leaf’) must surely be the older. In other cases the process of transference is clear. In that of an abstract noun like GAUDIA, the collective plural meaning, as in “the joys of motherhood” (as contrasted with the individual “Five Joys of the Virgin”), is close to that of the singular, and in the same way the pl. FORTIA ‘mighty deeds’ easily becomes the sing. FORTIA ‘might’, ‘force’, and for the development of SPONSALIA compare English “nuptials” = “wedding”. In other cases we know that the singular use to indicate a single object developed early, as in the case of LABIA, RETIA, TRIBULA, OPERA (but in the abstract, not the concrete, sense). In the case of LIGNA, PRATA, CLAUSTRA, CINDRA, CINISSA, INGUINA, BISATIA, GESTA, CAMPANIA we can clearly see a collective use, and perhaps so also in PRIMA VERA, as ‘the first days of spring’. Souter says SARMENTA means ‘twig’, but does not say whether it appears in the singular. He quotes FATAE, but this may simply be extrapolated from the FATABUS seen above, in which case we may merely have an example of a neuter plural having a feminine oblique case (like OVARUM, OSSARIJM, CULTELLARUM), though the -ABUS certainly seems to mark the word as feminine, being used in classical Latin to distinguish the dat.-abl. of DEAE, FILIAE, ANIMAE from those of DEI, FILII, ANIMI. The phrases quoted by Nyrop show that ARMA had both a collective and an individual meaning. It is not stated how MELA, PERSICA, PIRA, PRUNA, NESPILA and FRAGA are used, but the “pome mire pulchritudinis” glossing “mala granata” in the Gl. Reich. are clearly individual fruits in the plural, like Fr. pommes (the scribe might well have written “*pomas” for the nominative, like “litteras” in another gloss). (It must be borne in mind that while many of these examples are relevant to the whole of Romance, eg. FOLIA, ARMA, PRIMA VERA, RETIA, some, like LIGNA, PRATA, GAUDIA, GESTA, only apply to part of the territory, or even just to one local area, viz. France, and such examples are only recorded in late locally-coloured texts.) In the case of the new singular
Page 1 and 2: 1 1 The Latin Neuter Plurals in Rom
Page 3 and 4: individually. 3 3 Such treatments a
Page 5 and 6: 5 5 stages of the language. (Incide
Page 7 and 8: 7 7 preserved in Italian, such as t
Page 9 and 10: 9 9 ‘well’, CAPILLUM ‘hair’
Page 11 and 12: etween the 2nd and 4th declensions)
Page 13 and 14: 13 13 changing their declension in
Page 15 and 16: 15 15 Another popular development w
Page 17 and 18: une formation hybride à cheval sur
Page 19 and 20: 19 19 with acc. pl. LUSTROS, in ins
Page 21 and 22: 21 21 OSSUUM/OSSUORUM/OSSORUM/OSSAR
Page 23 and 24: 23 23 inscription (Bourciez, §218c
Page 25 and 26: 25 25 PRAESTIGIUM, INFAMIUM, BLASPH
Page 27 and 28: 27 27 Ling. Lat., but Nyrop quotes
Page 29 and 30: 29 29 singular in early times), SPI
Page 31 and 32: 31 31 substantia consumitur” (Ita
Page 33: 33 33 plural (evidence of the early
Page 37 and 38: 37 37 loanwords and verbal nouns; i
Page 39 and 40: 39 39 singulars are felt to be the
Page 41 and 42: 41 41 language, producing a situati
Page 43 and 44: 43 43 c) Passing now to French, we
Page 45 and 46: 45 45 separated from braç, as are
Page 47 and 48: 47 47 a modern formation). Old Ital
Page 49 and 50: 49 49 ‘powder horns’, ‘corner
Page 51 and 52: 51 51 also represent Latin -NIA (cf
Page 53 and 54: 53 53 ‘heels’ gives the Rumania
Page 55 and 56: 55 55 böila, Eng. böglia, Surs. b
Page 57 and 58: 57 57 de Dial. Esp., p. 346). But b
Page 59 and 60: 59 59 j) Traces of other old neuter
Page 61 and 62: 61 61 uova, with dial. ove or ovi f
Page 63 and 64: 63 63 ‘kneading-trough’, in the
Page 65 and 66: 65 65 8. Numerals and pronominal ad
Page 67 and 68: 67 67 mil and modern mille (masc.).
Page 69 and 70: 69 69 OFr. nu(l)s, nule, Prov. nuls
Page 71 and 72: 71 71 find the meaning ‘leaf’,
Page 73 and 74: 73 73 in the areas which use -i for
Page 75 and 76: 75 75 c) Let us now look at the sit
Page 77 and 78: 77 77 turn to the dialects to find
Page 79 and 80: 79 79 matching these also ulivo/uli
Page 81 and 82: 81 81 corme), corne (OFr. cornelle)
Page 83 and 84: 83 83 beside cuerno/corgno, prunell
Page 85 and 86:
85 85 cerezal ‘cherry orchard’,
Page 87 and 88:
87 87 ‘holm-oak’ tree, but Arag
Page 89 and 90:
89 89 péšego), with another varie
Page 91 and 92:
91 91 the Piedmontese form la figa
Page 93 and 94:
93 93 assisted by the feminine noun
Page 95 and 96:
95 95 (oak), roveto (bramble), vign
Page 97 and 98:
97 97 r) The position in Catalan is
Page 99 and 100:
99 99 native to the area all right,
Page 101 and 102:
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 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 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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