The Latin Neuter Plurals in Romance - Page ON

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40 double plurals, would have backed up the idea of feminine concord.) ln Rumanian the -A ending was replaced, in the noun as in the article, by the feminine -AE > -e (which became -ă after some consonants, as we have just seen; note also Mac. Rum. mură, quoted by L. Spitzer in R.F. Hisp., III), so that in the case of BRACHIUM we have sing. braŃul, pl. braŃele, recalling the Latin double plural BRACHIAS (also braŃurile; Pop, Gram. Roum., p. 118); in view of this type of formation all the old neuters are considered to belong to a mixed declension, masculine in the singular and feminine in the plural. The word is also a unit of measurement, so that un braŃ, două braŃe, can mean ‘one fathom’, ‘two fathoms’, as well as ‘one armful’, ‘two armfuls’. In Italian the standard form of the plural of il braccio is the collective le braccia, meaning ‘the arms (of the body)’, with due braccia for ‘two ells’, ‘two cubits’; feminine plural concord is used in both cases, though in Old Italian one finds le braccia vostra (Rohlfs, §399). However, in cases involving individual arms, or when the word has a transferred meaning, such as ‘supports’, ‘brackets’, ‘wings of a building’, ‘branches of a river’ etc., the plural form is the masculine i bracci. Thus we see that in standard Italian the -a form is only preserved in the collective sense, whereas Rumanian uses braŃe in all senses. In this way Italian may be closer to the late Latin pattern, which perhaps had *BRACHII (not attested) for individual arms. In the local dialects we find forms corresponding to the Rumanian ones, and bearing out Aebischer’s thesis of common development, thus bracce (and brazze, brase etc.) in outlying parts of Tuscany as well as in the north (from where it spread to Corsica) and the south, while from Bari we find vrazzərə formed as Rum. braŃuri. In the case of this commonly used word we can see that the inherited “irregular” forms have held their ground well, but in many other cases we shall find that the -a form, or similar forms, belong only to the older stages of the language or to certain dialects, while the “regular” -i form has taken over in the modern standard 40
41 41 language, producing a situation similar to that in Western Romance. In the case of braccio we can see this happening in the north, as well as in the fringe areas of Tuscany and in Umbria, giving Mil. pl. braš, NWTusc. brazi, Umb. bracci for almost all meanings. In this case Meyer-Lübke says that the plural in -a only appears in the combination of a numeral and a unit of measurement (cf. my remarks concerning Rhaeto-Romance below), giving Ven. trea brazza (otherwise brazze), Mil. doa/tria/quattro bra(t)sa (as against braš). What is more — a point that is significant in relation to Western Romance — a new singular un bratsa (sic, Meyer-Lübke, Grammatik; a misprint? — cf. una dida in §6d below) has also been developed. b) Proceeding in the direction of Western Romance, we find that in Rhaeto-Romance a significant grammatical development has taken place, though the forms themselves are very similar to the standard Italian ones (allowing for the derivation of the masc. pl. from the acc. -OS rather than the nom. -I): Surs. la bratscha ‘the arms of the body’, in bratsch ‘one ell’, dua bratscha ‘two ells’, ils bratschs ‘individual arms’, ‘individuals ells (“nov bratschs vigls dat diesch novs” — with a singular verb!)’, ‘the branches of a river’. The difference from Italian is that today the form bratscha, though having a plural meaning, is grammatically a collective feminine singular, taking a singular verb (and sometimes forming a plural, as in Eng. a bratschas ‘arm in arm’), whereas the non-collective ils bratschs is a full plural. However, in the older stage of the language we find that these collective nouns had plural verbal concord. Thus Velleman, in his grammar of Upper Engadinian, quotes, “La vestimainta sun cuvertas da la tridezza” (Abyss), “Horrenda vermiglia havevan fat gnieu in teis cour” (ditto), “La mia verva nu vignen a passer via” (Bifrun, Mark), “Tuotta la membra nun haun una proepia houra” (Bifrun, Romans), and Ascoli, in Arch. Glott. It., VII, gives for Sursilvan, “Sia detta han pigliau”,
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 and 34: 33 33 plural (evidence of the early
Page 35 and 36: 35 35 in Chir.) as ‘leaves’? Th
Page 37 and 38: 37 37 loanwords and verbal nouns; i
Page 39: 39 39 singulars are felt to be the
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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