The Latin Neuter Plurals in Romance - Page ON

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74 the trees were neuter, with -UM in the singular and -A in the plural. But then, as Lausberg explains in detail (§601), the trees generally became masculine, as did ARBOR also, while at the same time the formal distinction in the singular between masculine and neuter was becoming lost, so that the names of the tree and the fruit became the same in the singular; in the plural the distinction between masculine -I and neuter -A was maintained, but there was a further tendency to change the name of the tree to a form in -A, in keeping with its feminine gender (so ORNA for ORNUS in an inscription), and to use the neuter plural of the name of the fruit for the singular, thus creating a further kind of confusion. (An example of the opposite tendency is seen in the creation of the tree-name CASTANEUS, quoted by Grandgent from Gregory of Tours, to form a contrast with CASTANEA, which had always been a feminine singular and now became reserved for the name of the fruit.) Thus in late Latin we can find either MELU-, POMU-, PIRU-, MESPILU- or MELA, POMA, PIRA, MESPILA as the names both of the trees and the fruit (we have already encountered a pl. POME in the Gl. Reich.). This confusion has been continued in Romance in certain areas, but has been obviated in most cases by creating a new name for the tree, generally by use of the ending -ARIUS or -ARIA (depending on the gender of the word for ‘tree’). MELU- is continued in Rumanian as măr, meaning ‘apple-tree’ or ‘apple’, with differing forms in the plural following the classical distinction, meri for the former and mere for the latter (here Istro-Rumanian seems to have a pl. merur, and a similar perur ‘pears’). Similarly, Old Italian had an undifferentiated singular il melo for the tree and the fruit, but differentiated plurals i meli and le mela, and this situation is continued today in the southern dialects. This seems to have been the pattern followed originally by all the fruits in Italian (cf. pomo still used for both tree and fruit), and we shall find that the old masculine or neuter singular forms are also sporadically preserved elsewhere in the case of certain fruits. (There were also a certain number of fruits which never had a neuter form.) 74
75 75 c) Let us now look at the situation in the individual languages. Rumanian, apart from the example of măr just given, generally uses the -U type for the tree and the -A type for the individual fruit, in the latter case following the pattern most commonly found in Romance. Thus we find pom/poamă ‘fruit(-tree)’, păr/pară ‘pear’, prun/prună ‘plum’ (note also prună de Damasc ‘damson’), mur/mură ‘blackberry’ (in Latin ‘mulberry’), piersic/piersică ‘peach’, cireş/cireaşă ‘cherry’ (late Lat. *CERESIU-, CL adj. CERASEU-), gutuiu (măr-gutuiu)/gutuie (MELU- COTONEU-) ‘quince’, sorb/soarbă ‘service(-berry)’, corn/coarnă ‘cornel(-cherry)’; this type has also been extended to other words such as nuc/nucă ‘walnut’ (both with pl. nuci), moşmol/moşmoală ‘medlar’, dud/dudă ‘mulberry’, agud/agudă ‘ditto’, cais/caisă ‘apricot’, zarzăr/zarzără ‘ditto’, măceş/măceşă ‘briar/hip’, porumbrel/porumbrea ‘blackthorn/sloe’, smochin/smochină ‘fig’, rodiu/rodie ‘pomegranate’, măslin/măslină ‘olive’, portocal/portocală ‘orange’ and năranŃă ‘bitter orange’ (so REW, but Schönkron gives năramză; the orange first introduced by the Arabs was bitter, but in most of the Romance languages the name was later applied to the sweet Chinese orange), lămâiu/lămâie ‘lemon’, castan/castană ‘chestnut’ (not popularly transmitted; cf. Mac.-Rum. căstînu/căstînă and note the forms găstîñe and Megl. căstañă given in the REW), smeur/smeură ‘raspberry’, coacăz/coacăză ‘(red) currant’, agriş/agrişă ‘gooseberry’, căpşun/căpşună ‘strawberry’ (the fruit is also called fragă, from the Latin pl. FRAGA, but the plant is frăgar); jujubă is evidently from French, see below. Note also that other words, in which the Latin -A form was a feminine singular, also fit this type, thus alun/alună (AVELLAN-US/-A) ‘hazel’ and migdal/migdală (AMYGDAL-US/-A) ‘almond’, the latter having come into the language from modern Greek. The word for ‘grape’ is the masc. strugure.
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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
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 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: 73 73 in the areas which use -i for
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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