The Latin Neuter Plurals in Romance - Page ON
The Latin Neuter Plurals in Romance - Page ON
The Latin Neuter Plurals in Romance - Page ON
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cotogna, corni(ol)o/corni(ol)a, nespolo/nespola ‘medlar’, with other forms<br />
follow<strong>in</strong>g the pattern later, such as nocciolo/nocciola ‘hazel’ (the root word<br />
noce ‘walnut’ is mascul<strong>in</strong>e when referr<strong>in</strong>g to the tree and fem<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>e when<br />
referr<strong>in</strong>g to the nut, even appear<strong>in</strong>g with an -a <strong>in</strong> Versil. nocia, Emil. nuža, Ven.<br />
nosa; so also the derivative nocella), sus<strong>in</strong>o/sus<strong>in</strong>a ‘plum’, arancio/arancia<br />
(and old narancio/-cia, OVen. naranza) and granato/granata as above, and<br />
amareno/(a)marena or amarasco/(a)marasca, Calab. amarella ‘morello<br />
cherry’ (from which marasch<strong>in</strong>o is made; cf. Rum. amărea ‘holy thistle’).<br />
Another word for the ‘wild sour cherry’ is visciolo/visciola, from what is<br />
possibly a Germanic root beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g with w- (cf. Germ. Weichselkirsche), as<br />
cognate forms with gu- are found elsewhere; here Rumanian has viş<strong>in</strong>/viş<strong>in</strong>ă<br />
‘wild sweet cherry’ and viş<strong>in</strong>el/viş<strong>in</strong>ea ‘blackthorn/sloe’. For the ‘damson’<br />
Italian has damas-ch<strong>in</strong>o (-ceno)/damas-ch<strong>in</strong>a (-cena) (also a masc. damasco<br />
for the fruit), with various other forms such as (a)mosc<strong>in</strong>o, amósc<strong>in</strong>o, abósc<strong>in</strong>o,<br />
abós<strong>in</strong>o/amosc<strong>in</strong>a, OMant. avox<strong>in</strong>a, Mil. brüña mas<strong>in</strong>a, Lig. briña damás<strong>in</strong>a;<br />
these forms show the fluctuation of accent and loss of <strong>in</strong>itial d- (taken to be d’)<br />
which we shall f<strong>in</strong>d reappear<strong>in</strong>g elsewhere. Another <strong>Lat<strong>in</strong></strong> word belong<strong>in</strong>g to<br />
this type is ZIZYPHUS/ZIZYPHUM ‘jujube’, taken from Greek; this has undergone<br />
many changes <strong>in</strong> <strong>Romance</strong>, and the Italian forms are giuggiolo/giuggiola or<br />
zizzolo/zizzola, Veron. z<strong>in</strong>zola, which f<strong>in</strong>d echoes <strong>in</strong> some of the other<br />
languages. Adapted to this type we have albicocco/albicocca ‘apricot’, from<br />
the Ptg. albricoque, Sp. albaricoque, for which there is also another name<br />
meliaco/meliaca; note also the fem<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>e fruits frag(ol)a ‘strawberry’,<br />
(a)griotta ‘sour cherry’, lim(ett)a (lomia, lumia) ‘lime’ (limone ‘lemon’ is<br />
masc.). Italian has also created g<strong>in</strong>epra from g<strong>in</strong>epro for the ‘juniper berry’,<br />
and has the pair (from <strong>Lat<strong>in</strong></strong> adjectival forms) leccio/leccia ‘holm-oak/acorn’<br />
(but <strong>ON</strong>eap. elc<strong>in</strong>a is the name of the tree). F<strong>in</strong>ally we also f<strong>in</strong>d formations<br />
match<strong>in</strong>g the Rum. alun/alună type, so avellano/avellana, mandorlo/mandorla,<br />
castagno (cf. late <strong>Lat<strong>in</strong></strong> CASTANEUS)/castagna (NIt., SIt. castegna), and<br />
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