Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/688

Rh 664 ROMANCE LANGUAGES copo took the place of caupo, o(p)scultat of auscultat. It is scarcely possible to fix the precise period at which d for au became general with the upper classes ; but, as it was never changed into ub like the original open o, the general contraction of au is probably later than that of ae to e, which was accomplished about the time of the introduction of Christianity. That the contracted sound is open o, not closed, may be inferred from the Italian 6 in oro, toro, cosa, povero, in Old French chose, pbvrc, as is shown by the rhymes, only iii Mod. Fr. chose, pdvre (etymologically spelt pauvre). The Eng. cause, sauce, poverty, have kept the Old French sound ; the Spanish forms are cosa, oro, pobre. The old diphthongal pronuncia- tion of au was never quite lost, but preserved in literary tradition all through the Middle Ages, as in Italian and Spanish literary words like causa. It even appears to have been popular in some Roman provinces, judging from the Prov. paubrc, causa, in Mod. Prov. couzo (spelt by the French "coouso"), and the Portug. ouro, cousa (also oiro, coisa). Even Fr. chose, chou presuppose causa, caulis, not cosa, colts. In Italian, words like cavolo, "cabbage," Paolo, "Paul," are rare exceptions. It is to be especially noted that cauda seems to be false, coda being the correct Latin form, which is corroborated by Ital. c6da with close o. Some philologists, however, think 6 is the old contraction, unconnected with 6. 21. Ae, oldest form ai, occurs very early, as in acs, praedad (Col. Rostr. ), and was general at the time of the Gracchi. The difference between ai and ae is really very slight, the sound of i being open, which is very near "raised e" (both vowels occur in Eng. pity). The pronunciation must have been essentially the same as in the Osc. at, which in the Latin transcription of the Tab. Bantina wavers between ai and ae. The contraction of ae into e first occurs in the north, where it was constant, for example Umb. kvestur, pre, mestro magistra, dat. ase arae ; North Latin Fal. pret(or), Cesilia ; T. Pis. Cesula ; Etrus. Lat. Quecili ( = Cecili for Caecilii), Cnevia Gnaevia, Gnaeja, &c. From the north it spread to Latium, where it first occurs as a rustic pronunciation scoffed at by Lucilius, as quoted by Varro : " Rustici Pappum Mesium, non Maesium, a quo Lucilius scribit Cecilius Pretor ne rusticus fiat." "In Latio rure edus, in urbe aedus" (Varro). We find e for ae quite commonly used in the vulgar dialect of the 1st century A.D., at Pompeii letus, queres, etate, presto, tabule, que. In Rome e became the pronunciation of the upper classes only in the Chris- tian period, 3d and 4th centuries, as Emiliano, efie = filiae (inscr. 3d century), Cesar (4th century). Servius (4th century) says "2 is pronounced almost like ae," that is, with the same sound, only shorter (at least in theory), equits like aeqiius. owels 22. In Old Latin compound words often did not soften their f com- radical vowel ; the preposition being then an adverb, and each Bunds, word having a distinct stress, the compound was separable, as in manum endojacito (XII. Tables) =injicito ; ob vossacro, vosobsecro, and sub vos pltico, vos supplico, in ancient prayers; transque dato "et tradito," in ancient laws. This was imitated by classic poets (tmesis) inque ligatus (Virg.). Only some of these separable com- pounds continued later on, such as the intensifying per, in per ccastor scitus (Ter.), nobis ista sunt pergrata perque jucunda (Cic., De Or.), per mihi mirum visum est (Cic., ib.), Platoni per fuit familiaris (Gellius). Instances of the unchanged vowel in verbs ecquid placeant, me" rogas ? immo vero hercle perplacent (Plaut.), and ea mihi perplacet (Cic. ), to which correspond exactly the Old Fr. par est bans, par me plaist. While the older Latin accentua- tion was dffatim, ddmodum, these words seem at the time of Gellius to have been pronounced affdtim, admddum. We have here a first step towards the modern system of accenting the last element of compounds ; comp. the modern Comasco ammo, Roum. amu, "just now. " Quoinodo is continued in Ital. come, but is formed anew in the dialectic comodo, cmbd. In Late Latin and Romance the old system reappears unimpaired ; many of the old compounds, having been lost in popular speech, were formed anew with stress on the last element and unchanged vowel : for instance, class, dispttcet, vulg. displdeet, Ital. dispidce, Span, despldce, Fr. deplatt ; class. accldU, vulg. accddet, Ital. accddc (inf. accadere) ; retego becomes Ital. rileggo, &c. ccent 23. Stress, which in Old Latin was often farther from the end id than in classical Latin, seems early to have become pretty strong, uantity. so as to induce the voice to hurry over unaccented syllables even though they were long by position (see LATIN), as maglslratus, minlsterium, voluntate, in Plautus, where st,nt were pronounced as quickly as in Eng. voluntary, magistrate. The vowels, too, were hurried over ; that ftneslra was pronounced as fen'stra is corro- borated by the Ennian /e*<ra=fe n stra, comp. Ital. mesliero = ministeriuni. Scansions like sagUtis, simlllumae show that double consonants might count as long or short ; position was not regarded so nicely as in Greek till the classical age. The real reason may have been the stress on the first syllable. In accented syllables double consonants cannot have been really short, considering the full length of Italian 'double consonants in bello, anno, saetta, &c. Likewise final vowels of iambic words were shortened, as novo, habe, puta, bene, homo (see LATIN). This is important, as marking the first step towards the Romance levelling of the old quantities. This tendency, too, was carefully restrained during the classical age, but reappears early in the post-classical period. Another effect of the strong popular stress is the pronunciation of i before vowels as a consonant ; thus words like filiiis in Plautus often count as two syllables, filjus (j = Eng. y). This is evidently the preparatory stage to the Romance figlio, &c., with palatal /, I and j having been fused into one sound. This pronunciation, too, was carefully suppressed by the classics. B. Vocabulary. We append, in chronological order, a brief Vocabv selection of archaic words, disused, vulgar, colloquial, or used with lary a disparaging sense, in the classical age, but reappearing later as quite usual and dignified expressions. The many modern deriva- tives should be noticed. LIVIUS ANDRONICUS (c. 240 B.C.): sortus surrectus, Ital. sorto, sortire, Fr. sortir de 1'eau. PLAUTUS (254-184) : bucca, "mouth" (fam. Cic.), bucca panis (Petron.), Ital. bocca, Fr. bouche ; mina- ciae, "threats," Ital. minaccia, Fr. menace; calceolarius, "shoe- maker," Ital. calzolaio. Diminutives vidulus, vidflus, "wallet," Ital. valigia (Vid'litia, Diez), Fr. valise ; auricula, Ital. orecchia, Fr. oreille ; apicula, Fr. abeille ; lusciniola, Ital. usignu61o, rosi- gnu61o, Fr. rossignol ; sororcula, Ital. sirocchia, commonly sorella ; vitellus, Ital. vitello, Fr. veau, Eng. veal ; agnellus, Ital. agnello, Fr. agneau ; putillus, "little boy," Ital. putello (putus fam. for puer, Virg.). Adjectives Bellas (later fam. Cic.) the Romance bello has quite superseded pulcher ; minutus, "small," populus minutus (Petron. ) = Fr. le menu peuple ; riralis, originally a law term, figuratively of a rival in love (class, aemulus ; fam. Cic.); ebridcus, "drunk," Ital. ubbriaco ; sucidus, "juicy," "dirty," Ital. sucido, sudicio, Span, sucio. Verbs ambulare, "walk," "go," familiar in all ages, hence according to Dr. Vilh. Thomsen the Romance andare, aller, Roum. umbld, Ladino amnar ; bajularc, " carry," bajulus, "carrier," L. Lat. "educator," Ital. bdlio, "steward," bdlia, " nurse," Fr. bailler, "reach," "give"; manducus, "glutton," manducare, "chew," "eat," frequent in Old Latin the emperor Augustus wrote familiarly manducavi duos Inicceas lta,]. mangiai due bocconi in the Vulgate manducat et bibit, Ital. mangiare, Fr. manger; auscultare, "listen" (once Cic., mihi ausculta), Ital. ascoltare, Span, escuchar, Fr. ecouter ; cantare, frequent in Old and classical Latin, the only word in Romance (canere has been lost) ; adjutare, Ital. ajutare, Fr. aider (adjuvare lost) ; exradicarc, eradicare, Ital. sradicare, Fr. arracher ; mcndicare, Ital. mendi- care, Fr. mendier; batuere, battuere, "strike," Ital. bdttere, Fr. battre (bdtto from battuo), L. Lat. battualia, Ital. lattaglia, Fr. bataille ; muttire, "mutter" palam mutirc, " speak "( Ennius) L. Lat subst. muttiim nullum emiseris, "not a word," Ital. motto, Fr. mot; sapere, "understand" sometimes very near to the modern sense, sapit scelesta multum (Plaut. ) = Ital. la scellerata sa molto, nullam rem sapis=ltal. non sai nulla Ital. sapere, Span, saber, Fr. savoir ; comedere, "eat" (Cic. fam.), comedere numos = Fr. manger son argent, Span, comer; despoliare (Cic., Ep. ; Liv. once), Ital. spogliare, Fr. depouiller ; comparare, "to procure," later "to buy" (Suet.), Ital. comprare. Greek words colaphus (colapus), "buffet," " box on the ear " (fam. Quint, Plin.), percolo- pabant (Petron.), L. Lat. colpus, Ital. colpo, Fr. coup. ENNIUS (239-169) : civitas, "city" (reappears in Petronius and later), Ital. citta., Fr. cite, Eng. city; campsare, "double (a cape)," a &ira$ ey6fj.ei>oi>, recognized by Diez in the Ital. (s)cansare, "to avoid"; nitidare, Ital. nettare ; petra, "rock," frequent in Pliny and later in the Vulgate tu es Petnis, et super hanc Petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam Ital. pietra, Fr. pierre. CATO (234-149) : nascerc nasci, Ital. nascere, Fr. naitre ; fracidus, "mellow," "damaged (olives)," Ital. frdcido, fradicio, "rotten." PACUVIUS (219-129): causari, " to plead," not classical, reappears in the Silver Age in the sense of pleading as an excuse, still later in that of disputing, discussing, Fr. causer, "to chat, talk"; comp. Ladino plidar (plead), "to speak." LUCILIUS (c. 148-103): acceptor for accipiter, "a hawk," frequent in Low Latin, Ital. astore, Fr. autour ; qicirltare, "cry " ut quiritare urbanorum, sicjubilare rusticorum est (Varro ; fam. Cic.) Ital. gridare, Fr. crier. Greek words gubcrnum, "rudder," Ital. governo ; schedium, "improvised or unpolished poem," Ital. schizzo, "sketch"; caballus, "jade," seems first to occur here optat arare caballus (Hor.) later "horse," "steed," Ital. cavallo, Span, caballo, Fr. cheval, L. Lat. caballarius, "chevalier," "knight"; cyma, "young sprout of cabbage " (later Plin., Colum.), Ital. cima, "top." Q. CLAUDIUS QUADRIGAUIUS Gellius blames several expressions of his as vulgar or rare : diurnare diu vivere, comp. Ital. soggiornare, Fr. sejourner, Eng. sojourn, and aggiornare, ajourner, adjourn ; arboretum, "grove," Ital. arboreto, Span, arboleda. VARRO (116-28), especially in tie Re Rustica : belare balare, Ital. belare, Fr. beler ; olor odor, Span, olor ; capitium, "bodice," Ital. capezzale, "cape," "pillow"; nervium=v(vptov, Span, nervio ; rubeus, "red" (later Colum., Pallad. ), Fr. rouge, Span, rubio, "fair"; badius, "bay (horse)," a rare word, Ital. bajo, Fr. bai. LABERIUS (105-43) is blamed by Gellius for using obsolete, rare, and vulgar words : lavandaria lavanda, later "laundress," Ital. lavandaja ; gurdus, "stupid," a Spanish word, says Quintilian, and in fact we find Old Span.