Cantar de Mio Cid Phonetic Analysis
The word “myo” is prevalent throughout the entire Cantar de Mio Cid, as it appears in the name of the titular character. It comes from the Latin “meum” and becomes “mío” in modern Spanish. The loss of the word final bilabial nasal /m/ turns [meum] into [meu]. The final high back vowel /u/ becomes mid-high back /o/, creating [meo]. Then, the stressed mid-high front vowel /e/ diphthongizes to /ie/, creating /mieo/. Later, the diphthong /ie/ simplifies to high front vowel /i/, creating the Old Spanish [mio] or <myo>. This grapheme, <myo>, changed to <mío> in modern Spanish. (meum → myo → mío)
The word “fablado” is used in Cantar I, line 1000. The infinitive form of the verb, “fablar” comes from the Latin “fabulari,” and becomes “hablar” in modern Spanish. First, the Latin [fabulari] lost the word final high front /i/ and the unstressed high back vowel /u/, creating the Old Spanish [fablar]. The stressed penultimate syllable central back /a/ remains the same through to modern Spanish. After this, the word initial labiodental fricative [f] became voiceless glottal fricative [h], [hablar]. In modern Spanish, the graphemic representation <hablar> reflects this stage, though the /h/ has since become silent. (fabulari → fablar → hablar)
The word “connosçe” is used in Cantar I, line 983. The infinitive form of this verb comes from the Latin “cognoscere” and becomes “conocer” in modern Spanish. First, the Latin [kognoskere] lost the word final mid-high front /e/, becoming [kognosker]. The stressed penultimate syllable /e/ remains the same through to modern Spanish. Then, complete lenition of the voiced velar stop /g/ and the evolution of voiceless velar stop /k/ to voiceless alveolar affricate /ts/ occured, creating the Old Spanish [konostser], or <connosçer>, as the grapheme <ç> represents phoneme /ts/. Finally, in modern Spanish, the voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ and /ts/ simplified to /s/, creating [konoser]. The grapheme change seems to have occured in much the same way, with the simplification of the <nn> to <n> and the <sts> to <c>, leading to <conocer>. (cognoscere → Connosçe → conocer)
The word “leuaua” is used in Cantar I, line 1012. The infinitive form of this verb, “leuar,” comes from the Latin “levare” and becomes Spanish “levar” or “llevar.” The grapheme <u> is used over the grapheme <v> in most cases in the Cantar de Mio Cid, so <leuaua> can just as easily be written <levava>, a change which occurred sometime before modern Spanish. The word final mid-high front [e] in Latin [leware] is lost, creating the word [lewar], or <leuar>, the form used in old Spanish. The stressed penultimate syllable central back /a/ remains the same through to modern Spanish. In the third person present tense, “leuar” became “lieua.” This <i> was pronounced as the voiced palatal fricative (semi-consonant) yod [j], which came to influence the whole word and was represented by grapheme <ll>. Later, the /w/ strengthened to [β], creating [ʎeβar], or <llevar>. (levare → leuar → llevar)
The word “laño” is used in Cantar I, line 996. This word comes from the Latin “planus” and becomes “llano” in modern Spanish. The word final voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ in Latin [planus] is deleted, creating [planu]. The stressed penultimate syllable central back /a/ remains the same through to modern Spanish. It is possible that a yod began to emerge at the end of the word, leading to the eventual palatalization of voiced alveolar nasal /n/ to voiced palatal nasal /ɲ/ in [plaɲu]. Then, word final high back rounded /u/ evolved to mid-high back rounded /o/, creating [plaɲo]. At some point in this process, complete lenition of the word initial voiceless bilabial stop /p/ occured, leading to the old Spanish [laɲo], or <laño>. The change from word initial voiced lateral alveolar approximant /l/ to voiced palatal fricative /j/ is less easily explained, and seems to be an exception during the evolution from old to modern Spanish. The /ɲ/ also reverts back to /n/, leading to the modern Spanish [jano] or <llano>. (planus → laño → llano)
The word “pues” is used in Cantar I, line 990. The word comes from the Latin “poste” and remains “pues” in modern Spanish. The word final mid-high front /e/ in Latin [poste] is deleted, creating [post]. The voiceless alveolar stop /t/ also goes through total lenition, creating [pos]. The stressed mid-high back rounded long /ō/ changes to short /o/ in vulgar Latin, but this change seems to have occurred early enough that the vulgar Latin /o/ continued evolving to the low-mid back rounded /ↄ/ and finally diphthongized to /ue/ in modern Spanish, creating [pues] and <pues>. (poste → pues → pues)
The word “bien” is used in Cantar I, line 1007. It comes from the Latin “bene” and remains “bien” in modern Spanish. The word final mid-high front /e/ in Latin [bene] goes through total lenition, creating [ben]. The stressed short /ě/ becomes the low-mid front /ε/ in vulgar Latin, and finally diphthongizes to /ie/ in modern Spanish, creating the final word, [bien] or <bien>. (bene → bien → bien)
The word “mensaie” is used in Cantar I, line 975. It is a borrowing from old Occitan “messatge,” which originally comes from Latin “missus” and vulgar Latin “missaticum.” The voiceless alveolar stop /t/, in old Occitan [mesatge] first appears to go through the process of sonorization, becoming voiced alveolar stop /d/ and creating the pair /dg/. This consonant cluster then simplifies to the yod voiced palatal fricative /j/, creating [mesaje]. At some point, a nasal was introduced into the word, creating the old Spanish [mensaje] or <mensaie>. After this, the /j/ becomes the voiced postalveolar fricative /ʒ/, before continuing to evolve into voiceless velar fricative /x/, becoming the modern Spanish [mensaxe] or <mensaje>. (missus → vulg. Lat. missaticum → old Occitan messatge → mensaie → mensaje)
The word “dexarie” is used in Cantar I, line 989. The infinitive form, “dexar,” comes from the Latin “lexare” and becomes “dejar” in modern Spanish. The stressed penultimate syllable central back /a/ remains the same through to modern Spanish. The word final mid-front /e/ in [leksare] is deleted, becoming [leksar]. The voiceless velar stop and voiceless alveolar fricative /ks/ cluster changed to the voiceless postalveolar affricate /tʃ/, creating [letʃar]. At some point, the initial voiced alveolar lateral approximant /l/ shifted to voiced alveolar lateral stop /d/, a shift which occurs in other Spanish words as well, and the word became old Spanish [detʃar]. In modern Spanish, the /tʃ/ became voiceless velar fricative /x/ in [dexar]. The final grapheme change, from <dexar> to <dejar>, occurred as part of a spelling reform across the Spanish language where the letter <x> was replaced with the letter <j>, excepting in a few place names, like “Mexico”. (lexare → lexar → dexar → dejar)
The word “estonçes” is used in Cantar I, line 951. This word comes from the Latin “in tunc” and becomes “entonces” in modern Spanish. The classical Latin [in tunk] first went through a process of vowel evolution, wherein stressed vowel high front /i/ evolved to mid-high front /e/ and stressed vowel high back rounded /u/ evolved to mid-high back rounded /o/, creating [en tonk]. These two words combined, forming [entonk]. Here, the suffix “-es” was added, creating [entonkes]. After this, voiceless velar stop /k/ went through palatalization into voiceless alveolar affricate /ts/, creating [entontses]. Then, the consonant cluster /nt/ assimilates to /ts/, creating [etsontses], before lenition occurs with the first /ts/ sound, becoming the /st/ cluster and [estontses] or <estonçes> in Old Spanish. This last process seems to have either not fully taken hold in Old Spanish, or later reverted back to [entontses]. Then, the /ts/ continued its change to voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ and voiceless interdental/linguadental fricative /θ/ in modern Spanish, leaving the word [entonθes], or <entonces>. (in tunc → estonçes → entonces)
The word “agora” is used in Cantar I, line 964. This word comes from the Latin “hac hora” and becomes “ahora” in modern Spanish. Both stressed central back /a/ and stressed mid-high back /o/ remain the same through to modern Spanish. The classical Latin words [hak] and [hora] first combined, and became [hakora], losing the word initial voiceless glottal fricative /h/ in [hora] in the process. Then, the word initial /h/ was lost, creating [akora]. In the unprotected intervocalic position, the voiceless velar stop /k/ became the voiced velar stop /g/, leading to the old Spanish [agora], or <agora>. In the change to modern Spanish, this /g/ further weakened to /h/, and was later deleted entirely in [aora], though the graphemic representation still shows this stage, in <ahora>. (hac hora → agora → ahora)
The word “ondro” is used in Cantar I, line 1011. The infinitive form of this word, hondrar, comes from Latin “honorare”, and becomes modern Spanish “honrar”. First, the word final mid-high front /e/ in Latin [honorare] disappeared, leaving [honorar]. Then, the unstressed vowel mid-high back /o/ went through syncope as well, leaving [honrar]. The consonant cluster of voiced alveolar nasal /n/ and voiced alveolar trill /r/ then went through epenthesis, and became the cluster /ndr/ after the addition of voiced alveolar stop /d/, creating [hondrar]. Given the spelling of <ondro>, it is likely that the voiceless glottal fricative /h/ became silent sometime before old Spanish, leaving [ondrar]. The /d/ that was added into old Spanish went through a process of lenition and disappeared in modern Spanish [onrar] or <honrar>.
Verbal Morphology
| Latin | Old Spanish | Modern Spanish | |
| Infinitive | levare | levar | llevar |
| 1st Sg | levo | lieuo | llevo |
| 2nd Sg | levas | lieuas | llevas |
| 3rd Sg | levat | lieua | lleva |
| 1st Pl | levamus | leuamos | llevamos |
| 2nd Pl | levatis | leuais | lleváis |
| 3rd Pl | levant | lieuan | llevan |
In the infinitive form, the word final “-e” is dropped from the word. The endings “-o” and “-as” remain the same through to Modern Spanish, the ending “-amus” follows normal vowel evolution, with the unstressed high back vowel [u] becoming mid-high back [o]. Word final voiceless alveolar stop [t] goes through total lenition in both the 3rd person singular and plural forms as well. In the 2nd person plural, intervocalic [t] goes through total lenition as well. The unusual change that occurs in this form has to do with the root of the word: voiced alveolar lateral approximant [l] becomes voiced palatal lateral approximant [ʎ]. This is not a common change in Spanish, and has to do with analogy from the 3rd person singular form, <lieva>. This change spread to all the singular forms as well as the third person plural in Old Spanish. The [i] in this word then becomes a yod, voiced palatal approximant [j], and the cluster [lj] becomes [ʎ] in Modern Spanish. This change spreads to the other conjugations of the word, even affecting the infinitive. The grapheme <v> changed to <u> in Old Spanish, before reverting back in Modern Spanish.
| Latin | Old Spanish | Modern Spanish | |
| Infinitive | laxare | dexar | dejar |
| 1st Sg | laxo | dexo | dejo |
| 2nd Sg | laxas | dexas | dejas |
| 3rd Sg | laxat | dexa | deja |
| 1st Pl | laxamus | dexamos | dejamos |
| 2nd Pl | laxatis | dexais | dejáis |
| 3rd Pl | laxant | dexan | dejan |
In the infinitive form, the word final “-e” is dropped from the word. The endings “-o” and “-as” remain the same through to Modern Spanish, the ending “-amus” follows normal vowel evolution, with the unstressed vowel high back [u] becoming high-mid back [o]. Word final voiceless alveolar stop [t] goes through total lenition in both the 3rd person singular and plural forms as well. In the 2nd person plural, intervocalic [t] goes through total lenition as well. In the root of the word, the shift from word initial voiced alveolar lateral approximant [l] to voiced alveolar stop [d] occurs. For some reason, stressed low central vowel [a] becomes high-mid mid-central [e] in Old Spanish. Old Spanish voiceless postalveolar fricative [ʃ] becomes voiced postalveolar fricative [ʒ] before finally becoming voiceless velar fricative [x] in Modern Spanish.
| “fablado” in text | Latin | Old Spanish | Modern Spanish |
| Infinitive | fabulari | fablar | hablar |
| 1st Sg | fabulor | fablo | hablo |
| 2nd Sg | fabularis | fablas | hablas |
| 3rd Sg | fabulatur | fabla | habla |
| 1st Pl | fabulamur | fablamos | hablamos |
| 2nd Pl | fabulamini | fablais | habláis |
| 3rd Pl | fabulantur | fablan | hablan |
The change from fabulari to hablar is particularly interesting, as it can be assumed that it happened entirely due to analogy. The Latin verb fabulari is irregular in the sense that the present indicative form conjugates according to the rules of the present passive, but the Modern Spanish verb hablar conjugates normally for an -ar verb (-o, -as, -a, -amos, -áis, -an). The root changes as well, with word intial voiceless labiodental fricative [f] becoming voiceless glottal fricative [h] and later disappearing entirely from pronunciation. Lenition of the unstressed high back [u] occurs from Latin to Old Spanish. The Old Spanish “fablado” is in the past preterite form, and comes from the Latin word “fabulatum.” It becomes “hablado” in Modern Spanish. The root word goes through the same processes as above, but the ending, “-ado” evolves separately from “-atum.” First, the word final /m/ is lost, creating /fablatu/. Then, the word final /u/ follows regular vowel evolution to /o/, creating /fablato/. Finally, in the unprotected intervocalic position, voiceless alveolar stop /t/ strengthens to voiced alveolar stop /d/, yielding the Old Spanish “fablado.” Then, the root continues evolution to “hablado” in Modern Spanish.
| Latin | Old Spanish | Modern Spanish | |
| Infinitive | trahere | traer | traer |
| 1st Sg | traho | trayo | traigo |
| 2nd Sg | trahis | traes | traes |
| 3rd Sg | trahit | trae | trae |
| 1st Pl | trahimus | traemos | traemos |
| 2nd Pl | trahitis | traeis | traéis |
| 3rd Pl | trahunt | traen | traen |
Trahere is a class III verb in Latin, so it shifts to a class II verb in Spanish (-er ending). This makes sense, because the infinitive form ends in -ere. In the infinitive form, the word final “-e” is dropped from the word. Intervocalic voiceless glottal fricative [h] goes through a process of total lenition. The ending “-mus” follows normal vowel evolution, with the unstressed vowel high back [u] becoming mid-high back [o]. Word final voiceless alveolar stop [t] goes through total lenition in both the 3rd person singular and plural forms as well. In the 2nd person plural, intervocalic [t] goes through total lenition as well. This leaves the infinitive form [traer], 2nd person singular [traes], 3rd person singular [trae], 1st person plural [traemos], 2nd person plural [traeis], and 3rd person plural [traen]. The first person singular form does not follow the same allomorphy pattern as the rest: in this instance, the [h] becomes a yod, voiced palatal approximant [j], which later velarizes from [trajo] to [traiɣo].
| Latin | Old Spanish | Modern Spanish | |
| Infinitive | tenere | tener | tener |
| 1st Sg | teneo | tengo | tengo |
| 2nd Sg | tenes | tienes | tienes |
| 3rd Sg | tenet | tiene | tiene |
| 1st Pl | tenemus | tenemos | tenemos |
| 2nd Pl | tenetis | teneis | tenéis |
| 3rd Pl | tenent | tienen | tienen |
The change from tenere to tener is one of the best examples of the combined boot format for allomorphy patterns, with the 1st singular form following a different rule from the 2nd singular, 3rd singular, and 3rd plural forms, and the 1st and 2nd plural forms following another form entirely. In the infinitive form, the word final “-e” is dropped from the word. In the infinitive form, the stress is on the final syllable, “-er”, but in the conjugations, the stressed syllable is on the penultimate syllable. In the 1st singular form, the voiced alveolar nasal [n] velarizes to [ŋg], yielding [teŋgo]. The now unstressed mid-high mid-front [e] is dropped from the conjugation. In the 2nd and 3rd singular and 3rd plural forms, the now stressed vowel [e] diphthongizes to [ie]. The word final voiceless alveolar stop [t] goes through total lenition in both 3rd person forms. In the 2nd person plural, intervocalic [t] goes through total lenition as well. The 1st person ending “-emus” becomes “-emos” with the evolution of high back [u] to mid-high back [o].
| Latin | Old Spanish | Modern Spanish | |
| Infinitive | nasci | nascer | nacer |
| 1st Sg | nascor | nasco | nazco |
| 2nd Sg | nasceris | nasces | naces |
| 3rd Sg | nascitur | nasce | nace |
| 1st Pl | nascimur | nascemos | nacemos |
| 2nd Pl | nascimini | nasceis | nacéis |
| 3rd Pl | nascintur | nascen | nacen |
The change from nasci to nacer is another word where it can be assumed that it happened entirely due to analogy. The Latin verb nasci is irregular in the sense that the present indicative form conjugates according to the rules of the present passive, but the Modern Spanish verb nacer conjugates according to the same rules as other -er verbs. In the infinitive form, the word final “-e” is dropped from the word. The consonant cluster of voiceless alveolar fricative [s] and voiced velar stop [k], [sk], simplifies to [s], grapheme <c> (excepting the 1st singular form) after the Old Spanish. This leaves the infinitive form [naser], 2nd person singular [nases], 3rd person singular [nase], 1st person plural [nasemos], 2nd person plural [naseis], and 3rd person plural [nasen]. In the 1st person singular conjugation, the consonant [s] in the cluster [sk] becomes voiced alveolar fricative [z], creating the cluster [zk] and creating the word [nazko] or <nasco>.
Noun and Adjective Morphology
illos → ellos → ellos
Phrase: Antes que ellos legen a laño
Modern Translation: Antes que (ellos) lleguen al llano
English Translation: Before they reach the plain
The Old Spanish “ellos” /ejos/ comes from the Latin “illos” /ilos/. Word initial /i/ goes through regular vowel evolution, to become /e/, creating /elos/. Then, the “ll” /l/ palatalizes to “ll” /j/, creating “ellos” /ejos/. This remains through to modern Spanish. The Latin word “illos” is the masculine accusative plural form of “ille,” meaning “that” and later “he.” The word is now used as a pronoun to refer to groups of men or masculine nouns, or to people or nouns of mixed gender. In modern Spanish, the word “ellos” can be included before a verb or not, as the case endings show the subject.
caballus → cavallos → caballos
Phrase: sedien sobre los cavallos
Modern Translation: montados en sus caballos
English Translation: they were seated on their horses
The Latin word for horse is more commonly “equus.” However, in poetry and in vulgar Latin “caballus” was used. “Caballus” /cabalus/ is the masculine second declension singular nominative form of the noun. The word final /s/ was dropped, creating /cabalu/. The word final vowel /u/ then evolved to /o/, creating “caballo” /cabalo/. The “ll” /l/ went through a process of palatalization, creating “ll” /j/ and the word “caballo” /cabajo/. It is likely that the Old Spanish “cavallo” was pronounced the same way, and the grapheme “b” was exchanged for “v” due to the similarities between the phonemes. This change did not last through to modern Spanish. The final “s” in the plural form, “caballos” /cabajos/ is the standard pluralization in Spanish.
comitem → conde → conde
Phrase: al conde don Remont
Modern Translation: al conde don Remont
English Translation: Count don Remont
The Latin “comitem” /comitem/ was a third declension masculine or feminine noun, in the accusative singular form. The word final /m/ and the unstressed vowel /i/ were deleted, creating “comte” /comte/. The bilabial nasal /m/ shifted to become alveolar nasal /n/, and the voiceless alveolar stop /t/ became voiced alvelar stop /d/, creating the consonant cluster /nd/ and the word “conde” /conde/. In modern Spanish, the masculine form of the word is “conde” while the feminine form is “condesa.”
totum → todom → todo
Phrase: todom lo pechara
Modern Translation: todo me lo pagara
English Translation: he will pay me for all of them
The Latin word “totum” /totum/ is a third declension adjective in the accusative singular form. The word final /u/ went through normal vowel evolution to /o/, creating “totom” /totom/. Then, the intervocalic voiceless alveolar stop /t/ strengthened to the voiced alveolar stop /d/ creating the Old Spanish “todom” /todom/. In modern Spanish, the word final /m/ was lost, yielding “todo” /todo/. The feminine form of the adjective is “toda” /toda/ and the plural forms are “todos” and “todas.”
localem → logar → lugar
Phrase: Qui en un logar mora siempre
Modern Translation: Quien en un lugar mora siempre
English Translation: He who stays in one place always
The Latin word “localem” is a third declension masculine noun in the accusative singular form. First, the “-em” ending was deleted, yielding “local” /lokal/. In the word final position, liquid sound /l/ deassimilated and became liquid sound /r/, creating “locar” /lokar/. Then, voiceless velar stop /k/ strengthened to voiced velar stop /g/, yielding “logar” /logar/. Each of these forms can be seen in Old Spanish. Finally, the stressed vowel /o/ evolved to /ue/, yielding “luegar” /luwegar/ before simplifying to /u/, creating modern Spanish “lugar” /lugar/.
portus → puerto → puerto
Phrase: al puerto de alucant
Modern Translation: al puerto de Alucat
English Translation: the port of Olocau
The Latin word “portus” /portus/ is a fourth declension masculine noun in the nominative singular form. This is interesting, as Spanish usually evolves from the accusative form of the noun. The fourth declension likely assimilated with the second declension during the simplification process, but the nominative and accusative forms would be the same for this word either way. The word final /s/ is deleted, creating “portu” /portu/, and then the word final /u/ goes through vowel evolution and becomes /o/, creating “porto” /porto/. The stressed vowel /o/ in the penultimate syllable diphthongizes to “ue” /we/, yielding “puerto” /pwerto/.
The feminine noun “puerta,” meaning “door,” is very similar. However, it comes from the first declension Latin word “porta,” with the same meaning. So, despite their similarities, they are entirely different words with different etymologies.
Works Cited
Online Etymological Dictionary of Spanish. https://www.spanishetym.com/
Wiktionary. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Main_Page