Etymological Comment

Phonetic Analysis for La Divina Commedia

HUMANU/umanu/ > UMANO/umano/ > UMANO /umano/

  1. The stressed syllable in HUMANU is penultimate syllable MA
  2. HUMANU > UMANU after loss of consonant [h] in antepenultimate syllabus HU

H was not pronounced in Latin: therefore word initial H was lost during the normal evolution.

  1. UMANU > UMANO due to the evolution of the word final vowel high back /u/ to mid high back /o/

 

GYRUS /ˈɡyː.rus/ > GIRO/dʒiro/> GIRO /dʒiro/

  1. The stressed syllable in GYRUS is penultimate syllable GY
  2. GYRUS > GIRUS after grapheme change, the latin grapheme ‘Y’ corresponds to the sound high front /i/
  3. Any sound change affecting a consonant produces allomorphy when it selectively hits the stem-final consonant in a verb paradigm. Latin [k] [g] [sk] palatalized to Italian [ʧ] [ʤ] [ʃ] before a front vowel. Thus, /gi/>/dʒ/
  4. GIRUS > GIRU after lenition of [s] in coda position
  5. GIRU > GIRO due to the evolution of the word final vowel high back /u/ to mid high back /o/

 

DULCE/dulke/ > DOLCE/dolke/ > DOLCE /doltʃe/

  1. The stressed syllable in DULCE is penultimate syllable DUL
  2. DULCE > DOLCE after evolution of the vowel high back /u/ to mid high back /o/, which means that in classical Latin, the grapheme for vowel /u/ is short ŭ
  3. DOLCE/dolke/ > DOLCE/doltʃe/ after the palatalization from /k+e/ to affricative postalveolar voiceless /tʃ/

 

ACCOLLIGERE/akkolligere/ > ACCOGLIERE /akkogliere/ > ACCOGLIERE /akkɔʎere/

  1. The stressed syllable in ACCOLLIGERE is penultimate syllable GE
  2. ACCOLLIGERE > ACCOLLIERE after the leition of intervocalic [g]
  3. ACCOLLIERE > ACCOGLIERE after the evolution -LL- cluster to -GL- cluster which yields the lateral palatal [ʎ], cluster /LL/ > / ʎ/. which in Modern Italian is represented with the grapheme “gli” when followed by a non-front vowel

 

SEQUERE /sekuere/ > SEGUIRE /segwire/ > SEGUIRE /segwire/

  1. The stressed syllable in SEQUERE is penultimate syllable QUE
  2. SEQUERE > SEGUERE after lenition of voiceless /-k-/ to stop voiced /g/
  3. SEGUERE > SEGUIRE  after evolution of vowel mid-high front /e/ to high front /i/, which is assimilated by the fourth class/conjugation of verbs in –IRE.

 

VOSTRU/wostro/ > VOSTRO /vɔstro/> VOSTRO /vɔstro/

  1. The stressed syllable in VOSTRU is penultimate syllable VOS
  2. “V” in Latin was pronounced as the semiconsonant glide /w/. When the weakest consonants, namely glides, occur in word-initial position, they have at times undergone fortition (strengthening). Thus, in Italian, /w/ > /v/ after the process of fortition.
  3. Since in classical latin, vowel is short ŏ instead of a long ō. Stress vowel evolves into a low mid /ɔ/ and not into the high mid /o/.
  4. VOSTRU > VOSTRO due to the evolution of the word final vowel high back /u/ to mid high back /o/

 

DEVENIRE /dewenire/ > DIVENIRE /divenire/> DIVENIRE /divenire/

  1. The stressed syllable in DEVENIRE is penultimate syllable NI
  2. “V” in Latin was pronounced as the semiconsonant glide /w/. When the weakest consonants, namely glides, occur in word-initial position, they have at times undergone fortition (strengthening). Thus, in Italian, /w/ > /v/ after the process of fortition.
  3. DEVENIRE > DIVENIRE after evolution of vowel mid-high front /e/ to high front /i/ due to sporadic change.

 

OCULU /okulu/ > OCCHIO /ɔkkjo/ > OCCHIO /ɔkkjo/

  1. The stressed syllable in OCULU is antepenultimate syllable O
  2. OCULU > OCLU due to syncope of unstressed vowel u in the penultimate syllable
  3. OCLU > OCCHIU due to palatalization of /l/ with velar /k/ by compromise articulation: when a gesture aiming at one point of articulation is adjacent to a gesture aiming at a different point of articulation, the two tend to become simultaneous.  /kl/ cluster to /kj/
  4. OCCHIU > OCCHIO due to the evolution of the word final vowel high back /u/ to mid high back /o/

 

COMINITIARE /komintiare/ > COMINCIARE/komintʃare/ > COMINCIARE /komintʃare/

  1. The stressed syllable in COMINITIARE is the ending ARE: . It is a first class/conjugation verb, which means it is arhizotonic. Thus, the stress fall in the infinitive ending: -ARE.
  2. COMINITIARE > COMINTIARE after syncope of unstressed vowel i
  3. COMINTIARE > COMINCIARE after palatalisation due to assimilation to palatal place of articulation of yod: /t+j/ yields affricative postalveolar voiceless /tʃ/

 

PLANETA /planeta/ > PIANETA /pjaneta/ > PIANETA /pjaneta/

  1. The stressed syllable in PLANETA is penultimate syllable NE
  2. PLANETA > PIANETA after palatalization from /PL-/ to /pj/. In Italian, in intervocalic position, the obstruent before this /j/ geminates. In protected (postconsonantal) position, the obstruent remains single. In word-initial position /pl/ > /pj/.

 

LAXARE /laksare/ > LASCIARE /laʃʃare/> LASCIARE /laʃʃare/

  1. The stressed syllable in LAXARE is penultimate syllable XA
  2. LAXARE > LASCIARE due to palatalisation: /ks/ becomes a new palatal phoneme due to compromise articulation between the place of articular of /k/ and /s/, /-ks/ > /ʃ/, which in italian is represented as grapheme SCI. Compromise articulation represents when a gesture aiming at one point of articulation is adjacent to a gesture aiming at a different point of articulation, the two tend to become simultaneous.

 

PECTU/pektu/ > PETTO /pɛtto/ > PETTO /pɛtto/

  1. The stressed syllable in PECTU is penultimate syllable PEC
  2. In classical latin, stressed vowel e should be short ĕ instead of long ē. And it’s blocked syllabus so it evolves to /ε/.
  3. PECTU > PETTU after assimilation of the first consonant to the second in cluster /kt/, creating a germinate as in PETTU
  4. PETTU > PETTO due to the evolution of the word final vowel high back /u/ to mid high back /o/

 

Analysis of noun/adjective morphology

 

  1. Per correr miglior acque alza le vele

Modern paraphrase: alza le vele per percorrere acque migliori

English translation: （my talent’s little vessel）lifts her sails to course across more kindly waters now

  • Acque in old italian has latin etymon of aquae, which is nominative plural and belongs to the 1st declension class. In the reconstructed popular latin two-case system, it falls into the 1st declension plural category, which could be nominative aque/aquas. In the evolution of Italian, as > /aj/ > /ej/ > /e/ that final ending of -ae/-as evolved into -e. So in modern Italian, 1st declension feminine plural form of this word becomes acque.

 

  1. e di salire al ciel diventa degno.

Modern paraphrase:  e diventa degna di salire al cielo.

English translation: becoming worthy of ascent to Heaven.

  • The latin etymon of word Ciel is caelum, which is masculine singular and belongs to the second declension in classical latin. The ending in -um means is neuter gender. In the reconstructed popular latin two-case system, it becomes caelus and falls into the 2nd declension singular category. In modern italian, caelus becomes cielo because in the second declension, [os] > [oj] (unstressed) > [o] results in case neutralization to cielo in the singular.

 

  1. tosto ch’io usci’ fuor de l’aura morta

Modern paraphrase: restituì gioia ai miei occhi non appena io uscii fuori dall’aria morta (dell’Inferno)

English translation: as I had left behind the air of death

  • The latin etymon of subject pronoun io in italian is ĕgo. It is first person singular personal pronoun, nominative case. It is a tonic pronoun which means that it is heavy(stressed) and the pronoun can function on itself. In italian, the tonic forms are regular and ĕgo evolved into io after lenition of g at a weak position between two vowels and the regular evolution of <e>.

 

  1. dove l’umano spirito si purga

Modern paraphrase: in cui l’anima umana si purifica

English translation: in which the human soul is cleansed of sin

  • The latin etymon of noun spirito is spiritus, which is a masculine singular form and belongs to the fourth declension in classical latin declension classes. The ending -tus means it could be either nominative or genitive singular. In reconstructed popular latin two-case system, 4th declension assimilated to the 2nd declension. So we could find it in the singular nominative form in the 2nd declension. In modern italian, spiritus becomes spirito because in the second declension, [os] > [oj] (unstressed) > [o] results in case neutralization to spirito in the singular.

 

  1. di cui le Piche misere sentiro

Modern paraphrase: di cui le misere gazze (le figlie di Pierio) sentirono

English translation: whose power struck the poor Pierides

  • Le is a third person pronoun in plural form. It’s etymon from classical latin ill(a)e, which is the nominative plural feminine of Le is an atonic dative pronoun in plural feminine form because it represent indirect object and it’s unstressed. The atonic dative pronoun le underwent a regular evolution from ill(a)e with germination process.

 

  1. Dolce color d’oriental zaffiro,

Modern paraphrase: Un dolce colore di zaffiro orientale

English translation: The gentle hue of oriental sapphire

  • The latin etymon of Italian adjective dolce is dulcis, dulcem. It belongs to the third declension in the five noun declension classes of classical latin. Dulce in classical latin falls into accusative neuter singular which means it describes direct object adjective. In reconstructed popular latin two-case system, it still belongs to the third declension. After regular evolution of /u/ > /o/, masculine and feminine singular form becomes dolce.

Analysis of verbal morphology

  1. Perdunt [pɛrdunt] > perdono [pɛrdono] > perdono [pɛrdono]

Perděre has the stressed syllable on its antepenultimate and shows a rhizotonic form because the stress is on the stem. It belongs to class III in its Latin conjugations. Then son ‘I am’ acquired a variant sono by analogy to all other first singulars. At that point, given the first singular variants son/sono, it was natural for the homonymous third plural also to allow variants son/sono. On the analogical model of the high-frequency verb ‘be’, third plural verbs such as perdunt > perdon were then felt to be apocopated (cut short), and thus acquired a variant perdono.

 

  1. Purgas [purgas] > purghi [purgi] > purghi [purgi]

The verb purgare shows allomorphy induced by consonant change. The etymon of this verb evolves from latin purgāre, present active infinitive of purgō. It belongs to the class I in Latin conjugations with the stress on the penultimate syllabus. Here it developed an affinity between the first singular and the third plural in paradigms having stem-consonant alternations, which means an analogical spread of the stop velar /g/ to all the conjugation. This eliminates possible allomorph during regular palatalization. This change is on the second person singular, that Purg plus an inflection –i becomes [purgi] purghi.

 

  1. Devenit [dewenit] > diventa[diventa] > diventa [diventa]

The etymon is from a verbal derivative of Latin dēventum, perfect passive participle of dēveniō. It belongs to the Class I in Latin conjugations with the stress on penultimate syllable. It is a rhizotonic form because the stress is on the stem and off the root. Devenit is the third-person singular form, that word-final <T> is deleted. The third singular endings reflect the regular outcomes for word-final unstressed vowels.           

 

  1. Sunt [sunt] > sono [sono] > sono [sono]

Latin ESSE ‘be’ was irregular. Popular Latin regularized only the infinitive, creating a class III ESSĔRE which continues in Italian (essere). SŬM and SŬNT converge to Old Italian son. The first singular adds analogical –o, which then spreads to the third plural form.  Then son ‘I am’ acquired a variant sono by analogy to all other first singulars. At that point, given the first singular variants son/sono, it was natural for the homonymous third plural to allow variants son/sono.

 

  1. 5. AUDĪMŬS [audimus] > udiamo [udiamo] > udiamo [udiamo]

The Latin etymon of this word is audīmūs, as first-person plural present active indicative of audiō. The verb audire show allomorphy induced by stress position. Here, this infinitive belongs to the Class IV in latin conjugation. The stressed syllable is the penultimate syllable DI, which means it is an arhizotonic form. In the paradigm of udire, the unstressed stem has an allomorph from sound change: the arhizotonic forms show pretonic raising. The allomorphy patterns is formed by diphthongization happening with the “BOOT” patterm. <u> has a position higher than <o>, thus influence to the evolution into -iamo due to diphthongization caused by yod, which causes vowel to go one step higher. Thus, the first person plural form of audīmūs undergoes allomorphy induced by stress position into udiamo.

 

  1. Surgat [surgat] > surga [surga] > surga [surga]

The latin etymon of this word is surgō, of present infinitive surgere. It has the stressed syllable on its antepenultimate SUR. Therefore it shows as a rhizotonic form because the stress is on the stem. This infinitive belongs to the class III in latin conjugations. Surgat is the third-person singular form. The word-final <T> is deleted. The third singular endings reflect the regular outcomes for word-final unstressed vowels.            

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