{"id":227,"date":"2019-03-29T16:53:54","date_gmt":"2019-03-29T16:53:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/historyoftheromancelanguages2019\/?p=227"},"modified":"2019-04-29T21:45:00","modified_gmt":"2019-04-29T21:45:00","slug":"etymological-comment-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/historyoftheromancelanguages2019\/2019\/03\/29\/etymological-comment-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Etymological Comment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>Phonetic Analysis<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1) MELIOR [melior] &gt; MEJOR [me\u028eor] &gt; MEJOR [mexor]<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Step one: the Latin etymon, MELIOR, contains a semi-vowel, glide represented by the \u201ci\u201d \/j\/ in the dipthong \u201cio\u201d [jo], known as the yod. This particular yod becomes a \/j + vowel\/ glide as it palatalizes: [melior] &gt; [meljor]<\/li>\n<li>Step two: The cluster formed by the voiced alveolar lateral liquid \/L\/ and the voiced fricative palatal \/j\/, \/L + j\/, leads to the yod becoming more lateralized by the influence of the \/L\/. The \/L\/ assimilates to the high\/palatal feature of the yod \/j\/ by compromise articulation, and yields the lateral palatal \/\u028e\/ in Old Spanish (found in the text): [meljor] &gt; [me\u028eor]<\/li>\n<li>Step three: The lateral palatal \/\u028e\/ found in Old Spanish becomes the voiceless velar fricative \/x\/ sound in Modern Spanish: [me\u028eor] &gt; [mexor]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>2) LUPUS [lupus] &gt; LOBO [lobo]<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Step one: Lenition of the word final fricative voiceless alveolar \/s\/ to the point of deletion. This occurs because the \/s\/ is in a vulnerable word final position which makes it more prone to change: LUPUS &gt; LUPU.<\/li>\n<li>Step two: The word final high back vowel \/u\/ becomes the low-mid back vowel \/o\/, a typical transition in Spanish: LUPU &gt; LUPO<\/li>\n<li>Step three: The stressed high back vowel \/u\/ also undergoes a change, transitioning to the low-mid back \/o\/: LUPO &gt; LOPO<\/li>\n<li>Step four: The voiceless bilabial \/p\/ is in the vulnerable intervocalic position. The surrounding vowels weaken the consonant and thus \/p\/ lenites to the voiced bilabial stop \/b\/: LOPO &gt; LOBO<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>3) CAPITA [caput] &gt; CABE\u00c7A [cabetsa] &gt; CABEZA [cabe\u03b8a]<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Step one: The voiceless bilabial \/p\/ is in the vulnerable intervocalic position. The surrounding vowels weaken the consonant and thus \/p\/ lenites to the voiced bilabial stop \/b\/: [capita] &gt; [cabita]<\/li>\n<li>Step two: Exception. Generally, the combination of the voiceless alveolar stop \/t\/ plus a yod results in the voiceless affricate alveolar \/ts\/ phoneme. However, in our given Latin etymon no yod follows the \/t\/ making the very palatalization of the \/t\/ into a \/ts\/ and the addition of a word final prosthetic low center vowel \/a\/ exceptions: [cabita] &gt; [cabitsa]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Step three: Evolution of the high front vowel \/i\/ to the high-mid front \/e\/:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>[cabitsa] &gt; [cabetsa]<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Step four: The \/ts\/ sound becomes less palatal and more dental. Hence the evolution of the voiceless affricate alveolar \/ts\/ to the voiceless fricative interdental \/\u03b8\/: [cabetsa] &gt; [cabe\u03b8a]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>4) CAUSA [cawsa] &gt; COSSA [c\u014dsa] &gt; COSA [cosa]<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Step one: The Latin diphthong \u201cau\u201d in the antepenultimate syllable, which consists of the low center vowel \/a\/ plus a glide and that is prounounced \/aw\/, \/a\/ and \/w\/ assimilate to each other by compromise articulation: \/a\/ becomes \u201chigher\u201d and \/w\/ becomes lower. This is a typical evolution from Latin to Spanish: CAUSA [cawsa] &gt; C\u014cSA<\/li>\n<li>Step two: The antepenultimate low-mid back vowel \/o\/ is in the stressed, free antepenultimate syllable, making it a long \u201co.\u201d The articulatory position is held long which makes voiceless fricative alveolar consonant \/s\/ into a geminate, which is represented with the grapheme \u201css\u201d: COSA [c\u014dsa] &gt; COSSA [c\u014ds:a]<\/li>\n<li>Step three: Eventually the two \/s\/s undergo assimilation and degemination occurs: COSSA [c\u014ds:a] &gt; COSA [cosa]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>5) VIDERE [widere] &gt; VER [ber]<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Step one: The stressed syllable is the antepenultimate \u201cVI,\u201d hence syncope of the unstressed high mid front vowel \/e\/ in the penultimate syllable \u201cDE\u201d occurs:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>VIDERE &gt; VIDRE<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Step two: In a typical evolution from vulgar Latin to Spanish, the stressed high front vowel \/i\/ evolves into the high-mid front vowel \/e\/: VIDRE &gt; VEDRE<\/li>\n<li>Step three: The voiced stop consonant \/d\/ is in a word-medial cluster, \u201cdr,\u201d and is postvocalic which places it in a particularly vulnerable position for lenition. Thus the d weakens until the point of deletion: VEDRE &gt; VERE<\/li>\n<li>Step four: Finally, the word final high-mid vowel \/e\/ is in a vulnerable position. And thus lenites to the point of deletion: VERE &gt; VER<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>6) BONA [bona] &gt; BUENA [bwena]<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Step one: The low-mid back short vowel \/o\/ diphthongizes to \u201cue\u201d [we]. This is a typical evolution from Latin to Spanish. The word final low center vowel \/a\/ remains, which is again typical of Spanish: BONA [bona] &gt; BUENA [bwena]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>7) LE\u014cNEM [leo] &gt; LE\u00d3N [le\u00f3n]<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Step one: Syncope of unstressed word final syllable \/em\/:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>LE\u014cNEM \u00a0&gt; LE\u014cN<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Step two: orthographical change, the fact that the low-mid back vowel \/o\/ is stressed is represented orthographically with the grapheme \u201c\u00f3\u201d:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>LEON &gt; LE\u00d3N<\/p>\n<p>8)ANIMALIS &gt; ANIMALIAS &gt;ANIMALES<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Step one: Dipthonghization of high front vowel \u201ci\u201d into \u201cia\u201d, resulting in the word found in the text: ANIMALIS &gt; ANIMALIAS<\/li>\n<li>Step two: Exception. In modern Spanish the diphthong \u201cia\u201d present in the text evolves to a high-mid front vowel \/e\/. This is unexpected as there is a \/\/L + j\/ combination in the syllable \u201cLIAS,\u201d in Spanish we would expect the combination of a voiced alveolar lateral and a yod to lead to the yod becoming more lateralized by the influence of the \/L\/, and thus for the lateral palatal \/\u028e\/ to occur in Old Spanish. However, this change never occurs:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>ANIMALIAS &gt; ANIMALES<\/p>\n<p>9) MAGIS &gt; M\u00c1S<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Step one: Lenition of the voiced velar stop intervocalic consonant \/g\/:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>MAGIS &gt; MAIS<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Step two: assimilation of the mid front vowel \/e\/ with the high front vowel \/i\/:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>MAIS &gt; MAES<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Step three: Further assimilation into low center vowel \/a\/ represented by stressed \/\u00e1\/ in the orthographical representation \/\u00e1\/: MAES &gt; MAAS<\/li>\n<li>Step four: Assimilation into low center vowel \/a\/ represented by stressed \/\u00e1\/ in the orthographical representation \/\u00e1\/: MAAS &gt; M\u00c1S<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>10) DIXIT [dicksit] &gt; DIXO [dixo] &gt; DIJO [dixo]<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Step one: The word final voiceless alveolar stop consonant \/t\/ lenites to deletion due to its vulnerable word final geography: DIXIT [dicksit] &gt; DIXI [dicksi]<\/li>\n<li>Step two: Exception. The word final high front vowel \/i\/ evolves to the mid back vowel \/o\/, we would normally expect it to evolve to the mid front vowel \/e\/:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>DIXI [dicksi] &gt; DIXO [dickso]<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Step three: The word-medial cluster \/-ks\/ undergoes a typical process of evolution from Latin to Spanish as it becomes the new fricative post-alveolar voiceless \/\u0283\/. The spelling, for the time being, is kept: DIXO [dickso] &gt; DIXO [di\u0283o]<\/li>\n<li>Step four: The word-medial cluster \/-ks\/ undergoes a typical process of evolution from Latin to spanish as it becomes the voiceless velar fricative \/x\/ sound. The spelling, for the time being, is kept: DIXO [dickso] &gt; DIXO [dixo]<\/li>\n<li>Step five: The word is pronounced the same, but the voiceless velar fricative sound is now represented with the graphme \u201cj\u201d: DIXO [dixo] &gt; DIJO [dixo]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>11) BENEDICIRE &gt; BENDEXIESE &gt; BENDIJESE<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Step one: Syncope of unstressed mid front vowel \/e\/:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>BENEDICIRE &gt; BENDICIRE<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Step two: Evolution of high front unstressed vowel \/i\/ to mid front vowel \/e\/:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>BENDICIRE &gt; BENDECIRE<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Step three: Complete lenition of intervocalic voiceless alveolar affricate \u201cc\u201d: BENDECIRE &gt; BENDEIRE<\/li>\n<li>Step four: Assimilation of high front and mid front vowels to high front vowel \/i\/:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>BENDEIRE &gt; BENDIRE<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Step five: Diphthongization of word final mid front vowel \/e\/ to \u201cie\u201d typical in Spanish: BENDIRE &gt; BENDIRIE<\/li>\n<li>Step six: Palatalization of voiced alveolar trill due to influence of following yod to the voiceless velar fricative: BENDIRIE &gt; BENDEXIE<\/li>\n<li>Step seven: Exception. Addition of a prosthetic voiceless alveolar fricative consonant \/s\/, normally we would expect the weakening of a word-final \/s\/ as opposed to the addition of one, a prosthetic \/e\/ is also added:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>BENDEXIE &gt; BENDEXESE<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Step eight: The word is pronounced the same, but the voiceless velar fricative sound is now represented with the grapheme \u201cj\u201d: BENDIXESE &gt; BENDIJESE<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>12) METUS &gt; MIEDO<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Step one: Lenition of the word final fricative voiceless alveolar \/s\/ to the point of deletion. This occurs because the \/s\/ is in a vulnerable word final position which makes it more prone to change: METUS &gt; METU<\/li>\n<li>Step two: The low-mid front short vowel \/e\/ diphthongizes to \u201cie\u201d [\u025b]. This is a typical evolution from Latin to Spanish: METU &gt; MIETU<\/li>\n<li>Step three: The voiceless alveolar stop consonant \/t\/ is in an intervocalic position, making it more vulnerable to weakening. Thus, voiceless alveolar stop consonant \/t\/ lenites to a voiced stop consonant \/d\/: MIETU &gt; MIEDU<\/li>\n<li>Step three: Finally, the word final high back \/u\/ evolves to a low-mid back \/o\/, an evolution typical in Spanish: MIEDU &gt; MIEDO<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>Analysis of Verbal Morphology<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Modern Spanish verb<\/strong>: DECIR <strong>Latin etymon<\/strong>: D\u012aC\u011aRE<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Word found in text<\/strong>: \u201cDixieron\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conjugation of Latin etymon \u201cDECIRE\u201d (preterite tense):<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Singular: 1st person: DIXI\u00a0 2nd person: DIXISTI\u00a0 3rd person: DIXIT<\/p>\n<p>Plural: 1st person: DIXIMUS\u00a0 2nd person: DIXISTIS 3rd person: DIXERUNT<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conjugation of Modern Spanish \u201cDECIR\u201d (preterite tense):<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Singular: 1st person: DIJE\u00a0 2nd person: DIJISTE\u00a0 3rd person: DIJO<\/p>\n<p>Plural: 1st person: DIJIMOS\u00a0 2nd person: DIJISTEIS\u00a0 3rd person: DIJIERON<\/p>\n<p><strong>Description of verbal morphology<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p>The Latin etymon is a class III infinitive verb, thus the stress is in the stem of the verb making it rhizotonic. First the Latin etymon underwent the loss of the word final mid front vowel \u201ce\u201d: DICERE &gt; DICER. Next the verb underwent metathesis as the two vowels switched places, resulting in the modern Spanish reflex of the verb: DICER &gt; DECIR. Since the Latin etymon was rhizotonic it can be categorized as an athematic perfect (meaning that it lacks a thematic vowel). This is also known as a strong perfect, which are verbs notorious for their irregular past tense forms. The stem of the past tense form of DECIR in modern Spanish is the irregular -DIJ- which is to be expected as a result of the strong perfect etymon.<\/p>\n<p>In the singular first-person reflex, the word final and unstressed high front vowel \u201ci\u201d evolves to a mid front \u201ce\u201d, an expected change when shifting from Latin to Spanish: DIXI &gt; DIXE. Next the voiceless velar fricative \u201cx\u201d undergoes a grapheme change, and while the phoneme is unaltered the grapheme is replaced with a \u201cj\u201d:<\/p>\n<p>DIXE &gt; DIJE.<\/p>\n<p>In the singular second-person reflex, the word final short high front vowel \u201ci\u201d evolves to a mid front \u201ce\u201d: DIXISTI &gt; DIXISTE. Next, the same graphemic substitution for the voiceless velar fricative occurs: DIXISTE &gt; DIJISTE.<\/p>\n<p>In the singular third-person reflex the word final and vulnerable voiceless alveolar stop \u201ct\u201d is deleted through the process of lenition: DIXIT &gt; DIXI. Next, we would expect the short word final short high front vowel \u201ci\u201d to transition to the mid front \u201ce\u201d, however there is an exception. The word final vowel instead evolves into the mid back rounded vowel \u201co\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>In the plural first-person reflex, the short high back rounded vowel \u201cu\u201d located in the ultimate syllable evolves to into the mid back rounded vowel \u201co\u201d in a typical pattern of vocalic evolution: DIXIMUS &gt; DIXIMOS. Again, the voiceless velar fricative is replaced with the grapheme \u201cj\u201d: DIXIMOS &gt; DIJIMOS.<\/p>\n<p>In the plural second-person reflex, the high front vowel \u201ci\u201d located in the ultimate syllable diphthongizes to \u201cEI\u201d. This is an exception because we would generally expect this vowel to simply transition to a mid front \u201ce\u201d, however it transitions yet an \u201ci\u201d remains forming a diphthong: DIXISTIS &gt; DIXISTEIS. As this is a common theme, similar to that in the present, I believe this is an example of analogy in <em>el pret\u00e9rito<\/em>. Finally, the grapheme change occurs: DIXISTEIS &gt; DIJISTEIS.<\/p>\n<p>In the plural third-person reflex, the word final voiceless alveolar stop is lenited to zero due to its vulnerable word final position: DIXERUNT &gt; DIXERUN. Next, the short high back rounded vowel \u201cu\u201d, located in the final syllable, evolves into the mid back rounded vowel \u201co\u201d: DIXERUN &gt; DIXERON. Next, the voiceless velar fricative acts as a yod and palatalizes the ensuing vowel \u201ce\u201d thus forming the diphthong \u201cie\u201d in the penultimate syllable: DIXERON &gt; DIXIERON. Finally, we transition from the word found in our text \u201cdixieron\u201d to its final modern Spanish form with the replacement of the voiceless velar fricative \u201cx\u201d: DIXIERON &gt; DIJIERON.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><strong>Modern Spanish verb<\/strong>: VENIR <strong>Latin etymon<\/strong>: VEN\u012aRE<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Word found in text<\/strong>: venieron<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conjugation of Latin etymon \u201cVENIRE\u201d (preterite tense):<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Singular: 1st person: VENI\u00a0 2nd person: VENISTI\u00a0 3rd person: VENIT<\/p>\n<p>Plural: 1st person: VENIMUS\u00a0 2nd person: VENISTIS 3rd person: VENERUNT<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conjugation of Modern Spanish \u201cVENIR\u201d (preterite tense):<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Singular: 1st person: VINE\u00a0 2nd person: VINISTE\u00a0 3rd person: VINO<\/p>\n<p>Plural: 1st person: VINIMOS\u00a0 2nd person: VINISTEIS\u00a0 3rd person: VINIERON<\/p>\n<p><strong>Description of verbal morphology<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p>The Latin etymon is a class IV infinitive verb; thus the stress is in the stem of the verb making it arhizotonic. To transition to the modern Spanish reflex the Latin etymon first underwent the lenition of the word final short mid front vowel \u201ce\u201d: VENIRE &gt; VENIR. Next it underwent a more significant phonetic change and the phonetic glide, typically represented by the \u201cw\u201d grapheme, became fortified to the voiced bilabial stop. This fortification was due to the glide\u2019s strengthening position at the beginning of the word. This change was not marked by a graphemic change but was solely a phonetic one: VENIR [wenir] &gt; VENIR [benir].<\/p>\n<p>In the singular first-person reflex, the word final and unstressed high front vowel \u201ci\u201d evolves to a mid front \u201ce\u201d, an expected change when shifting from Latin to Spanish: VENI &gt; VENE. Next, an comes a rather exceptional occurrence as the short mid front vowel \u201ce\u201d evolves into the high front vowel \u201ci\u201d. Generally, we would expect this short mid front vowel to evolve into an \u025b, and then subsequently into the diphthong \u201cie\u201d; perhaps the vowel\u2019s location in a free syllable made it more subject to change: VENE &gt; VINE.<\/p>\n<p>In the singular second-person reflex, the word final short high front vowel \u201ci\u201d evolves to a mid front \u201ce\u201d: VENISTI &gt; VENISTE. Next, the vocalic evolution of the mid front \u201ce\u201d located in the penultimate syllable occurs: VENISTE &gt; VINISTE.<\/p>\n<p>In the singular third-person reflex the word final and vulnerable voiceless alveolar stop \u201ct\u201d is deleted through the process of lenition: VENIT &gt; VENI. Next, we would expect the short word final short high front vowel \u201ci\u201d to transition to the mid front \u201ce\u201d, however there is an exception. The word final vowel instead evolves into the mid back rounded vowel \u201co\u201d: VENI &gt; VENO. Finally, the exceptional vocalic evolution occurs: VENO &gt; VINO.<\/p>\n<p>In the plural first-person reflex, the short high back rounded vowel \u201cu\u201d located in the ultimate syllable evolves to into the mid back rounded vowel \u201co\u201d in a typical pattern of vocalic evolution: VENIMUS &gt; VENIMOS. Again, the vocalic change occurs, and we reach our modern Spanish reflex: VENIMOS &gt; VINIMOS.<\/p>\n<p>In the plural second-person reflex, the high front vowel \u201ci\u201d located in the ultimate syllable diphthongizes to \u201cEI\u201d. This is an exception because we would generally expect this vowel to simply transition to a mid front \u201ce\u201d, however it transitions yet an \u201ci\u201d remains forming a diphthong: VENISTIS &gt; VENISTEIS. Then the vocalic change occurs: VENISTEIS &gt; VINISTEIS.<\/p>\n<p>In the plural third-person reflex, the word final voiceless alveolar stop is lenited to zero due to its vulnerable word final position: VENERUNT &gt; VENERUN. Next, the short high back rounded vowel \u201cu\u201d, located in the final syllable, evolves into the mid back rounded vowel \u201co\u201d: VENERUN &gt; VENERON. Next, the voiceless velar fricative acts as a yod and palatalizes the ensuing vowel \u201ce\u201d thus forming the diphthong \u201cie\u201d in the penultimate syllable: VENERON &gt; VENIERON. Finally, the exceptional vocalic change occurs once more, and we transition from the word found in our text to the modern Spanish form: VENIERON &gt; VINIERON. The word found in the text, \u201cvenieron\u201d indicates that in Middle Spanish the vocalic shift from the mid front vowel \u201ce\u201d to the high front vowel \u201ci\u201d had not yet occurred and was instead a later change.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><strong>Modern Spanish verb<\/strong>: Mandar <strong>Latin etymon<\/strong>: MAND\u0100RE<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Word found in text<\/strong>: Mand\u00f3<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conjugation of Latin etymon \u201cMANDARE\u201d (present tense):<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Singular: 1st person: MANDO\u00a0 2nd person: MANDAS\u00a0 3rd person: MANDAT<\/p>\n<p>Plural: 1st person: MAND\u0100MUS\u00a0 2nd person: MAND\u0100TIS 3rd person: MANDANT<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conjugation of Modern Spanish \u201cMANDAR\u201d (present tense):<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Singular: 1st person: MANDO\u00a0 2nd person: MANDAS\u00a0 3rd person: MANDA<\/p>\n<p>Plural: 1st person: MANDAMOS\u00a0 2nd person: MAND\u00c1IS\u00a0 3rd person: MANDAN<\/p>\n<p><strong>Description of verbal morphology<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p>The word final high-mid front vowel \u201ce\u201d is lost from the Latin etymon MAND\u0100RE, forming the modern Spanish verb MANDAR. The Latin etymon is a Class I conjugate form which is by definition arhizotonic, meaning the stress is in the infinitive ending. The thematic vowel is the low central \u201ca\u201d in the suffix.<\/p>\n<p>The singular first-person and the singular second person conjugations derive directly from their respective Latin forms. Note that the singular first-person form of this verb found in the text in the form of \u201cmand\u00f3.\u201d In the middle Spanish form of this conjugation the grapheme representation of the arhizotonic stress in the form of the tilde atop the mid back vowel \u201co\u201d is still present. This demarcation is eventually lost in modern Spanish, resulting in the singular first-person conjugation MANDO.<\/p>\n<p>In the third person singular form the word final voiceless alveolar stop \u201ct\u201d undergoes lenition and is therefore eliminated resulting in the modern Spanish conjugation \u201cMANDA.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the first-person plural conjugation \u201cMANDAMUS\u201d the unstressed\u2014and therefore short\u2014 high back rounded vowel \u201cu\u201d evolves into the mid back rounded vowel \u201co\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>In the second-person plural conjugation from the Latin form MANDATIS to the Spanish form MAND\u00c1IS, the intervocalic voiceless alveolar stop \u201ct\u201d undergoes complete lenition due to its vulnerable location between two vowels. The accent over the A in the modern form of the verbal conjugation demonstrates that the stress is arhizotonic and thus a reminder that the stress lies in the infinitive suffix. The lack of evolution of the \u201ci\u201d is an exception because we would typically expect it to evolve to the vowel \u201ce\u201d yet it remains an \u201ci.\u201d This form is pervasive in all class types and is therefore reflects analogy. This is one of the rare instances of analogy in Spanish.<\/p>\n<p>In the third person plural form the word final voiceless alveolar stop \u201ct\u201d undergoes lenition and is therefore eliminated resulting in the modern Spanish conjugation: MANDANT &gt; MANDAN<\/p>\n<p>Spanish typically adheres to original Latin forms regarding conjugations, hence, the fewer instances of analogy, or the process of phonetic evolution to assimilate to another model, in Spanish.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li><strong>Modern Spanish verb<\/strong>: ESTAR <strong>Latin etymon<\/strong>: ST\u0100RE<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Word found in text<\/strong>: \u201cest\u00e1s\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conjugation of Latin etymon \u201cSTARE\u201d (present tense):<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Singular: 1st person: STO\u00a0 2nd person: STAS\u00a0 3rd person: STAT<\/p>\n<p>Plural: 1st person: ST\u0100MUS \u00a02nd person: ST\u0100TIS 3rd person: STANT<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conjugation of Modern Spanish \u201cESTAR\u201d (present tense):<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Singular: 1st person: ESTOY\u00a0 2nd person: EST\u00c1S\u00a0 3rd person: EST\u00c1<\/p>\n<p>Plural: 1st person: ESTAMOS\u00a0 2nd person: EST\u00c1IS\u00a0 3rd person: ESTAN<\/p>\n<p><strong>Description of verbal morphology<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p>First the infinitive class I Latin etymon undergoes evolution with the addition of a prosthetic mid front vowel \u201ce\u201d typically tacked on before the voiceless alveolar fricative consonant \u201cs\u201d and STARE becomes ESTARE. Next, the word final high-mid front vowel \u201ce\u201d is lost from the Latin etymon ST\u0100RE, forming the modern Spanish verb ESTAR. The Latin etymon is a Class I conjugate form which is by definition arhizotonic, meaning the stress is in the infinitive ending. The thematic vowel of the etymon is the low central \u201ca\u201d in the suffix.<\/p>\n<p>The singular first-person Spanish conjugation is an allomorph induced by a stressed position. The \u201co\u201d is the stressed vowel in the Latin etymon STO, and the stress of the vowel leads to the palatalization of the mid back vowel \u201co\u201d into an [oy] sound as the pronunciation moves nearer to the palate: STO &gt; STOY. This change is only present in the first-person singular and is thus is an anomalous first singular conjugation. A prosthetic mid front vowel \u201ce\u201d is also added: STOY &gt; ESTOY.<\/p>\n<p>The singular second person conjugation&#8211; with an addition of the prosthetic \u201ce\u201d \u2013 is derived directly from the patterns of typical Latin conjugate forms. However, it is unusual that the stressed low central vowel \u201ca\u201d is marked with a tilde\u2014a graphemical representation of the arhizotonic stress. Note that this is the reflex found in the text.<\/p>\n<p>In the third person singular form the word final voiceless alveolar stop \u201ct\u201d undergoes lenition and is therefore eliminated resulting in the modern Spanish conjugation \u201cEST\u00c1.\u201d Again, the stressed part of the word is marked with the tilde atop the word final low central vowel \u201ca\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>In the first-person plural conjugation \u201cESTAMOS\u201d the unstressed\u2014and therefore short\u2014 high back rounded vowel \u201cu\u201d evolves into the mid back rounded vowel \u201co\u201d: (representation of verbal evolution post the addition of a prosthetic \u201ce\u201d) ESTAMUS &gt; ESTAMOS.<\/p>\n<p>In the second-person plural conjugation from the Latin form (prosthetic \u201ce\u201d included) ESTATIS to the Spanish form EST\u00c1IS, the intervocalic voiceless alveolar stop \u201ct\u201d undergoes complete lenition due to its vulnerable location between two vowels. The accent over the A in the modern Spanish reflex demonstrates the arhizotonic (and word final) stress. The lack of evolution of the high front short vowel \u201ci\u201d is an exception because we would typically expect it to evolve to the mid front vowel \u201ce\u201d yet it remains high. This form is pervasive in all class types and is therefore reflective of analogy.<\/p>\n<p>In the third person plural form the word final voiceless alveolar stop \u201ct\u201d undergoes lenition and is therefore eliminated resulting in the modern Spanish conjugation: (post-prosthetic \u201ce\u201d) ESTANT &gt; ESTAN. It is interesting that there is no tilde over the low central vowel \u201ca\u201d in this reflex, however I believe that is due to the fact that the vowel lies in the closed syllable -TAN- and therefore to indicate that the stress lies in the ultimate syllable would be redundant.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"5\">\n<li><strong>Modern Spanish verb<\/strong>: SER <strong>Latin etymon<\/strong>: ESSE<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Word found in text<\/strong>: Ffu\u00e9<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conjugation of Latin etymon \u201cESSE\u201d (preterite tense):<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Singular: 1st person: FUI\u00a0 2nd person: FUISTI\u00a0 3rd person: FUIT<\/p>\n<p>Plural: 1st person: FUIMUS\u00a0 2nd person: FUISTIS 3rd person: \u00a0FUERUNT<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conjugation of Modern Spanish \u201cSER\u201d (preterite tense):<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Singular: 1st person: FUI\u00a0 2nd person: FUISTE\u00a0 3rd person: FUE<\/p>\n<p>Plural: 1st person: FUIMOS\u00a0 2nd person: FUISTEIS\u00a0 3rd person: FUERON<\/p>\n<p><strong>Description of verbal morphology<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>The Latin etymon ESSE, meaning \u201cto be\u201d, is a special case. It has an unusual infinitive form in that it fails to fall into any of the four classes of Latin verbs, and its preterite form is just as bizarre. The likely evolution from the Latin etymon to the modern Spanish verb begins with the lenition of word initial short mid front vowel \u201ce\u201d: ESSE &gt; SSE. Normally this word initial position is one of strength, but since it is a short (read: weak) vowel it still undergoes lenition. Next comes the assimilation of the two voiceless alveolar fricative consonants into one: SSE &gt; SE. Finally, the end of the word becomes fortified with the addition of a prosthetic voiced alveolar trill \u201cr\u201d:<\/p>\n<p>SE &gt; SER.<\/p>\n<p>The singular first-person and preterite conjugation derives directly from its respective Latin forms.<\/p>\n<p>In the singular second-person reflex, the word final short high front vowel \u201ci\u201d evolves to a mid front \u201ce\u201d: FUISTI &gt; FUISTE.<\/p>\n<p>In the singular third-person reflex the word final and vulnerable voiceless alveolar stop \u201ct\u201d is deleted through the process of lenition: FUIT &gt; FUI. Next, the short word final short high front vowel \u201ci\u201d transitions to the mid front \u201ce\u201d in order to differentiate from the singular first-person reflex: FUI &gt; FUE. Note that this is the form of the verb that is found in the text, however there are a few key differences between the modern form and the middle form. Firstly, the word in our text is spelled with two of the same letters to represent the voiceless labiodental fricative consonantal pronunciation of \u201cf\u201d. It is unclear exactly why this extra \u201cf\u201d was added because it was absent in the Latin etymon, but they eventually assimilate back to one grapheme in the modern language. Secondly, there is a tilde hovering over the word final mid front vowel \u201ce\u201d in the middle version which is omitted in modern Spanish. The loss of this demarcation of stress tends to be a common theme in the transition to Latin.<\/p>\n<p>In the first-person plural conjugation \u201cFUIMUS\u201d the unstressed\u2014and therefore short\u2014 high back rounded vowel \u201cu\u201d evolves into the mid back rounded vowel \u201co\u201d: FUIMUS &gt; FUIMOS.<\/p>\n<p>In the plural second-person reflex, the high front vowel \u201ci\u201d located in the ultimate syllable diphthongizes to \u201cEI\u201d. This is an exception because we would generally expect this vowel to simply transition to a mid front \u201ce\u201d, however it transitions yet an \u201ci\u201d remains forming a diphthong: FUISTIS &gt; FUISTEIS.<\/p>\n<p>In the plural third-person reflex, the word final voiceless alveolar stop is lenited to zero due to its vulnerable word final position: FUERUNT &gt; FUERUN. Next, the short high back rounded vowel \u201cu\u201d, located in the final syllable, evolves into the mid back rounded vowel \u201co\u201d and we arrive at the modern Spanish reflex:<\/p>\n<p>FUERUN &gt; FUERON.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"6\">\n<li><strong>Modern Spanish verb<\/strong>: MATAR <strong>Latin etymon<\/strong>: MACT\u0100RE<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Word found in text<\/strong>: Matar<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conjugation of Latin etymon \u201cMACTARE\u201d (present tense):<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Singular: 1st person: MACTO\u00a0 2nd person: MACTAS\u00a0 3rd person: MACTAT<\/p>\n<p>Plural: 1st person: MACT\u0100MUS\u00a0 2nd person: MACT\u0100TIS 3rd person: MACTANT<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conjugation of Modern Spanish \u201cMATAR\u201d (present tense:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Singular: 1st person: MATO\u00a0 2nd person: MATAS\u00a0 3rd person: MATA<\/p>\n<p>Plural: 1st person: MATAMOS\u00a0 2nd person: MAT\u00c1IS\u00a0 3rd person: MATAN<\/p>\n<p><strong>Description of verbal morphology<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p>Transition of infinitive form of class I, arhizotonic Latin etymon to modern Spanish infinitive form: Due to its end of syllable positioning in the antepenultimate -MAC-, the voiceless alveolar affricate \u201cc\u201d undergoes complete lenition: MACT\u0100RE &gt; MATARE. Next the word final mid front vowel \u201ce\u201d is lost through the process of lenition, resulting in our modern Spanish infinitive verb: MATARE &gt; MATAR. Note that the infinitive version of the verb is the form found in the text, however I will still continue with an analysis of the verbal morphology in the modern Spanish conjugates. The thematic vowel of the etymon is the low central \u201ca\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The singular first-person and the singular second person conjugations derive directly from their respective Latin forms.<\/p>\n<p>In the third person singular form the word final voiceless alveolar stop \u201ct\u201d undergoes lenition and is therefore eliminated resulting in the modern Spanish conjugation \u201cMATA.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the first-person plural conjugation \u201cMATAMOS\u201d the unstressed\u2014and therefore short\u2014 high back rounded vowel \u201cu\u201d evolves into the mid back rounded vowel \u201co\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>In the second-person plural conjugation from the Latin form (post consonantal lenition) MATATIS to the Spanish form MAT\u00c1IS, the intervocalic voiceless alveolar stop \u201ct\u201d undergoes complete lenition due to its vulnerable location between two vowels. The accent over the A in the modern form of the verbal conjugation demonstrates that the stress is arhizotonic and thus a reminder that the stress lies in the infinitive suffix. The lack of evolution of the \u201ci\u201d is an exception because we would typically expect it to evolve to the vowel \u201ce\u201d yet it remains an \u201ci.\u201d This form is pervasive in all class types and is therefore reflects analogy. This is one of the rare instances of analogy in Spanish.<\/p>\n<p>In the third person plural form the word final voiceless alveolar stop \u201ct\u201d undergoes lenition and is therefore eliminated resulting in the modern Spanish conjugation: (post lenition process) MATANT &gt; MATAN.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>Analysis of Noun and Adjective Morphology<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Phrase: <em>\u201c<\/em><em>Al\u00e7\u00f3 <strong>el<\/strong> le\u00f3n <strong>la mano<\/strong> por <strong>la<\/strong> mesa santiguar\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The noun found in the text, \u201cla mano,\u201d stemmed from the latin etymon MANUS, meaning hand. MANUS was a feminine fourth declension noun in classical Latin; in the transition from classical to popular Latin the fourth declension dissolved, and its nouns were typically reassigned to the second (masculine) declension. However, because MANUS was a feminine fourth declension noun, its modern reflex became a member of the first declension\u2014the predominantly feminine class. The Spanish \u201cla mano\u201d is exceptional because it retained its form and gender.<\/p>\n<p>The definite articles, \u201cel\u201d and \u201cla,\u201d were innovations in the Romance languages, as Latin grammar did not contain any definite articles previously. While classical Latin lacked definite articles, in pre-Romance they began to form from the demonstrative \u01cfLLE, \u01cfLLA. Eventually the definite articles now prevalent in the three primary Romance languages became a legitimate grammatical category. In the context of its new use ILLE ceased to be stressed and evolved into the Old Spanish articles: ele, ela, elos, elas. Another exceptional occurrence in this evolution was the transition from the double l \u201cll\u201d to the singular voiced alveolar lateral liquid phoneme [l], as opposed to the palatalization of the \u201cll\u201d into the voiced palatal lateral [\u028e] sound\u2014the expected evolution. From these forms the redundant first syllable in the pronunciation of the mid front vowel \u201ce\u201d was deleted (except in the masculine singular article where the word-initial vowel remained).<\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li>Phrase: <em>\u201cElla diz&#8217;: &#8220;En la cabe\u00e7a <strong>del<\/strong> <strong>lobo<\/strong> tom\u00e9 li\u00e7i\u00f3n&#8221;\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The bolded phrase \u201cdel lobo\u201d, meaning \u201cof the wolf\u201d provides an example of the loss of the oblique case via its substitution by a preposition (of)\u2014another common phenomenon in the evolution from Latin to the Romance languages. \u00a0To replace the genitive case, DE + noun arose in popular Latin. This transition appeared as early as second century BC. The Latin etymon for lobo is LUPUS&#8211; a second declension masculine with the genitive form LUP\u012a.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li>Phrase: <em>\u201clos animales fueron <strong>a<\/strong> ver a su se\u00f1or.\u201d <\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>In Spanish, the two-case marking system of popular Latin eventually dissolved and the language instead opted for the accusative form. However, Spanish did not only economize the case marking system but in some instances it expanded. This explains the addition of a new \u201cpersonal a\u201d, bolded in the phrase from the text. The \u201cpersonal a\u201d highlighted definite human direct objects, and the form lessened ambiguity. This rule became officially grammaticalized in the 17th century, although it is still present in our 14th century text.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li>Phrase: <em>\u201cAl <strong>le\u00f3n<\/strong> dixo el lobo que la mesa bendexiese.\u201d<\/em><em> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>As evidenced in the previous morphological evolution, the popular Latin two-case system transitioned into a one-case Spanish system, in which the accusative was favored. A factor in transitioning into the nominative singular was the consistency of the syllable count in the word. For imparisyllabics\u2014nouns where the nominative singular stem contains fewer syllables than its following forms\u2014popular Latin forms its nominative singular based on the longer stem. The Latin etymon for the bolded word from our text, LEO, is inflected as such in classical Latin:<\/p>\n<p>Nominative: LEO\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Genitive: LEONIS \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Dative: LEONI<\/p>\n<p>Accusative: LEONEM\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ablative: LEONE\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Vocative: LEO<\/p>\n<p>As you can see, the nominative form of the noun LEO contains fewer syllables than following forms. Hence, the modern Spanish reflex \u201cle\u00f3n\u201d present in the middle Spanish of our text is based on the longer stem LEON-.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"5\">\n<li>Phrase: <em>\u201cQue \u00e1 <strong>cabo<\/strong> de tienpo non sea bien sabida\u201d <\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The bolded word from the text \u201ccabo\u201d derives from the Latin etymon CAPUT\u2014an imparisyllabic noun belonging to the third declension. The Latin etymon\u2019s inflections are:<\/p>\n<p>Nominative: CAPUT\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Genitive: CAPITIS \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Dative: CAPITI<\/p>\n<p>Accusative: CAPUT\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ablative: CAPITE\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Vocative: CAPUT<\/p>\n<p>Cabo provides an example of a nominative singular that continued into Romance from Latin. It is exceptional in that the short stem CAP- survived in the modern reflex as opposed to the longer stem of the other declensions CAPIT-. We know that cabo must have derived from caput given the typical evolution processes. First, lenition of the word final voiceless alveolar stop \u201ct\u201d, then the lenition of the voiceless bilabial stop \u201cp\u201d to the weaker voiced bilabial stop \u201cb\u201d, finally the evolution of the word final high back vowel \u201cu\u201d to the mid back vowel \u201co\u201d which results in our modern Spanish reflex:<\/p>\n<p>CAPUT &gt; CAPU &gt; CABU &gt; CABO.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"6\">\n<li>Phrase: <em>\u201cQue jam\u00e1s \u00e1 <strong>m\u00ed<\/strong> vengas nin <strong>me<\/strong> digas tal, nemiga\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>This sentence contains both atonic (weak) and tonic (heavy) personal pronouns with the pronouns \u201cme\u201d and \u201cm\u00ed\u201d respectively. Another development which arose in the Romance languages were clitic pronouns. These pronouns were not strong enough to stand alone, but instead act like verb affixes rather than real words. The tonic \u201cm\u00ed\u201d found in modern Spanish derived from the Latin etymon MIHI, which is a dative noun.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Phonetic Analysis 1) MELIOR [melior] &gt; MEJOR [me\u028eor] &gt; MEJOR [mexor] Step one: the Latin etymon, MELIOR, contains a semi-vowel, glide represented by the \u201ci\u201d \/j\/ in the dipthong \u201cio\u201d [jo], known as the yod. This particular yod becomes a \/j + vowel\/ glide as it palatalizes: [melior] &gt; [meljor] Step two: The cluster formed &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/historyoftheromancelanguages2019\/2019\/03\/29\/etymological-comment-4\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Etymological Comment<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1211,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jane"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/historyoftheromancelanguages2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/historyoftheromancelanguages2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/historyoftheromancelanguages2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/historyoftheromancelanguages2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1211"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/historyoftheromancelanguages2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/historyoftheromancelanguages2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":517,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/historyoftheromancelanguages2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227\/revisions\/517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/historyoftheromancelanguages2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/historyoftheromancelanguages2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/historyoftheromancelanguages2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}