Proto-Romance language

Proto-Romance is the comparatively reconstructed ancestor of all Romance languages. It reflects a late variety of Latin, one of the Italic languages in the broader Indo-European family.

Exceptionally in comparative linguistics, specialists in Proto-Romance can refer to an abundant corpus of texts written in a rough equivalent of their proto-language, namely Latin. This has however had the drawback of leading many to rely excessively on the written record in lieu of reconstructing Proto-Romance proper.[1]

Proto-Romance is an abstraction and should not be taken as equivalent to Latin as it was actually spoken in any particular time or place.[2] The version reconstructed in the Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman appears to most closely reflect the spoken Latin of the sixth century AD.[3]

Phonology

Monophthongs

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Near-close	ɪ		ʊ
Close-mid	e		o
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

• The open-mid vowels /ɛ, ɔ/ merge with /e, o/ in all unstressed contexts.[4][5]

• A further reduction is observed in intertonic syllables where /i, u/ merge with /ɪ, ʊ/.[6]

• Vowels are lengthened allophonically in stressed open syllables,[7] although perhaps not /ɪ/ or /ʊ/.[8]

• /i, u/ become [j, w] between a consonant and following vowel. [j] then triggers palatalization, e.g. /basiáre/ [basʲáːɾe].[9]

Diphthong

Only one diphthong can be reconstructed for Proto-Romance, namely /au̯/. It can be found in both stressed and unstressed positions.[10] Its phonemic status is however debatable, as it could also be simply regarded as a sequence of /a/ and /u/.[11]

Consonants

	Labial		Coronal		Velar		Palatal
Nasal		m		n
Occlusive	p	b	t	d	k	g		j
Fricative	f	β	s
Labialized					kʷ
Vibrant			r
Lateral			l

• When palatalized /t, k, n, l/ become [tsʲ, c, ɲ, ʎ].[12][13]
• Intervocalic [c, ɲ, ʎ] regularly geminate.[12] [tsʲ] does so only sporadically.[14]
• Words beginning with /sC/ undergo prosthesis, e.g. /stáre/ [ɪstáːɾe], unless preceded by a vowel.[15][16]
• It is debated whether /kʷ/ is its own phoneme or merely an allophone of /ku/ before vowels.[17]
• There is some evidence that /f/ could have been bilabial, but a labiodental is more likely.[18]
• /b, d, g/ represent the fricatives [β, ð, ɣ] between vowels or in contact with /r/ and /l/.[19]
• Intervocalic /di, gi/ do not occur, these having previously reduced to /j/.[20][21]
• /j/ represents [ɟ] in word-initial position; intervocalically [ɟ][22] or [ʝ~ɟɟ].[23]
• The rhotic may have been [ɾ~r], as in Spanish or Catalan.[24]
• /ll/ appears to have had the retroflex realization [ɭɭ].[25][26]
• /gn/ most likely fricativized to [ɣn].[27][28]

Morphology

Nouns

Proto-Romance nouns had three cases: nominative, accusative, and a combined genitive-dative which was only used in reference to humans.[29]

Class		I			II			III m.			III f.
Number		singular	plural		singular	plural		singular	plural		singular	plural
Nominative		fémɪna	fémɪne[lower-greek 1]		fíʎʎʊs	fíʎʎi		pátrɪs~pátre	pátri		mátre	mátres
Accusative			fémɪnas		fíʎʎu	fíʎʎos		pátre	pátres
Gen-Dat.		fémɪne	femɪnóru		fíʎʎo	fiʎʎóru		pátri	patróru		mátri	matróru
Translation		woman			son			father			mother

Several Class III nouns had inflections that differed by syllable count or stress position.[31]

Nominative		ɔ́mo		pástor		sɔ́ror
Accusative		ɔ́mɪne		pastóre		soróre
Translation		man		pastor		sister

A few Class II nouns were pluralized with -a or -ora, these originally having been neuter in Classical Latin. Though their singular was masculine, the plural was treated as feminine.[32]

Type		I						II
Number		singular	plural		singular	plural		singular	plural		singular	plural
Noun[lower-greek 2]		ɔ́βu	ɔ́βa		bráccu	brácca		tɛ́mpʊs	tɛ́mpora		pɛ́ktʊs	pɛ́ktora
Translation		egg			arm			time			chest

The plural was often reanalyzed as a feminine singular, resulting in gender shifts.[33]

Number		singular	plural		singular	plural
Original noun		fɔ́ʎʎu	fɔ́ʎʎa		lɪ́ɣnu	lɪ́ɣna
Fem. variant		fɔ́ʎʎa	fɔ́ʎʎas		lɪ́ɣna	lɪ́ɣnas
Translation		leaf			firewood

Such a trend had already begun in Classical Latin; for example the feminine noun opera was formed from the plural of neuter opus.

Adjectives

Absolute

These inflect the same way as nouns.[34]

Comparative

While the original Latin ending -(i)or still existed, it was only used in a limited number of adjectives.[35][36]

Adjective	mɛ́ʎʎor	pɛ́ɟor	máɟor	mɪ́nor
Translation	better	worse	larger	smaller

Otherwise, the typical way to form a comparative was to add either plús or máis (meaning 'more') to an absolute adjective. This had been done in Classical Latin as well, albeit sporadically.[37]

Superlative

No dedicated ending existed to express the superlative. A variety of alternatives were used instead, such as an intensifying adverb (mʊ́ltu, bɛ́ne, etc.) or a simple comparative.[38]

Possessive

Shown here in the feminine singular. Many of these had atonic ('weak') forms.[39]

	First person	Second person	Third person	Interrogative
singular	mɛ́a~ma	tʊ́a~ta	sʊ́a~sa	kúɟa
plural	nɔ́stra	βɔ́stra

Pronouns

Personal

These are the equivalents of 'you, me' etc.[40][41]

Person		I			II			III f.			III m.
Number		singular	plural		singular	plural		singular	plural		singular	plural
Nominative		ɛ́ɣo	nos		tu	βos		ɪɭɭa	ɪɭɭe[lower-greek 3]		ɪlle~ɪɭɭi
Accusative		me~mene			te~tene				ɪɭɭas		ɪɭɭu	ɪɭɭos
Gen-Dat.		mi~mɪβɪ	noβɪs		ti~tɪβɪ	βoβɪs		ɪɭɭi~ɪɭɭɛ́i	ɪɭɭis~ɪɭɭóru		ɪɭɭi~ɪɭɭúi	ɪɭɭis~ɪɭɭóru

Relative and Interrogative

These are equivalent to 'who, which, what' etc. in English.[43]

	Masc. or Fem.	Neuter
Nominative	ku̯i	ku̯ɪd~ku̯od[lower-greek 4]
Accusative	ku̯ɛn
Gen-Dat.	kui̯

Notably, kúi̯ was lost in Ibero-Romance.

Verbs

Proto Romance verbs belong to three main classes, each of which is characterized by a different thematic vowel. Their conjugations are built on three stems and involve various combinations of mood, aspect, and tense.[44]

Present indicative

On occasion this could also refer to the future.[45]

		First person			Second person			Third person			Translation
Number		singular	plural		singular	plural		singular	plural
Class I		kánto	kantámʊs		kántas	kantátɪs		kántat	kántant		sing
Class II		dɔ́rmo	dormímʊs		dɔ́rmɪs	dɔrmítɪs		dɔ́rmɪt	dɔ́rment ~dɔ́rmʊnt		sleep
Class III		bátto	battémʊs		báttes	battétɪs		báttet	báttent		beat
Irregular		sʊ́n	sʊ́mʊs~sémʊs		ɛ́s	ɛ́stɪs~sɛ́tɪs~sʊ́tɪs		ɛ́st	sʊ́nt		am/are/is
		áo~áɟo	aβémʊs		ás	aβétɪs		át	ánt~áu̯nt		have/has

Participles

Of these there were only two: a present active and a preterite passive. They declined like adjectives.[46]

		Present Active		Translation		Preterite Passive		Translation
Class I		amánte		(is) adoring		amáta		(was) adored
Class II		finɛ́nte		(is) finishing		finíta		(was) finished
Class III		aβɛ́nte		(is) having		aβúta		(was) had

Relation to written Latin

At first there was no distinction between Latin and Romance, the former being the archaic written form of the latter. For instance in early medieval Spain the word [sjeglo] 'century' was routinely spelled ⟨saeculum⟩. The writer would not actually read it aloud as /sɛkulum/ any more than an English speaker today would pronounce ⟨knight⟩ as */knɪxt/.[47]

The spoken version of Ecclesiastical Latin was created later during the Carolingian Renaissance by the British scholar Alcuin, who ordered the French clergy to read aloud Latin precisely as it was spelled. This represented a radical break from the traditional system; for instance the word ⟨viridiarium⟩, which had until then been pronounced */verdʒjær/ ('orchard' in Old French), now had to be read aloud as /viridiarium/.[48] Officials soon found it necessary to instruct priests to read Latin sermons in the old way so that they might be understood by the general public.[49]

Since this left French without a dedicated orthography, various attempts were soon made to devise one, as can be seen in the Oaths of Strasbourg and Sequence of Saint Eulalia. As the Carolingian reforms brought Church Latin to other lands where Romance was spoken, local scholars devised spelling systems for their own dialects as well.[50]

Notes

1. This ending was steadily being replaced in Proto-Romance by -as.[30]
2. Forms given in the accusative.
3. This ending was steadily being replaced in Proto-Romance by -as.[42]
4. Quod was restricted to the relative role, where it was steadily being replaced by quid.

References

1. Dworkin (2016), p. 2
2. Hall (1976), pp. 10-11
3. Kramer (2014), p. 295
4. Gouvert (2014), pp. 73–6
5. Ferguson (1976), p. 78
6. Gouvert (2014), pp. 78–81
7. Loporcaro (2015), pp. 25–30
8. Gouvert (2014), p. 69
9. Gouvert (2014), p. 83
10. Ferguson (1976), p. 84
11. Gouvert, p. 81
12. Gouvert (2014), pp. 92–115
13. Zampaulo (2019), pp. 50, 78, 94
14. Wilkin (1926), pp. 11–14
15. Gouvert (2014), pp. 125–6
16. Hall (1976), p. 128
17. Gouvert (2014), p. 100
18. Gouvert (2016), p. 38
19. Gouvert (2016), p. 48
20. Zampaulo (2019), p. 87
21. Gouvert (2016), p. 43
22. Zampaulo (2019), pp. 83-8
23. Gouvert (2014), pp. 83-91
24. Gouvert (2014), p. 113
25. Gouvert (2014), p. 115
26. Zampaulo (2019), pp. 71-77
27. Gouvert (2014), p. 95
28. Zampaulo (2019), p. 80
29. De Dardel & Gaenge (1992), p. 104
30. De Dardel & Wüest (1993), p. 57
31. Hall (1983), p. 28
32. Hall (1983), pp. 23–4, 29–30.
33. Akire & Rosen (2010), pp. 193–4
34. Hall (1983), pp. 31-33
35. Hall (1983), pp. 32, 119-20
36. Maltby (2016), p. 340
37. Maltby (2016), pp. 340–5.
38. Bauer (2016), pp. 340, 359
39. Lyons (1986), pp. 20-4
40. De Dardel & Wüest (1993), pp. 39-43
41. Hall (1983), p. 39
42. De Dardel & Wüest (1993), p. 57
43. Elcock (1975), pp. 95-6
44. Hall (1983), pp. 47–50
45. Hall (1983), pp. 52–7
46. Hall (1983), pp. 122–3
47. Wright (1982), pp. 44–50
48. Wright (1982), pp. 104–7
49. Wright (1982), pp. 118-20
50. Wright (1982), pp. 122–32, 143–4

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• Buchi, Éva; Gouvert, Xavier, eds. (2016). Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom) 2. De Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-045361-4. OCLC 963581913.CS1 maint: date and year (link)
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