A Short Historical Latin Grammar: Chapter X: History of Latin Sounds

The I.-Eur. diphthongs appear in Latin in the process of reduction to simple vowels. By Cicero’s time ae (from I.-Eur. ai) and au are the only survivors, and even they tend in rustic or colloquial speech to single sounds, ē, ō, e.g. ‘Cēcilius,’ plōstrum (ch. ii. § 2); ei (whether I.-Eur. ei or the reduction in the unaccented syllable of I.-Eur. ai, oi, ch. ii. § 14) had become ī in the beginning of the second century B.C.; eu (whether I.-Eur. eu or the unaccented form of I.-Eur. au, ch. ii. § 14), which appears on early inscriptions as ou, had become ū at the end of the third century B.C. I.-Eur. ou became a slightly different sound, which came to be written ō or ū. I.-Eur. oi passed (through oe) into ū at the beginning of the second century B.C., though oe was retained in some words of the official or legal style, like foedus, a treaty (cf. poena, a Gk. loan-word), and poetical words like amoenus, foedus, foul.

The long diphthongs, which were not common in I.-Eur., had some of them ‘doublet’-forms (ch. ii. § 9) even in the I.-Eur. period; e.g. ēi appeared as ēi or ē (e.g. rēis, Lat. rēs), ōu as ōu or ō (e.g. ōktō, Lat. octō). In Latin, when they were followed by a Consonant, the long element must have been shortened by the rule that any long vowel was shortened before y, w, n, m, l, r, etc. followed by a consonant; [3] when final, the second element might be suppressed, just as in later times a short final vowel was suppressed after a long syllable in words like exemplar(e), ne(o) (ch. ii. § 12).

[3]: Thus vĕntus comes from vē- (Gk. ἄ(ϝ)η-μι, to blow); lĕntus is a cognate of lēnis.

Examples are:

(1) ai. Lat. aedes, lit. ‘where the fire is kept up,’ from the root aidh-, ‘to burn’ (Gk. αἴθω). The 1 Sg. Perf. Middle ended in -ai, whence Latin (unaccented) -ei, e.g. dedei, later -ī, dedī (ch. vi. § 10); the Dat. Sg. of Cons. stems had the same ending, e.g. O. Lat. IVNONEI, class. Junonī (ch. iii. § 8).

(2) au. Lat. augeo from the root aug-, ‘to grow,’ ‘be strong’ (Gk. αὔξω); Lat. aurī, au-tem from I.-Eur. au (Gk. αὖ) (ch. ix. § 3; cf. the Prep. au- of au-fugio, ch. viii. § 2).

(3) ei. Lat. dīco, older deico, from the root deic-, to show, say (Gk. δείκνυμι); fīdo, older feido, from the root bheidh-, ‘to trust,’ ‘cause to trust’ (Gk. πείθω).

(4) eu. Lat. dūco, older douco, from the root deuc-, to lead (Germ. ziehen); ūro, older *ouso, from the root eus-, to burn (Gk. εὕω for *εὔσω).

(5) oi. Lat. ūnus, older oinos, oenus, from I.-Eur. oinos (Gk. οἴνη, the ace); mūnus from moin- (Germ. ge-mein); ūtor from the O-grade of the root eit- (Gk. οἶτος); cūriae from the O-grade of root kei-, ‘to lie’ (Gk. κοί-τη beside κεῖ-μαι). The Nom. Plur. Masc. of the Second Declension ended in -oi, which, being unaccented, became in Latin -ei, e.g. populei, later -ī, populī (ch. iii. § 6).

(6) ou. Lat. bōbus, būbus, Dat. Pl. of the stem gᵘow-, an ox (ch. iii. § 10); rōdus, rūdus (also raudus), unhewn stone, rough metal, &c., from the O-grade of the root reudh-, ‘to be red,’ whence also rōbus, rōbigo; nūtrix, older nōtrix, from the O-grade of root neud-. When ou arose in Latin from Syncope, it is treated like I.-Eur. ou, e.g. nūntius, older nountius, from noventius; nūndinae, older nondinae, from *novem-dinae.

(7) āi. Lat. aevum (Gk. αἰ(ϝ)ών) perhaps represents I.-Eur. āiw-. I.-Eur. -āi was the ending of the Dat. Sg. of the First Declension (Gk. χώρᾳ), and became in O. Lat. -ā as well as -ai (ch. iii. § 4).

(8) āu. I.-Eur. āu of the stem nāu-, ‘a ship’ (Hom. Gk. νηῦς), appears in Latin before a consonant as au (the ordinary diphthong), e.g. nau-fragus, nau-stibulum; so perhaps the au of I.-Eur. klāu-, ‘a key,’ in claudo.

(9) ēi. The doublet-form ē (see above) appears in Lat. rēs, spēs (ch. iii. § 13), and Locatives of the Fifth Declension like die (crastini) (ch. vii. § 13).

(10) ēu. I.-Eur. ēu appeared in the Nom. Sg. dyēus, ‘the sky,’ which should have as Latin equivalent -ous (class. -ūs) from -ēus. Latin diēs however shows the vocalism of the I.-Eur. Acc. Sg. dyēm (Gk. Ζῆν-α, Lat. diĕm from diēm, ch. ii. § 16).

(11) ōi. I.-Eur. ōi, the ending of the Dat. Sg. of the Second Declension, appeared in O. Lat. as ō or oi (ch. iii. § 6).

(12) ōu. The doublet-form ō (see above) appears in Lat. ‘Dual’ ō of duō, ambō, octō (ch. iii. § 1). On bōs (I.-Eur. gᵘōus) see ch. iii. § 10.

A root like pet- of Gk. πέτεσθαι, to fly, appears in the form pt- in Gk. πτέσθαι, the shorter form being a syncopated form of the other due to loss of accent in the I.-Eur. period. Similarly the root ei-, ‘to go’ (Gk. εἶ-σι, Lat. it, older ei-t, ch. vi. § 20), loses the ĕ of the diphthong in the Perf. Part. Pass. i-tó- (Gk. ἐξ-ιτός, Lat. -itus), where the accent falls on the suffix; and eu becomes ŭ, through loss of accent, in I.-Eur. bhŭgā, ‘flight’ (Gk. φυγή, Lat. fuga) from bheugō, ‘I flee’ (Gk. φεύγω); while en, em, er, el, similarly reduced, appear before a vowel as n, m, r, l, e.g. Gk. γί-γν-ο-μαι, Lat. gi-gn-ō, beside Gk. γέν-ος, Lat. gĕnus, but before a consonant ᵉn, ᵉm, ᵉr, ᵉl, reduced sounds which in Greek appear as α, ρα, λα, e.g. φατός from φεν-, to kill, δρακεῖν from δερκ-, to glance, in Latin as ĕn, ĕm, ŏl, ŏr, e.g. tentus (Gk. τα-τός) from ten-, ‘to stretch,’ cor for cord (ch. ii. § 9) (Gk. κραδίη, καρδία). These reduced forms pt, bhŭg, tᵉn, &c., are called the ‘weak’ grades of these Ĕ-roots pet-, bheug-, ten-. When the root had a long vowel, the weak grade shows in Latin the vowel ă, in Greek the short form of the vowel of the root, e.g. dătus (Gk. δο-τός) from the root dō-, ‘to give’ (Lat. dō-num, Gk. δῶ-ρον); sătus (Gk. ἑ-τός) from the root sē-, ‘to throw seed’ (Lat. sē-men, Gk. ἧμα for *σῆμα); stătus (Gk. στα-τός) from the root stā-, ‘to stand, set up’ (Lat. stā-men, Gk. στή-μων).

Ĕ-roots had beside a ‘weak grade’ also an ‘O-grade,’ e.g. dŏmŏ-, ‘a house’ (Gk. δόμος), from the root dĕm-, ‘to build’ (Gk. δέμω). Latin examples of the O-grade are domus; procus, a suitor, from the root prec-, to ask (Lat. precor); toga, from the root teg-, to cover (Lat. tego); moneo, from the root men-, to remember (Lat. me-min-i from *me-men-ei); torreo, from the root ters-, to be dry (Gk. τέρσομαι). They had also a ‘long grade,’ [4] sometimes with ē, e.g. I.-Eur. rēg-, ‘a king’ (Lat. rēx), sometimes with ō, e.g. I.-Eur. bhōr-, ‘a thief’ (Gk. φώρ).

[4]: This grade is thought to have arisen from the suppression of a following short vowel, e.g. rēg-s Nom. Sg. from an older rĕg-ŏ-s, bhōr(s) Nom. Sg. from an older bhŏr-ŏ-s.

These Gradations of Vowels are seen not only in root-syllables, but in Suffixes. For example, the appearance of -ĕ in the Voc. Sing. of O-stems (Lat. equĕ, Gk. ἵππε) and the alternation of -os Nom. Acc. Sg. with -es- in the other cases of Neuter ES-stems (Gk. γένος, γέν-ε-(σ)-ος, γέν-ε-(σ)-ι, &c.; Lat. gen-us, gen-er-is, gen-er-i from *gen-os, *gen-es-es, *gen-es-ai, &c., ch. iii. § 8) are parallel to the variation of ĕ and ŏ in dĕmo and dŏmos. Similarly -ĕn, -ŏn (with -ēn, -ōn) in the declension of N-stems (see ch. iii. § 8), -ĕr, -ŏr (with -ēr, -ōr) in the declension of R-stems are parallel to the variation of ĕ with ē and ŏ with ō in rĕgo and rēg-s, bhĕrō and bhōr(s).

I.-Eur. y is Latin j, which had the sound of our y (ch. ii. § 3), e.g. jugum (I.-Eur. yŭgŏm, Gk. ζυγόν). In the middle of a word after a consonant this became the vowel i, [5] e.g. medius (I.-Eur. mĕdhyŏs, Gk. μέ(σ)σος). [6] In Jupiter, Jovem Acc. (O. Lat. Diovem), the j has come from I.-Eur. dy-, but after other initial consonants the y was dropped, e.g. suo for *syuo (Engl. ‘sew’); heri for *hyesi (Gk. χθές). Between vowels y was dropped in Latin, e.g. trēs from I.-Eur. trēyĕs; formō for forma(y)ō like Gk. τιμά(ϝ)ω (ch. vi. § 2).

[5]: Cf. etiam for etjam, nunciam for nunc jam.

[6]: In Gk. -py- became πτ, so that Latin Verbs in -pio, e.g. sapio, correspond to Gk. Verbs in -πτω, e.g. τύπτω, χαλέπτω.

I.-Eur. w is Latin v, which had the sound of our w (ch. ii. § 3), e.g. vīdi from root weid-, ‘to see, know’ (Gk. (ϝ)οἶδα, Engl. wit). Initial dw- became b, e.g. bellum (older duellum), bonus (older duonus), bis (older duis; cf. duo). Initial swē- became sō-, e.g. soror from I.-Eur. swēsōr (Gk. ἔορες Pl.). Before u, v was dropped in the ending -vus; e.g. dīvus (older deivus) became *deius, then (with loss of y between vowels) deus; Gnaevus became Gnaeus; bovum became boum. (On the spelling of the Republican period -vos, -vom, see ch. ii. § 14.)

I.-Eur. m, n remain unchanged in Latin, e.g. m in māter (I.-Eur. māter-); medius (I.-Eur. mĕdhyo-); -m (Gk. -ν) of the Acc. Sing. and Gen. Plur., e.g. terram, dominum, terrarum, dominorum; n in novus (I.-Eur. nĕwo-); nāvis (I.-Eur. nāu-).

Lat. em, en often represent not I.-Eur. m, n but I.-Eur. ᵉm, ᵉn (Gk. α) in the weak grade (§ 12) of E-roots, e.g. tentus (Gk. τα-τός), I.-Eur. tᵉn-to-, with the weak grade of the root ten-, ‘to stretch’; -em of the Acc. Sg. of Consonant stems, e.g. patrem (Gk. πατέρα). Thus -men of the Nom. Acc. Sg. Neut. is I.-Eur. -mᵉn, e.g. sēmen (Gk. ἧμα).

I.-Eur. l, r remain unchanged in Latin, e.g. linquo from the root leiqᵘ- (Gk. λείπω); rego from the root rĕg- (Gk. ὀ-ρέγω); ruber from I.-Eur. rŭdhro- (Gk. ἐ-ρυθρός).

Lat. ŏl, ŏr are representatives of I.-Eur. ᵉl, ᵉr in the ‘weak grade’ (§ 12) of E-roots, e.g. pulsus, older *poltos (Gk. παλτός), from the root pel-; cor, older cord- (Gk. κραδίη, καρδία); fors from I.-Eur. bhᵉr-ti- (O. Engl. gebyrd, ‘fate’) from the root bher- (Lat. fero); cornus, cornel (Gk. κράνος).

I.-Eur. p is Lat. p, e.g. pecu (I.-Eur. pĕku-, Germ. Vieh, ‘cattle’); septem (I.-Eur. sĕptᵉm, Gk. ἑπτά). P becomes m before n or m, e.g. somnus for *sop-nos (cf. sopor). I.-Eur. b is Lat. b, e.g. bibo (for *pibo, by Assimilation; I.-Eur. pibō). Before n or m Lat. b became m, e.g. scamnum for *scab-num (cf. scabellum). I.-Eur. bh, when initial, became Lat. f, when medial b, e.g. fero (I.-Eur. bhĕrō, Gk. φέρω, Engl. bear); frāter (cf. I.-Eur. bhrātor, Gk. φρᾱ́τωρ, Engl. brother); nebula (Gk. νεφέλη). A good example of f and b is the word for a beaver, fiber (I.-Eur. bhĕbhru-).

I.-Eur. t is Lat. t, e.g. tentus from the root ten-, ‘to stretch.’ Before l it was dropped when initial, e.g. lātus, carried, for *tlātus, P.P.P. of fero, tuli; but became c when medial; thus the suffix -tlo- (ch. xi. § 9) became -clo- in Latin, e.g. cubiclum or cubiculum. I.-Eur. d is Lat. d, e.g. decem (I.-Eur. dĕkᵉm, Gk. δέκα). (On l for d in lingua, earlier dingua, &c., see ch. ii. § 8.) Final -d was dropped after a long vowel toward the end of the third cent. B.C., though it is found in Plautus in mēd, tēd, sēd (class. me, te, se), as well as haud (ch. ii. § 9; ch. iii. § 4). Final -nt became Lat. -ns, e.g. quotiens (ch. iv. § 4). I.-Eur. dh became f in Latin, which in proximity to r became b; but in the middle of a word between vowels d is found; e.g. fūmus, I.-Eur. dhūmŏ- (Gk. θυμός); rūber (stem rūbro-), I.-Eur. rūdhro- (Gk. ἐ-ρυθρός); fīdo, I.-Eur. bheidhō (Gk. πείθω for *φείθω). A good example of f and d is fā-c-io beside con-do, both from the root dhē- of Gk. τί-θη-μι (ch. vi. § 23). T, d, or dh before t became a sibilant, Lat. ss, e.g. Lat. passus, for *pat-tus, from patior; egressus, for *egred-tus, from egredior; confisus (older confissus, ch. ii. § 9) with -ss- from -dht-.

We must distinguish in I.-Eur. (1) the Palatals, k, g, gh, e.g. kⁿtom, ‘hundred’ (Lat. centum, Gk. ἑ-κατόν), for which some I.-Eur. languages have a Sibilant; (2) the Gutturals Proper, k, g, gh, e.g. kĕrt-, ‘to plait’ (Lat. crātes, cartilāgo, Gk. κάρταλος, basket), which remain Gutturals in all I.-Eur. languages; (3) Labiovelars, qᵘ, gᵘ, ghᵘ, e.g. qᵘetwor-, ‘four’ (Lat. quattuor, Gk. τέσσαρες), qᵘo-, the Relative (Lat. qui, quo, &c.; Gk. ποῦ), which become Labials in some languages.

I.-Eur. Palatal k, g, gh are Latin c, g, h, e.g. centum, gnōsco (Gk. γιγνώσκω), hortus (Gk. χόρτος). The I.-Eur. Gutturals Proper, k, g, gh, are likewise Latin c, g, h, e.g. crātes, jugum (Gk. ζυγόν), hostis (Engl. guest). I.-Eur. Labiovelar qᵘ is Latin qu, e.g. quattuor, qui; gᵘ is Latin v, but after a consonant gu, and before a consonant g, e.g. vīvus (I.-Eur. gᵘīwo-), venio (Gk. βαίνω, Engl. ‘come’); unguo from the root ongᵘ-; agnus (I.-Eur. agᵘno-, Gk. ἀμνός for *ἀβνος); ghᵘ is Lat. f, when initial, but between vowels v, after a consonant gu, and before a consonant g, e.g. formus (I.-Eur. ghᵘormo-; cf. Gk. θερμός); nivem Acc. Sg. (Gk. νίφα) and ninguit, both from the root (s)neighᵘ-, ‘to snow,’ ‘be wet,’ whence Engl. ‘snow.’

Lat. c became g before n, e.g. ilignus from ilex. Initial gn became n at the beginning of the second century B.C., e.g. (g)nōsco (cf. co-gnosco), (g)natus (cf. co-gnatus).

I.-Eur. s remains in Latin, e.g. septem (I.-Eur. sĕptᵉm, Gk. ἑπτά), but between vowels took the soft or voiced sound (as in our Verb ‘use,’ while our Noun ‘use’ has the hard or unvoiced sound) and passed in the fourth cent. B.C. into r, [7] e.g. -ārum from earlier -āsom in the Gen. Pl. of the First Declension (ch. iii. § 4), generis from *genesĕs (Gk. γένε(σ)ος), arboris from *arbosĕs. Before a consonant like d, l, m, n, the s was dropped, e.g. nūrus from I.-Eur. snuso- (Gk. νυός), with lengthening of the preceding vowel, e.g. nīdus from nisdo- (Engl. nest). Before r in the middle of a word s became b, e.g. sobrīnus for *swesrīnus from I.-Eur. swĕsor-, ‘a sister.’ After r and l it was assimilated, e.g. porrum from *porsum (Gk. πράσον), collum for colso- (Germ. Hals).

[7]: See ch. i. § 5. Livy, speaking of Sp. Furius Fusus, the consul of 464 B.C., says that some of the early historians spelt the name Fusio- (iii. 4. 1 Fūrios ‘Fūsios’ scripsere quidam). The only instances in classical Latin of intervocalic s are (1) words where ss originally stood, e.g. formosus, (2) loan-words, e.g. gaesum (Gaulish).

In early Latin we find a group stl- at the beginning of a few words corresponding to class. l; e.g. stlis (also slis) was the old form of lis, retained in the legal phrase decemviri stlitibus judicandis in Cicero’s time (Cic. Or. 46. 156); stlocus and slocus, of locus; stlātus, of lātus, broad (§ 1).

The difficulty of pronouncing certain consonant-groups often led to a consonant being dropped or else assimilated to its neighbour. We have just had one instance, stl- and sl- becoming l-. Similarly gn- became n- in the middle of the second century B.C., e.g. natus, older gnatus. Examples of the loss of a consonant in a group (cf. our ‘hal(f)penny,’ ‘Satur(n)day,’ ‘be(t)st,’ ‘cas(t)le,’ ‘go(d)spel’) are:

(1) l(c)t, l(c)s, r(c)t, r(c)s, r(t)c, s(c)t, c(t)s, r(t)s or r(d)s, e.g. ultus for *ulctus, mulsi for *mulcsi, fortis, O. Lat. forctis and forctus, tortus for *torctus, torsi for *torcsi, corculum for *cort-culum from cor(d), pastum for *pasctum, nox for *nocts, ars for *arts, arsi for *ardsi.

(2) r(g)n, r(g)m, r(d)n, r(b)m, e.g. urna for *urgna (cf. urceus), tormentum for *torgmentum from torqueo, orno for *ordno (cf. ordino), sarmentum for *sarbmentum from sarpo.

(3) (t)sc, (c)sc, (p)sp, (p)st, (p)sc, (s)ps, (n)gn, (r)st, (r)sc, e.g. esca for *etsca from edo, disco for *dicsco (cf. di-dic-i), asporto for *apsporto from abs and porto, ostendo for *opstendo from obs and tendo (but obstinatus), Oscus, older Opscus (Obscus), ipse for *is-pse, ignis for *engnis (I.-Eur. ᵉngni-), fastigium for *farstigium (Engl. bristle), Tuscus from *Turscus.

(4) (c)sn or (g)sn, (c)sl or (g)sl, (c)sm or (g)sm, e.g. lūna for *lusna from *lucsna, tēlum for *teslum from *tecslum, āla for *asla from *acsla, subtemen for *subtesmen from *subtecsmen.

The loss of a consonant in a group is often really due to Assimilation. Thus the loss of s in hordeum for *hors-deum (Germ. Gerste) cannot be separated from the assimilation of s to r in the group rs, e.g. horreo for *horseo. Examples of Assimilation are furnished by the Preposition in Compounds, e.g. bc, oc-caeco, suc-curro, bf, of-ficio, bg, suggero, etc., etc. This Assimilation of the Preposition was the rule in Early Latin; e.g. Plautus puns on assum, ‘I am here’ and assum, ‘roasted’ in Poen. 279:

Milphio, heus ubi tu es? Assum apud te eccum. At ego elixus sis volo;

but the introduction of grammatical studies brought in the fashion of writing the Preposition in its independent form, ad-sum, etc. Other examples of Assimilation of Consonants are: ld, percello for *per-celdo (cf. clādes); ln, collis (cf. Gk. κολωνός); [8] ls, collum (Germ. Hals). When s was assimilated to a following voiced consonant the consonant was at first written double, e.g. quallus from *quaslus (cf. quasillus [9]), but afterwards single, the vowel being lengthened by ‘Compensation,’ quālus. So aula and olla (older aulla) for *auxla (cf. auxella); vēlum (older vellum) for *vexlum (cf. vexillum); anhēlus (older anhellus) for *an-enslus (ch. ii. § 15).

[8]: Ulna had originally a vowel between l and n (cf. Gk. ὠλένη).

[9]: The Diminutive quasillus was a recent formation, made after the Phonetic Law, by which s became between vowels r in Latin (§ 19), had ceased to act.