Usor:Tchougreeff/Elliot's Brief Introduction To Medeval latin Grammar with remarks

E Vicipaedia

As we mentioned Medieval Latin is very important as the source of Scientific Latin. Here we give (in the left column) the Elliot's overview of the grammar of the Medieval Latin with remarks (in the right column) suggesting how its features could be possibly used in the contemporary scientific Latin writing. Of course, it is merely a suggestion; only the real life (usage) can show what is going to survive and in what quality.

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO MEDIEVAL LATIN GRAMMAR

Alison Goddard Elliott

Remarks
Unlike a more traditional grammar of Classical Latin - such as AG, which will represent for us the standard of CL - no grammar of ML or VL can make any claim to completeness; the geographical and chronological boundaries are too great to be encompassed in a single chapter. What I have attempted to do here is to describe certain phenomena - changes from classical usage - which may cause difficulty. For this reason, I have focused on a few authors whose works offer interesting, if occasionally disconcerting, deviations from classical norms. Therefore, this grammar is based primarily, but not exclusively, on a select number of VL texts - the pre-Vulgate translations of the Bible known as the Vetus Latina, the anonymous translation of Athanasius's Vita Antonii ( = VA ), the Itinerarium of Egeria (Itin. ), the Chronicon Salernitanum ( Chron. Sal. ), the Gospel of Nicode­mus, the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, the Appendix Probi (App. P.), and the Histories of the Franks of Gregory of Tours (Greg. T., H. F.). The student of CL will experience little trouble in reading the works of those writers whose works con­ form fairly closely to classical practice-writers of the Carolingian Renaissance such as Einhard, for example, or products of the Renaissance of the twelfth century such as John of Salisbury. But the others, users of so-called VL such as Egeria or Gregory of Tours, are a somewhat different story. Their writings, indeed, have sometimes been belittled or more often ignored by Classicists because of their "deviations" from more familiar grammar and syntax; or they have been studied with passionate interest by Romance philologists eager to discern the earliest traces of the modern national languages. Here I aim to strike a balance - describing deviations from classical practices, pointing to similarities with Romance vernaculars, but viewing neither as an end in itself. These texts, and their comprehen­ sion, are the goal. In addition to the abbreviations cited above, I use the standard forms for the various Romance languages: OFr., Old French; Fr., French; Sp., Spanish; It., Italian; Cat., Catalan; Port., Portuguese; Rom., Romanian. Classical works are cited by their standard abbreviations, as found in LS; medieval works other than those named above are cited in full.

1. ORTHOGRAPHY[recensere | fontem recensere]

One difficulty which the student of ML encounters is that familiar words may appear unfamiliar. Orthography was far from regular and was often influenced by local pronunciation as well as by ignorance. As Mohrmann (409) has pointed out, Latin orthography, unlike that of modern English or French, closely followed the phonetic development of the language; the spelling of CL reflected with fair accuracy the contemporary pronunciation, and, in spite of the precepts of the grammarians, that spelling continued to evolve to reflect changing phonetic condi­ tions. As Quintilian observed, Orthographia quoque consuetudini servit ideoque saepe mutata est, "Spelling is also subject to custom and therefore often changed" (Inst. Or. 1.7.11). For this reason, manuscript orthography often provides valuable evidence for the evolution of the Latin language and should not be altered or "regularized" to conform with artificial or " classical" norms, even if the unfamiliar spellings do make the student's task more difficult at first. Moreover, many of the seeming " changes" from classical norms can be documented from inscriptions on the walls at Pompeii (i.e., they were in use prior to 24 August 79 C.E. ). It is impossible here to offer anything like a full description of the phonetic and concomitant orthographic evolution of Latin over a period of more than a thousand years; for lengthy discussions of the subject, see the grammars of Lofstedt, Grandgent, and Norberg. Listed here are some of the more common changes from classical standards.

1.1 Accentuation[recensere | fontem recensere]

VL is generally believed to have had a stress accent which usually fell on the same syllable as in CL. There are, however, some exceptions:

Falling diphthongs like -ie- in words like parietem, where the semivowel became consonantal and the accent shifted to the following vowel, paryetem.

Penultimate vowels before consonant groups ending in -r attracted the accent, and therefore CL tenebrae came to be pronounced tenebrae; integrum became integrum.

Scientific Latin we want to promote is going to be (first of all) a written language. Thus, all (Medieval) orthography irregularities stemming from mutation of pronunciation are irrelevant to it. Suggestion: stick to the (classical) vocabulary spelling.
1.1.1 SYNCOPATION[recensere | fontem recensere]

Unaccented vowels were frequently dropped:

coliclo for cauliculum, "little cabbage"; periclum for periculum, "dan­ger" (very frequent in CL poets, e.g. Plautus and Terence); numerous entries in the Appendix Probi: speculum non speclum, masculus non masclus, vetulus non veclus, etc. (App. P. 3, 4, 5); domnae = dominae.

1.2 Pronunciation[recensere | fontem recensere]

Orthography does not keep exact pace with pronunciation, and many of the so-called " mistakes" or departures from classical norms may be ascribed to this fact.

1.3 Vowels[recensere | fontem recensere]

E = I: short i commonly > e, from the 3d century on (Grandgent 84).

menus = minus; ille = illi.

U = O: very common.

suppotatio = supputatio; deursum = deorsum; victuria = victoria; this alteration is very frequent in Gregory of Tours.

Y = I

sydera = sidera; misterium = mysterium; presbiter = presbyter.

1.3.1 REDUCTION OF DIPHTHONGS[recensere | fontem recensere]

AE > E; OE > E (the CL spellings did not reappear until they were introduced by the humanists). In other cases, AE was used for E:

que = quae; Egyptus = Aegyptus; Phebus = Phoebus; cotidiae = coti­ die; aeclesiae = ecclesiae; interpraetatum (Vetus Latina, Itala, Matt. 1.23) = interpretatum.

1.3.2 PROTHETIC VOWELS[recensere | fontem recensere]

The tendency to put a vowel (i, and later e) before sm, sp, or st, or z in Greek words was not uncommon (cf. Sp. escuela, Fr. ecole < SCHOLA); the reverse also occurs:

esthomacho = stomacho (Anthimus, Pref. 4. 11); stivis = aestivis (ibid. 20.25); exenium = xenium (Greg. T., H.R 5.46).

1.4 Consonants[recensere | fontem recensere]

Doubled consonants:

dicciones = ditiones; cottidie = cotidie.

Consonant substitutions:

B= P

scribturus = scripturus; optulit= obtulit.

C (K) = QV

eculeus=equuleus, "torture rack"; scalores=squalores; quirie = kyrie (Mohrmann 413).

D=T

adque=atque; aput = apud; nequid=nequit.

DI = Z

baptidiare = baptizare.

F = PH

profetam ( Vetus Latina, Itala, Matt. 1.22), = prophetam.

S=x

elisos=elixos; mistus=mixtus; vis=vix.

v= B: The confusion between these two sounds is today limited to certain areas of the Romance-speaking countries (e.g., the Auvergne, parts of the Iberian penin­ sula); it was, however, far more widespread in antiquity, especially in Spain.

baculus non vac/us (App. P. 9); sedabit for sedavit (Greg. T., H. P. 2.10);

negabi=negavi (Norberg 143).

v = F: intervocalic F may be voiced:

provano=profano (Norberg 143).

1.4.1 PALATALIZATION[recensere | fontem recensere]

CI = TI: found in inscriptions from the 2d century on. The reverse also occurs occasionally:

precium=pretium; accio=actio; quociens= quotiens; nacio=nation (cf. Sp. nación but Fr. nation); pudititia=pudicitia.

1.4.2 NASALS[recensere | fontem recensere]

-NT-=-NCT- (common in LL inscriptions from all regions).

santus = sanctus; (de)funtus= (de)functus (cf. It. Sp. Port. santo, Cat. sant, Rom. sint).

Loss of N before s (common from the earliest periods; cf. the epitaph of L. Cornelius Scipio, consul in 259 B.C.E.: L. CORNELIO L. F. SCIPIO AIDILES COSOL CESOR (=consul, censor; CIL 1, 8.9).

Cf. App. P.: mensa non mesa (Sp. mesa < MENSA); ansa non asa (ibid. 76); ista=insta.

thensauris= thesauris (Vetus Latina): the epenthetic N is a hypercorrec­tion, following the general linguistic rule that one kind of error provokes its opposite. Formonsus is also common for formosus.

1.4.3 REDUCTION OF CT > T[recensere | fontem recensere]

auctor non autor (App. P. 154).

1.5 Aspiration[recensere | fontem recensere]

The letter H was already weak in CL, and the Latin-speaker was likely to be uncertain about where to use this sound (cf. Catullus 84). Internally, the H was used to mark a syllable but was not pronounced (mihi, nihil, prehendo). In spite of the pretensions of African orators who affected to pronounce an initial H at the time of Saint Augustine (Conf. 1.18.1 9), there is no trace of Roman H in Romance (the Fr. aspirate H is Germanic in origin, the H of Sp. haber a learned spelling).

Greek loanwords: words borrowed early were pronounced and spelled with- out the H of their aspirated stops.

Feton=Pheton (i.e., Phaeton); Pithagoras=Phitagoras (i.e., Pythago­ ras); spera=sphaera; Aprodite=Aphrodite ( CIL 4, 1589, from Pompeii).

Other:

habundare=abundare; habire=abire; asta = hasta; erba=herba; rhetor and rethoricus; hostium=ostium.

MICHI = MIHI (etc.): after H lost all sound, scribes often wrote -CH- to indicate a disyllable. nichil (in Spain nicil) = nihil. In Spain, also mici, arcivum, macina.

1.6 Proper Names[recensere | fontem recensere]

Proper names, especially biblical ones, may cause considerable difficulty for the medieval scribe. In the Vetus Latina, for example, at Matt. 2.1 the following spellings for "Jerusalem" occur: Hierosolyma, Hierusolima, lerosolima, Hierosolima; for Israel: Istrahel, Israhel, Isrl (an abbreviation), Sdrael, Istrael (Matt. 2.6). The Greek word "myrrh" is spelled murra, myrra, mirra, smyrna (Matt. 2. 11).

2. VOCABULARY CHANGES[recensere | fontem recensere]

Further difficulties of ML are that familiar words have changed their meaning, and that a perhaps less familiar word has replaced a better-known one. Lofstedt 1, 340, writes: "It is a characteristic feature of Latin in its later stages that a good many words well-known or seemingly well-known from earlier periods occur with new and surprising meanings.. . . The change is, in some cases, a natural and organic one due to special circumstances involving an inner change of meaning; in other cases it is more correct to consider it a sort of etymologizing new formation either learned or popular in origin or resting on ignorance (it is not always easy to decide which)."

Changes often involve the status of a word, as a term of humble origin re­places a more elevated one (i.e., CASA, "hut;' replaces DOMUS, "house"). A phe­ nomenon common to the development of all languages is the restriction of a word of general meaning to a specific use or the reverse (e.g., TESTIMONIUM, "evidence" becomes TESTIS, "witness" [Lofstedt 2, 15 1-52]). Another example of the specific replacing the general: MACHINA, "invention," "artifice" > " machine." Furthermore, seemingly irregular formations (e.g., verbs with reduplicated perfects) tend to be replaced by more regular (and first conjugation) forms (CANO, CANERE, CECINI is replaced by CANTO, CANTARE, CANTAVI). By constant use, moreover, the meanings of words seem to erode. Simple verbs, e.g., DO, DARE, DEDI, with its monosyllabic forms and reduplicated perfect, were replaced by the frequentative, DONARE (cf. Fr. donner); frequentatives, moreover, had the additional advantage of seeming stronger than the simple forms (Lofstedt 2, 28). To give another example, AUSARE replaced AUDERE (It. osare, Fr. oser, Sp. osar).

Monosyllabic verb forms tended to be replaced - i.e., is, it from ire were replaced by compounds (inire, exire), or by other verbs such as ambulare and vadere; fles, flet (from flere) were replaced by forms of ploro or plango; flas, flat (from flare) were replaced by the compound sufflare (> Fr. souffler); es, est (from edo) were replaced by forms of comedo (or manducare). This process of compounding, moreover, was not limited to monosyllabic forms: cf. expandere replacing pandere, adimplere replacing implere. For nouns, the fourth and fifth declensions disappeared from the spoken language, fourth declension nouns being assimilated to the second, and fifth to the third (see §§ 3.1 and 3.2). In addition, many diminutives, which belong to the first or second declension, replaced the customary CL farm (e.g., SOLICULUM may replace SOL, SOLIS (cf. Fr. soleil, but It. sole < SOL).

Sound was yet another factor which influenced the vocabulary of Medieval Latin. It has been noted several times that words with similar sound clusters and adjacent senses influenced one another (Lofstedt and Norberg, cited by Westerbergh 289-90). For example, in the Chronicon Salernitanum, expectare (to expect) aliquid ab aliquo came to mean expetere (to demand) aliquid ab aliquo. Finally, many Greek loanwords displaced the CL forms, as COLAPHUS replaced l,crUS (4th) (cf. It. colpo, Fr. coup, Sp. golpe); THIUS in Italy and Spain appears to have supplanted AVUNCULUS (It. zio, Sp. tio), while in France AVUNCULUS remained in use (oncle). C(H)ORDA replaced the deceptive FUNIS (3d).

2.1 Words Which Have Changed Meaning[recensere | fontem recensere]

  • ACER "sharp" (touch) > "bitter" (It. agre, Fr. aigre).
  • ADIUTARE replaces ADIUVO, ADIUVI (It. aiuto, Fr. aider, Sp. ayudar).
  • ALTER "one of two," assumes as well the meaning of ALIUS, "other," "different," which disappears (> Sp. otro, Fr. autre).
  • AMBULARE "to go about;' "to walk" (with various shades of meaning in CL, replaces IRE (It. andare, Prov., Cat. anar, Sp. andar, Fr. aller).
The trend in "modern" English is to replace longer words of "Latin" origin by shorter ones of "Saxon" stems. Apparently, with a fixed amount of phonems one cannot have as much short words as loner ones.
  • APPREHENDERE "grasp" replaces DISCERE, DIDICI " learn" (Fr. apprendre).
  • AURICULA (ORICLA) the diminutive replaces AURIS "ear" (It. orecchio, Rom. urechi, Sp. oreja, Fr. oreille).
Not an equivalent replacement: auricula belongs to a child or a lady, auris to a male or an ass or donkey... both are correct, but mean different things.
  • AVICELLUS (AUCELLUS) replaces AVIS (3d) " bird" (It. ucello, Fr. oiseau, Port. augel).
  • BELLUS "pretty," "nice;' replaces PULCHER, "beautiful," which disappeared completely from Romance (It. bello, Fr. bel, etc).
  • BREVE, BREVIS "short" > "letter" (legal Eng. brief).
  • BUCCA "cheek," replaces OS, "mouth" (It. bocca, Fr. bouche, Sp. boca).
  • CABALLUS "nag," replaces EQUUS, "horse."
  • CAMERA (Greek) "vault" > "room" (It. camera, Fr. chambre).
  • CANTARE a frequentative form, replaces CANO, CECINI (3d) (Fr. chanter, Sp. cantar, etc.).
  • CASA "hut" replaces DOMUS (cf. It. Sp. casa).
  • CAUSA replaces RES, "thing" (It. cosa, Fr. chose). With a negative meaning, RES persists (Fr. rien, Cat. res).
  • CIVITAS replaces URBS and OPPIDUM, found first in Cic. Ad Fam. 9.9.3.
  • COLLOCARE "to put" > "to put (in bed)," "go to bed" (It. coricare, Fr. coucher, Cat. colgar).
  • COMEDO "eat up entirely;' "waste," replaces EDO "eat" (Sp. comer).
  • COMES "companion" > "count" (Fr. comte). COXA "hips," replaces FEMUR, "thigh" (Fr. cuisse).
  • CRIMEN " accusation" comes to mean "crime." CULTELLUS the diminutive, replaces CULTER (It. coltello, Sp. cuchillo).
  • DIURNUS an adjective, replaces the 5th declension DIES (It. giorno, Fr. jour).
  • DOLUS "trickery" > DOLOR, "grief" (Lofstedt 2, 160f.; cf. It. duolo, OFr. duel, MFr. deuil, Sp. due/o).
  • DUX "leader" > "duke." ECCLESIA "assembly place" > "church building."
  • EXPANDERE replaces PANDERE (It. spandere, Fr. epandre).
  • FABULARE (CL, fabulor) replaces LOQUOR (Sp. hablar, Port. falar).
  • FLEBILIS "lamentable;' by a transferral from the moral to the physical sphere, replaces DEBILIS, "weak" (Fr. faible).
  • FOCUS "hearth," replaces IGNIS, "fire" (It. fuoco, Rom. Cat. foe, Sp. fuego, Fr. feu).
  • GENICULUM this diminutive replaces GENU (It. ginocchio, Fr. genou, OSp. hinojo).
  • GRANDIS "large" in size, "big," replaces MAGNUS, "great" especially morally.
  • HOSTIS "enemy" > "expedition" > "army" (It. [poet.] oste, Rom. oaste, Sp. hueste, Ptg. hoste, OFr. Prov. ost).
  • INGENIUM "wit, talent" > "strategem" > "siege engine" (Tertullian), "deceit"; novaque semper ad laedendum populum ingenia perquaerebat, "he was always seeking new tricks to injure the people" (Greg.T., H.P. 6.46) (Sp. engano, Prov. (en)genh). (Note that Sp. ingenio [< ingenium] is a later borrowing which faithfully preserves the form and meaning of the Latin original.)
  • IRRITARE "annoy," "provoke" > "render void" (Lofstedt 2, 158-60).
  • ITERARE "repeat" > iter facere, "journey" (cf. OFr. errer, "walk;' "knight errant"; Lofstedt 2, 161).
  • LABOR in addition to its customary meaning, "hard work," comes to mean "field" ( = AGER), and in particular "wheatfield" ( = MESSIS).
  • LIGARE replaces VINCIO, VINXI (Fr. lier).
  • MANDUCA "chew;' replaces EDO (Fr. manger, It. mangiare).
  • MANSIO "stay" > "stopping place;' "inn" > "house" (OFr. manoir [Eng. manor], Fr. maison, but cf. Sp. meson, "inn").
  • MANE, DE MANE replaces CRAS, "tomorrow" (Rom. mine, It. domani, Fr. demain, Cat. dema).
  • MATUTINUM (adj.) replaces MANE "morning" (It. mattino, Fr. matin); on parts of the Iberian penisula, MANEANA was used (Sp. manana, Port. manha, but Cat. matti. MEMORIA "tomb;' "memorial"; in ecclesiastical Latin, especially a church erected to commemorate a saint or a martyr.
  • MILES "soldier" > "knight."
  • MITTERE "send;' replaces PONERE, "put" (nemo mittit vinum novum in utres veteres, "No one puts new wine in old skins" ( Vetus Latina and Vulgate, Matt. 2.22; cf. It. mettere, Fr. mettre).
  • MOROSUS "fretful," "capricious" > "slow," "long" «  MORA, "delay").
  • NECARE "kill" (Ovid, Trist. 1.2.36, necaturas . . . aquas) > "drown" (It. annegare, Fr. noyer, Prov. Cat. negar, Sp. Port. anegar).
  • NEPOTEM "grandson" > "nephew" (Fr. neveu; It. nipote < NEPOS).
  • NITIDUS "brilliant" > "clean" (It. neto, Fr. net).
  • ORARE "talk" (orator) > "ask" > "pray."
  • ORBUS "bereft of" (relations, children) > "blind" (Rom. orb, It. orbo, OFr. orb).
  • PACARE "pacify" > "pay" (It. pagare, Fr. payer, Sp. pagar).
  • PAGANUS "country dweller" «  PAGUS) > "civilian" > "pagan."
  • PARABOLARE replaces LOQUOR (It. parlare, Fr. parler, Cat. parlar).
  • PASSER "sparrow" > (little) "bird" (Sp. pajaro, Port. passaro).
  • PARS "part" > "region;' "place" (Sp. Port. parte).
  • PENSARE a frequentative, "to weigh carefully;' replaces PENDO, PEPENDI (3d) (It. pesare, Fr. peser); it also came to mean "to weigh up mentally" > "to con­ sider," "to think" (It., pensare, Fr. penser, Sp. pensar).
  • PLANGO "strike" > "wail aloud, wring hands" is one replacement for FLERE, "weep" (It. piangere). PLORARE, which classically means something like "bawl," "cry;' also replaces the more poetic FLERE, which disappears (cf. Fr. pleurer, Sp. plorar, Cat. plorar).
  • (SE) PLICARE "fold" > "approach" (Sp. lIegar, Port. chegar, but Rom. pleca, "leave" -where perhaps the simple verb has been used for the compound); ut . . . sic plecaremus nos ad montem Dei, "as we approached the mountain of God."
  • POENA "punishment" > "pain" (Fr. peine, and all Romance except Romanian where both meanings survive). PORTARE displaces the highly irregular FERO, TULI, LATUM. POTESTAS "power" > "one who has power" (Lofstedt 2, 154; cf. It. podesta).
  • PRAESTARE "show," offer" > "lend" (Fr. preter, Sp. prestar).
  • PRAESUL "leading dancer" > LL "director" > ML "bishop."
  • PULLUS "young animal" (cf. the Eng. cognate, foal) > "chicken" (Hor. Sat. 1.3.92, 2.2. 121, etc.) (It., Sp. polio, Fr. poulet).
  • REGNUM "kingdom" may come to mean "king," or even more concretely, "crown."
  • SALTARE replaces SALIRE (Fr. sauter). SATIS "enough" > "very".
  • SEDERE "be seated," > "be," "remain" (seated), a frequent replacement in IberoRomance for ESSE; dum apud hostis sedimus, "while we are in the presence of the enemy" (Plaut. Amph. 599); ilia valle . . . ubi sederant filii Israhel dum Moyses ascenderet in montem Dei, "that valley where the sons of Israel remained [i.e., were] while Moses ascended the mountain of God" (Itin. 5.1) (Sp. ser, Cat. esser, Port. seer) .
  • SIC may mean "yes" (Sp. It. Cat. si), quae sic professa, "she said yes."
  • SPATULA "shovel" > "shoulder blade" (Fr. epaule, It. spalla, Sp. espaldas).
  • SPONSUS "betrothed" > "spouse" (It. sposo, Fr. epouse).
  • STARE "stand" > "be"; common in LL, e.g. Arnobius in dubio stare, "to be in doubt"; itaque ergo stat semper presbyter qui . . . siriste interpretatur, "there is always a priest who translates into Syriac" (It. stare, Fr. etre, Sp., Prov., Cat., Port., estar).
  • SUBINDE adv. of succession, "thereafter," replaces SAEPE, "often" ( tragieum illud subinde iaetabat, "he often cited boastfully that familiar line from the tragic poet," Suet. Calig. 30) (Fr. souvent, Cat. sovint).
  • TABULA "plank;' replaces MENSA, "table," except in Spain (mesa; cf. Fr. table, It. tavola).
  • TESTA "tile" > "shell" > "head" (It. testa, Fr. tete).
  • TESTIMONIUM "witnessing" > "witness" (Fr. temoin).
  • TOCCARE replaces TANGO, TETIGI (3d) (It. toecare, Fr. toucher, Sp. toear).
  • TOTUS replaces OMNIS in popular speech (It. tutto, Fr. tout, Cat. tot, Sp. todo). Omnis survives only in It. ogni. In the literary language CUNCTUS, UNIVERSUS, etc., were used.
  • VEL "or" comes to mean "and."
  • VETULUS (2d) replaces VETUS, VETERIS (3d) (Sp. viejo).
  • VIRTUS "strength" > "virtue" > "miracle" (in Christian contexts, the equivalent of mirabilia).

2.2 Doublets[recensere | fontem recensere]

Many words, indeed perhaps most, were common to both the literary language (which we know as "Latin") and the spoken language. This list of doublets is taken from Coseriu 57ff.:

ONLY

CLASSICAL

CLASSICAL

AND "VULGAR"

ONLY

CLASSICAL

CLASSICAL

AND "VULGAR"

ONLY

CLASSICAL

CLASSICAL

AND "VULGAR"

aequor mare ater niger letum mors
tellus terra balteus cingulum brevis curtus
sidus stella brassica caulis vulnus plaga
esurire famam habere cruor sanguis fluere currere
tergum dorsum gramen herba alvus venter
imber pluvia ager campus ianua porta
tuba bucina lapis petra lorum corrigia
linquere laxare formido pavor, metus plaustrum carrus
pulcher formosus, bellus sus porcus magnus grandis
diu longe, longum tempus validus fortis cum quando

alius alter ob sero pro, propter, per tarde omnis totus ut quomodo edere manducare, comedere ab de potare bibere fluere currere ludere iocare gramen herba ferre portare imber pluvia vincire ligare ianua porta equus caballus lapis petra os bucca linquere laxare domus casa, mansio, hospitale plaustrum carrus aestus calor sus porcus agere facere diu longe, longum tempus agna spica cum quando amittere perdere ob sero pro, propter, per tarde anguis serpens ut quomodo armilla brachiale ab de

Similarly, a whole series of functional elements (adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions) are exclusively classical (i.e., "dead" from the point of view of the spoken language): an, at, autem, donec, enim, ergo, etiam, haud, igitur, ita, nam, postquam, quidem, quin, quoad, quoque, sed, sive, utrum, vel, etc.

2.3 Suffixes and Prefixes[recensere | fontem recensere]

The vocabulary of ML is further enriched by a series of suffixes (following Costeriu 67ff.):

2.3.1 NOUNS[recensere | fontem recensere]

  • -tor, -arius, form nouns of agent, the first from verbs and the second from substantives and adjectives: salvator, auditor, argentarius, operarius, furnarius, eultellarius.
  • -aculum, -torium, form instrumental nouns: spiraculum, sufflatorium.
  • -arium, forms nouns of place: aer, arium, granarium, "granary;' apiarium.
  • -etum, forms names of places derived from trees: salpicetum, "willow grove;' fraxinetum, "ash grove," queffetum, "oak grove;' fagetum, "beech grove.
  • -ale, forms nouns of place or instrument.
  • -alia (pl. of -ale), -men, form collective nouns: battalia, ossamen.
  • -mentum, -tura, -sura, form abstract or collective nouns, names of actions, generally from verbs (as in CL armatura, mensura): iuramentum, capillatura (without the existence of a verb, capillare), adventura (> aventure), arsura.
  • -tio, -sio, -atio, -itio, -ntia, form abstract nouns derived from verbs: demoratio, custoditio, sufferentia, fragrantia (nouns in -ntia, in principle neuter plurals of present participles, were treated as feminine singulars).
  • -itas -itia, form abstract nouns derived from adjectives: amicitatem, bellitatem (cf. CL bonitas, caritas), longitia, proditia (cf. CL pigritia, avaritia).
  • -ata, forms nouns of quantity (matter or time): diurnata (Sp. jornada), annata, buccata (Sp. bocada).
  • -or or -or/-ura, form abstract nouns derived from verbs: lucorem, laudorem (Sp. loor); fervor, fervura; rigor, rigura; then, on the model of strictura, directura (future participles), were formed nouns in -ura from nonverbal adjectives: planura < planus.
  • -ulus, -iculus, -uculus, very frequent diminutive forms; the accented suffix –ellus was preferred to the unstressed -ulus: rotulus-rotella, > Sp. rodilla; fibula fibella > Sp. hebilla; anellus, vitellus, catellus. In consequence, -icellus was preferred to -iculus: avicellus, navicula-navicella, monticulus-monticellus.

2.3.2 ADJECTIVES[recensere | fontem recensere]

There are many adjective suffixes:

  • -bilis (amabilis, credibilis);
  • -alis, -ilis (mortalis, hostilis);
  • -osus (montaniosus, on the model of such CL forms as herbosus, formosus);
  • -ivus (tardivus, on the model of captivus);
  • -atus, -itus, -utus, participial suffixes applied directly to substantival nouns, although there exists no corresponding verb - barbatus, barbutus (from barba), crinitus (from crinis), cornutus (from cornu), pilutus (from pilum).

2.3.3 VERBS[recensere | fontem recensere]

  • -are, -ire, applied to the supine stem, also the present participle and substantives, and
  • -escere, to form frequentative and inchoative verbs (cf. CL plantare, vestire, flerescere): cantare, adiutare, oblitare (> Sp. olvidar), ausare (> Fr. oser, Sp. osar), refusare, usare, expaventare (> Sp. espantar), ca lentare, levantare, crepantare (> Sp. quebrantar).
  • -iare, a new suffix formed on the basis of verbs in -are, on adjective stems in –is (like molliare from mollis, alleviare from levis), now used to form new verbs from adjectives in -us, -a, -um: altiare (> Sp. alzar, bassiare (> Sp. bajar), Cat. baixar), directiare (> Sp. en-derezar, Fr. dresser, It. drizzare).
  • -icare, to make verbs from adjectives or nouns: amaricare (> Sp. amargar, < amarus), follicare (from fol/is, > Sp. holgar).
  • -izare, a suffix of Greek origin (cf. -izein), used frequently in medical and scientific terminology, and in the Christian vocabulary: cauterizare, pulverizare, baptizare, exorcizare, scandalizare.
  • -itare, forms frequentative or iterative verbs: vanitare (> Fr. vanter), taxitare (> It. tastare).
  • -ulare, also forms frequentative verbs: ustulare, misculare (> Sp. mezclar), tremulare (> Sp. temblar, Fr. trembler), turbulare (> Fr. troubler).

2.3.4 DIMINUTIVES[recensere | fontem recensere]

Many diminutives lost all sense of smallness; in addition to the words cited above

(e.g. auricula, avicellus, cultellus, geniculum):

CORPUSCULUM: Nam ecce morbus invadit corpusculum, "for behold disease invades the body" (Norberg 143).

LOCULUS: "casket" (John 13.29, "bag").

in fact corpusculum is a specific term for particle (not particula).

2.3.5 COMPOUNDS[recensere | fontem recensere]

A fondness for compound forms is very typical of VL (Lofstedt 2, 92):

persubire; perexire; perdiscoprire; pertransire.

2.4 Periphrastic Locutions[recensere | fontem recensere]

The use of a noun (or adjective) in combination with a verb, usually either habere or facere, to replace a single verb is characteristic of VL. Its use follows the general tendency toward the breakup of synthetic structures and their replacement by analytic forms (Weber 62; Bechtel 126).

2.4.1 COMPOUNDS CONSISTING OF A NOUN PLUS HABERE[recensere | fontem recensere]

concupiscentiam habere = concupiscere:

filii Israhel habuerunt concupiscentiam escarum, "the children of Israel desired food" (Itin. 5.7).

timorem habere = timere (cf. Fr. avoir peur). (> Fr. oser, Sp. osar), refusare, usare, expaventare (> Sp. espantar), calentare, levantare, crepantare (> Sp. quebrantar).

curam habere = curare:

habens curam domus et sororis suae, "being concerned for his house and sister" (VA 2.1).

consuetudinem habere:

ad quos habebat consuetudinem eundi, "those to whom he was accustomed to go" ( VA 4.4).

odio habere = odisse:

unum odio habebit ( Vulgate, Matt. 6.24, where the Vetus Latina has odiet [for the future form, see § 7.6]).

habere potestatem = dominari, imperare:

At Gen. 1.28, to translate the Greek ἄρχετε τῶν ἰχθύων, Jerome gave dominamini piscibus, while the variants of the Vetus Latina offer habete potestatem piscium, as well as principamini, imperate, and dominamini.

2.4.2 COMPOUNDS CONSISTING OF A NOUN OR ADJECTIVE (OR PARTICIPLE) PLUS FACERE[recensere | fontem recensere]

coctos facere = coquere (Petronius 47. 10).

interpositae fiunt = interponuntur (Itin. 35.3).

memoriam facere = memorare:

si tantum memoriam faciam Antonii, "if only I commemorate Antony" ( VA Pro!. 3).

salvum facere = salvare:

In the Vetus Latina at Matt. 9.22 the Itala reads fides tua te salva fecit, "your faith made you safe," while the Afra has te salvavit. At Matt. 14.30, the Itala reads salvum me fac, while one MS has the imperative salva and the Afra, libera.

2.4.3 COMPOUNDS CONSISTING OF A NOUN PLUS AGERE[recensere | fontem recensere]

In the Vetus Latina at Matt. 3.2, the Itala has paenitentiam agite while the Afra reads penitemini.

2.4.4 COMPOUNDS CONSISTING OF AN ADJECTIVE PLUS ESSE[recensere | fontem recensere]

salva era (Vetus Latina, Matt. 9.21).

3. NOUNS[recensere | fontem recensere]

3.1 Changes in Gender[recensere | fontem recensere]

3.1.1 MASCULINE AND FEMININE[recensere | fontem recensere]

In general masculine and feminine remained the same, with a few important exceptions: feminines of the second declension became masculine; feminines of the fourth declension were treated in various ways; in Gallia, abstract nouns ending in -or became feminine: color, honor, dolor, timor (Bonnet 503-4).

3.1.2 MASCULINE AND NEUTER[recensere | fontem recensere]

Even during the Classical period, certain neuter nouns became masculine: balteum, caseum, cornu, etc. In popular and Late Latin this tendency is pronounced (e.g., Plautus, Miles Gloriosus, 2.4, guttur and dorsus, masc.; in Petronius 75.10 the masc. candelabrus is found for candelabrum; see Grandgent 145).

Almost all neuter nouns became masculine:

hunc verbum (Greg. T., H.P. 1, Pref.); hunc nefas (ibid. 2.3), etc. (see Bonnet 386).

Mare, however, perhaps under the influence of terra, in general became feminine (Grandgent 146; but cf. Cat. el mar and la mar).

3.1.3 FEMININE AND NEUTER[recensere | fontem recensere]

Neuter plurals in -a came to be considered as feminine singulars (Grandgent 146-47; Norberg 58ff.):

In Gregory of Tours, pro tantae pietatis gaudia, "for joy at such piety" (De virtutibus Martini 3.19), according to Bonnet 351, gaudia is feminine singular, the ancestor of It. gioia, Fr. joie.

In other cases the difference between them is plainly blurred:

res mira . . . quod ( Chron. Sal. 98.3 1).

Occasionally a neuter plural accusative did duty for a feminine ablative singular:

in disponsalia Mariae interfuimus, we were present at Mary's betrothal (Gospel of Nicodemus 2.4).

3.2 Changes in Declension[recensere | fontem recensere]

The tendency was to regularize seemingly "irregular" forms:

aper > aprus (App. P. 139).

litoris for litoribus (Greg. T.).

neptis (3d) > neptilca (1st) (App. P. 171 ). nurus (4th) > nura (1st) (App. P. 169). ossum for os.

In Gregory of Tours, and elsewhere, place names are treated as indeclinable nouns. Most Hebrew names are not declined.

Pectavus diregit, "he directed his course toward Poitiers" (Greg. T.,

H.F. 2.37); et elegerunt VII viros, amicos Ioseph, "and they chose seven

men, friends of Joseph" (Gospel of Nicodemus 15.3).

3.3 Case Usage[recensere | fontem recensere]

Many seeming abnormalities may be explained by phonological developments which it is impossible to describe with thoroughness here, as they differed ac­ cording to time and place; the Latin of Spain, for instance, was not necessarily that of southern Italy. To give only one example, by the time of the Chronicon Salernitanum (late 10th century), the nominative, accusative, and ablative singulars had merged into a single case, a fact which explains the vacillation in the Chronicle (and similar late Latin texts) between -am, -us, -u, -o, and -um, while the 3d declension underwent a different evolution (Westerbergh 235).

3.3.1 NOMINATIVE[recensere | fontem recensere]

Nominative Absolute. This construction, the so-called nominativus pendens, also existed in late Greek, a fact which may have influenced use of the nominative absolute in ML (the construction may also have arisen independently in Latin; see Bonnet 565).

Vox in Rama audita est, ploratus et ululatus multus, "A voice was heard in Rama, weeping and loudly lamenting" (Vetus Latina, Itala, Matthew 2.18; ploratio et (letus multus, Afra); benedicans nos episcopus, profecti sumus, "when the bishop blessed us, we set forth" (Itin. 16.7).

3.3.2 VOCATIVE[recensere | fontem recensere]

In LL, participles are used in the vocative: moriture. Meus is used for mi.

3.3.3 GENITIVE[recensere | fontem recensere]

Genitive for Dative.[recensere | fontem recensere]

The genitive may be found substituting for a dative; in this case the substantive, instead of being in the dative with the verb, is put in the genitive and made to depend on an other noun. Examples may be found in CL, but in LL the usage becomes much more widespread and freer. It is important to the development of the Romance languages as it explains how It. loro, Fr. leur, etc. «  ILLORU[M] ) came to serve as both dative and genitive (see Lofstedt 125-28).

locum seditionis quaerere, "to seek a place of (i.e., for) sedition" (Livy, 3.46.2); ipsius urbis ferre subsidium gestiens, "striving to bring aid for the city" (Jordanes, De Orig. 18.102).

Better to avoid: "urbi et orbi" is a stable expresion with dative
Genitive for Accusative.[recensere | fontem recensere]

In a similar fashion, the genitive may replace the accusative:

egressa est scentilla percuciens in oculo pincerne regis ( = percutiens in oculo pincernam regis), "a spark flew out, striking the king's butler in the eye" (Norberg 33).

Genitive for Ablative.[recensere | fontem recensere]

In imitation of Greek, the genitive may replace the ablative

(Nunn 26):

With egeo: Vulgate, Apoc. 3.17.

With dignus and indignus: amplioris enim gloriae iste prae Mose dignus habitus est, "for he thought he was worthy of a greater glory than Mo­ ses" ( Vulgate, Heb. 3.3).

Objective and Subjective Genitive.[recensere | fontem recensere]

The CL distinction between the use of the possessive pronoun for objective and partitive genitives and the possessive adjec­ tive for pure possession is not maintained:

hoc facite in meum commemorationem, "do this in remembrance of me" ( Vulgate, Luke 22. 19); elongati sunt ab auxilio meo, "they are far removed from helping me" (Greg. T., H.F. 2.30).

Many genitives were replaced by DE and the ablative.

Possessive Genitive.[recensere | fontem recensere]

The possessive genitive was frequently replaced by de plus the ablative (cf. the use of this preposition in Romance). Viellard 190 notes that the dative of possession replaces the genitive in many Merovingian diplomas.

carnales tribulationes de vita ista; hostia de basilica.

the replacement of the possession relation by "de+abl." needs to be avoided. The latter must be kept strictly for "about".
Partitive Genitive.[recensere | fontem recensere]

The partitive genitive also tends to be replaced by de and the ablative (classical examples can be found, although ex is more common):

summitates de ligno sancto, "the extremities of the holy wood" (Itin. 37.2); de ipsa re coclear plenum, "a spoonful of the substance"; in the Vetus Latina, Matt. 8.21, the MSS offer all possibilities: Alius autem discipulus; ex discipulis; de discipulis (Vulgate); discipulorum.

needs to be retained.
Genitive of Quality.[recensere | fontem recensere]

This construction becomes more common than the ablative: In place of egregie or eximie sanctus, Gregory of Tours, for example,

preferred egregiae, eximiae sanctitatis (Bonnet 548).

SUMMITAS MONTIS: expressions such as medius mons, summus mons, where in CL the adjective agrees with the noun, came to be replaced by a noun and dependent genitive:

in summitatem montis, "on the top of the mountain" (Itin. 3.2); in medio paradisi, "in the middle of Paradise" (Vetus Latina, Gen. 3.8); at Gen. 1.6, translating EV J,liOOll 'tou uBu'toC;. we find both the Vetus Latina and the Vulgate in medio aquae.

Elliptical Genitives.[recensere | fontem recensere]

A considerable number of genitives are found where the noun on which the genitive depends has been omitted. These usually involve either ecclesia (cf. the English "at St. Paul's" (sc. "church"), or liber (cf. in Regnorum, "in the book of Kings"); see Lofstedt 133-35.

Augmentative Genitive.[recensere | fontem recensere]

Although not unknown in CL (Plaut., Trin. 309, victor victorum), this construction becomes far more widespread in Christian Latin:

Dominus dominorum, rex regum, "Lord of lords, king of kings" (Vulgate, Apoc. 17.14).

3.3.4 DATIVE[recensere | fontem recensere]

The dative was often replaced by ad and the accusative.

ad carnuficem dabo (Plaut., Capt. 1019); si pecunia ad id templum data erit, "if money will be given to that temple" (CIL 9.3513, 57 B.C.E.); et dixit serpens ad mulierem, "and the serpent said to the woman" ( Vetus Latina, Gen. 3.1, but cf. 3.4, et dixit serpens mulieri); cum sanctus Moyses acciperet a Domino legem ad filios Israhel, "when saint Moses received the law for the sons of Israel" (Itin. 4.4).

Rarely, a dative of agent may be used after a perfect participle:

et ecce nihil dignum morte actum est ei, "and lo, nothing worthy of death has been done by him" (Vulgate Luke 23.15).

Dative of Interest[recensere | fontem recensere]

The use of the dative of interest was extended to mark the goal or direction; in Christian Latin it indicated that toward which the soul aspired (parallels can be found in Virgil and Tacitus; see Blaise 99).

psallam nomini tuo, "I shall sing your name" (Vulgate, Ps. 7.1 8); modo nati sunt Christo, qui prius nati fuerunt saeculo, "now they are born for Christ who before were born for the world" (Aug., Serm. 228.1).

3.3.5 ACCUSATIVE[recensere | fontem recensere]

Forms.[recensere | fontem recensere]

Apocope (cutting), or the loss of the final -m, was common (this sound disappeared early from the spoken language, as graffiti at Pompeii testify). It is, however, often difficult to determine whether an author has employed an ablative for an accusative or not.

adiuro te demon . . . agitatore Clarum et Felice et Primulum et Ro­ manum ocidas, "I adjure you demon . . . that you kill the charioteer Clarus, and Felix, and Primulus, and Romanus"; que ad modum = quem ad modum (Itin. 5.3).

There was a tendency for the accusative to become a utility case, substituting for other inflections.

For the nominative, this substitution seems to be particularly common with the feminine accusative plural (cf. Weber 108; ET 31). According to Norberg 27, it was frequent in clauses involving passive or intransitive verbs:

Nam et usque ad reges famam Antonii, "For the fame of Anthony even reached as far as kings" (VA 81.1); spatham illius contremuit, "his sword trembled" (Chron. Sal. 23.20).

Must be avoided in the written language.
Duration of Time.[recensere | fontem recensere]

In CL, duration of time is expressed by the accusative case.

In ML, the ablative could be substituted, as could the preposition per.

per totos octo dies . . . is ornatus est, "it is adorned for eight whole days" (Itin. 25.12).

Accusative of Respect.[recensere | fontem recensere]

The use of this construction was extended in imitation of Greek:

cum oculum graviter dolere coepisse, "when he began to suffer severe pain in his eye" (Sulpicius Severus, Vita Martini 193).

Accusative absolute.[recensere | fontem recensere]

Not common until Gregory of Tours; it is not found in the Itinerarium (Bechtel 109).

Volebam quidem acceptam epistolam vestram mittere, "For I wanted, when I received your letter, to send to you. . . ." (VA 4). The construction is particularly frequent in Jordanes and Gregory of Tours, often in combination with the ablative absolute: acceptam a nobis benedictionem purgatoque pectore, "having received blessing from us and with a cleansed heart" (Greg. T., H.P. 5.43; see ET 32).

The accusative and ablative absolutes may be combined (see also § 7.4.6 [2]):

neminem alio praesente, "with no one else present" (VA 50.5); collectam per chronicas vel historias anteriorum summam, "all the facts having been gathered from previous chronicles and histories" (Greg. T., H.P. 1, Pref.).

Two Accusatives.[recensere | fontem recensere]

A number of verbs are followed by two accusatives where CL would call for an accusative and, for example, an instrumental ablative. This construction appears to be due to contamination and analogy (Norberg 143ff.) Examples involving verbs of striking seem to be especially frequent.

unus elevata manu bipennem caerebrum eius inlisit, "with an upraised hand, one struck his head with an axe" (Greg. T., H.E 2.40); baculum quem in manu gestabat liminarem nempe percussit (Chron. Sal. 39.20; see the discussion of Westerbergh 246ff.).

Intransitive verbs with the accusative.[recensere | fontem recensere]

Many formerly intransitive verbs become transitive, taking a direct object in the accusative case: e.g., uti, frui, fungi, potiri, carere, nocere, benedicere; exire:

exeunte autem illo ianuam, "when he went out the door" (Vulgate, Matt. 26.71); nec pulmentum aliquot utebatur (Greg. T, H.E 9.10); metuemus nunc, ne et alius ( = alios) . . . careamus, "we fear now lest we lack others as well" (ibid. 7.47); benedicerent deum (ibid. 6.36).

3.3.6 ABLATIVE[recensere | fontem recensere]

Forms.[recensere | fontem recensere]

In the 3d declension the ablative singular frequently ends in -i (CB 62,6, etheri).

The feminine dative and ablative plural may end in -abus (this also occurs in classical usage):

To distinguish filia from filius: filiabus (Greg. T., H.E 4.20, etc.).

To distinguish anima from animus: animabus (Vetus Latina, Matt.11.29, the Itala has animis, the Afra animabus; Greg. T., De gloria confessorum 62; Richard of Bury, Philobib. 1.21, 19. 122).

To distinguish famula from famulus: famulabus (Greg. T., H.E 9.13). To distinguish villa from villus: villabus (Greg. T., H.E 10.12).

By a form of hypercorrectness, -ibus, a form fallen into disuse in many periods, may be added to 2d declension nouns:

suffragibus, donibus.

Ablative absolute.[recensere | fontem recensere]

In CL, the ablative absolute is not normally employed if the epithet applies to a word which plays an integral part in the sentence. The "normal" Latin for "They hate Caesar as leader" is Caesarem ducem oderunt, not Caesare duce, eum oderunt (AG 419). In contrast to classical practice, ML allows the subject of the participial construction to be the same as that of the main verb, or its object:

huic se Christus . . . nasciturum . . . monstravit ipso in evangeliis dicente, "Christ showed him that he would be born when he himself said in the Gospels" (Greg. T., H.E 1.7; Bonnet 559); in the Vetus Latina, at Matt. 8.34, the Itala reads et viso eo, rogebant eum, "and seeing him, they asked him," while the MS variants have constructions more in keeping with the norms of CL, cum vidissent eum, and videntes eum.

Even further from classical usage, the subject of the participial phrase may function as the (unexpressed) object of the main verb:

quo [equol empto, negotiator adducit [euml ad stabulam (Fort., Vit. Germ. 22).

For the ablative and accusative absolutes combined, see § 3.5.4. For absolute participial constructions, see § 7.4.6.

Instrumental Ablative.[recensere | fontem recensere]

The instrumental ablative ceases to be expressed by a pure ablative (without a preposition), or by OB or PROPTER and the accusative. Contrary to CL usage, PRO also comes to be used (cf. Sp. por). The instrumental ablative, moreover, was confused with the ablative of accompaniment (with CUM; cf. English "they killed him with a sword;' which in CL would be gladio, without any preposition).

cum pinnis quando assantur tangatur, "while being roasted they are touched with feathers" (Anthimus 9).

DE is also used for the instrumental ablative.

de laredo crudo Franci sanantur, "the Franks are healed by raw bacon" (Anthimus 14).

Constructions with IN and PER also substitute for the instrumental ablative (Finaert 64).

In all cases when Abl. is used without preposition it is strongly suggested to use macron in I and II decl. in order to avoid the ambiguity. Similarly in other decl. (IV, V)
Ablative of Material.[recensere | fontem recensere]

In CL, the preposition EX is used to express the material out of which something is made (ex animo constamus et corpore, "we consist of mind and body," Cic. Fin. 4.8.1 9); with fieri, however, DE was used (de templo carcerem fieri, ibid. Phil. 5.7.18). In ML de with the ablative is common:

albumen de ovo, "the white of an egg."

"the white of an egg." does not have a sense of "material" since white is not made of an egg rather an egg is made of white, yolk and crust. It must go about abl. orig. epressed by ex + abl. or about posession expressed by gen.: albumen ovi.
Ablative of origin.[recensere | fontem recensere]

In CL, participles which signify birth take the ablative of origin, sometimes with the prepositions ex or de.

Oderunt natos de paelice (Juv. 6.627), "they hate those born of a concubine."

In ML, the ablative of origin is usually replaced by de:

natus de parentibus nobilibus ( VA 1.1).

Ablative of price and value.[recensere | fontem recensere]

May be expressed by a preposition:

libros . . . pro septuaginta duobus millibus sestertiis . . . emit, "he bought books for 72,000 sesterces" (Richary of Bury, Philobib. 3.28).

Locative ablative.[recensere | fontem recensere]

In CL, the locative ablative is maintained without a preposition with the names of towns (i.e., Athenis = at Athens"). In ML, a preposition may be used:

in Roma (Richard of Bury, Philobib. 4. 35); de Roma (ibid. 4.41).

Ablative of time.[recensere | fontem recensere]

In CL, "time when" is expressed by a locative ablative without a preposition; in ML, the prepositions in or ad may be used:

In the Vetus Latina at Matt. 13.1, the Itala has eodem die, but the Afra reads in ilia die; ad horam sextam aguntur, "they are performed at the sixth hour" (Itin. 44.3).

To express duration of time, the ablative may replace the accusative (see the long discussion of Lofstedt 2, 5 1-56). The ablative is used more frequently by Gregory of Tours than is the accusative. Duration of time may also be expressed by per and the accusative.

cum ieiunasset quandraginta diebus et quadraginta noctibus, "when he had fasted for forty days and forty nights" (Vetus Latina, Matt. 4.2).

3.4 Gerund[recensere | fontem recensere]

It is common in LL to find the accusative of the gerund, especially with verbs of motion, denoting purpose (Norberg 225-28). This construction replaces the supine.

futurum esse enim ut Herodes quaerat puerum ad perdendum eum, "it will come to pass that Herod seeks the boy to destroy him" (Vulgate, Matt. 2.13); loca sunt grata ad videndum Christianis, "the places are pleasing for Christians to see" (Itin. 19.5).

The ablative of the gerund might be used independently of the rest of the sentence, foreshadowing its use in Italian (for its use as present participle, see § 7.4. 1). This construction is very common from the 4th century on.

et sic coquat lento foco agetando (i.e., agitando) ipsa olla frequenter, "and let it cook on a slow fire, shaking the pot frequently."

3.5 Supine[recensere | fontem recensere]

The supine was weak, and from the 1st century on, it came to be replaced by various constructions; it is rare in Christian authors (Blaise 330, n.):

(1) by the infinitive of purpose: this construction occurs in early Latin:

reddere hoc, non perdere erus me misit, "my master sent me to return this, not to lose it" (Plautus, Ps. 642); erumpunt dicere, "they burst into speech" (Tert., Marc. 1.17); cum veneris ad bibere, "since you have come to drink" (Aug. Serm. 225, 4; Grandgent 49).

(2) by ad plus an abstract noun:

presbiter loci misit puerum ad aliquorum hominum invitacionem, "the priest of the place sent a servant to invite some men" (Greg. T., H.P. 7.47).

(3) by ad plus the gerund:

quaerat puerum ad perdendum eum, "he seeks the boy to destroy him" (Vulgate Matt. 2.13).

3.6 Comparison[recensere | fontem recensere]

3.6.1 FORMS[recensere | fontem recensere]

The synthetic forms in -ior, -ius disappeared and were replaced by analytic forms employing plus or magis (also found in CL); magis was used in the peripheral areas of the Roman empire (Romania and Iberia), while plus occurred in Italia and Gallia (cf. Rom. mai, Sp. mas, Cat. mes, Port. mais; It. piu, Fr. plus, and OCat. pus).

3.6.2 DOUBLE COMPARISON[recensere | fontem recensere]

Double comparatives (and superlatives) are found, indicating that the synthetic forms no longer were sufficient to convey the notion of comparison.

quanto magis melior est homo ove, "how much better is a man than a sheep" ( Vetus Latina, Matt. 12.12); in superbia atque elacione plus magis tumuit, "he was even more swollen with pride" ( Chron. Sal. 65.21; cf. Tuscan piu meglio).

3.6.3 POSITIVE FOR COMPARATIVE[recensere | fontem recensere]

The positive may be used for the comparative:

bonum est tibi . . . in vitam intrare quam mitti in gehennam, "it is better for you to enter into life than to be sent to hell" ( Vulgate, Matt. 18.9).

3.6.4 REPLACEMENTS FOR QUAM WITH COMPARATlVES[recensere | fontem recensere]

AB may be used with the comparative instead of quam (also in Ovid and Pliny the Elder):

quid enim peius a daemonibus, "what is worse than devils" (Aug., Serm. 12.3; cf. Finaert 58).

AD with the ablative: ad (h)ora.

DE becomes, perhaps after IN, the preposition par excellence, taking over for many other prepositions and replacing idiomatic constructions with the ablative and genitive (see Atzori).

de for quam: in comparisons, de might be substituted for quam:

Nullus inter nos fortior est de altero, "No one of us is stronger than another."

3.6.5 SUPERLATIVES[recensere | fontem recensere]

The superlative forms in -issimus also fell into desuetude and were only reintroduced at a later period. They were replaced by multum, itself replacing maxime (It. molto bene, Sp. muy bien, Cat. molt be). The 9th-century Reichenau glosses explain valde bonum as optimum. Comparative and superlative may also be con­ fused; the same glosses equate optimos with meliores.

3.7 Changes in Case Construction[recensere | fontem recensere]

Many verbs or verbal constructions may be found taking a case different than the one normal in CL.

INTERROGARE plus the dative: frequent in Gregory of Tours: cum uxori, quid sibi hoc vellit, interrogaret, "when he asked his wife what she wanted" (Greg. T., H.P. 3.4). Similarly also ROGARE with the dative and, less frequently, ad and the accusative. For further discussion, see Lofstedt 129-3 1. no
PERSUADERE plus the accusative (dative in CL): both are found in Petronius with the dative in formal speech, persuade gubernatori (98.4); with the accusative in colloquial, te persuadeam ut venias (46.2). better no
PETERE plus the dative: vicinis gentibus concubitum petierunt (Jordanes, De orig. 8.56).
PRAEDlTUS plus the genitive (CL ablative): credo eos nullius esse potestatis praeditos, "I believe that they are endowed with no power" (Greg. T., H.P. 2.30).
PRECARI plus dative (CL accusative of the person addressed): veniam legentibus praecor, "I ask my readers' pardon" (Greg. T., H.P. Pref.); cf. OFr. prier (LOfstedt 130).
QUAERERE plus dative (CL ab, de, or ex): si nobis queratur, "if we should be asked" (Gesta Romanorum 26). Cf. OFr. querre: jo vus otri quanque m 'avez ci quis (Chanson de Roland 3202).
QUAERERE plus AD and accusative (on the confusion of ad and ab, see § 4.1.3):

sanitatem ad te, non tormenta quaesivi, "we seek health from you, not tortures" (Greg. T., De virtutibus Martini 2.25). The same construction also occurs in OFr.: quant a mei l'avez quis, "since you have sought it from me."

Verbs of remembering (recordor, memini, obliviscor) may be followed by the accusative.
DIGNUS: in CL dignus is followed by the ablative. In later usage other cases (i.e., genitive and dative) may be found: dignum mortis and dignus est morti, "worthy of death" (Gospel of Nicodemus 4.2).

3.7.1 SUBSTANTIVES AS ADJECTIVES[recensere | fontem recensere]

There was a tendency in Late Latin for substantives to function as adjectives (Lofstedt 120ff.).

Cum moderatione modo adducatur Iesus, "Let Jesus be led in in a restrained fashion" (Gospel of Nicodemus 1.2).

4. PREPOSITIONS AND ADVERBS[recensere | fontem recensere]

4.1 Prepositions[recensere | fontem recensere]

ML is characterized by an increasing reliance on prepositions, and a concomitant loss of the idiomatic use of cases or other, synthetic, modes of expression. This tendency is not necessarily a late one. For example, Virgil (granted, in poetry) wrote: templum de marmore (Georg. 3.13), where Cicero would have preferred templum marmoreum (Meillet 267). Furthermore, in his letters, Cicero, em­ ploying an idiom close to modern (Romance) usage, wrote that someone was aptus ad aliquam rem, while in his more formal orations he wrote aptus alicui rei. Hence one may find verbs which are used transitively in CL followed by a preposition in ML: veritas vincens super omnia, "truth conquers [i.e., "wins out over"] everything" (Richard of Bury, Philobib. 1.19).

4.1.1 WITH NAMES OF CITIES[recensere | fontem recensere]

In CL, a preposition was not used with the names of towns and small islands to mark the limit of motion; a simple accusative sufficed. In ML, a preposition may be used:

Venerunt magi ab oriente in Hierosolymam, "magi came from the east to Jerusalem" (Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, 16).

4.1.2 CHANGE IN CONSTRUCTION[recensere | fontem recensere]

In CL, certain prepositions, notably in and sub, may be followed either by the accusative or the ablative. The distinction between rest and motion, however, was soon obscured, and already on the walls of Pompeii one may find the accusative following ab, cum, sine, and pro (ET 144). In Petronius, prae is used with the accusative (39.12, 46.1). One can also find ante, apud, propter, ob, and per taking the ablative. Bonnet (522) observes of Gregory of Tours that he was far from ignorant of the general difference in cases; it was in their specific use that he had his doubts. He functioned well when there was an absolute rule-i.e., ad and the accusative, de and the ablative-but when he had to decide whether motion or rest was involved, he hesitated. His case is far from atypical.

AB with the accusative:

ab ipsos audisse vos aestimate (VA Prol. 1.3).

(This source also uses ab with the ablative: ab his, Prol. 1.3.)

CUM with the accusative:

viderent infantem cum Mariam, "they saw the baby with Mary" (Vetus Latina, Matt. 2. 11, Afra); cum dominam suam delectaretur, "he was delighted with his mistress" (Petronius, 45.7); cum Dei adiutorium, "with God's help" (Greg. T., H.P. 2.37).

keep using presposion cum with abl.
DE with the accusative: very common in the popular language from the 4th century (Mohrmann 417).

de illius vitam (VA, Prol. 1.4); omnes de sua sedilia surgant (Rule of St. Benedict 9.21).

PER with the ablative:

Verbera iubet per membris inducere.

POST with the ablative: very frequent, for example, in the Itin. (Mohrmann 417).

SINE with the accusative:

sine intermissionem (VA 7.3)

4.1.3 CONFUSION IN MEANING[recensere | fontem recensere]

Clearcut distinctions in meaning between some pronouns tend to be obliterated; ab, de, and ex, for example, may be used indiscriminately. Per, pre (prae), and pro may be confused. A confusion of ad and ab is also characteristic of VL.

AD and AB:

Quaero, peto, obtineo ad aliquem may replace (in seeming contradiction to classical usage) ab aliquo; ad invicem replaces ab invicem ( Chron. Sal 8.12, 18.4); ab bellum sunt preparati replaces the more usual ad bellum (ibid. 168.15).

EX and DE:

de palatio exit, "which went out of the palace" (Itin. 19.7); egredere de terra tua, "go out of your land" ( Vulgate, Gen. 12.1 ); unus de illis quat­tuor fluminibus, "one ofthe four rivers" (Palladius, Comm. 1).

DE for AB:

et homo ille de Deo est, "and that man is from God"; et amicos meos de somno excitavi, "and I awakened my friends from sleep" (Palladius, Comm. 4).

4.1.4 GENITIVE[recensere | fontem recensere]

AFORIS plus the genitive.

FORAS plus the genitive:

foras corporis, "outside the body" (Apuleius, Ap. 50.2).

4.1.5 DATIVE[recensere | fontem recensere]

In Greek, unlike Latin, the dative is a prepositional case; in VL the dative may occur with prepositions.

AD with the dative:

ad superventurae claritate ( = claritati; VA 17.1).

4.1.6 ACCUSATIVE[recensere | fontem recensere]

AD may be used to mark proximity, ad tumulum sancti (Bonnet 582). Transferred to time, this construction marks the point at which an action occurred, replacing the ablative in CL.

ad oram tertiam, "at the third hour" (Greg. T., H.P. 1.10).

AD with certain adjectives (aptus, idoneus) may replace the dative.

LOQUOR AD: classically, LOQUOR takes the dative or cum plus ablative, or is used absolutely.

beatus Paulus ad Antonium sic locutus est, "Blessed Paul spoke thus to Antony" (Jer. Vita Pauli 11); cf. quod ad Moysen dicit (Greg. T., H.P. 1. 10), ad episcopum aiebat (ibid. 2.3).

4.1.7 CHANGES IN MEANING AND USE[recensere | fontem recensere]

ABSQUE = sine, "without"; so used in Plautus and Terence, but only in conditional sentences. It is common in LL.
IUXTA in LL comes to mean "according to."

iuxta scripturas, "according to Scripture" (Itin. 1.1).

PRO may = PER.

sancti monachi pro diligentia sua arbusculas ponunt, "the holy monks with diligence planted bushes" (Itin.).

4.1.8 COMPOUND PREPOSITIONS[recensere | fontem recensere]

In LL (as also in Late Greek and elsewhere), we find a number of prepositions, adverbs, and particles used in combination, later forming inseparable compounds. The purpose was at first to add precision and exactness to an expression, but gradually the combination in question became purely a strengthened by form, often giving rise to a new single word (Lofstedt 162). Grammarians often warned against the new compounds but to little avail, as many of them are the direct ancestors of prepositions and adverbs in use in the Romance languages.

The tendency to compound prepositions is, however, native to Latin, evident from the earliest days: cf. propalam, inibi, abhinc, exinde, deinde, etc. Unlike many features of later Latin, however, they are not common in Plautus, Petronius, or writers before Jerome. Circumcirca and praeterpropter can be documented in archaic Latin (Weber 105), and derepente, desubito, and interibi are found in Plautus. In many cases, the formation of compound prepositions may have been stimulated by the translations of the Bible as attempts to render literally the Greek sacred text (although their development may also have been independent).

AB ANTE (cf. Fr. avant, It. avanti)

et absconderunt se Adam et mulier eius abante faciem domini dei, "and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the face of the Lord God" (Vetus Latina, Gen., 3.8); tollite fratres vestros abante faciem sanctorum, "take your brothers away from the face of the saints" (Vetus Latina, Lev. 10.4).

A FORIS "without" (see AB INTUS).
AB INTUS

abintus autem sunt lupi rapaces, "within, however, they are ravaging wolves" (Vetus Latina, Matt. 7. 15); et bituminabis eam ab intus et aforis, "you will caulk it [the ark] inside and out" (Vetus Latina, Gen. 6.14).

AD PROPE (> Prov. aprop)

Aliquantol a terra ad Uato ad prope casa nostra, "a little land at Uato(?) near our house" (Norberg 78).

On the model of the classical DEINDE, DESUPER, an important group of prepositions have de as their first term, denoting the point of departure.

DE AB (> It. da).
DE ANTE

ubi missa facta fuerit de ante Cruce, "when the mass was completed before the Cross" (Itin. 37.8).

DE EX (> Fr. des, Sp. desde; see Lofstedt 171)

vixit cum eo de ex die virginitatis suae, "she lived with him since her virginity" ( ClL 14.5210).

From DE EX POST comes the Spanish despues.

DEFORIS (> It. di fuori, Fr. dehors, Prov. defors, Sp. de fuera)

sed sicut sum deforis, ita sum deintus, "but as I am outside, so am I within" (Vitae Patr. 3.92); si quis de foris venerit (Jer. Reg. Pach. 146); lumen autem de foris non affertur, "the light is not brought outdoors" (Itin. 24A).

DE INTER (> It. Sp. Port. dentro)

eduxisti populum hunc deinter illos, "you have led this people out from among them" (Vetus Latina, Num. 14.13).

DE INTRO "behind, within": (> It. Sp. Port. dentra, Rom. dintru)

Et de intro cancellos primum dicit arationem, "and he said the first prayer from behind the grill" (Itin. 24.2).

DEINTUS (> Fr. dans, Prov. Cat. dins): (see DE FORIS).
DE POST (> It. dopa, Fr. depuis, Port. depas): from the 2d century, DE POST has a temporal value.

de post cuius morte, "since his death" ( ClL 8.9162).

DE RETRO (It. dietro, Fr. derriere).

4.1.9 NEW PREPOSITIONS[recensere | fontem recensere]

CATA (borrowed from Greek=κατά), has three uses:

(1) With the title of the Gospels = secundum

(2) in a temporal sense = ad, iuxta

(3) distributively; this latter use survived in Romance (cf. It. caduno, Cat. cada, Sp. cada uno)

evangelio in cata Mathaeo (Itin. 33.2, where cata Matheo is treated as if it were a single word); cata singulos ymnos (Itin. 24.1); faciet sacrificium super eo cata mane, "he will make a sacrifice over it in the morning" (Vulgate, Ezek. 46.15); cata mansiones monasteria sint cum militibus, "at the stopping places there are posts with soldiers" (Itin. 7.2);

cata pascha, "at Easter" (ibid. 15.5).

FORAS "outside of"

with accusative: foras civitatem (Itin. 19.9);

with genitive: foras corporis (Apul. Ap. 50.2).

FORIS with accusative and ablative: "outside of"

exiit foris pretorium Iesus, "Jesus went out of the hall" (Gospel of Nicodemus 1.6).

IN GIRO (from the loan word γύρος, circle) "round about" ( = circum) with accusative and ablative (also per giro and per girum)

in giro parietes ecclesiae, "around the walls of the church" (Itin. 3.8); in giro colliculo isto, "around that little hill" (ibid. 14.2); of a steep mountain ascent, quoniam non eos subis lente et lente per girum, ut dicimus in cocleas, "since you do not climb it slowly and circuitously, as we say 'in a spiral'" (ibid. 3.1).

LATUS and DE LATUS "beside"

(latus > OFr. lez, still preserved in place names such as Aix-les-Bains).

RETRO, " behind" (in CL, RETRO is an adverb)

vade retro me, "get behind me" (Vetus Latina, Matt. 4.10).

SECUS with accusative = iuxta; found only in ante- and post-classical Latin.
SUBTUS "beneath" (It. sotto, OFr. soz)

subtus me ( Vulgate, Ps. 17:40).

USQUE with ablative

usque hora nona (Rule of St. Benedict 48.35; Mohrmann 423 ).

4.2 Adverbs[recensere | fontem recensere]

4.2.1 FORMS[recensere | fontem recensere]

Adverbs ending in -itus become very popular (Lofstedt 2, 170):

e.g., primitus, paenitus.

In -iter:

granditer: first found in Ovid, Heroides 15.30; also in, for example, Sidonius, Ep. 7.4.

The ablative mente plus an adjective came to function as a normal adverb, replacing the forms in -e (2d declension) and -iter. Gradually the literal meaning of mente disappeared, leaving a pure adverb, the ancestor of adverbs in all Romance languages except Romanian. The glosses of Reichenau, for example, equate singulariter with solamente.

Sed obstinata mente perfer, obdura, "but obstinately persist, be resolute" (Catullus, 8.11); Virgil, Aen. 4.105: sensit . . . simulata mente locutam, "She [Venus] understood her [Juno] to speak with guile"; res est apta iuventuti / laeta mente ludere, "it is a suitable thing for youth to play happily" (CB 75, 7-8).

BENE may be used to strengthen an adjective (cf. Fr. bien):

melonis vero si bene maturi fuerint, "if the melons are really ripe" (Anthimus 58).

ET becomes very common as an adverb, = ETIAM, "even" (cf. the Greek καί).

4.2.2 COMPOUND ADVERBS[recensere | fontem recensere]

A similar process of compounding (and replacement of classical forms) occurs with adverbs as with prepositions. NUNC, for example, is replaced by ad horam, hac hora (> OSp. agora, MSp. ahora, Cat. ara, Fr. OFr. or, ores, lor(e)s, alors, encore, It. allora).

de lardo vero, qualiter melius comedatur, ad hora expono, "But now I am going to speak about bacon, how it is best eaten" (Anthimus 14).

AD SUBITO = subito (Itin. 16.4).
AD TUNC "then" (Itin. 16.6).
AFORIS "outside" ( TLL 1. 1250, 33).
DE CONTRA "opposite," "facing"

Vidimus etiam de contra non solum Libiadam sed et Iericho, "We saw facing us not only Livias but also Jericho" (Itin. 12.4).

DE MAGIS (> Sp. demas).
DE UNDE (> Fr. dont, Sp. donde).
E CONTRA (or ECONTRA), "on the contrary," = CONTRA

aliis vero econtra videtur (Jer. Ep. 12).

INANTE

quanto denuo inante ibant, "as much as they went forward again" (Itin. 7.3); cf. Fr. en avant).

INDE as the equivalent of ab, de, ex, plus a pronoun was common in LL; traces of the usage occur in Livy and Tacitus (It. ne, Fr. en).

inde reddo rationem, "I [will] give a reason for it" (cf. the Fr. j'en rends raison; Weber 67).

IN HODIE

Nam et spelunca, ubi latuit Sanctus Helias in hodie ibi ostenditur ante hostium ecclesiae, "For the very cave in which St. Elijah hid is shown there even today before the door of the church" (Itin. 4.2).

IN TUNC (> Sp. entonces).
ITERATO "again;' "a second time;' post-classical for ITERUM:

Moyses, cum iterato ascendisset in montem Dei, "Moses, when he climbed God's mountain a second time" (Itin. 4.8).

PENITUS is used to strengthen negatives, replacing omnino and prorsus

(Weber 82):

nulli paenitus nisi soli episcopi regnant, "really no one except bishops rule" (Greg. T., H.P. 6.46).

LOCO = IBI

gustavimus nobis loco in horto, "we ate there in the garden" (!tin. 3.7).

SUSUM, suso = SURSUM (reduction of RS > S after a long vowel).

4.2.3 ADVERBS AS SUBSTANTIVES[recensere | fontem recensere]

The use of an adverb phrase as a substantive is essentially Greek:

et ipsorum ab intus, "and their inside."

5. PRONOUNS AND DEMONSTRATIVES[recensere | fontem recensere]

5.1 Forms[recensere | fontem recensere]

There was a tendency to regularize forms:

aliae for alius.

illum for illud (VA 11.20: deficiebat illum vasculum). ipsus for ipse (App. P. 156).

A neuter ipsud (cf. istud), for ipsum, also found in Plautus and Terence (ipsud martyrium; Itin. 17.1).

The dative illo and nullo may replace illi and nulli. ille for illi (nominative pt ), Greg. T., H.P. 2.7.

5.2 Demonstratives[recensere | fontem recensere]

The classical distinctions between hic, "this," what concerns the speaker, iste, "that (of yours)," what concerns the listener, and ille, "that;' the more distant object or a known person or thing, tend to be obscured.

And it is pity, since the logic of CL demonstratives as described is very transparent and thus useful in scientific writing. Best of all to preserve.
IS, EA, ID disappears on account of its brevity. Again, why not to retain as 3-rd pers. pron., despite a wider usage in CL?

HIC gives way to ISTE.

Only the neuter hoc survives in Romance (Prov. oc; It. pero < PER HOC; ECCE HOC > OFr. (0, ce; It. cia ).

IPSE becomes a general demonstrative.

Ipse replaces idem towards the end of the 2nd century C.E., in the com­ pounds hic ipse, ille ipse, iste ipse (> It. stesso). It survives in It. esso, Cat. eix, Sp. ese.

5.2.1 REFLEXIVE USES[recensere | fontem recensere]

(1) Ipse can substitute for a reflexive pronoun, a use already found in Seneca (Blaise 155).

(2) In imitation of Greek, it can give a reflexive meaning to 1st and 2d person pronouns (Blaise 156).

tu de te ipso testimonium perhibes, "you give testimony concerning yourself" ( Vulgate, John 8.13, translating 7t£p{ cr£a'U'tou).

ISTE is no longer restricted to a second person (and often somewhat derogatory) demonstrative.

de locis istis, "from these places."

ILLE becomes a general demonstrative, article, and personal pronoun.

As ISTE loses its demonstrative force, ECCE is added (ECCE ISTE, ILLE > It. questo, quello; Cat. aquest, aquell; Fr. cette, quel; Rom. acest, acel):

Nam ecce ista via quam videtis transire inter fluvium Iordanem et vi­ cum istum, "For this road which you see pass between the Jordan river and that village" (Itin. 14.3).

5.2.2 INDEFINITE PRONOUNS[recensere | fontem recensere]

Many of the Latin indefinite pronouns are lost.

which is pity
ANTEFATA, PRAEFATA, etc. = IDEM:

ecclesiam sancti Pancratii . . . eidem ecclesiae . . . antefatae ecclesiae . . . praefatae ecclesiae . . . in suprascriptae ecclesia . . . . (Norberg 72).

These new acquisitions are in fact very useful in the scientific writing making an indefinite pronoun more definite/specific. The forms are, however not Latin, rather Italian, thus we suggest to consider perfectly transparent antefactum, antedictum, suprascriprum praefactum...
CERTUS replaces QUIDAM In a way a change of the meaning to the opposite... certus is more definite than quidam, thus,

5.3 Possessive Pronouns[recensere | fontem recensere]

The CL distinction between the use of the possessive pronoun for objective and partitive genitives and the possessive adjective for pure possession is not maintained.

elongati sunt ab auxilio meo, "they are far removed from helping me" (Greg. T., H.P. 2.30).

Similarly, the personal pronoun may substitute for the possessive adjective (Blaise 169).

mei membra, "my limbs" (Cyprian, Laps. 4); pro inpuritate et obscaenitate sui, "by his impurity and immorality" (Rufinus, Hist. Eccl. 2).

5.3.1 CONFUSION OF SUUS AND EIUS[recensere | fontem recensere]

Confusion of reflexive and nonreflexive forms is common, and it was the reflexive forms which, in general, carried the day in the Romance languages (Fr. son livre, Sp. su libra); in the plural, however, illoru(m) was maintained everywhere except in Spain (It. lora, Fr. leur, Cat. llur).

Cum autem vidisset inimicus se infirmari circa propositum Antonii et magis vinci eum a fortitudine illius, "When, however, the enemy [the devil] saw that he was weak before the purpose of Anthony, and that he [the devil) was more likely to be conquered by the strength of that man" (VA 5.3).

5.4 Relative Pronouns[recensere | fontem recensere]

QUI and QUOD appear eventually to replace almost all other forms of the relative.

in custodia . . . qui.

The genitive cuius survived in popular usage only in Spain (cf. cuyo). Agreement between antecedent and relative pronoun is often loose.

in isdem diebus qua (Itin. 12.9).

5.5 Reciprocal Pronouns[recensere | fontem recensere]

In CL, such expressions as alius alium or inter se were used to indicate reciprocal relations; in ML usually invicem (treated as an indeclinable pronoun) was used. Alterutrum was also employed in this fashion.

Estote autem invicem benigni, " But be kind to one another" (Vulgate, Eph. 4.22); Dicebant ad alterutrum, "They were saying to one another" (Vulgate, Mark 4.40).

5.6 Articles[recensere | fontem recensere]

5.6.1 DEFINITE ARTICLE[recensere | fontem recensere]

Quintilian maintained: Noster sermo articulos non desiderat, "Our speech does not need articles" (1.4.19). Nevertheless, the absence of a definite article was felt in Latin (perhaps influenced by the translations of the Bible, since Greek has one). ILLE, ILLA, ILLUD soon came to supply that lack.

Est tamen ille daemon sodalis peccati, "The devil is companion of sin" (VA 7.3 ); sapiens illa apis, "the wise bee" (translating Greek ἡ σοφὴ μέλισσα VA 3.4); Ad vos nunc illam vos invitate puellam, "You now invite the girl to you" (Ruodlieb 14.4).

In some regions, the indefinite article was supplied by IPSE.

per mediam vallem ipsam, "through the middle of the valley" (Itin. 2.3; also 19.16; see Lofstedt 2, 64).

5.6.2 INDEFINITE ARTICLE[recensere | fontem recensere]

QUIDAM and UNUS are used as in definite articles. Even in CL unus was used to mean "a certain" without numerical value. cum uno gladiatore nequissimo, "with an extremely base gladiator" (Cic. Phil. 2.3.7); sicut unus paterfamilias his de rebus loquor, "just as a head of the family do I speak about these matters" (Cic. De Oratore 1.29.132); accessit ad eum una ancilla (Vulgate Matt. 26.69); et dictus unus psalmus aptus loco, "and a psalm appropriate to the place was recited" (Itin. 4.4).

5.7 Changes in Meaning and New Pronouns[recensere | fontem recensere]

As the old demonstratives became degraded to the status of determiners, new words were used as demonstratives. This need explains the frequency of such legal borrowings as SUPRADICTUS, SUPRASCRIPTUS, PRAEDICTUS, in many medieval texts (see Norberg 70ff. ). These words frequently mean little more than "this" or "that."

Erat autem eo tempore beatissimus Anianus in supradicta civitate episcopus, "At that time the blessed Anianus was bishop in that city" (Greg. 1:, H.P. 2.7).

ALTER, "one of two," replaces ALIUS, "other" (Fr. autre, Sp. otro).

PROPRIUS is used as a possessive adjective.

Qua obtenta, ad propriam rediit, (Greg. T., H.P. 4.14); propriis se salutavere nominibus, "they greeted each other by their names" (Jer. Vita Pauli 9).

Greek κατά may be compounded with UNUS > CATUNUS (It. ciascuno, Fr. chacun).

ID IPSUM replaces IDEM (> It. desso, the only Romance descendant of is, ea, id).

6. CONJUNCTIONS[recensere | fontem recensere]

6.1 Changes in Usage[recensere | fontem recensere]

AC SI= tamquam

tanti nitoris ac si de margarita esset, "of such a polish as if it were of pearl" (Itin. 19.6).

AUT takes over for VEL (It. Sp. 0, Fr. ou), which in its turn comes to mean "and" rather than "or." AUT may also mean "and."

quantum potuimus videntes aestimare aut ipsi dicebant, "as we could judge by looking and they said" (Itin. 2.1).

DUM = CUM

dum non intellegebat, "since he did not understand" (Greg. T., H. P. 6.46; note as well the use of the indicative).

ET in VL may replace AC, ATQUE, and -QUE. ETIAM may mean no more than et.
MAGIS wholly replaces SED, AT, VERUM, POTIUS (It. ma, Fr. mais, Sp. mds, Port. mais).

Classical poets had often used MAGIS for POTIUS: id non est turpe, magis miserum est (Catull. 68.30).

MOX=postquam

Non manducant nisi sabbato mane, mox communicaverint, "they do not eat except on the Sabbath morning after they have taken commu­nion" (Itin. 27.9).

NAM: originally a particle of assurance ( = Greek γάρ ) nam came to be the equivalent of Greek δή in both its continuative and adversative senses (Weber 131).
NEC = NON found as early as Cato, and not uncommon in CL poetry.

pedibus me ascendere necesse erat, quia prorsus nec in sella ascendi pot­ erat, "I had to ascend by foot since really I could not ascend in the saddle" (Itin. 3.2; Lofstedt 2, 88f.).

NON entirely displaces other negatives such as HAUD. The double negative, more­ over, becomes more common than in CL: nihil respondit > non respondit nihil; neminem vidi > non vidi neminem. To strengthen negations, various negative par­ ticles were added: RES, GUTTA, MICA, PUNCTUM, PLUMA, PASSUS: e.g. non video rem, guttam, punctum (cf. Fr. rien, pas, point, It. mica, Cat. res, pas, mica). This pleonastic strengthening is very typical, and it testifies to a desire to stress a word which is, by itself, considered worn out or inadequate. Many examples can be found in all areas of Medieval Latin semantics.
QUARE: interrogative, becomes causal (Fr. car).

quare contra praeceptum evangelii iurare voluistis, "since you wished to swear in contradiction to the Evangelist"; et arguet Thomam, quare in­ credulus fuisset, "and he scolded Thomas because he was doubting" (Itin. 40.2).

QUATENUS may replace ut "in order that" (frequent in Ambrose and Augustine).
QUOD becomes a sort of universal conjunction (Herman 93). In CL, above all it is an explicative and causal conjunction; in VL, it does the job of UT, CUM, and SI.
Final QUOD ( = UT): non velle dici sanctum, antequam sit, sed prius esse, quod verius dicatur, "he should not wish to be called a saint before be­ ing one, but he must be one first in order to receive the name more truly" (Rule of St. Benedict 4.42).
Consecutive QUOD ( = ITA UT): vulnus ita insanabile facit, quod totus pes amputandus sit, "that produces a wound so incurable that the entire foot must be amputated" (Palladius, Medicina pecorum 31.4).
Comparative QUOD: incedunt quaedam sine pedibus . . . quod angues, "some approached without feet . . . like serpents" (Tertullian, De anima 10).
Temporal QUOD: Tercia die, quod omnes Christiani celibrant pascha . . . ressurrexit de sepulchro, "on the third day, while all the Christians were celebrating Easter, he arose from the grave" (Dicta abbatis Priminii, 9);

Mons autem ipse per giro quidem unus esse videtur; quod ingrederis, plures sunt, "the mountain from the surroundings seems to be one;

when you are on the inside, they are many" (Itin. 2.5). (See Bonnet 326; Lofstedt 2, 66-67).

For QUOD in indirect discourse, see § 7. 1 0.
QUOMODO has a temporal aspect in addition to its CL uses.

vidi beatum Euphemiam per visionem et beatum Antonium; quomodo venerunt, sanaverunt me, "In a vision I saw the blessed Euphemia and the blessed Anthony; when they appeared, they healed me" (Antonini Placentini itinerarium 46, cited by Herman 94). QUOMODO > QUOMO > It. come, Fr. comme, Sp. como, Cat. com, Rom. cum.

SIC becomes a copulative:

benedicuntur cathecumini sic fideles, "the catechumens as well as the faithful received blessing" (Itin. 43.6). (Rom. si < SIC, "and").

UT disappears from spoken Latin, as does CUM.
QUANDO replaces CUM temporal.

6.2 New Conjunctions[recensere | fontem recensere]

IAM UT "as soon as"

iam ut exiremus de ecclesia, dederunt nobis, "as soon as we came out of the church, they gave us . . ." (Itin. 3.6).

POST is used as a conjunction instead of postquam.

QUA becomes a temporal conjunction (Lofstedt 2, 125).

hic est locus Choreb, ubi fuit sanctus Helias propheta, qua fugit . . ., "This place is Choreb, where Saint Elijah was when he fled . . ." (Itin. 4.2).

6.3 Pleonastic Compounds[recensere | fontem recensere]

The practice of pleonastic strengthening extended to conjunctions (see Lofstedt 175). Precedents can be found in CL, for example, the compounding of two synonyms, itaque ergo (Ter. Eun. 2.3.25; Livy 1.25.2):

singulis diebus cotidie (Itin.).

ADHUC HACTENUS is less commonly found.
ETIAM ET is the most frequent of the pleonastic forms.
ITA SIC

non ita sic intelligendum est, "it is not to be thus understood" (Epiphanius, Interpr. Evangel. 17.

NECNON ET (also found in CL).

Maxima pars Palestinae . . . inde videbatur, nec non et et omnis terra Iordanis, "From there could be seen a great part of Palestine, and in par­ ticular the whole land of Jordan" (Itin. 12.5; also Chron. Sal. 65, 21.).

QUIA CUM, CUM QUANDO, DUM QUANDO

dissuria ideo appellatur, cum quando difficiliter urinam facit, "it is called 'dysuria' when it is difficult to urinate."

7. VERBS[recensere | fontem recensere]

7.1 Forms[recensere | fontem recensere]

7.1.1 PRESENT TENSE[recensere | fontem recensere]

mittet = mittit; vivet = vivit: such forms may be due to phonetic changes, as long e, short e, and short i were pronounced similarly in final syllables, a fact which no doubt favored the use of analytic forms for the future tense of the 3d conjugation (Grandgent 243; Lofstedt 2, 133ff.).

qui rubus usque in hodie vivet et mittet virgultas, "which bush even today is alive and puts out shoots" (Itin. 4.6).

7.1.2 FUTURE[recensere | fontem recensere]

Third and fourth conjugation forms were sometimes confused.

periet ( Vulgate, Wisd. of So!. 4:19); at Gen. 18:5 in the Vetus Latina, the Itala has transietis.

7.1.3 IMPERFECT[recensere | fontem recensere]

The imperfect in general survived without alteration. Occasionally anomalous forms occur:

erabamus (Chron. Sal. 129. 18); quando nos erabamus iuvenculi, "when we were youths" (Paul, Hist. Lang. 5.50; cf. It. eravamo).

7.1.4 PERFECT[recensere | fontem recensere]

There was a marked tendency to replace 3d conjugation verbs, particularly those with irregular "strong" or reduplicated perfects, with first conjugation forms: e.g., praestavi for praesteti.

7.2 Periphrastic Verb Forms[recensere | fontem recensere]

The fondness for periphrasis and the preference for analytic over synthetic forms is particularly apparent in verb forms. The use of such pleonastic auxiliary verbs as velle, posse, coepisse, videri, conari, dignari, and debere is common (Lofstedt 2, 207; Weber 57).

sanitatem praestare debeant, "they produce a healthy condition"; the Vetus Latina, at Gen. 18.1 7, to translate a Greek future gives celabo, while Jerome in the Vulgate translates celare potero. At Gen. 21.16 the Vetus Latina reads sedere coepit, and the Vulgate, sedit.

7.2.1 COMPOUND TENSES[recensere | fontem recensere]

The synthetic verb forms of Classical Latin tend to be replaced by analytic forms whose descendants are the verbs of the Romance languages.

Compound present. In general, the present participle played a very limited role in periphrastic conjugations. It was only in the imperial epoch that this construction became widespread in the spoken language (see ET 274-75 ). It is, however, found in Plautus (ut tu sis sciens, Poen. 1038; ille est cupiens, ibid. 660).

non erit displicens (Itin. 16.6); invenerunt speluncam, quam sequentes fuerunt forsitan per passus centum, "they found a cave which they fol­ lowed for perhaps one hundred feet" ( = sequebantur, or secuti sunt; Itin. 16.6; see Lofstedt 2, 245); Is enim est et scientia pollens, "for he is powerful even in knowledge" (Liutprand, Antap. 2.20).

Compound Imperfect.[recensere | fontem recensere]

Sanguine fluens eram, "I was flowing with blood" (Gospel of Nicode­ mus 7); et ipse erat exspectans regnum Dei, "and he was awaiting the kingdom of God" (Gospel of Nicodemus 11 .3).

Compound future.[recensere | fontem recensere]

In the Romance languages, there is no trace of the Latin future in -bo (erit survived in OFr. ert); in its place we find:

(1) analytic forms composed of the infinitive and forms of HABERE (cf. OCat. seguir vos he = vos seguire [Cronica of Jaume I)). This separated form still survives in Portuguese (dar-me-as, "you will give me"; dir-vos-emos, "we will tell you"). For further discussion, see § 7.2.2.

admirari hominem habebitis, "you will admire the man" ( VA Pro!' 3).

The often-cited first example of the romance future is Fredegarius 85.27: Et ille [sc. the king Perses) respondebat: Non dabo. Iustinianus dicebat: Daras, ''And he answered, 'I will not give,' and Justinian replied, 'Daras' ( = dare habes) ." Wright 43, n. suggests that perhaps popular etymology considered -ABIT and HABET, pronounced identically, to be the same.

(2) a future participle plus ESSE.

habituri sumus munus, "we will have a reward" (Petronius 45.4); sic et nos futuri sumus resurgere, "we too will be resurrected" (Grandgent 57). At Gen. 18.17 in the Vetus Latina to translate the Greek future ποιήσω we find non celabo Abraham puerum meum quae ego facturus sum, "I shall not conceal from my child Abraham what I will do."

(3) periphrases with VELLE and POSSE plus an infinitive: (in Romanian, the future is derived from VOLO plus the infinitive).
(4) DEBERE plus an infinitive (retained in Sardinia). (5) VADERE, IRE, VENIRE and an infinitive.
Compound Perfect.[recensere | fontem recensere]

Parallel to the compound future, there evolved a compound perfect; the form already existed in CL: satis habeo deliberatum (Cic.); Venit ad me pater. Quid habui facere? (Seneca, Contro. 1.1.1 9). Suspectamque habuit . . . pugnam, "He suspected a fight" ( Waltharius 346; cf. Fr. il a suspecte); ubi ipsi castra posita habebant, "where they had placed camps" (Itin. 19.11); causas pauperum exosas habebat, "he hated things of the poor" (Greg. T., H.E 6.46).

In medieval vernacular languages, the past participle agrees with the direct object: OCat. nostro Senyor nos hauria dada aquesta victoria,

"Our Lord has given us this victory" ( Cronica of Jaume I); OSp. Las armas avien presas, "they captured the arms (Poema de mio Cid 1001).

The agreement of the past participle continued in Spanish until the 14th century).

With the compound present and imperfect, compare also:

Hic non fuit consentiens uoluntatibus et accusationibus Iudaeorum, "He was not in agreement with the desires and accusations of the Jews" ( Gospel of Nicodemus 11.3).

7.2.2 OTHER USES OF HABEO and the Infinitive[recensere | fontem recensere]

To express ability and obligation. HABERE can express ability and then obligation - "to have something to do," " be able to do something." habeo etiam dicere quem contra morem maiorum, "I have to say [I can say) who, in contrast to the habit of our ancestors" (Cic. Rosc. Am.35.100); sed non ipsa parte exire habebamus qua intraveramus . . . quia necesse nos erat . . ., "we were unable to leave by the way we had en­ tered because it was necessary for us . . ." (Itin. 4.5).

This construction, with the infinitive or future passive participle is largely ante-classical and post-Augustan.

etiam Filius Dei mori habuit, "even the Son of God had to die" (Tert.,Hab. Mul. 1); si inimicos iubemur diligere, quem habemus odisse, "if we are ordered to love our enemies, whom must we hate?" (idem, Apol. 37); ipsam ergo vallem traversare habebamus, "therefore we had to cross the valley" (Itin. 2.1 ). (Cf., e.g., Cat. he de dir, "I have to say, I must say").

To represent a conditional. By a gradual weakening, the infinitive plus the imperfect, habebam, came to represent a modern conditional.

Sanare te habebat Deus . . ., si fatereris, "God would heal you if you would confess" (Ps.-Aug. Serm. app. 253.4, Bourciez 257b).

7.3 Esse[recensere | fontem recensere]

When ESSE is used as a verb of motion, the verb implies at once the idea of going

to a place and staying there (see Lofstedt 2, 171).

qua primitus ad Egyptum fueram, "when I first went to [was in) Egypt"

(Itin. 7. 1; also 9.6, 20.2, 23.1).

7.4 Participles:[recensere | fontem recensere]

7.4.1 PRESENT[recensere | fontem recensere]

The present participle is replaced by the ablative of the gerund: gratulando rediit, "he returned rejoicing." This is the source of the present participle in Italian and Spanish.

ita miserrimus fui fugitando, "I was so miserable fleeing" (Ter. Eun. 846-47); redirent . . . dicendo psalmos vel antiphonas, "they returned singing psalms and antiphons" (Itin. 15.5); moriar stando, "I shall die standing" (Amm. Marc. 24.3.7); ad cellulam cum omni populo canendo rediit, "singing, he returned to his cell with the whole people" (Greg. T.,De passione et virtutibus Iuliani 7).

7.4.2 GERUNDIVE[recensere | fontem recensere]

By a similar weakening, the gerundive came to denote mere futurity (from the 3d or 4th century C.E. ); with ESSE it supplied a future passive conjugation, devoid of the classical connotations of obligation or necessity.

Hannibal cum tradendus Romanis esset, venenum bibit, "Hannibal, when he was to be handed over to the Romans, drank poison" (Flavius Eutropius 4.5); filius hominis tradendus est, "the son of man will be handed over" (Grandgent 49).

A gerundive plus the present tense of the verb "to be" may function as a compound present perfect.

de quali provincia vos estis oriundi? "from what province have you originated? ("Life of Epictetus and Astion," Vitae Patrum 1, PL 73).

7.4.3 PRESENT FOR AORIST (PERFECT ACTIVE)[recensere | fontem recensere]

One problem of Latin, in comparison with Greek, is the absence for most verbs (i.e., all non-deponents) of a perfect active participle comparable to the Greek aorist. In Latin, the present participle should properly expresses action contemporary with the main verb, but even in CL there was a tendency for it to slip into the past tense:

eum primo incertis implicantes responsis . . . edocuerunt, "at first trying to confuse him with uncertain replies, . . . they revealed" (Livy 27.43.3).

This lack was felt especially keenly by the translators of the Vetus Latina, eager to preserve as much as possible of the syntax of their Greek original. For example, at Matt. 2.10, to render the aorist participle ioov't£<;, "having seen;' the Itala has videntes, which in CL properly expresses action contemporary with the main verb (gavisi sunt), not prior to it, as is required by the sense. Jerome followed the Itala, and in general present participles are very frequent in ML as a replacement for a perfect active participle.

7.4.4 REPLACING A FINITE VERB[recensere | fontem recensere]

In Greek, a very common construction is "participle plus verb" = "verb and verb." This is far more common in Greek than Latin due to the greater number of participles in both voices in Greek.

Nam Leo papa . . . ad eum accedens . . . ubi Mincius amnis transituT, "For Pope Leo came to him where the Mincius river is crossed" (1or­ danes, De Orig. 42); quia rebellem, inquiens, ac sacrilegem ceiare quam militibus reddere maluisti, "because you preferred, he said, to conceal a rebel and sacrilege than to hand him over to the soldiers" (Bede, Hist. Eccl. 1.7); in the Vetus Latina at Matt. 8.7, the Itala reads Ego veniens, curabo eum.

At Matt. 2.8, MSS of the Itala read euntes requirite, literally translating the Greek construction; the others read ite et interrogate.

7.4.5 REPLACING AN INFINITIVE IN INDIRECT DISCOURSE[recensere | fontem recensere]

With audire and videre, in imitation of Greek, a participle may replace the accusative and infinitive in indirect discourse (Nunn 65).

et vidit omnis populus eum ambulantem et laudantem Deum, "and the entire people saw him walking and praising God" (Vulgate, Acts 3.9); Cum ergo vidisset quidam de Iudaeis eum hoc facientem, "When, therefore, one of the Jews saw him doing this" (Gospel of Pseudo­ Matthew 27).

7.4.6 ABSOLUTE PARTICIPIAL CONSTRUCTIONS[recensere | fontem recensere]

In addition to the ablative, nominative, and accusative absolute constructions, other, seemingly independent participial constructions are found in ML.

(1) When the substantive is an acting person, the substantive may be in the nominative and the participle in the ablative (Westerbergh 274).

(2) When the substantive functions as an object of the participle, the substantive is accusative and the participle ablative. This construction is known as the impersonal passive with an object (see Lofstedt 2, 290f£.; Westerbergh 275).

videntes autem Petri constantiam et Johannis, comperto quod homines essent sine litteris, "seeing, however, the constancy of Peter and John, having learned that they were uneducated men" ( Vulgate, Acts 3.9); Quidam autem de exercitu, invento cuiusque pauperis faenum, ait, "One of the army, having found a poor man's hay, said" (Greg. T., H.P. 2.37); apprehenso equi retinaculum, celeriter eum Beneventum ducebat, "having grasped the rein of the horse, he quickly led him to Beneventum" ( Chron. Sal. 83.5).

7.5 Transitive and Intransitive[recensere | fontem recensere]

7.5.1 TRANSITIVE VERBS BECOME INTRANSITIVE[recensere | fontem recensere]

REFICERE comes to mean "refresh oneself," "to eat a meal": fratres reficiunt sexta hora, "the brothers eat at the sixth hour" (Rule of St. Benedict).

7.5.2 PRONOMINAL FORMS[recensere | fontem recensere]

A reflexive form is often substituted for a passive (cf. the medio-passive of Greek); many of these words are reflexive in the Romance languages (coangustare se, cf. It. angosciarsi; turbare and perturbare se, cf. It. turbarsi). A few intransitive verbs may also be used reflexively (credere se, cf. It. credersi; rebellare se, cf. It. ribei­ larsi; see Westerbergh 272-73).

cum male sibi senserint, "when they feel bad" (see Lofstedt 2, 140, and compare the French, se sentir mal).

7.6 Defective Verbs[recensere | fontem recensere]

In CL, odi is a defective verb with no present tense in use. In Christian writers, however, a present odio was in use.

benefacite his, qui odiunt vos, "do good to those who hate you" ( Vetus Latina, Matt. 5.44; Vulgate, oderunt); future, odiet (Vetus Latina, Matt. 6.4).

7.7 Tense[recensere | fontem recensere]

7.7.1 PRESENT FOR FUTURE[recensere | fontem recensere]

In CL, this usage (widespread in English) was used rarely, chiefly in compound sentences, and restricted by and large to certain verbs and phrases (e.g., si vivo, "if I live"). Its use was more general in ML.

non credo, nisi videro, "I will not believe unless I see it" (Itin. 39.5, citing John 20.25 [doubting Thomas]; the Vetus Latina and Vulgate have non credam); in illo . . . tempore cum illos gloria aeterna circumdat, "at that time [the Last Judgment], when eternal glory surrounds [i.e., will surround] them" (Greg. T., De virtutibus Martini 106).

7.7.2 TENSES IN BIBLICAL TRANSLATIONS[recensere | fontem recensere]

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew use of tenses caused trouble for the translators, including Saint Jerome and the Greek translators of the Septuagint. Hebrew has only two "tenses;' which express complete and incomplete aspect; either can be used for the present, past, or future. In the Septuagint, the perfective was treated as a past tense and the imperfective as a future. In the Latin texts, a past tense may be used for a present or a future (Blaise 226-33).

7.8 Mood[recensere | fontem recensere]

7.8.1 INDICATIVE AND SUBJUNCTIVE[recensere | fontem recensere]

Classical rules concerning the use of the indicative and the subjunctive are relaxed, and the indicative may be found in all constructions which in CL require the subjunctive. Examples are too numerous to document with any thoroughness.

DUM = cum causal plus indicative: dum non intellegebat, "since he did not understand" (Greg. T., H.P. 6.46).
ITA UT = Greek ὤστε often followed by the indicative, perhaps following the Greek construction (Weber 64).

7.8.2 IMPERATIVE[recensere | fontem recensere]

There were many ways of issuing negative commands in CL; since all imperatives refer to the future, the "tense" is purely aspectual:

ne audi (poetic)

ne audito (legal)

non audies (colloquial) ne audias (chiefly ideal) noli audire (common)

ne audiveris (correct but rare)

In ML, the most common method of issuing a negative command was noli plus the infinitive:

In the Vetus Latina, the MSS of the Itala offer at Matt. 1.20 noli timere, ne timueris, and ne timeas.

As noli passed out of use in popular speech, the word appears to have been under­ stood as a negative (= non), and non plus the infinitive came into use. This use was limited to the 2d person singular negative (as in Italian and Old French).

si videris lassiorem esse, non tangere, "if you see [him] to be more tired, don't touch."

There was a general tendency in popular speech to eliminate constructions with ne, as the familiar non audies shows.

non . . . putet quis, "let no one think" (Reid 97).

7.9 Infinitive[recensere | fontem recensere]

Infinitives were widely used, replacing a number of classical constructions.

7.9.1 PURPOSE INFINTIVE[recensere | fontem recensere]

The use of the infinitive to express purpose (after verbs of motion) is found in very early Latin, and it continues in the colloquial language and in poetry (in literary Latin, the supine was used in this way).

venerat aurum petere, "he had come to seek gold" (Plaut. Bacch. 631); non nos . . . Libycos populare Penates / venimus, "we have not come to destroy the Libyan homes" (Virgil, Aen. 1.527-28).

The construction becomes common in VL.

futurum esse enim ut Herodes quaerat puerum istum perdere, "It will come to pass that Herod seeks the boy to destroy him" (Vulgate and Vetus Latina, Itala, Matt. 2. 13; cf. the MS variant ad perdendum eum); impetravit implere (fert., lei. 7).

7.9.2 INFINITIVE OF THE GOAL[recensere | fontem recensere]

This construction is a Hellenism.

dare ad manducare (Vetus Latina, John 6.52); sedit manducare ( Vulgate, Exod. 32.16).

7.9.3 INFINITIVE FOR RESULT CLAUSE[recensere | fontem recensere]

tum filios . . . more Francorum equitare fecit, "he made his sons ride in the Frankish fashion" (Einhard, Vita Karoli 19); quo audito, Decius Caesar fecit eum sibi praesentari, "having heard this, Decius Caesar had him presented" (Notker Balbulus, Martyrologium, Saint Lawrence).

7.9.4 INDIRECT QUESTION[recensere | fontem recensere]

In VL and ML, the subjunctive in an indirect question came to be replaced by a complement (and an infinitive). Nescio quid dicam, "I do not know what to say," came to be expressed nescio quid dicere; nescio quo eam, "I do not know where to go," came to be nescio ubi ire.

Rogo vos . . . ut adtentius cogitemus quare christiani sumus, "I ask you . . . that we consider carefully why we are Christians" (Norberg 94).

7.9.5 CLAUSES OF FEARING[recensere | fontem recensere]

In clauses of fearing, the infinitive may replace ut or ne and the subjunctive.

noli timere accipere Mariam coniugem, "do not fear to accept Mary as your wife" ( Vulgate, Matt. 1 .20); timuit illuc ire, "he feared to go there" ( Vulgate, Matt. 2.20).

7.10 Indirect Discourse[recensere | fontem recensere]

The classical construction with infinitive and subject accusative died out, replaced by a clause introduced by QUIA, QUOD, or QUONIAM. This construction had ex­ isted side by side with the more learned construction in popular usage, and sporadic examples can be found from all periods. It does not, however, become com­ mon until the postclassical period.

scio iam filius quod amet meus istanc meretricem, "I know that my son is in love with that prostitute" (Plaut. Asinaria 52-53); dixi quia mustela comedit, "I said that he ate the lamprey" (Petronius 46.4). Tunc Herodes, ut vidit quoniam (quia, MS d; quod MSS fl) delusus est, "Then Herod, when he saw that he was tricked" ( Vetus Latina, Matt.2.16). The three MS variants of the Itala here preserve the three possible solutions to the problem of translating here the Greek on; fateor quod perfectus non sit, "I admit that he is not perfect" (Aug., C. Acad. 1.9);

ut intellegamus quia Deus semper iustus fuit, "so that we may understand that God was always just" (Aug., De ordine 2.22).

In biblical translations, another problem arose with respect to translating on: in Greek this conjunction introduces direct quotations. In Latin, quod, quia, and quoniam were used in the same ways, and should not here be translated (Nunn 64).

et mulieri dicebant: Quia iam non propter tuam loquellam credimus, "and they were saying to the woman, 'We believe, not because of your talking'" ( Vulgate, John 4.42); si quis dixerit quoniam diligo Deum, et fratrem suum oderit, mendax est, "if anyone says, 'I love God' and hates his brother, he is a liar" ( Vulgate, 1 John 4.20).

7.10.1 MOOD IN INDIRECT DISCOURSE[recensere | fontem recensere]

Greek on is followed by the indicative. Quia and quod may be followed by either the indicative or the subjunctive; quod tends to take the subjunctive, quia the indicative.

7.10.2 SUBORDINATE CLAUSES IN INDIRECT DISCOURSE[recensere | fontem recensere]

Classical usage demands the subjunctive in such clauses; in ML the indicative may be found in a subordinate clause. At Gen. 1.7 in the Vetus Latina the Itala reads, et vidit Deus quia bonum est, "and God saw that it is good."

7.11 Indirect Question[recensere | fontem recensere]

Archaic Latin often used the indicative mood in indirect questions; this construction is found in ML. For the infinitive in an indirect question, see § 7.9.4.

miror cur . . . visa sunt, "I wonder why they seem . . ." (Aug., Solil.2. 18).

UTRUM . . . AN and the subjunctive was replaced by SI with the indicative (perhaps under the influence of the Greek et): nescio utrum Romanus an barbarus sit became nescio si Romanus aut barbarus est.

Visam si domi est, "I shall see whether he is at home" (Ter. Heaut.1 70); dic mihi si Romanus es, "tell me if you are a Roman citizen" ( Vulgate, Acts 22.27; for CL dic mihi an Romanus sis); quaerite ergo si vera est ista divinitas Christi, "seek therefore whether Christ's divinity is a true one" (Tertullian, Apol. 21).

7.12 Sequence of Tenses[recensere | fontem recensere]

Classical rules concerning the sequence of tenses are frequently violated (indeed, medieval tense structures in all situations frequently conform to norms other than those of classical or modern usage-mixtures are frequent).

Latinam ita didicit ut aeque illa ac patria lingua orare sit solitus, "He learned Latin so well that he was equally accustomed to pray in it or in his native tongue" (Einhard, Vita Karoli 25).

7.13 Voice[recensere | fontem recensere]

7.13.1 ANALYTIC FORMS[recensere | fontem recensere]

On the model of carus est, amatus est came to mean "he is loved" ( = amatur), not "he was loved." The precise date at which this change occurred is, however, a matter of controversy. In Gen. 1.9, the Vetus Latina, however, translates the Greek present passive u'f'opil;E'tat by dividitur, but one MS of the Itala offers the analytic form divisum est.

Invocavi enim deos meos, sed, ut experior, elongati sunt ab auxilio meo, "I have called upon my gods, but, as I am finding out, they are far removed from helping me" (Greg. T., H.P. 2.30).

In compound tenses, fueram and fuero became popular replacements for eram and ero. This use can be paralleled in CL.

Non, hodie si / exclusus fuero, desistam, "I shall not cease, even if I am shut out today" (Hor., Sat. 1.9.57-5 8); fuerunt impediti (Itin. 3.4) = impediti sunt.

7.13.2 THE PRONOMIAL PASSIVE[recensere | fontem recensere]

Pronomial forms are often reflexive, replacing a medio-passive form (me ex­ CTucio = excrucior; see ET 214). In the late period, this usage was extended to purely intransitive verbs:

recipit se episcopus et vadent [e.g. vadunt] se unusquisque . . . ut se resumant, "the bishop withdrew and everyone departed . . . to rest" (Itin. 25.7).

The reflexive verb forms may, indeed, come so close to a passive as to be substituted for them, especially in the third person:

Myrinam quae Sebastopolim se vocat, "Myrina, which is called Sebastopol" (Pliny, N.H. 5.121); cf. the use in the Romance languages, e.g., French, where cela se dit = dicitur, or dici solet; It. si chiama, Fr. il s'appelle, Sp. se llama; haec ergo dum aguntur, facit se hora quinta, "While these things were taking place, it came to be the fifth hour" ( = fit; Itin. 27.3); cf. It. si fa ( notte, sera), Fr. il se fait ( tard), Sp. se hace (tarde).

7.13.3 ACTIVE FOR DEPONENT FORMS[recensere | fontem recensere]

The loss of deponent forms occurred early in popular Latin. In Plautus, for example, the following active forms occur: horto, lucto, partio, sortio, auspicavi, etc. In Petronius loquere is found for loqui (46. 1), also amplexare (63.8).

ADGREDERE for adgredior: cum Chuni in exercitu contra gentem qualibet [for quamlibet?] adgrediebant, "when the Huns went out in an army against any people" (Fredegarius, 4.48).

OPERARE for operior: VA 28.25; also in Commodian and Cassiodorus.

7.14 Impersonal Constructions[recensere | fontem recensere]

(1) HABET, used intransitively, comes to mean "there is," ",there are" (Fr. il y a, Sp. hay); examples can be found in Roman comedy (e.g. Terence, Phormio 419).

Habebat autem de eo loco ad montem Dei forsitan quattuor milia, "there were, moreover, from that place to the mountain of God perhaps four miles" ( Itin. 1 .2); habebat autem ante se ipse fons, "there was, moreover, before it a spring" (Itin. 15.2); Et quoniam inde ad sanctam Teclam . . . habebat de civitate forsitan mille quingentos passus (Itin. 23.2).

(2) The use of HOMO for an impersonal subject ( cf. Fr. on).

Cf. Vetus Latina, Gen. 11 .3, where the Itala has et dixit homo proximo but one manuscript reads, ait unusquisque. Quomodo potest se homo mortificare? "how can one (a man) mortify himself?"

(3) Extended use of the impersonal passive (very common, for example, in the Itin. ).

in eo ergo loco cum venitur, "when we came to that place" (Itin. 1.2); o quam beata civitas / In qua redemptor venitur, "O how blessed is the city in which the redeemer comes" (Bede, Martyrdom of the Holy Innocents).

7.14.1 IMPERSONAL VERBS USED PERSONALLY[recensere | fontem recensere]

The use of impersonal verbs in personal constructions is rare but classical; it is commoner in LL and VL.

paenituit eum quod hominem fecisset in terra ( Vulgate, Gen. 6:6); et cogitavit deus quia fecit hominem super terram et paenituit, "and God knew that he had made man on earth, and regretted it" ( Vetus Latina).

7.15 Concessive Clauses[recensere | fontem recensere]

May be introduced by esto, fac, pone:

Fac tot annos in penitentia expleam, dimittantur omnia, restet hoc unum, "Even though I should complete many years of penance, and though all was forgiven, this one thing would remain" (Rather of Verona, Conf. 21.410C; Reid 103).

Example