Dead Indo-European language of the Roman Empire and ancestor of modern Catalan, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, and a few others.
18
votes
5answers
407 views
Which Romance languages have reflexes of nouns in the Latin nominative?
It is generally accepted that the nominal forms in the Romance languages represent reflexes of the Latin accusative rather than the nominative. (This is even true for those languages that have ...
13
votes
3answers
1k views
What are the historical origin of terms for north, south, east and west?
In the course of researching the etymology of the word "Australia", I was trying to find the Latin words for north and south (the cardinal directions). I found some websites that translate north as ...
11
votes
6answers
905 views
Why do so many core Romanian words with Latin roots come from different roots than in the other Romance languages?
Romanian is a romance language like Catalan, Italian, French, Portuguese, and Spanish so much of its core vocabulary is derived from Latin.
Why then even in core vocabulary does Romanian so often ...
10
votes
1answer
201 views
Italian past participle ending -uto
Why, in the paradigm for Italian past participles ending in -ere, does the regular past participle end in -uto? Whence the vowel, when the other two paradigms have -ato and -ito?
8
votes
1answer
205 views
Latin stress rules: exceptions
Do the Latin stress rules (antepenultimate if penultimate is light, penultimate if heavy) have any known exceptions? Also, sometimes the rule assigns antepenultimate stress to a syllable belonging to ...
7
votes
1answer
115 views
How does L. “quartus” come from L. “quattuor”, which has “quat” but “quart”?
quartus
From Latin quattuor ("four"), originally from Proto-Indo-European
quattuor
From Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwóres.
Cognates include Sanskrit चतुर् (catur), Old Armenian չորք ...
6
votes
2answers
311 views
Hebrew “shemen” versus Latin “semen”
Is the etymology of the word "semen" (eng. "seed") in Latin connected to the hebrew word שֶׁמֶן "shemen" (eng. "ointment")?
I've just read a peculiar article that attempted to make this connection:
...
5
votes
1answer
140 views
What rule governs the vowel alternations in Latin caput/capit-/-cep(t)-/-cipit-/-ciput?
In different forms, the Latin root caput "head" appears with different vowels:
a-u: caput (nominative singular);
a-i: capitis (genitive singular), capitī (dative singular), capita (nominative ...
5
votes
1answer
156 views
The stylistic effect of chiasmus in Latin
The motto of my alma mater is sidere mens eadem mutato, which I gloss:
sidere mens eadem mutato
star-SG.N.ABL mind-SG.F.NOM same-SG.F.NOM change-SG.N.ABL
I have long ...
5
votes
1answer
112 views
Is there a named common ancestor of Germanic and Latin besides “Indo-European”?
I was just answering a question about the origins of English and Latin and wanted to talk about their common ancestors but ran into a surprising problem.
So we know the majority of languages in ...
5
votes
1answer
191 views
Why did English borrow more from Latin and Greek than, e.g., German did, in scientific and philosophical subjects?
Is there any known reason why the scholars of the time didn't think it easier to use calques, as for instance the Germans did for the names of some of the basic chemical elements?
5
votes
1answer
192 views
What is the origin of the Latin suffix -alis/-alia?
What is the origin of the Latin suffix -alis/-alia? Can it be an Etruscan borrowing? Is Russian adjectival suffix -аль- a borrowing from Latin?
5
votes
2answers
162 views
How does the initial consonant in “Jupiter” and “Zeus” come from the “d” in PIE “*dyew-”?
Jupiter, is from Proto-Indo-European *dyew- (“sky”) (whence also Latin diēs).
Cognate with Ancient Greek Ζεύς (Zeus), Hittite 𒅆𒍑 (sius), Sanskrit द्यु (dyú). The nominative Iuppiter comes ...
4
votes
1answer
75 views
Why does “-b-” differ between L “offero” and L “aufero”?
offero
From ob ("towards") + ferō ("bear, carry")
aufero
From ab ("from") + ferō ("bear, carry")
Both prefixes of them end with "-b-", but why do their compounds differ from each other, ...
4
votes
1answer
95 views
Abbreviations for “gerund”, “gerundive” and “supine”?
Are there some commonly used abbreviations for "gerund", "gerundive" and "supine"?
3
votes
3answers
642 views
Why is “Aurora Borealis” from Greek, but “Aurora Austrialis” from Latin?
In astronomy we have the Aurora Australis in the south and the Aurora Borealis in the north. According to Wikipedia, auster is in fact the Latin equivalent of the Greek νότος, or southern wind. ...
3
votes
0answers
85 views
Was there a Greek or Latin name spelled “Jesus” or similarly before the advent of Christianity?
Many of the originally Barbarian names in history were Christianized. Many Christian saints with Slavic/Germanic names were given similar-sounding Greek and Latin names. In this way "Kuzma" ...
3
votes
0answers
45 views
How's Mango Languages Latin Pronunciation? [closed]
So through my library I've gained access to Mango Languages language courses and I've taken on learning Latin. When trying to keep my pronunciation as close to the examples as possible, though, I feel ...
2
votes
1answer
111 views
How many of Latin words have Greek roots?
I was wondering how many of Latin (both Classical and Medieval varieties) words
have Greek roots. Is Greek the common root of most IE languages?
2
votes
1answer
76 views
How does the sound change from L. “benedictionem” to O.Fr. “beneiçon” happen?
benison
c.1300, "blessing, beatitude," from O.Fr. beneiçon "blessing, benediction," from L. benedictionem (see benediction).
Similarly, the word malison comes in the exact way described above.
...
2
votes
1answer
125 views
Are there any active Classical Latin users nowadays?
Are there any groups of active Classical Latin users nowadays?
By active I mean they meet regularly and speak in classical Latin, or make some videos/vlogs/podcasts or present lectures.
1
vote
2answers
79 views
The reason for similarity of Turkic “min” and latin “mille”, Turkic “dil” and dutch “taal”?
What's the linguistic relation between
the Turkic words bin or min and Latin word mille meaning thousand
Turkic dil and dutch taal meaninge language?
0
votes
1answer
68 views
“Punta riversa”: An Oxford Latin Dictionary Analysis
I am etymologizing the word punta riversa, and I would like to request a photocopy--or resource link--to the Oxford Latin Dictionary's entries for both punctum and reversus. Thank you.
Also, is ...
0
votes
1answer
79 views
Does “Pictura Mentum” mean anything?
I know that the etymology of the word "pigment" is the Latin verb pingere (to paint) plus the suffix -mentum (instrument used in the accomplishment of the action).
I know that the -mentum suffix is ...
