The Foundations of Latin [Reprint 2010 ed.] 9783110807110, 9783110162943

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The Foundations of Latin

W G DE

The Foundations of Latin

by

Philip Baldi

Mouton de Gruyter Berlin • New York

2002

Mouton de Gruyter (formerly Mouton, The Hague) is a Division of Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin. An earlier version of this work was published in 1999 as volume 117 of the series Trends in Linguistics - Studies and Monographs.

© Printed on acid-free paper which falls within the guidelines of the ANSI to ensure permanence and durability.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication-Data Baldi, Philip. The foundations of Latin / by Philip Baldi. p. cm. — Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN 3-11-016294-6 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 3-11-017208-9 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Latin language - Grammar, Historical. 2. Indo-European languages - Influence on Latin. 3. Inscriptions, Latin - Italy. 4. Italy - Languages. I. Title. II. Series. PA2071.B35 1998 475—dc21 98-51324 CIP

Die Deutsche Bibliothek -

Cataloging-in-Publication-Data

Baldi, Philip: The foundations of Latin / by Philip Baldi. - Berlin ; New York : Mouton de Gruyter, 2002 ISBN 3-11-017208-9 br. ISBN 3-11-016294-6 Geb.

© Copyright 2002 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, D-10785 Berlin All rights reserved, including those of translation into foreign languages. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Cover design: Sigurd Wendland, Berlin. Printed in Germany.

Preface Generations of students of Indo-European linguistics and of the Classics have been initiated to the history of the Latin language according to a familiar model. Most start with Palmer's The Latin language. The curious journey through Buck's Comparative grammar of Greek and Latin and Meillet's Esquisse d'une histoire de la langue latine. The committed know that the real answers lie somewhere in Sommer—Pfister's Handbuch der lateinischen Laut- und Formenlehre, and especially Leumann's Lateinische Laut- und Formenlehre, to which we might now add Sihler's massive revision and rewrite of Buck, the New comparative grammar of Greek and Latin. Specific interests and particular issues may take the serious to the works of Meillet—Vendryes, Devoto, Pisani, Niedermann, Prosdocimi and many others. But the road becomes rocky beyond Palmer, and without some specialized guidance or training, even the most ardent enthusiast of the histoiy of Latin will ñnd some of the issues impenetrable. Many give up on the topic, convinced that the arcane methodology and specialized techniques of Indo-European linguistics place the details beyond the grasp of the everyday scholar and ambitious student of IndoEuropean or classical studies. In the United States, students of the Classics and the basic Indo-European foundations of Latin have relied primarily on Palmer and Buck. Each of these fine volumes has undeniable merits and strengths, and an equal number of evident flaws and weaknesses. The same is true of other synthetic accounts of the history of Latin. In some, there is no information on methodology and basic assumptions of historicalcomparative research; in others there is a lack of discussion of the sources of information on which the historical linguistic analysis of Latin and the other Indo-European languages is based; in still others there is a lack of cultural and historical perspective, with the history of Latin presented as if the language had no speakers; most lack a coherent treatment of the inscriptional tradition, and of the non-Latin Italic languages; and in none of them is there a serious treatment of historical syntax, i.e. the evolution of Latin sentence structure from its Proto-Indo-European beginnings. In fact, not one of the available resources addresses the total picture of the history of Latin, methodologically, linguistically, materially and culturally, from its Indo-European origins up to the time when it starts to move in the direction of the Romance languages. When I began this project over a decade ago, I imagined that The foundations of Latin would fill all the gaps in the previous literature, and add a few original twists of its own. It is my hope now that it will fill some of the gaps, and still add some original twists. This volume includes an account of historical linguistic methodology and the Indo-European family of languages which surpasses that found in comparable works. I have tried to justify linguistic details essential to the precise understanding of the history of Latin and the other Indo-European languages, and to

vi

Preface

be explicit and current on matters relating to the inscriptional and philological record, and on the connections of Latin with other Indo-European languages. And I have attempted to provide up-to-date analysis and commentary which I hope makes the material contained in this volume considerably more than a reshaping of the known facts. But gaps remain, the major one of which is a coherent treatment of historical Latin syntax. After writing a lengthy outline, I realized that the subject was so vast and fraught with theoretical and methodological peril that it would be pointless to undertake a synthesis in a volume of this sort. Phonology is manageable; once the theoretical decisions are made (such as whether to include laryngeals, glottalized consonants, voiceless aspirates, etc.), the details follow in a more or less straightforward manner. Morphology is more challenging, owing to the large number of morphological elements in a language of the Indo-European and Latin type, but it is nonetheless finite. Syntax, however, is vast and laden with conflicting data, and its analysis depends on crucial theoretical assumptions and subtle grammatical judgments. Historical syntax is particularly treacherous, for not only must a theoretical model be selected and justified, it must be appropriate for both the protolanguage and the target language, and the processes connecting the two must be stated with the same explicitness as those detailing the historical phonology and morphology. In effect, the syntax of Proto-Indo-European would have to be reconstructed before the historical syntax of Latin could be written. I realized that this cannot be accomplished in a synthetic account of the history of the language. It must be treated in a volume of its own. This book is not intended to be a replacement for other volumes on the history of the Latin language. Leumann and now Sihler, for example, will continue to be primary sources on highly specific matters of phonology and morphology; Pisani will continue to provide the most comprehensive (though dated) account of the inscriptional record; and Niedermann will remain a capital resource of phonetic detail. At the same time, it is my expectation that specialists and non-specialists alike will find information and detail in these pages which they won't find outside the technical literature, and a synthesis of method, theory, data and analysis which is unavailable elsewhere. It is my hope that future generations of scholars will add The foundations of Latin to the list of standard resource works on the history of this fascinating language.

Contents Preface

v

List of figures

xiii

List of maps

xiii

List of plates

xiv

List of tables

xv

Acknowledgments

xvii

Credits

xix

Abbreviations and symbols

xxi

Transcription conventions

xxiii

Chapter 1 Indo-European and the Indo-European languages 1.1. Introduction 1.2. Methodological preliminaries 1.3. The comparative method and the regularity principle 1.3.1. Challenges to the comparative method and the regularity principle 1.4. The method of internal reconstruction 1.5. Genetic classifications and family trees 1.6. The Indo-European language family 1.6.1. Indo-Iranian 1.6.2. Greek (Hellenic) 1.6.3. Italic 1.6.4. Anatolian 1.6.5. Tocharian 1.6.6. Celtic 1.6.7. Germanic 1.6.8. Slavic 1.6.9. Baltic 1.6.10. Armenian 1.6.11. Albanian 1.6.12. Fragmentary languages 1.6.13. The centum-satem dialect distinction

1 1 2 3 14 20 21 23 23 25 28 29 30 31 32 34 34 35 36 36 38

viii

Contents

1.7. Aspects of Proto-Indo-European culture and civilization 1.7.1. The homeland 1.7.2. Lexical reflections of PIE culture 1.8. Summary

39 39 45 46

Chapter 2 An outline of Proto-Indo-European 2.1. Phonology 2.1.1. Segmental phonology 2.1.2. The glottalic theory 2.1.3. The phonological system of PIE 2.1.4. Accent 2.1.5. Summary 2.2. Morphology 2.2.1. Nominal and pronominal moiphology 2.2.2. Verb morphology 2.2.3. Ablaut 2.3. Syntax 2.3.1. Inflection in PIE 2.3.2. PIE syntax 2.4. Summary

47 49 49 52 58 64 65 66 67 71 76 77 79 80 91

Chapter 3 Ancient Italy and its Indo-Europeanization 3.1. The European Stone Age and its reflection in Italy 3.2. The Metal Ages 3.3. Rome 3.4. The Etruscans 3.4.1. Theories of Etruscan origins 3.5. The people of ancient Italy 3.6. Summaiy

93 96 98 104 107 109 112 117

Chapter 4 The languages of ancient Italy 4.1. Sources of information 4.2. Samples of the Italic languages 4.2.1. Aequian 4.2.2. Faliscan 4.2.3. Latin 4.2.4. Marrucinian 4.2.5. Marsian 4.2.6. Oscan 4.2.7. Paelignian 4.2.8. Sabine 4.2.9. South Picene

118 118 121 122 123 125 126 128 129 132 134 134

Contents

ix

4.2.10. Umbrian 4.2.11. Vestinian 4.2.12. Volscian 4.3. Samples of non-Italic languages 4.3.1. Celtic 4.3.2. Independent IE languages 4.3.3. Non-IE languages 4.4. Interrelationships within Italic 4.4.1. Areal/chronological classifications 4.4.2. Genetic classifications 4.4.3. Proto-Italic 4.4.4. Non-Roman elements in Latin 4.5. Relationships between the Italic and other Indo-European languages 4.5.1. Old European, or the civilization of the northwest 4.5.2. The relationship between Italic and Germanic 4.5.3. The relationship between Italic and Celtic 4.5.4. The relationship between Latin and Greek 4.6. Summary

136 140 140 142 142 147 160 167 167 168 180 181 183 183 185 186 189 195

Chapter 5 Materials for the study of Latin 5.1. Samples of Latin inscriptions, with commentary 5.1.1. The Castor and Pollux dedication 5.1.2. The Dueños inscription 5.1.3. The Garigliano bowl 5.1.4. The Forum Romanum cippus 5.1.5. The Lapis Satricanus 5.1.6. Epitaph from the Scipionic sarcophagus 5.1.7. Dedication to Hercules by M. Minucius 5.1.8. The Senatus Consultum de Bacchanalibus 5.1.9. The Carmen Arvale 5.1.10. Epitaph from Rome 5.1.11. Commemorative tablet to L. Aemilius Paulus 5.1.12. Dedicatory inscription from Aeclanum 5.1.13. The Puteolan funerary tablets 5.2. Continuous texts 5.2.1. An excerpt from the Law of the Twelve Tables 5.3. Literary texts 5.3.1. Cato 5.3.2. Testimony of grammarians 5.4. Spoken Latin 5.4.1. Literary reflections of spoken Latin 5.5. Graffiti

196 196 196 197 200 202 204 206 207 208 213 215 216 217 217 218 218 219 219 220 227 228 235

x

Contents

5.5.1. CIL 4.1904 5.5.2. CIL 4.3948 5.5.3. CIL 4.1173 5.6. Letters 5.6.1. Claudius Terentianus 5.6.2. A letter from the archive of Flavius Cerialis 5.7. Summary

236 236 237 237 237 240 241

Chapter 6 The development of the Latin phonological system from PIE 6.1. The vowels and laryngeals 6.1.1. The PIE vowels and diphthongs in Latin 6.1.2. The Latin vowel system 6.1.3. The Latin accent 6.2. The consonants 6.2.1. Resonants 6.2.2. Obstruents 6.2.3. The structure of the Latin consonant system 6.2.4. Phonological processes affecting consonants in Latin: Assimilation, dissimilation, metathesis, epenthesis, and the simplification of consonant clusters 6.3. Summary

242 242 242 250 268 270 270 277 290

Chapter 7 The development of the Latin morphological system from PIE . . . . 7.1. The parts of speech 7.2. Nouns and adjectives 7.2.1. Nominal and adjectival derivation 7.2.2. Nominal inflection 7.2.3. The development of Latin nominal inflection from PIE 7.3. Pronouns 7.3.1. The personal pronouns 7.3.2. The development of the PIE personal pronouns into Latin 7.3.3. Possessive pronouns (adjectives) 7.3.4. Non-personal pronouns 7.3.5. Indefinites, interrogatives, and relatives 7.3.6. The development of the PIE interrogative and indefinite pronouns into Latin 7.3.7. Pronominal adjectives 7.4. Comparison of adjectives 7.4.1. Comparative 7.4.2. Superlative 7.5. Adverbs 7.6. Numerals

300 300 300 300 309 312 336 337 338 341 342 345

293 298

347 348 349 349 350 350 351

Contents

xi

7.6.1. The Latin numerals 352 7.7. Undeclined forms 358 7.7.1. Particles 358 7.7.2. Preverbs and prepositions 358 7.7.3. Conjunctions 361 7.7.4. Interjections 361 7.8. The verb 361 7.8.1. General characteristics of the PIE verb 361 7.8.2. Active and non-active in early PIE 362 7.8.3. Voice in classical PIE 364 7.8.4. Tense/aspect in classical PIE 365 7.8.5. The development of voice and tense/aspect from early PIE to classical PIE 365 7.8.6. From PIE to Latin 366 7.8.7. Mood in PIE 368 7.8.8. Person in PIE 368 7.8.9. Other characteristics of the PIE verbal system 368 370 7.8.10. PIE verbal morphology and its development into Latin 7.8.11. Personal endings 383 7.8.12. The development of the PIE endings of the present and aorist into Latin 385 7.8.13. The endings of the perfect in PIE 386 7.8.14. The development of the personal endings of the perfect into Latin 387 7.8.15. The development of the personal endings of the PIE middle into Latin 389 7.8.16. Deponent and middle in Latin 392 7.8.17. The Latin tenses 396 7.8.18. The moods .....400 7.8.19. Nominal forms of the verb in Latin 406 7.9. Summary 409 References

411

Classical sources cited

444

Indexes of forms 1. Latin-Faliscan 2. Albanian 3. Anatolian 4. Armenian 5. Baltic 6. Celtic

445 445 482 482 483 484 485

xii

Contents

7. Germanic 8. Greek 9. Indo-Iranian 10. Other Italic 11. Non-Italic IE of Italy 12. Non-Indo-European 13. Romance 14. Slavic 15. Tocharian 16. Proto-Indo-European

487 491 497 502 505 506 506 506 507 508

Index of authors

515

Index of classical references

520

Index of subjects

522

List of figures 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 2.1 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 6.1 6.2 7.1

Comparative alignment of nasal segments Triangulation of nasal segments Reconstruction of *m and *n Reconstructing *s A family tree of the Indo-European languages The structure of the late Indo-European verb Poultney's classification of the Italic languages Coleman's classification of the Italic languages The relation of Latin and Faliscan Proto-Italic and the relation between Latin-Faliscan and Oscan-Umbrian A family tree of the Italic languages The Classical Latin vowel system Alternation of long segments The development of tense/aspect and voice from early PIE to Latin

12 12 12 13 22 75 169 170 171 181 181 250 262 367

list of maps 1 2 3 4 5

Distribution of Indo-European languages, ca. 500-100 Proposals for the Indo-European homeland Cities and regions of ancient Italy Tribes of ancient Italy Languages of ancient Italy

B.C.E.

37 40 105 113 119

List of figures 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 2.1 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 6.1 6.2 7.1

Comparative alignment of nasal segments Triangulation of nasal segments Reconstruction of *m and *n Reconstructing *s A family tree of the Indo-European languages The structure of the late Indo-European verb Poultney's classification of the Italic languages Coleman's classification of the Italic languages The relation of Latin and Faliscan Proto-Italic and the relation between Latin-Faliscan and Oscan-Umbrian A family tree of the Italic languages The Classical Latin vowel system Alternation of long segments The development of tense/aspect and voice from early PIE to Latin

12 12 12 13 22 75 169 170 171 181 181 250 262 367

list of maps 1 2 3 4 5

Distribution of Indo-European languages, ca. 500-100 Proposals for the Indo-European homeland Cities and regions of ancient Italy Tribes of ancient Italy Languages of ancient Italy

B.C.E.

37 40 105 113 119

List of [dates 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Faliscan:Ceres Marrucinian: Aes Rapinum Marsian: Inscription from Antinum Oscan: Tabula Bantina Paelignian: Herentas South Picene: Castignano stone Umbrian: Tabulae Iguvinae Vestinian: Inscription from Navelli Volscian: Tabula Veliterna Gaulish/Latin: Bilingual inscription from Todi Lepontic: Vergiate stone Messapic: Inscription from Ceglie Messapico North Picene/Latin: Bilingual inscription from Pesaro Raetic: Caslir situla Raetic: Paletta di Padova Sicel: Centuripa vase Venetic: Epitaph from Padua Latin: Castor and Pollux dedication Latin: Duenos inscription Latin: Forum Romanum cippus Latin: Lapis Satricanus Latin: Epitaph from the Scipionic sarcophagus Latin: Dedication to Hercules Latin: Senatus Consultant de Bacchanalibus Latin: Carmen Arvale Latin: Commemorative tablet to L. Aemilius Paulus

124 127 129 130 133 135 138 141 141 144 146 151 153 155 156 157 159 197 198 203 205 207 208 209 214 216

List of tables 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 6.1 6.2 6.3 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6

Some basic Indo-European terms 8 Selected lexical items illustrating the comparative method 11 Nasals aligned for comparison 11 Selected Indo-European cognates 13 Multilateral comparison 16 Examples of reconstructed Proto-Nostratic 17 Schleicher's reconstructed system 50 Vowel strengthening in Sanskrit 50 Brugmann's reconstructed system 51 Lehmarm's reconstructed system 53 Szemerényi's reconstructed system 53 "Grimm's Law" and the Armenian consonant shift 54 The glottalic model of PIE stop consonants 55 59 The phonological system of PIE The development of the PIE phonological system in selected languages 62 A root/inflectional accent (hysterodynamic) noun ('foot') 65 A root/inflectional accent verb ('turn') 65 Reconstructed case endings 68 Examples of noun inflection: *h1dont-!h1dent- 'tooth' 69 Examples of personal pronoun inflection 70 v lf The indefinite/interrogative *k e-/k i71 Verbal categories in selected IE languages 72 Selected verbal endings 74 The present of the verb *h1es- 'be' in PIE and selected languages 76 The present of the verb *h,ei- 'go' in PIE and selected languages 76 Qualitative ablaut 77 The development of the alphabet 120 Conway ' s classification of Prae-Italic and Italic languages 168 Pulgram's classification of Prae-Italic and Italic languages 168 Greek loanwords in Latin 192 PIE vowels and diphthongs 242 PIE résonants and obstruents 271 Classical Latin consonants 291 Nominal inflection in PIE 310 The Latin o-stem declension 312 The Latin a-stem declension 317 The Latin third declension consonant stems 322 The Latin i-stem nouns of the third declension 327 The Latin u-stem nouns of the fourth declension 330

xvi

7.7 7.8 7.9 7.10 7.11 7.12 7.13 7.14 7.15 7.16 7.17 7.18 7.19 7.20 7.21 7.22 7.23 7.24 7.25 7.26 7.27 7.28 7.29 7.30 7.31 7.32 7.33 7.34 7.35 7.36 7.37

List of tables

The Latin fifth declension The PIE personal pronouns The Latin personal pronouns The declension of is, ea, id The Latin interrogative/indefinite The Latin relative The PEE interrogative/indefinite *k*e-¡k*iThe PIE adjective/relative *kvo-lk [ ]

develops into indicates phonetic representation indicates phonemic representation indicates orthographic representation

Symbols t * ** —>