Old Latin

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Under Old Latin refers to the language level of Latin that the classical Latin precedes. In the narrower sense it stands for the phase from the beginning of the written tradition ( Livii Andronici Odusia , 240 BC) to the beginning of the 1st century BC. Chr. Inscriptions ancient times are as early latin referred.

Phonological characteristics of Latin in this period of about 150 years are:

  • Monophthongization of the earlier diphthongs
    • / ei /> altlat. / ē / ( SCB l. 14: CONPROM E SISE), the latest by 150 BC Becomes / ī /
    • / eu / (> ou)> old Lat. / ō /> old Lat. / ū / ( d ou cere , probably pronounced with [oː] / [uː])
    • / ou /> altlat. / ō /, which was introduced towards the end of the 3rd century BC. Chr. To / ū / is ( Scipionen-Elogium l. 3: L U CIOM), but still classic r o bus / r o beus 'red' (limited to the coat color of the cows, probably borrowed from a rural dialect)
    • mostly also / oi /> altlat. / ū /
  • Weakening and partial disappearance of the short vowels in non-first syllables
  • Shortening of long vowels immediately before a short vowel

Only with texts after the first third of the 1st century BC Classical Latin is spoken of, although its sound level, at least in the most striking features, had been reached decades before. It was only from this time that the so-called classical writers such as Cicero , Caesar or Virgil appeared , who standardized the Latin language in vocabulary and grammar in such a way that it remained unchanged for several hundred years.