Appendix probi
The appendix probi is an important source of post-classical Latin .
The work comes from an unknown schoolmaster and can be dated approximately to the beginning of the 4th century. It is called the Appendix Probi ("Appendix of the Probus") because it is in the back of a manuscript that contains the texts of the so-called Pseudo-Probus. Although the text dates from the fourth century, it has only survived in a manuscript from the eighth or ninth century.
This appendix is a list of 227 word pairs in two columns. In the left column are the words that correspond to the classical Latin norm. In the right column are the words that violate it. The classical (written) form and the non-classical (oral) form are juxtaposed according to the scheme speculum non speclum , ie “(it means) speculum , not speclum ”.
Examples:
| Appendix probi | Remarks | |
|---|---|---|
| classic (written) form | post-classical (oral) form | |
| speculum | speclum | Italian specchio , "mirror" - in the post-classical form the unstressed u has disappeared ( syncope : loss of the vowel of an unstressed syllable) |
| columna | colomna | Italian colonna , "pillar" |
| calida | calda | Italian calda , "warm" (feminine form) - in the post-classical form the unstressed i has disappeared |
| auris | oricla | Italian orecchia , "ear (en)" - the post-classical form oricla is the continuation of auricula , a diminutive of the classical auris ; in the post-classical oricla was au to o monophthongiert , and the unstressed and has disappeared (syncope) |
If you want to study the origins of Romance languages , the words in the right column are more interesting than those in the left. The modern Italian equivalents are more similar to the post-classical (oral) forms than the classical (written) forms because Italian, like the other Romance languages, continues oral Latin, not written.
See also
swell
- ↑ a b Giuseppe Patota, Lineamenti di grammatica storica dell'italiano , Bologna 2002, ISBN 88-15-08638-2 , pp. 23-24
- ^ Gerhard Rohlfs , From Vulgar Latin to Old French , Max Niemeyer Verlag , Tübingen 1960; Page 27
- ↑ Angelico Prati, Vocabolario etimologico italiano , Milan 1951; Keyword orecchia
Web links
- Appendix Probi at the University of Pennsylvania