Old Latin

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For the Old Latin Bible used before the Vulgate, see Vetus Latina.

The Forum inscription is one of the oldest known Latin inscriptions. It is written boustrophedon (alternating right-to-left and left-to-right), albeit irregularly: reading from top to bottom, lines 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 14, 16 run from right to left; lines 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 13, and 15, from left to right; 8, 9, and 16 are upside down. (From a rubbing by Domenico Comparetti.)

Old Latin (also called Early Latin or Archaic Latin) refers to the Latin language in the period before the age of Classical Latin; that is, all Latin before 75 BC.

Phonological characteristics of older Latin are the case endings -os and -om (later Latin -us and -um), as well as the existence of diphthongs such as oi and ei (later Latin ū or oe, and ī). Also the letter C is used to represent both Classical C and G. In many locations, classical Latin turned intervocalic /s/ into /r/, which is called Rhotacism. This Rhotacism had implications for declension: early classical Latin, honos, honoris; Classical honor, honoris ("honor"). Some Old Latin texts preserve /s/ in this position, such as the Carmen Arvale's lases for lares.

Notable Old Latin fragments:

• The Forum inscription (illustration, right) (circa 550 BC)
• The Duenos inscription (circa 500 BC)
• The Castor-Pollux dedication (circa 500 BC)
• The Garigliano Bowl (circa 500 BC)
• The preserved fragments of the laws of the Twelve Tables (traditionally, 449 BC, attested much later)
• The Tibur pedestal (circa 400 BC)
• The Senatusconsultum de Bacchanalibus (186 BC)
• The Lapis Satricanus
• The Vase Inscription from Ardea
• The Corcolle Altar fragments
• The Carmen Arvale
• The Carmen Saliare
• The Scipionum Elogia

Writers of later, but still early Latin:

• Plautus (3rd–2nd century BC)
• Cato the Elder (234–149 BC)

[edit] Grammar and Morphology (Differences from Classical Latin)

[edit] Nouns

[edit] First declension (a)

The 'A-Stem Declension'. Nouns of this declension usually end in –a and are typically feminine.

[edit] Second declension (b)

The 'O-Stem Declension'. Nouns of this declension are either masculine or neuter.

Note the genitive plural ending has two endings: the earlier -ōm, almost exactly like the Ancient Greek -ōn, and the later Archaic Latin form -ōsom. Due to the fact that in Archaic Latin /r/'s and /s/'s were often interchangeable, a phenomenon known as Rhotacism, the later -ōsom evolved into the Classical Latin -ōrum.

[edit] Third declension (c)

The 'E-Stem ' and 'I-Stem ' Declension. Nouns of this declension contains both, masculine and feminine, and neuter nouns.

The nominative as regs instead of rex shows a common feature in Old Latin; the letter x was mostly never used alone to designate the /ks/ or /gs/ sound, but instead, written as either 'ks', 'cs', or even 'xs'.

[edit] Personal Prounouns

Personal pronouns are among the most common thing found in Old Latin inscriptions. Note how in all three persons, the ablative singular ending is identical to the accusative singular.

[edit] The Relative Prounoun

In Old Latin, the relative pronoun is also another common concept, especially in inscriptions, Unfortunately the forms are quite inconsistent and leave much to be reconstructed by scholars.

[edit] Verbs

[edit] Old Present and Perfects

There is not much actual proof of the morphology of Old Latin verb forms, and even these scant carvings hold many inconsistencies between forms. Therefore, the forms below are ones that are both proven by scholars through Old Latin carvings, and recreated by scholars based on other early Indo-European languages such as Greek, Oscan, Umbrian, and other Italic dialects.

Interestingly, many Old Latin forms bear a closer resemblance to those of Modern Spanish than the Classical Latin forms do. Indeed, Spain was the first area outside of Italy conquered by the Romans (in 201 BC), and Old Latin was therefore definitely spoken there, but whether this shows that the Spanish language is more phonologically conservative and more purely "Old Latin"-like than other Romance languages (even Italian) -- as, for example, if somos (or more intriguingly, fuisteis) was always pronounced this way in Spain or if it changed to sumus (fuistis) during the Classical Era then back to somos again -- remains an open question.

[edit] See also

• Saturnian (verse form)

[edit] External links

• Old Latin Inscriptions