Date:  Thu, 23 Feb 1995 13:46:19 +0500

From:  Wayne Glowka <wglowka[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]GC3.GAC.PEACHNET.EDU>

Subject: Romance Plurals



Dear Tim,



    Perhaps a better romanticist than I will respond to the list, but

the -s plurals in Spanish and Old Provencal, for example, come from the

accusative plural -s of Latin masculine and feminine first and second

declension nouns (viri vs. viros; rosae vs. rosas). The third declension

had an -s in both the masculine and feminine nominative and accusative

plurals (cives; urbes). Fourth and fifth declension masculines also had

nom./accus. plurals in -s (fructus; dies). These -s endings were extended

to other plurals by analogy. Indeed, to know why a particular noun has a

particular form, one usually has to know only the Latin accusative form in

order to derive it with some degree of predictability (granting knowledge

of a host of vocalic and consonantal changes from Latin to Spanish or

Provencal). The situation seems to be similar in French, although the

situation is complicated by the retention in Old French of the nominative

singular masculine ending derived from -us (as in filius to fils). Perhaps

a scholar of French could speak in more detail on this problem. By the

way, Italian uses -i plurals like Latin (here's one that seems to be

extended by analogy to a third declension noun: studente vs. studenti).



Wayne Glowka

Professor of English

Director of Research and Graduate Student Services

Georgia College

Milledgeville, GA 31061

912-453-4222

wglowka[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]gc3.gac.peachnet.edu

BITNET Address: Wglowka[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]USCN