< Reconstruction:Latin

Reconstruction:Latin/ovum

This Latin entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Latin

Etymology

From Classical Latin ōvum.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈɔ(β)u/

Noun

*ŏvum n (Proto-Romance)

  1. egg

Reconstruction notes

There are two ways that /ɔ/ may have developed from original /ō/. First, there may simply have been dissimilatory pressure from the following /β/; cf. *colŏbra, *iŏvenem < Classical Latin colubra, iuvenem. Alternatively, /β/ may have been lost (as it commonly was in contact with rounded vowels) and then the resulting /ˈou/ dissimilated to /ˈɔu/. In that case, the consonant would later have been restored in most regions by analogy with the plural *ŏva, where it would have survived all along.

Given the inherent commonness of the everyday word for "egg", as well as the ubiquity of *ŏvum in Romance, it seems virtually certain that at least one of the several occurrences of ⟨ovum⟩ in late or early medieval Latin actually represents a pronunciation with [ɔ]. Still, without a grammarian explicitly commenting on the nature of the vowel, and without any occurrence of the word with a short initial syllable in quantitative poetry, there appears to be no unambiguous attestation of this pronunciation.

Declension
singular plural
nominative */ˈɔ(β)u/ */ˈɔβa/
accusative */ˈɔ(β)u/ */ˈɔβa/
genitive-dative */ˈɔ(β)o/? */ˈɔβis/

Derived terms
  • *ŏva f sg (“roe”)
    • Portuguese: ova
    • Spanish: hueva

Descendants
  • Balkan Romance:
    • Aromanian: ou
    • Megleno-Romanian: uou
    • Romanian: ou
  • Dalmatian:
  • Italo-Romance:
  • Insular Romance:
  • North Italian:
  • Gallo-Romance:
    • Catalan: ou
    • Old Franco-Provençal: of
      • Franco-Provençal: of, uef (Savoy)
    • Old French: oef (see there for further descendants)
    • Gascon: ueu, güeu
    • Occitan: uòu, ueu
  • Ibero-Romance:

References
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