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LATINO LATINORUM

VERBA EVOLVENT ET SCRIPTA MANENT
['i parole càgnene e 'i scritte rèstene]

Italian language [literary] and the Italian languages [improperly said dialects] therefore they are due to evolve themselves from Latin (literary and spoken) through that process of popularization and barbarization that it will flow then at the end in the romance languages.
     Obviously the most important thing in this transition it is the spoken language, the vernacular, the people that determined the development and its dialect shattering. Therefore the linguistic substratum and that posthumous, the assiduous frequentation for centuries by different people, it has conducted the Latin to its subdivided linguistic result that we know.

   We generally make the distinction between classical Latin and spoken Latin (or vulgar) for the fact that both, in different way and consequential along the time, they have influenced the languages and the dialects derived from it. Holding in debt account that the cultured Latin in the Middle Age is already a meaningful transformation of that classical.
There are different phenomenons of linguistic transformation, both morphological and syntactic.

In the classical Latin we find the following diversifications:

Also Today the matter remains if to use the scientific pronunciation [or returned] or to use the traditional method. Obviously the scientific's would consent a verisimilar pronunciation, that also keeps in mind of its evolution in the time.

Also as it regards the first centuries of the vulgar era, different phenomenons happen as for example:
a) - the palatalization of the groups ce, ci, ge, gi, that before they were pronounced gutturally [ke, ki, ghe, ghi]; 
b) - the loss of the quantity that involves a vowel change. 
    For that it concerns the morphosyntactic changes, there is:
1) - the disappearance of the neutral gender;
2) - the transformation of the pronoun ille in definite article il
3) - the disappearance of the passive [amatur > east amatus]
4) - the evolution of the future in periphrastic form [amabo > amare habeo and later in the time amare ao > amerò]
5) - change of the phrastic forms [dico te bonum esse > dico quia bonus es].

It needs to hold in debt account that Rome has borrowed a lot of words from the languages of the people of which it has come to contact:
a) - Etrusco: 
    - populus (people)
    - persona (person)
    - catena (chain)
    - etc...
b) - Celtic [Gallic]:  
    - carrus (cart)
    - braca (trouser leg)
    - etc...
c) - Osco-umbro [or perhaps sabino]: - 
    - dacruma [lacruma > lacrima] (tear)
    - dingua [ > lingua] (tong)
    - casa [ > capanna] (house)
    - etc...
d) - Greek:  
    - macina [machina] (millstone)
    - philosophia (philosophy )
    - mathematica (mathematics)
    - rhetorica (rhetoric)
    - etc...
e) - Greek and Great-Greek:
  • nouns of plants and fruits
    - melo (apple tree)
    - olivo (olive)
    - mandorlo (almond tree)
    - fagiolo (bean)
    - prezzemolo (parsley)
    - pepe (pepper)
    - garofano (carnation)
  • nouns of sea animals 
    - balena (whale)
    - tonno (tuna)
    - acciuga (anchovy)
    - chiocciola (snail)
    - ostrica (oyster)
  • nomi di oggetti domestici 
    - borsa (purse)
    - cofano (coffer)
    - lampada (lamp)
    - tappeto (carpet)
    - inchiostro (ink)
    - matassa (skein)
  • nouns of parts of body 
    - stomaco (stomach) 
    - gamba (leg) 
f) - Greek from Christianity:  
    - baptismus (baptism)
    - Eucharistia (Eucharist)
    - angelos [from the Jewish mal'ak = sent by God] (angel)
g) - Jewish:  
    - Pasqua (Easter)
    - Sabato (Saturday)
    - etc...
h) - Greek-Byzantine:
    - mastello (vat)
    - anguria (watermelon)
    - indivia (endive)
    - basilico (basil)
    - ecc... 
    - argano (capstan)
    - ormeggiare (to moor)
    - gondola (gondola)
    - falò (bonfire)
    - ecc...
    - bambagia (cotton wool)
    - duca [different from the lat. dux] (duke)
    - abbazia (abbey)
i) - Germanic:
    - werra [it. guerra, sm. uerre] (war)
    - saponis (soap)
    - rauba [= armatura, veste - it. roba, sm. rròbbe] (stuff)
    - etc... 
j) - Gothic 
    - banda (band, gang)
    - guardia (guard)
    - schiatta (stock)
    - arredare (to furnish)
    - etc...
k) - Ostrogoto [499-555 AD]
    - stia [gabbia] (hen-coop, jail)
    - fiasco (flask)
    - nastro (ribbon)
    - etc... 
    - greto (exposed gravelly river bed)
    - grinta [physical aspect] (grit)
l) - Longobard [568-774 AD] - This linguistic influence has been more determinant in comparison to other Germanic people. To their it is owed some particular linguistic phenomenons as the change from unvoiced consonant to sonorous consonant:
   • in the guttural ones: lacus > lago (lake) [k > gh]
   • in the dental ones: scutum > scudo (shield) [t > d]
   • in the labial ones: Epifania > Befana (Epiphany) [p > b]
This are longobard terms: 
    - strale (arrow)
    - stamberga (hovel)
    - sguattero (scullery-boy)
    - gréppia (crib)
    - graffiare (to scratch)
    - arraffare (to snatch)
    - spaccare (to break)
    - etc... 
    - ciuffo (quiff)
    - zazzera (long hair)
    - etc... 
    - rihhi [potente > ricco] (rich)
    - bianco (white)
m) - Franco-Provenzal:
    - bruno (brown)
    - feudo (feud)
    - barone (baron)
    - vassallo (vassal)
    - etc... 
    - orgoglio (pride)
    - senno (wisdom)
    - etc... 
    - guarire [warjan > germ. wehren = to defend himself] (to recover)
    - abbandonare [to leave in ban] (to abandon)
    - etc... 
    - guanto (glove)
    - cotta (cotta)
    - grattarsi (to scratch)
    - etc... 
    - sauro (sorrel)
    - dardo (dart)
    - schiera (team)
    - tregua (truce)
    - etc... 

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In the semantic and morphological field they change the words: 
- parabola (parable) > parola (word)
- verbo (verb) > Logos
- fides [loyalty], spes [hope], - caritas [benevolence] > the three theological virtues
- virtù [virtue value of arms] > virtù [virtue in moral sense]
- oratio [speech] > oratio [prayer]
- os [bone e mouth] > ossum e buccam [that before it meant cheek]
- caput > capo e testa [orig. earthenware pot]
However cape has remained in the dialect but not testa.

Often it happens the syncopation of the atonic vowel. The diminutives are spread replacing the normal nouns. This way we have: 
- auris > auric[u]la > auricla > orecchio (ear)
- culter > cultellus > coltello (knife).
Also for the proper names it is prefered the diminutive : Iulia > Iulitta > Juliet.

But besides the spoken Latin there is also that writen's that influences the language, especially the juridical-administrative sector [ultimare, intimare, secretarius] and philosophical-theological [scibilis, scientificus, incorruptibilis]. These apport will be a constant during the evolution of Italian language.

Same Latin word comes to have different derivative (popular and erudite)

476 AD [with the dissolution of the Roman Empire ] it doesn't mark the end of the Latin civilization, both for the cultural inferiority of the Barbarians that they were assimilated to the preexisting culture, and for the role egemone on the civil, cultural, political and linguistic plan of the Church.
  With the beginning of the barbaric invasions we have a progressive differentiation of languages romances from the commune Latin trunk. Till to the VIII century it had been taking a slow alteration of the spoken Latin, for the deep decadence of cultural and civil values, that detaches more and more it from the written norm. With Charles Magno [that he strongly felt the problem of the spreading ignorance in the kingdom] there is a meaningful change and this period in fact it is denominated Carolingian Rebirth. The Latin begins so to take back vigor after the corruption of the preceding period. The same politics follows Lotario. But at the same time, with the Council of Tours [813 AD], he establishes that the homilies are kept in vulgar language.

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The quantity of the Latin vowels losing itself in the languages romances [from an initial musical accent, passing for an accent of duration] it comes so to a tonic accent.

The Italian language, as the Spanish, doesn't have the limitation of the trisyllabism norm that establishes that the accent cannot go more than the antepenultimate syllable. Ex.: cómpramelo (buy me it)

The final consonants of Latin words have the tendency themselves and in fact Italian has little words ending with consonant: non, in, per, con, sul, nel, etc... and words of foreign origin, sport, bar, goal, bidet, etc...

The initial h of the Latin words, generally derived by the Greek, is loses as the h utilized for the transcription of the ρ. with unvoiced spirit; also the h of th derived from θ, of ph derived by φ. La k will give the guttural or palatal c.

lat. hora > it. hora
lat. rhetore > it. rètore
lat. Karthago > it. cartagine
lat. philosophus > it. filosofo

Equally the y derived from Greek is replaced, generally with i or e and at times from u.

[*] - The term lire (with the meaning of musical instrument) is not Sanmartinese that it does to lire instead the meaning of money.

The palatal sounds of the c and g were unknown to the classical Latin as the palatal sounds of the digraphs sc, gl, gn, typically Italian.

The vowels i and atonic u, in position interconsonantic, in the proparoxytone words of the classical Latin they have the tendency to lose themselves in the vulgar Latin. The pronunciation of the this atonic vowels probably losing as soon as consistence, they contracted themselves to disappear entirely.

[***] Really it is used femmene and not donne, that is a dialectization from the Italian donna. Instead Don (apocopation of the ancient donno) and donna are derived from the vulgar Latin domnu(m), through the classic's dominu(m) ‘gentleman, master’. They were (and still they are) titles of respect used toward high-ranking or famous people of the place, masters, priests, etc...

Another phenomenon brings to the filiation of words both from the classical Latin that from that vulgar's and they have among them similarity or equality of meaning. The first one however will produce generally in the Italian language a terminology cultured and scientific.

PROCESS OF VOWEL TRANSFORMATION

In Latin, as in Italian, the vowels are five and they can be brief or long. So primarily it passes from an sung accent to an accent of duration, of the vowel and syllable, to end with a tonic accent. This transformation of the vowel accent has produced some particular changes.

TONIC VOWEL

[***] Really it should be used lejègge and not lejève, that is a dialectization from Italian.

[***] Really it should be used femmene and not donne, term dialectized from Italian.

[***] done is not typical of the dialect sanmartinese, better using rejâle.

ATONIC FINAL VOWELS

As it regards the atonic vowels the discourse it is some more complex to define. Considering the atonic final vowels we can be noticed that in Italian they reduces them to four (i, é, ó, a)

They are few the diphthongs in Latin. AE, OE and AU respectively have the derivative in è, é and ó.

[***] reality lejète is not sanmartinese.

CONSONANTAL EVOLUTION

About of complex evolution of the Latin consonants we can enumerate some particular phenomenons:

1) - the fall of the final consonants
2) - the transformation of particular consonantal groups
3) - the phenomenon of assimilation of two consonants.

In Italian, the final consonants of words are very little and also in the sanmartinese. We don't forget that the final ê in the dialect is damped but it always exists.

CONSONANTAL GROUPS
CL FL GL PL

[***] Really, all these terms (gonfejà, pejûme, ghiaie, piogge, àmbje, tembeje) are dialectizations from Italian, being very little sanmartinese, except gonfejà and pejògge, that by now they are already acquired with the use.

ASSIMILATION OF TWO CONSONANTS

The derivative of the Latin groups MN, TL, CT, PT, X [= KS], ..., respectively in NN, LL, TT, TT and SS, ...

[***] The terms cattive and sasse are not used in dialect; to their place they are used the terms malamente and préte. While atte hasn't a correspondent precise dialectal.

In the groups of three consonants it happens this:

a) - if the third is r it preserves itself:        fenestra > finestra
b) - if the third is l it becomes i:            masc[u]lum > maschio
c) - the median generally falls:       promptum > pronto

From the Latin to Italian, therefore they have happened a series of phonetic changes:

MORPHOLOGY AND SYNTAX

Among all the manifold transformations that the Latin has suffered there are:

1) - the appearance of the article
2) - the creation of the composed verbal tenses of the conditional and a diversified future tense.
3) - the predominant use of the parataxis.

The Latin linguistic system is an inflected type and all words are formed by a root and an ending that they play a role more important than in Italian language. Besides specifying the gender and the number, the endings in Latin  determine the logical function of the word (subject, complement object, complement object of term, complement object of specification, vocative, etc...).

The sentence order in Latin is predominantly subject-complement-verb where Italian preferably we use subject-verb-complement.

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