Old Latin - Wikipedia





	
	

	
	

	Old Latin

	
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		For the "Old Latin" Biblical texts, see Vetus Latina.




	Old Latin
	Archaic Latin
	Prisca Latinitas
	The Duenos inscription, one of the earliest Old Latin texts

	Native to	Latium, later the Roman Kingdom and Republic
	Region	Italy
	Ethnicity	Latins, Romans
	Era	Developed into Classical Latin during the 1st century BC
	Language family
	Indo-European
	
Italic	Latino-Faliscan	Latin	Old Latin









	Writing system
	Latin alphabet 
	Official status
	Official language in
	Rome
	Regulated by	Schools of grammar and rhetoric
	Language codes
	ISO 639-3	None (mis)
	Linguist List
	qbb
	Glottolog	oldl1238[1]
	Expansion of the Roman Republic during the 2nd century BC. Very little Latin is likely to have been spoken beyond the green area, and other languages were spoken even within it.

	This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.


Old Latin, also known as Early Latin or Archaic Latin, was the Latin language in the period before 75 BC, i.e. before the age of Classical Latin.[2] (In New and Contemporary Latin, this language is called prisca Latinitas ("ancient Latin") rather than vetus Latina ("old Latin"), as vetus Latina is used to refer to a set of Biblical texts written in Late Latin.) It is ultimately descended from the Proto-Italic language.

The use of "old", "early" and "archaic" has been standard in publications of Old Latin writings since at least the 18th century. The definition is not arbitrary, but the terms refer to writings with spelling conventions and word forms not generally found in works written under the Roman Empire. This article presents some of the major differences.

The earliest known specimen of the Latin language appears on the Praeneste fibula. A new analysis performed in 2011 declared it to be genuine "beyond any reasonable doubt"[3] and dating from the Orientalizing period, in the first half of the seventh century BC.[4]


Contents


	1 Philological constructs
	1.1 The old-time language
	1.2 The four Latins of Isidore
	1.3 Old Latin



	2 Corpus
	2.1 Fragments and inscriptions
	2.2 Works of literature



	3 Script
	4 Orthography
	5 Phonology
	5.1 Stress
	5.2 Vowels and diphthongs
	5.3 Consonants



	6 Morphology
	6.1 Nouns
	6.1.1 First declension (a)
	6.1.2 Second declension (o)
	6.1.3 Third declension (consonant/i)
	6.1.4 Fourth declension (u)
	6.1.5 Fifth declension (e)



	6.2 Personal pronouns
	6.3 Relative pronoun
	6.4 Verbs
	6.4.1 Old present and perfects






	7 See also
	8 References
	9 Bibliography
	10 Further reading
	11 External links





Philological constructs[edit]

The old-time language[edit]

The concept of Old Latin (Prisca Latinitas) is as old as the concept of Classical Latin, both dating to at least as early as the late Roman Republic. In that period Cicero, along with others, noted that the language he used every day, presumably the upper-class city Latin, included lexical items and phrases that were heirlooms from a previous time, which he called verborum vetustas prisca,[5] translated as "the old age/time of language".

During the classical period, Prisca Latinitas, Prisca Latina and other idioms using the adjective always meant these remnants of a previous language, which, in the Roman philology, was taken to be much older in fact than it really was. Viri prisci, "old-time men", were the population of Latium before the founding of Rome.


The four Latins of Isidore[edit]

In the Late Latin period, when Classical Latin was behind them, the Latin- and Greek-speaking grammarians were faced with multiple phases, or styles, within the language. Isidore of Seville reports a classification scheme that had come into existence in or before his time: "the four Latins" ("Moreover, some people have said that there are four Latin languages"; "Latinas autem linguas quattuor esse quidam dixerunt").[6] They were Prisca, spoken before the founding of Rome, when Janus and Saturn ruled Latium, to which he dated the Carmen Saliare; Latina, dated from the time of king Latinus, in which period he placed the laws of the Twelve Tables; Romana, essentially equal to Classical Latin; and Mixta, "mixed" Classical Latin and Vulgar Latin, which is known today as Late Latin. The scheme persisted with little change for some thousand years after Isidore.


Old Latin[edit]

In 1874, John Wordsworth used this definition: "By Early Latin I understand Latin of the whole period of the Republic, which is separated very strikingly, both in tone and in outward form, from that of the Empire."[7]

Although the differences are striking and can be easily identified by Latin readers, they are not such as to cause a language barrier. Latin speakers of the empire had no reported trouble understanding Old Latin, except for the few texts that must date from the time of the kings, mainly songs. Thus, the laws of the Twelve Tables from the early Republic were comprehensible, but the Carmen Saliare, probably written under Numa Pompilius, was not entirely clear (and remains thus).

An opinion concerning Old Latin, of a Roman man of letters in the middle Republic, survives: the historian, Polybius,[8] read "the first treaty between Rome and Carthage", which he says "dates from the consulship of Lucius Junius Brutus and Marcus Horatius, the first consuls after the expulsion of the kings". Knowledge of the early consuls is somewhat obscure, but Polybius also states that the treaty was formulated 28 years before Xerxes I crossed into Greece; that is, in 508  BC, about the time of the putative date of the founding of the Roman Republic. Polybius says of the language of the treaty "the ancient Roman language differs so much from the modern that it can only be partially made out, and that after much application by the most intelligent men".

There is no sharp distinction between Old Latin, as it was spoken for most of the Republic, and Classical Latin, but the earlier grades into the later. The end of the republic was too late a termination for compilers after Wordsworth; Charles Edwin Bennett said, "'Early Latin' is necessarily a somewhat vague term ... Bell, De locativi in prisca Latinitate vi et usu, Breslau, 1889,[9] sets the later limit at 75 BC. A definite date is really impossible, since archaic Latin does not terminate abruptly, but continues even down to imperial times."[10] Bennett's own date of 100 BC did not prevail but rather Bell's 75 BC became the standard as expressed in the four-volume Loeb Library and other major compendia. Over the 377 years from 452 to 75 BC, Old Latin evolved from being partially comprehensible by classicists with study to being easily read by scholars.


Corpus[edit]

  
The Praeneste Fibula, the earliest known specimen of the Latin language and dated to the first half of the seventh century BC.



  
The Forum inscription (Lapis Niger, "black stone"), one of the oldest known Latin inscriptions, from the 6th century BC; it is written boustrophedon, albeit irregularly; from a rubbing by Domenico Comparetti.



Old Latin authored works began in the 3rd century BC. These are complete or nearly complete works under their own name surviving as manuscripts copied from other manuscripts in whatever script was current at the time. In addition are fragments of works quoted in other authors.

Numerous inscriptions placed by various methods (painting, engraving, embossing) on their original media survive just as they were except for the ravages of time. Some of these were copied from other inscriptions. No inscription can be earlier than the introduction of the Greek alphabet into Italy but none survive from that early date. The imprecision of archaeological dating makes it impossible to assign a year to any one inscription, but the earliest survivals are probably from the 6th century BC. Some texts, however, that survive as fragments in the works of classical authors, had to have been composed earlier than the republic, in the time of the monarchy. These are listed below.


Fragments and inscriptions[edit]

Notable Old Latin fragments with estimated dates include:


	The Carmen Saliare (chant put forward in classical times as having been sung by the Salian brotherhood formed by Numa Pompilius, approximate date 700 BC)
	The Praeneste fibula (date from first half of the seventh century BC.)
	The Forum inscription (see illustration, c. 550 BC under the monarchy)
	The Duenos inscription  (c. 500 BC)
	The Castor-Pollux dedication (c. 500 BC)
	The Garigliano Bowl  (c. 500 BC)
	The Lapis Satricanus (early 5th century BC)
	The preserved fragments of the laws of the Twelve Tables (traditionally, 449 BC, attested much later)
	The Tibur pedestal  (c. 400 BC)
	The Scipionum Elogia
	Epitaph of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus (c. 280 BC)
	Epitaph of Lucius Cornelius Scipio (consul 259 BC)
	Epitaph of Publius Cornelius Scipio P.f. P.n. Africanus (died about 170 BC)


	The Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus (186 BC)
	The Vase Inscription from Ardea
	The Corcolle Altar fragments
	The Carmen Arvale
	Altar to the Unknown Divinity (92 BC)


Works of literature[edit]

The authors are as follows:


	Lucius Livius Andronicus (c. 280/260 BC – c. 200 BC), translator, founder of Roman drama
	Gnaeus Naevius (c. 264–201 BC), dramatist, epic poet
	Titus Maccius Plautus (c. 254–184 BC), dramatist, composer of comedies
	Quintus Ennius (239 – c. 169 BC), poet
	Marcus Pacuvius (c. 220–130 BC), tragic dramatist, poet
	Statius Caecilius (220 – 168/166 BC), comic dramatist
	Publius Terentius Afer (195/185 – 159 BC), comic dramatist
	Quintus Fabius Pictor (3rd century BC), historian
	Lucius Cincius Alimentus (3rd century BC), military historian
	Marcus Porcius Cato (234–149 BC), generalist, topical writer
	Gaius Acilius (2nd century BC), historian
	Lucius Accius (170 – c. 86 BC), tragic dramatist, philologist
	Gaius Lucilius (c. 160s – 103/102 BC), satirist
	Quintus Lutatius Catulus (2nd century BC), public officer, epigrammatist
	Aulus Furius Antias (2nd century BC), poet
	Gaius Julius Caesar Strabo Vopiscus (130–87 BC), public officer, tragic dramatist
	Lucius Pomponius Bononiensis (2nd century BC), comic dramatist, satirist
	Lucius Cassius Hemina (2nd century BC), historian
	Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi (2nd century BC), historian
	Manius Manilius (2nd century BC), public officer, jurist
	Lucius Coelius Antipater (2nd century BC), jurist, historian
	Publius Sempronius Asellio (158 BC – after 91 BC), military officer, historian
	Gaius Sempronius Tuditanus (2nd century BC), jurist
	Lucius Afranius (2nd and 1st centuries BC), comic dramatist
	Titus Albucius (2nd and 1st centuries BC), orator
	Publius Rutilius Rufus (158 BC – after 78 BC), jurist
	Lucius Aelius Stilo Praeconinus (154–74 BC), philologist
	Quintus Claudius Quadrigarius (2nd and 1st centuries BC), historian
	Valerius Antias (2nd and 1st centuries BC), historian
	Lucius Cornelius Sisenna (121–67 BC), soldier, historian
	Quintus Cornificius (2nd and 1st centuries BC), rhetorician


Script[edit]

Main articles: History of the Latin alphabet, Latin alphabet, and Old Italic alphabet

Old Latin surviving in inscriptions is written in various forms of the Etruscan alphabet as it evolved into the Latin alphabet. The writing conventions varied by time and place until classical conventions prevailed.
Apart of old inscriptions, texts in the original writing system have been lost or transcribed by later copyists.


Orthography[edit]

Some differences between old and classical Latin were of spelling only; pronunciation is thought to be essentially the same as in classical Latin:[11]


	Single for double consonants: Marcelus for Marcellus
	Double vowels for long vowels: aara for āra
	q for c before u: pequnia for pecunia
	c for g: Caius for Gaius


These differences did not necessarily run concurrently with each other and were not universal; that is, c was used for both c and g.


Phonology[edit]

See also: History of Latin

  
Diphthong changes from Old Latin (left) to Classical Latin (right)[12]



Stress[edit]

Old Latin is thought to have had a strong stress on the first syllable of a word until about 250 BC. All syllables other than the first were unstressed and were subjected to greater amounts of phonological weakening. Starting around that year, the Classical Latin stress system began to develop. It passed through at least one intermediate stage, found in Plautus, in which the stress occurred on the fourth last syllable in four-syllable words with all short syllables.


Vowels and diphthongs[edit]

Most original PIE (Proto-Indo-European) diphthongs were preserved in stressed syllables, including /ai/ (later ae); /ei/ (later ī); /oi/ (later ū, or sometimes oe); /ou/ (from PIE /eu/ and /ou/; later ū).

The Old Latin diphthong ei evolves in stages: ei > ẹ̄ > ī. The intermediate sound ẹ̄ was simply written e but must have been distinct from the normal long vowel ē because ẹ̄ subsequently merged with ī while ē did not. It is generally thought that ẹ̄ was a higher sound than e (e.g. perhaps [eː] vs. [ɛː] during the time when both sounds existed). Even after the original vowel /ei/ had merged with ī, the old spelling ei continued to be used for a while, with the result that ei came to stand for ī and began to be used in the spelling of original occurrences of ī that did not evolve from ei (e.g. in the genitive singular -ī, which is always spelled -i in the oldest inscriptions but later on can be spelled either -i or -ei).

In unstressed syllables, *oi and *ai had already merged into ei by historic times (except for one possible occurrence of poploe for populī "people" in a late manuscript of one of the early songs). This eventually evolved to ī according to the process described above.

Old Latin often had different short vowels from Classical Latin, reflecting sound changes that had not yet taken place. For example, the very early Duenos inscription has the form duenos "good", later found as duonos and still later bonus. A countervailing change wo > we occurred around 150 BC in certain contexts, and many earlier forms are found (e.g. earlier votō, voster, vorsus vs. later vetō, vester, versus).

Old Latin frequently preserves original PIE thematic case endings -os and -om (later -us and -um).


Consonants[edit]

Intervocalic /s/ (pronounced [z]) was preserved up through 350 BC or so, at which point it changed into /r/ (called rhotacism). This rhotacism had implications for declension: early classical Latin, honos, honoris (from honos, honoses); later Classical (by analogy) honor, honoris ("honor"). Some Old Latin texts preserve /s/ in this position, such as the Carmen Arvale's lases for lares.  Later instances of single /s/ between vowels are mostly due either to reduction of early /ss/ after long vowels or diphthongs; borrowings; or late reconstructions.

There are many unreduced clusters, e.g. iouxmentom (later iūmentum, "beast of burden"); losna (later lūna, "moon") < *lousna < */leuksnā/; cosmis (later cōmis, "courteous"); stlocum, acc. (later locum, "place").

Early du /dw/ becomes later b: duenos > duonos > bonus "good"; duis > bis "twice"; duellom > bellum "war".

Final /d/ occurred in ablatives, such as puellād "from the girl" or campōd "from the field", later puellā and campō. In verb conjugation, the third-person ending -d later became -t, e.g. Old Latin faced > Classical facit.


Morphology[edit]

Nouns[edit]

Latin nouns are distinguished by grammatical case, with a termination, or suffix, determining its use in the sentence: subject, predicate, etc. A case for a given word is formed by suffixing a case ending to a part of the word common to all its cases called a stem. Stems are classified by their last letters as vowel or consonant. Vowel stems are formed by adding a suffix to a shorter and more ancient segment called a root. Consonant stems are the root (roots end in consonants). The combination of the last letter of the stem and the case ending often results in an ending also called a case ending or termination. For example, the stem puella- receives a case ending -m to form the accusative case puellam in which the termination -am is evident.[13]

In Classical Latin textbooks the declensions are named from the letter ending the stem or First, Second, etc. to Fifth. A declension may be illustrated by a paradigm, or listing of all the cases of a typical word. This method is less frequently applied to Old Latin, and with less validity. In contrast to Classical Latin, Old Latin reflects the evolution of the language from an unknown hypothetical ancestor spoken in Latium. The endings are multiple. Their use depends on time and locality. Any paradigm selected would be subject to these constraints and if applied to the language universally would result in false constructs, hypothetical words not attested in the Old Latin corpus. Nevertheless, the endings are illustrated below by quasi-classical paradigms. Alternative endings from different stages of development are given, but they may not be attested for the word of the paradigm. For example, in the second declension, *campoe "fields" is unattested, but poploe "peoples" is attested.

The locative was a separate case in Old Latin but gradually became reduced in function, and the locative singular form eventually merged with the genitive singular by regular sound change. In the plural, the locative was captured by the ablative case in all Italic languages before Old Latin.[14]


First declension (a)[edit]

The 'A-stem' declension. The stems of nouns of this declension usually end in -ā and are typically feminine.[15]


	
	puellā, –ās 
 girl, maiden f.

	Singular
	Plural

	Nominative
	puellā,
puellă	puellāī

	Vocative
	puella	puellai

	Accusative
	puellam	puellās

	Genitive
	puellās,
puellāī,
puellais	puellom,
puellāsōm

	Dative
	puellāi	puelleis, 
puellabos

	Ablative
	puellād

	Locative
	(Rōmai)	(Syrācūseis)



A nominative case ending of -s in a few masculines indicates the nominative singular case ending may have been originally -s: paricidas for later parricida, but the -s tended to get lost.[16] In the nominative plural, -ī replaced original -s as in the genitive singular.[17]

In the genitive singular, the -s was replaced with -ī from the second declension, the resulting diphthong shortening to -ai subsequently becoming -ae.[18] The original form is maintained in some formulae, e.g. pater familiās. The genitive plural ending -āsōm (classical -ārum following rhotacism), borrowed from the pronouns, began to overtake original -om.[17]

In the dative singular the final i is either long[19] or short.[20] The ending becomes -ae, -a (Feronia) or -e (Fortune).[19]

In the accusative singular, Latin regularly shortens a vowel before final m.[20]

In the ablative singular, -d was regularly lost after a long vowel.[20] In the dative and ablative plural, the -abos descending from Indo-European *-ābhos[21] is used for feminines only (deabus). *-ais > -eis > -īs is adapted from -ois of the o-declension.[22]

The vocative singular had inherited short -a. This later merged with the nominative singular when -ā was shortened to -ă.[20]

The locative case would not apply to such a meaning as puella, so Roma, which is singular, and Syracusae, which is plural, have been substituted. The locative plural has already merged with the -eis form of the ablative.


Second declension (o)[edit]

	
	campos, –ī 
 field, plain m.
	saxom, –ī 
 rock, stone n.

	Singular	Plural
	Singular	Plural

	Nominative
	campos	campei < campoi	saxom	saxā,
saxă

	Vocative
	campe	saxă

	Accusative
	campom	campōs	saxom	saxā,
saxă

	Genitive
	campī	campōm	saxī	saxōm

	Dative
	campō	campeis < campois	saxō	saxeis < saxois

	Ablative
	campōd	saxōd

	Locative
	campei	saxei



The stems of the nouns of the o-declension end in ŏ deriving from the o-grade of Indo-European ablaut.[23] Classical Latin evidences the development ŏ > ŭ. Nouns of this declension are either masculine or neuter.

Nominative singulars ending in -ros or -ris syncopate the ending:[24] *agros > *agrs > *agers > *agerr > ager. (The form terr "three times" for later ter < *tris appears in Plautus.)

Many alternative spellings occur:


	As mentioned above, the sound change -ei > -ẹ̄ > -ī leads to numerous variations, including the reverse spelling ei for ī. This spelling eventually appears in the genitive singular as well, although -ī is earliest and the true ending; cf. populi Romanei, "of the Roman people."[25], which both spellings in the same inscription.
	Likewise, the sound change -os > -us and -ōm > -om > -um affect the nominative and accusative singular, and the genitive plural.
	One very early text has genitive -osio (the Proto-Indo-European ending) rather than -ī (an ending appearing only in Italo-Celtic).[citation needed]. This form also appears in the closely related Faliscan language.
	In the genitive plural, -um (from Indo-European *-ōm) survived in classical Latin "words for coins and measures";[26] otherwise it was eventually replaced by -ōrum by analogy with 1st declension -ārum.
	The nominative/vocative plural masculine -ei comes from the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) pronominal ending *-oi. The original ending -oi appears in a late spelling in the word poploe (i.e. "poploi" = populī "people") in Sextus Pompeius Festus.[27]
	The dative/ablative/locative plural -eis comes from earlier -ois, a merger of PIE instrumental plural *-ōis and locative plural *-oisu. The form -ois appears in Sextus Pompeius Festus and a few early inscriptions.
	The Praeneste Fibula has dative singular Numasioi, representing Proto-Indo-European *-ōi.
	A number of "provincial texts" have nominative plural -eis (later -īs from 190 BC on[28]), with an added s, by some sort of analogy with other declensions. Sihler (1995)[27] notes that this form appears in literature only in pronouns and suggests that inscriptional examples added to nouns may be artificial (i.e. not reflecting actual pronunciation).
	In the vocative singular, some nouns lose the -e (i.e. have a zero ending) but not necessarily the same as in classical Latin.[29] The -e alternates regularly with -us.[30]


Third declension (consonant/i)[edit]

The 'consonant-stem' and 'i-stem' declension. This declension contains nouns that are masculine, feminine, and neuter. The stem ends in the root consonant, except in the special case where it ends in -i (i-stem declension). The i-stem, which is a vowel-stem, partially fused with the consonant-stem in the pre-Latin period and went further in Old Latin.[31] I/y and u/w can be treated either as consonants or as vowels; hence their classification as semi-vowels. Mixed-stem declensions are partly like consonant-stem and partly like i-stem. Consonant-stem declensions vary slightly depending on which consonant is root-final: stop-, r-, n-, s-, etc.[32] The paradigms below include a stop-stem (reg-) and an i-stem (igni-).


	
	rēx, rēges 
 king m.
	ignis -is 
 fire m.

	Singular
	Plural
	Singular
	Plural

	Nominative
	rēx	rēgeīs,
rēgīs,
rēgēs,
rēgĕs
	ignis,
ignes	igneīs,
ignēs,
ignīs,
ignĕs

	Vocative

	Accusative
	rēgem	rēgeīs,
rēgīs,
rēgēs
	ignim	igneīs,
ignēs,
ignīs

	Genitive
	rēges,
regis,
regos,
regus	rēgom,
rēgum,
rēgerum
	ignis	igniom,
ignium

	Dative
	rēgei,
rēgī,
rēgē,
rēgě	rēgebus,
rēgebūs,
rēgibos,
rēgibus
	igni,
igneī,
ignē	ignebus,
ignebūs,
ignibos,
ignibus

	Ablative
	rēgīd,
rēgĭd,
rēgī,
rēgē,
rēgĕ
	ignīd,
ignĭd,
ignī,
ignē,
ignĕ

	Locative
	rēgī	rēgebos
	ignī	ignibos



For the consonant declension, in the nominative singular, the -s was affixed directly to the stem consonant, but the combination of the two consonants produced modified nominatives over the Old Latin period. The case appears in different stages of modification in different words diachronically.[33] The Latin neuter form (not shown) is the Indo-European nominative without stem ending; for example, cor < *cord "heart."[34]

The genitive singular endings include -is < -es and -us < *-os.[35] In the genitive plural, some forms appear to affix the case ending to the genitive singular rather than the stem: regerum < *reg-is-um.[36]

In the dative singular, -ī succeeded -eī and -ē after 200 BC.

In the accusative singular, -em < *-ṃ after a consonant.[35]

In the ablative singular, the -d was lost after 200 BC.[37] In the dative and ablative plural, the early poets sometimes used -būs.[37]

In the locative singular, the earliest form is like the dative but over the period assimilated to the ablative.[38]




Fourth declension (u)[edit]

The 'u-stem' declension. The stems of the nouns of the u-declension end in ŭ and are masculine, feminine and neuter. In addition there is a ū-stem declension, which contains only a few "isolated" words, such as sūs, "pig", and is not presented here.[39]


	
	senātus, –uos 
 senate m.

	Singular
	Plural

	Nominative
	senātus	senātūs

	Vocative

	Accusative
	senātum

	Genitive
	senātuos,
senātuis,
senātī,
senātous,
senātūs	senātuom,
senātum

	Dative
	senātuī	senātubus,
senātibus

	Ablative
	senātūd,
senātud

	Locative
	senāti	



Fifth declension (e)[edit]

The 'e-stem' declension. Its morphology matches the Classical language very nearly.


	
	rēs, reis 
 thing f.

	Singular
	Plural

	Nominative
	rēs,
reis	rēs

	Vocative
	rēs

	Accusative
	rem

	Genitive
	rēis,
rēs	rēsom

	Dative
	reī	rēbos

	Ablative
	rēd

	Locative
		





Personal pronouns[edit]

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


	
	ego, I
	tu, you
	suī, himself, herself (etc.)

	Singular

	Nominative
	ego
	tu
	—

	Accusative
	mēd
	tēd
	sēd

	Genitive
	mis
	tis
	sei

	Dative
	mihei, mehei
	tibei
	sibei

	Ablative
	mēd
	tēd
	sēd

	Plural

	Nominative
	nōs
	vōs
	—

	Accusative
	sēd

	Genitive
	nostrōm,
-ōrum, -i
	vostrōm,
-ōrum, -i
	sei

	Dative
	nōbeis, nis
	vōbeis
	sibei

	Ablative
	sēd



Relative pronoun[edit]

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


	queī, quaī, quod who, what

	Singular

	
	Masculine
	Feminine
	Neuter

	Nominative
	queī
	quaī
	quod

	Accusative
	quem
	quam

	Genitive
	quoius, quoios, -a, -um/om
(according to gender of whatever is owned)

	Dative
	quoī, queī, quoieī, queī

	Ablative
	quī, quōd
	quād
	quōd

	Plural

	
	Masculine
	Feminine
	Neuter

	Nominative
	ques, queis
	quaī
	qua

	Accusative
	quōs
	quās

	Genitive
	quōm, quōrom
	quōm, quārom
	quōm, quōrom

	Dative
	queis, quīs

	Ablative



Verbs[edit]

Old present and perfects[edit]

There is little evidence of the inflection of Old Latin verb forms and the few surviving inscriptions hold many inconsistencies between forms.[dubious  – discuss] Therefore, the forms below are ones that are both proved by scholars through Old Latin inscriptions, and recreated by scholars based on other early Indo-European languages such as Greek and Italic dialects such as Oscan and Umbrian.


	
	Indicative Present: Sum
	Indicative Present: Facio

	Old
	Classical
	Old
	Classical

	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural

	First Person
	(e)som	somos, sumos	sum	sumus	fac(e/ī)ō	fac(e)imos	faciō	facimus

	Second Person
	es	esteīs	es	estis	fac(e/ī)s	fac(e/ī)teis	facis	facitis

	Third Person
	est	sont	est	sunt	fac(e/ī)d/-(e/i)t	fac(e/ī)ont	facit	faciunt



	
	Indicative Perfect: Sum
	Indicative Perfect: Facio

	Old
	Classical
	Old
	Classical

	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural

	First Person
	fuei	fuemos	fuī	fuimus	(fe)fecei	(fe)fecemos	fēcī	fēcimus

	Second Person
	fuistei	fuisteīs	fuistī	fuistis	(fe)fecistei	(fe)fecisteis	fēcistī	fēcistis

	Third Person
	fued/fuit	fueront/-erom	fuit	fuērunt	(fe)feced/-et	(fe)feceront/-erom	fēcit	fēcērunt/-ēre



See also[edit]

	Italic languages
	Saturnian (poetry)


References[edit]


	^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Old Latin". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

	^ "Archaic Latin". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition.


	^ Maras, Daniele F. (Winter 2012). "Scientists declare the Fibula Praenestina and its inscription to be genuine 'beyond any reasonable doubt'" (PDF). Etruscan News. 14. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 February 2012.


	^ 
Maras, Daniele Federico. "Scientists declare the Fibula Prenestina and its inscription to be genuine 'beyond any reasonable doubt'". academia.edu. Archived from the original on 19 October 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2018.


	^ De Oratoribus, I.193.

	^ Book IX.1.6.

	^ Wordsworth 1874, p. v.

	^ Histories III.22.

	^ Bell, Andreas (1889). De Locativi in prisca latinitate vi et usu, dissertatio inauguralis philologica. Breslau: typis Grassi, Barthi et soc (W. Friedrich).


	^ Bennett, 1910 & iii. sfn error: no target: CITEREFBennett1910iii (help)

	^ De Forest Allen (1897). p. 8. There were no such names as Caius, Cnaius Missing or empty |title= (help)


	^ Allen (1897), p.6

	^ Bennett, Charles Edwin (1915) [1895, 1908]. A Latin grammar. Boston, Chicago: Allyn and Bacon. p. 12.


	^ Buck, Carl Darling (2005) [1904]. A Grammar Of Oscan And Umbrian: With A Collection Of Inscriptions And A Glossary. Languages of classical antiquity, vol. 5. Bristol, Pa.: Evolution Publishing. p. 204.


	^ Buck (1933), pp. 174–175.

	^ Wordsworth (1874), p.45.

	^ a b Buck (1933), p. 177.

	^ Buck (1933), pp. 175–176.

	^ a b Wordsworth (1874), p. 48.

	^ a b c d Buck (1933), p. 176.

	^ Buck (1933), p. 172.

	^ Palmer (1988), p. 242.

	^ Buck (1933), p. 173.

	^ Buck (1933), pp. 99–100.

	^ Lindsay (1894), p. 383.

	^ Buck (1933), p. 182.

	^ a b Sihler (1995), A New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin.

	^ Wordsworth (1874), p.56.

	^ Buck (1933), p.181.

	^ Grandgent, Charles Hall (1908) [1907]. An introduction to vulgar Latin. Heath's modern language series. Boston: D.C. Heath & Co. p. 89.


	^ Buck (1933), p. 197.

	^ Buck (1933), pp. 185–193.

	^ Wordsworth (1874), pp. 67–73.

	^ Buck (1933), p. 185.

	^ a b Bennett (1895), p. 117.

	^ Roby (1872), p. 162.

	^ a b Allen (1897), p. 9.

	^ Gildersleeve (1900), p. 18.

	^ Buck (1933), pp. 198–201.




Bibliography[edit]

	Allen, Frederic de Forest (1897). Remnants of Early Latin. Ginn.

	Bennett, Charles Edwin (1895). A Latin Grammar: With Appendix for Teachers and Advanced Students. Allyn and Bacon.

	Bennett, Charles Edwin (1907). The Latin Language: A Historical Outline of Its Sounds, Inflections, and Syntax. Allyn and Bacon.

	Bennett, Charles Edwin (1910). Syntax of Early Latin. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

	Buck, Carl Darling (1933). Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin. Chicago: University of Chicago.

	Gildersleeve, Basil Lanneau; Lodge, Gonzalez (1900). Gildersleeve's Latin grammar (3rd ed.). New York, Boston, New Orleans, London: University Publishing Company.

	Lindsay, Wallace Martin (1894). The Latin language: an historical account of Latin sounds, stems and flexions. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

	Palmer, Leonard Robert (1988) [1954]. The Latin language. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.

	Roby, Henry John (1872). A grammar of the Latin language from Plautus to Suetonius. Volume I (2nd ed.). London: MacMillan and Co.

	Wordsworth, John (1874). Fragments and specimens of early Latin, with Introduction and Notes. Oxford: Clarendon Press.



Further reading[edit]

	Goldberg, Sander M. 2007. "Antiquity’s antiquity." In Latinitas Perennis. Vol. 1, The continuity of Latin literature. Edited by Wim Verbaal, Yanick Maes, and Jan Papy, 17–29. Brill's Studies in Intellectual History 144. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill.
	Lembke, Janet. 1973. Bronze and Iron: Old Latin Poetry From Its Beginnings to 100 B.C. Berkeley: University of California Press.
	Mercado, Angelo. 2012. Italic Verse: A Study of the Poetic Remains of Old Latin, Faliscan, and Sabellic. Innsbruck: Institut für Sprachen und Literaturen der Universität Innsbruck.
	Vine, Brent. 1993. Studies in Archaic Latin inscriptions. Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft 75. Innsbruck, Austria: Institut für Sprachwissenschaft der Univ. Innsbruck.
	Warmington, E. H. 1979. Remains of Old Latin. Rev. ed. 4 vols. Loeb Classical Library 294, 314, 329, 359. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.
	Warner, R. 1980. "Word Order in Old Latin: Copulative Clauses." Orbis 29, no.1: 251–63.


External links[edit]

	Library resources about 
 Old Latin 

	
	Online books
	Resources in your library
	Resources in other libraries




	Gippert, Jost (1994–2001). "Old Latin Inscriptions" (in German and English). Titus Didactica. Retrieved 29 October 2009.

	glottothèque - Ancient Indo-European Grammars online, an online collection of introductory videos to Ancient Indo-European languages produced by the University of Göttingen


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