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. Classical Latin is the form of the Latin language used by the ancient Romans in what is usually regarded as "classical" Latin literature. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Year 75 BC was a year of the pre-Julian calendar. Events By place Rome In Rome, the tribune Quintus Opimius

Phonology

Diphthong changes from Old Latin (left) to Classical Latin (right)

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). 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 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 In Phonetics, a diphthong (also gliding vowel) (from Greek grc δίφθογγος "diphthongos" literally "with two sounds" or "with Also the letter C is used to represent both Classical C and G. ^[1] In many locations, classical Latin turned intervocalic /s/ into /r/, which is called rhotacism. Rhotacism may refer to several phenomena related to the usage of the Consonant R (whether as an Alveolar tap, Alveolar trill, or This rhotacism had implications for declension: early classical Latin, honos, honoris; Classical honor, honoris ("honor"). In Linguistics, declension (or declination) is the occurrence of Inflection in Nouns Pronouns and Adjectives indicating Some Old Latin texts preserve /s/ in this position, such as the Carmen Arvale's lases for lares. The Carmen Arvale is the preserved chant of the Arval priests or Fratres Arvales of ancient Rome. Lares (sing Lar, also called Genii loci or more archaically Lases) were ancient Roman deities protecting the house and

Existing examples

The Forum inscription, one of the oldest known Latin inscriptions. It is written boustrophedon, albeit irregularly. Boustrophedon (ˌbustroʊˈfiːdən from Greek βουστροφηδόν "ox-turning"&mdashthat is turning like Oxen in Ploughing From a rubbing by Domenico Comparetti. Domenico Comparetti ( June 27, 1835 &ndash January 20, 1927) Italian scholar was born at Rome.

Notable Old Latin fragments still in existence include:

• 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

Grammar and Morphology (Differences from Classical Latin)

Nouns

First declension (a)

The 'A-Stem Declension'. Events and trends Carthage conquers Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica. The Duenos Inscription is one of the earliest known Old Latin texts dating from the early 6th century BCE The Garigliano bowl is a small Impasto Bowl with Bucchero glaze likely to have been produced around 500 B The Law of the Twelve Tables ( Lex Duodecim Tabularum, more informally simply Duodecim Tabulae) was the ancient Legislation that stood at the foundation Events By place Greece The Greek city-states make peace with the Persian Empire through the Peace of Callias, named Events By place Persian Empire Artaxerxes II King of Persia appoints Tissaphernes to take over all the districts in Events By place Roman Republic The rapid spread of the Bacchanalia cult throughout the Roman Republic, which it is claimed The Lapis Satricanus, or "stone of Satricum" was a yellow stone found in the ruins of the ancient Satricum, near Borgo Montello ( a village of southern The Carmen Arvale is the preserved chant of the Arval priests or Fratres Arvales of ancient Rome. The Carmen Saliare is a fragment of archaic Latin, which played a part in the Rituals performed by the Salii (Salian Priests Nouns of this declension usually end in –a and are typically feminine.

Second declension (b)

The 'O-Stem Declension'. In linguistics grammatical number is a Grammatical category of nouns pronouns and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions (such as "one" The nominative case is a Grammatical case for a Noun, which generally marks the subject of a Verb, as opposed to its object or other In Grammar, the genitive case or possessive case (also called the second case) is the case that marks a Noun as modifying another The accusative case ( abbreviated ACC) of a Noun is the Grammatical case used to mark the Direct object of a Transitive In Linguistics, ablative case ( abbreviated ABL) is a name given to cases in various languages whose common characteristic The vocative case is the case used for a Noun identifying the person (animal object etc Locative (also called the seventh case) is a Grammatical case which indicates a location 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. Rhotacism may refer to several phenomena related to the usage of the Consonant R (whether as an Alveolar tap, Alveolar trill, or

Third declension (c)

The 'E-Stem ' and 'I-Stem ' Declension. This declension contains nouns that are masculine, feminine, and neuter.

The nominative as regs instead of rex shows a common feature in Old Latin; the letter x was seldom used alone to designate the /ks/ or /gs/ sound, but instead, written as either 'ks', 'cs', or even 'xs'.

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.

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.

Verbs

Old Present and Perfects

There is not much actual proof of the inflection of Old Latin verb forms and the few carvings we have 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. Oscan, the language of the Osci, is in the Sabellic branch of the Italic language family, which is a branch of Indo-European that also includes Umbrian is an extinct Italic language formerly spoken by the Umbri in the ancient Italian region of Umbria.

References

See also

• Saturnian (verse form)

External links

• Old Latin Inscriptions