Proto-Italic language

Proto-Italic
Reconstruction of	Italic languages
Region	Italian Peninsula
Era	ca. 1000 BCE
Reconstructed ancestor	Proto-Indo-European
Lower-order reconstructions	Proto-Romance

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The Proto-Italic language is the ancestor of the Italic languages, most notably Latin and its descendants, the Romance languages. It is not directly attested in writing, but has been reconstructed to some degree through the comparative method. Proto-Italic descended from the earlier Proto-Indo-European language.^[1]

History[]

Based on glottochronological evidence, Proto-Italic is believed to have split off from the archaic western Proto-Indo-European dialects some time before 2500 BC.^[2][3] It was originally spoken by Italic tribes north of the Alps before they moved south into the Italian Peninsula during the second half of the 2nd millennium BCE. Linguistic evidence also points to early contacts with Celtic tribes and Proto-Germanic speakers.^[4]

Although an equation between archeological and linguistic evidence cannot be established with certainty, the Proto-Italic language is generally associated with the Terramare (1700–1150 BCE) and Villanovan cultures (900–700 BCE).^[4]

Phonology[]

Consonants[]

Proto-Italic consonants

	Bilabial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labial–velar
Nasal	m		n		(ŋ)
Plosive	p  b	t  d			k  ɡ	kʷ  ɡʷ
Fricative	ɸ  (β)	θ?  ð?	s  (z)		x  (ɣ)	xʷ?  ɣʷ?
Trill			r
Approximant			l	j		w

• [ŋ] was an allophone of /n/ before a velar consonant.
• The voiced fricatives [β], [ð], [ɣ], [ɣʷ] and [z] were in complementary distribution with word-initial voiceless fricatives [ɸ], [θ], [x], [xʷ] and [s], and were thus originally simply allophones of each other. However, at some point in the Proto-Italic period, the allophony was somewhat disrupted by the loss of the voiceless allophones [xʷ] and [θ], which merged with [ɸ]. Scholars disagree on whether to reconstruct Proto-Italic with the phonemes /xʷ ~ ɣʷ/ and /θ ~ ð/ still present (hence assuming that the merger with [ɸ] was a later areal change that spread across all extant dialects, possibly occurring simultaneous with or after the loss of the corresponding voiced fricatives), or to reconstruct Proto-Italic with the phonemes' voiceless allophones merged into /ɸ ~ β/, and their voiced allophones becoming independent phonemes /ð/, /ɣʷ/. Both of these sounds are relatively uncommon cross-linguistically, and eventually they were eliminated in all later languages, but differently in each.

Vowels[]

Short vowels Front Central Back Close i u Mid e (ə) o Open a

Long vowels Front Central Back Close iː uː Mid eː oː Open aː

• /ə/ was perhaps not a true phoneme, but was inserted before consonants as a prop vowel. It can be reconstructed based on the outcome of the Proto-Indo-European syllabic nasals *m̥ and *n̥, which appear in Latin as *em, *en or *im, *in, but also as *am, *an in Osco-Umbrian alongside *em, *en. Thus, it appears necessary to reconstruct /ə/ as a distinct sound.

Proto-Italic had the following diphthongs:

• Short: *ai, *ei, *oi, *au, *ou
• Long: *āi, *ēi, *ōi

Osthoff's law remained productive in Proto-Italic. This caused long vowels to shorten when they were followed by a sonorant and another consonant in the same syllable: VːRC > VRC. As the long diphthongs were also VːR sequences, they could only occur word-finally, and were shortened elsewhere. Long vowels were also shortened before word-final *-m. This is the cause of the many occurrences of short *-a- in, for example, the endings of the ā-stems or of ā-verbs.

Prosody[]

Proto-Italic words may have had a fixed stress on the first syllable, a stress pattern which probably existed in most descendants in at least some periods. In Latin, initial stress is posited for the Old Latin period, after which it gave way to the "Classical" stress pattern. However, fixed initial stress may alternatively be an areal feature postdating Proto-Italic, since the vowel reductions which it is posited to explain are not found before the mid-first millennium BC.^[5]

Grammar[]

Nouns[]

Nouns could have one of three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. They declined for seven of the eight Proto-Indo-European cases: nominative, vocative, accusative, genitive, dative, ablative and locative. The instrumental case had been lost. Nouns also declined for number in singular and plural. The dual number was no longer distinguished, although a few remnants (like Latin duo, ambō) still preserved some form of the inherited dual inflection.

o-stems[]

This class corresponds to the second declension of Latin. It descends from the Proto-Indo-European thematic declension. Most nouns in this class were masculine or neuter, but there may have been some feminine nouns as well.

o-stem declension^[6]

	*agros[7] m. "field"		*jugom[7] n. "yoke"
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	*agros	*agrōs ( *agroi)	*jugom	*jugā
Vocative	*agre	*agrōs ( *agroi)
Accusative	*agrom	*agrons
Genitive	*agrosjo *agrī	*agrom	*jugosjo *jugī	*jugom
Dative	*agrōi	*agrois	*jugōi	*jugois
Ablative	*agrōd		*jugōd
Locative	*agroi? *agrei?		*jugoi? *jugei?

• The genitive singular in *-ī is of unknown origin, but is found in both Italic and Celtic. It mostly ousted the older inherited genitive in *-osjo in Latin. The older form is found in a few inscriptions, such as popliosio valesiosio on the Lapis Satricanus. It is also continued in some pronominal genitives, such as cuius < *kʷojjo-s < *kʷosjo, with *-s added by analogy with the consonant stem genitive in *-os.^[8] In Osco-Umbrian, neither ending survives, being replaced with *-eis, the i-stem ending.
• The nominative plural was originally *-ōs for nouns and adjectives, and *-oi for pronominal forms. The distribution in Proto-Italic is unclear, but both endings certainly still existed. The *-ōs ending was replaced altogether in Latin in favour of *-oi, whence the classical -ī. In Osco-Umbrian, the reverse happened, where *-oi was replaced with *-ōs, whence Oscan -ús, Umbrian -us.
• In Old Latin, the genitive plural was still generally -om, later -um. It was then reformed based on the ā-stem form *-āzom, giving the classical -ōrum.

ā-stems[]

This class corresponds to the first declension of Latin. It derives primarily from Proto-Indo-European nouns in *-eh₂-, and contained mostly feminine nouns, but maybe a few masculines.

ā-stem declension^[9]

	*toutā[7] f. "people, populace"
	Singular	Plural
Nominative-Vocative	*toutā	*toutās
Accusative	*toutām	*toutans
Genitive	*toutās	*toutāzom
Dative	*toutāi	*toutais
Ablative	*toutād
Locative	*toutāi

• The accusative singular ending would have been *-am originally, due to shortening of long vowels before final *-m. However, a long vowel is found in the attested forms. This long vowel most likely arose by analogy with the other endings that have a long vowel.^[10]
• The genitive plural ending was originally a pronominal form, PIE *-eh₂-soHom.

Consonant stems[]

This class contained nouns with stems ending in a variety of consonants. They included root nouns, n-stems, r-stems, s-stems and t-stems among others. It corresponds to the third declension of Latin, which also includes the i-stems, originally a distinct class.

Masculine and feminine nouns declined alike, while neuters had different forms in the nominative/accusative/vocative.

Consonant stem declension^[11]

	*sniks[7] f. "snow"		*kord[7] n. "heart"
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative-Vocative	*sniks	*sniɣʷes	*kord	*kordā
Accusative	*sniɣʷəm	*sniɣʷəns
Genitive	*sniɣʷes *sniɣʷos	*sniɣʷom	*kordes *kordos	*kordom
Dative	*sniɣʷei	*sniɣʷ(?)βos	*kordei	*kord(?)βos
Ablative	*sniɣʷi (*sniɣʷa?)		*kordi (*korda?)
Locative	*sniɣʷi		*kordi

Nouns in this class often had a somewhat irregular nominative singular form. This created several subtypes, based on the final consonant of the stem.

• For most consonant stem nouns, the ending of the nominative/vocative singular was -s for masculine and feminine nouns. This ending would cause devoicing, delabialisation and/or hardening of the stem-final consonant, as seen in *sniks above. Neuter nouns had no ending.
• n-stems generally had the ending *-ō, with the infix *-on- (or maybe *-en-) in the other cases. Neuters had *-ən in the nom/voc/acc singular, while the stem of the remaining forms is unclear.
• r-stems had *-ēr, alternating with *-(e)r-. The alternation in vowel length was lost in Latin, but is preserved in Oscan.
• s-stems had *-ōs (for masculines and feminines) or *-os (for neuters). This alternated with *-ez- (or maybe *-oz- in some masculine/feminine nouns) in the other forms.
• The r/n-stems were a small group of neuter nouns. These had *-or in the nominative/vocative/accusative singular, but *-(e)n- in the remaining forms.

Other notes:

• The genitive singular had two possible endings. Both are attested side by side in Old Latin, although the ending -es/-is may also be from the i-stems (see below). In Osco-Umbrian, only the i-stem ending -eis is found.
• The Latin masculine nominative plural ending -ēs (with a long vowel) was taken from the i-stems.
• The neuter nominative/vocative/accusative plural originally had short *-a as the ending, or lengthening of the vowel before the final consonant. Already in Italic, this was replaced with the o-stem ending *-ā.
• The dative (and ablative/locative?) plural ending would have originally been added directly to the stem, with no intervening vowel. In Latin, there is an intervening -e- or -i-, while in Osco-Umbrian the ending is replaced altogether. It's not clear what the Proto-Italic situation was.

i-stems[]

This class corresponds to the nouns of the Latin 'third declension that had the genitive plural ending -ium (rather than -um). In Latin, the consonant stems gradually merged with this class. This process continued into the historical era; e.g. in Caesar's time (c. 50 BC) the i-stems still had a distinct accusative plural ending -īs, but this was replaced with the consonant-stem ending -ēs by the time of Augustus (c. 1 AD). In Proto-Italic, as in the other Italic languages, i-stems were still very much a distinct type and showed no clear signs of merging.

Masculine and feminine nouns declined alike, while neuters had different forms in the nominative/accusative/vocative.

Endings^[12]

	*məntis[7] f. "mind"		*mari[7] n. "sea, lake"
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative-Vocative	*məntis	*məntēs	*mari	*mariā (*-īā?)
Accusative	*məntim	*məntins
Genitive	*mənteis *məntjes	*məntjom	*mareis *marjes	*marjom
Dative	*məntēi	*məntiβos	*marēi	*mariβos
Ablative	*məntīd		*marīd
Locative	*məntei		*marei

• There were apparently two different forms for the genitive singular. The form -eis is found in Osco-Umbrian. However, -es appears in early Latin, while there is no sign of *-eis. This could reflect the consonant-stem ending, but it could also come from *-jes.^[13] Compare also *-wos of the u-stems, which is attested in Old Latin, and may represent a parallel formation.
• The original form of the neuter nominative/vocative/accusative plural was *-ī. Already in Italic, this was extended by adding the o-stem ending to it.

u-stems[]

This class corresponds to the fourth declension of Latin. They were historically parallel to the i-stems, and still showed many similar forms, with j/i being replaced with w/u. However, sound changes had made them somewhat different over time.

Endings^[14]

	*portus[7] m. "harbour, port"		*kornu/ū[7] n. "horn"
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative-Vocative	*portus	*portous? *portowes?	*kornu? (*-ū?)	*kornuā (*-ūā?)
Accusative	*portum	*portuns
Genitive	*portous *portwos *portwes	*portwom	*kornous *kornwos *kornwes	*kornwom
Dative	*portowei	*portuβos	*kornowei	*kornuβos
Ablative	*portūd		*kornūd
Locative	*portowi?		*kornowi?

• The neuter nominative/vocative/accusative singular must have originally been short *-u, but in Latin only long -ū is found. It is unclear what the origin of this could be. It may be a remnant of a dual ending, considering that neuter u-stems were rare, and the few that survived tended to occur in pairs.^[15]
• Like the i-stems, the u-stems had two possible types of genitive singular ending, with an unclear distribution. *-ous is found in Oscan, and it is also the origin of the usual Latin ending -ūs. However, the Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus inscription attests senatvos, and the ending -uis (from *-wes) is also found in a few sources.^[16]
• The masculine/feminine nominative/vocative plural is not securely reconstructable. Latin -ūs seems to reflect *-ous, but from PIE *-ewes the form *-owes (Latin *-uis) would be expected. The ending is not attested in Osco-Umbrian or Old Latin, which might have otherwise given conclusive evidence.^[17]
• The original form of the neuter nominative/vocative/accusative plural was *-ū. Already in Italic, this was extended by adding the o-stem ending to it, like in the i-stems.

Adjectives[]

Adjectives inflected much the same as nouns. Unlike nouns, adjectives did not have inherent genders. Instead, they inflected for all three genders, taking on the same gender-form as the noun they referred to.

Adjectives followed the same inflectional classes of nouns. The largest were the o/ā-stem adjectives (which inflected as o-stems in the masculine and neuter, and as ā-stems in the feminine), and the i-stems. Present active participles of verbs (in *-nts) and the comparative forms of adjectives (in *-jōs) inflected as consonant stems. There were also u-stem adjectives originally, but they had been converted to i-stems by adding i-stem endings onto the existing u-stem, thus giving the nominative singular *-wis.

Pronouns[]

Declension of Personal Pronouns:^[18]

Singular	1st Person	2nd Person	Reflexive
Nominative	*egō	*tū	—
Accusative	*mē, *me	*tē, *te	*sē, *se
Genitive	*moi, *mei	*toi, *tei	*soi, *sei
Dative	*meɣei	*teβei	*seβei
Ablative	*med	*ted	*sed
Possessive	*meos	*towos	*sowos
Plural	1st Person	2nd Person	Reflexive
Nominative	*nōs	*wōs	—
Accusative	*nōs	*wōs	*sē, *se
Genitive	*nosterom?	*westerom?	*soi, *sei
Dative	*nōβei	*wōβei	*seβei
Ablative			*sed
Possessive	*nosteros	*westeros	*sowos

Note: For the third person pronoun, Proto-Italic *is would have been used.

Declension of Relative Pronouns:^[18]

Singular	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine
Nominative	*kʷoi	*kʷod	*kʷāi
Accusative
Genitive	*kʷojjos
Dative	*kʷojjei, *kʷozmoi
Ablative	*kʷōd		*kʷād
Locative	?	?	?
Plural	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine
Nominative	*kʷoi, *kʷōs	*kʷā, *kʷai	*kʷās
Accusative	*kʷons		*kʷāns
Genitive	*kʷozom		*kʷazom
Dative	*kʷois
Ablative
Locative

Declension of Interrogative Pronouns:^[18]

Singular	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	*kʷis		*kʷid
Accusative	*kʷim
Genitive	*kʷejjos
Dative	*kʷejjei, *kʷezmoi
Ablative	*kʷōd	*kʷād	*kʷōd
Locative	?	?	?
Plural	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	*kʷēs	*kʷēs	*kʷī, *kʷia
Accusative	*kʷins	*kʷins
Genitive	*kʷejzom?, *kʷozom?
Dative	*kʷiβos
Ablative
Locative

Declension of Demonstrative Pronouns:^[19]

*is "this, that"

Singular	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine
Nominative	*is	*id	*ejā
Accusative	*im		*ejām
Genitive	*ejjos
Dative	*ejjei, *esmoi
Ablative	*ejōd		*ejād
Locative	?	?	?
Plural	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine
Nominative	*ejōs, *ejoi	*ejā	*ejās
Accusative	*ejons		*ejans
Genitive	*ejozom		*ejazom
Dative	*ejois		*ejais
Ablative
Locative	?	?	?

Verbs[]

Present Aspect^[20]

From Proto-Indo-European, the Proto-Italic present aspect changed in a couple of ways. Firstly, a new past indicative suffix of *-β- was created. This likely occurred due to the elision of word-final *i within the Indo-European primary verb endings (E.g. PIE Present Indicative *h₁ésti > PIt *est, but also PIE Past Indicative *h₁ést). Secondly, the desiderative suffix of *-s-/-so- became the future suffix in Proto-Italic. The subjunctive of this desiderative-future, with a suffix of both -s- and a lengthening of the following vowel, was used to represent a potentialis and irrealis mood. Finally, while the subjunctive and the optative of PIE were still in principle different moods, the moods became merged in Post-PIt developments (E.g. PIt subjunctive *esed vs optative *siēd which became Latin present subjunctive sit); this can be already seen in the Proto-Italic phase, where the subjunctive mood began to take secondary endings as opposed to the primary endings they exhibited in PIE (c.f. the Sabellian reflex of the PIt 3rd person singular imperfect subjunctive being -d and not *-t).

The PIE dual person was also lost within PIt verbs just as it was in PIt nouns.

First Conjugation

This Conjugation pattern was derived from the PIE suffix *-eh₂-yé-ti, and formed primarily denominative verbs (I.e. deriving from a noun or an adjective).

Example Conjugation: *dōnā- (to give)^[18]

Present Indicative	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*dōnāō	*dōnāor
2nd. Sing.	*dōnās	*dōnāzo
3rd. Sing.	*dōnāt	*dōnātor
1st. Plur.	*dōnāmos	*dōnāmor
2nd. Plur.	*dōnātes	*dōnāmenai
3rd. Plur.	*dōnānt	*dōnāntor
Past Indicative	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*dōnāβam	*dōnāβar
2nd. Sing.	*dōnāβas	*dōnāβazo
3rd. Sing.	*dōnāβad	*dōnāβator
1st. Plur.	*dōnāβamos	*dōnāβamor
2nd. Plur.	*dōnāβates	*dōnāβamenai
3rd. Plur.	*dōnāβand	*dōnāβantor
Future Indicative	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*dōnāsō	*dōnāsor
2nd. Sing.	*dōnāses	*dōnāsezo
3rd. Sing.	*dōnāst	*dōnāstor
1st. Plur.	*dōnāsomos	*dōnāsomor
2nd. Plur.	*dōnāstes	*dōnāsemenai
3rd. Plur.	*dōnāsont	*dōnāsontor
Present Subjunctive	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*dōnāōm	*dōnāōr
2nd. Sing.	*dōnāēs	*dōnāēzo
3rd. Sing.	*dōnāēd	*dōnāētor
1st. Plur.	*dōnāōmos	*dōnāōmor
2nd. Plur.	*dōnāētes	*dōnāēmenai
3rd. Plur.	*dōnāōnd	*dōnāōntor
Past Subjunctive	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*dōnāsōm	*dōnāsōr
2nd. Sing.	*dōnāsēs	*dōnāsēzo
3rd. Sing.	*dōnāsēd	*dōnāsētor
1st. Plur.	*dōnāsōmos	*dōnāsōmor
2nd. Plur.	*dōnāsētes	*dōnāsēmenai
3rd. Plur.	*dōnāsōnd	*dōnāsōntor
Optative	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*dōnāojam	*dōnāojar
2nd. Sing.	*dōnāojas	*dōnāojazo
3rd. Sing.	*dōnāojad	*dōnāojator
1st. Plur.	*dōnāojamos	*dōnāojamor
2nd. Plur.	*dōnāojates	*dōnāojamenai
3rd. Plur.	*dōnāojand	*dōnāojantor
Present Imperative	Active	Passive
2nd. Sing.	*dōnā	*dōnāzo
2nd. Plur.	*dōnāte	—
Future Imperative	Active	Passive
2nd/3rd. Sing.	*dōnātōd	—
Participles	Present	Past
Tense	*dōnānts	*dōnātos
Verbal Nouns	tu-derivative	s-derivative
Type	*dōnātum	*dōnāzi

Second Conjugation Causative

This conjugation pattern was derived from PIE *-éyeti, and formed causative verbs (I.e. expressing a cause) from "basic" 3rd conjugation verbs.

Example Conjugation: *mone- (to warn)^[18]

Present Indicative	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*moneō	*moneor
2nd. Sing.	*monēs	*monēzo
3rd. Sing.	*monēt	*monētor
1st. Plur.	*monēmos	*monēmor
2nd. Plur.	*monētes	*monēmenai
3rd. Plur.	*moneont	*moneontor
Past Indicative	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*monēβam	*monēβar
2nd. Sing.	*monēβas	*monēβazo
3rd. Sing.	*monēβad	*monēβator
1st. Plur.	*monēβamos	*monēβamor
2nd. Plur.	*monēβates	*monēβamenai
3rd. Plur.	*monēβand	*monēβantor
Future Indicative	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*monēsō	*monēsor
2nd. Sing.	*monēses	*monēsezo
3rd. Sing.	*monēst	*monēstor
1st. Plur.	*monēsomos	*monēsomor
2nd. Plur.	*monēstes	*monēsemenai
3rd. Plur.	*monēsont	*monēsontor
Present Subjunctive	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*moneōm	*moneōr
2nd. Sing.	*moneēs	*moneēzo
3rd. Sing.	*moneēd	*moneētor
1st. Plur.	*moneōmos	*moneōmor
2nd. Plur.	*moneētes	*moneēmenai
3rd. Plur.	*moneōnd	*moneōntor
Past Subjunctive	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*monesōm	*monesōr
2nd. Sing.	*monesе̄s	*monesе̄zo
3rd. Sing.	*monesе̄d	*monesе̄tor
1st. Plur.	*monesōmos	*monesōmor
2nd. Plur.	*monesе̄tes	*monesе̄menai
3rd. Plur.	*monesōnd	*monesōntor
Optative	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*moneojam	*moneojar
2nd. Sing.	*moneojas	*moneojazo
3rd. Sing.	*moneojad	*moneojator
1st. Plur.	*moneojamos	*moneojamor
2nd. Plur.	*moneojates	*moneojamenai
3rd. Plur.	*moneojand	*moneojantor
Present Imperative	Active	Passive
2nd. Sing.	*monē	*monēzo
2nd. Plur.	*monēte	—
Future Imperative	Active	Passive
2nd/3rd. Sing.	*monētōd	—
Participles	Present	Past
Tense	*monēnts	*monetos
Verbal Nouns	tu-derivative	s-derivative
Type	*monetum	*monēzi

Second Conjugation Stative

This conjugation pattern was derived from PIE *-éh₁ti (or the extended form *-eh₁yéti), and formed stative verbs (I.e. indicating a state of being).

Example Conjugation: *walē- (to be strong)^[18]

Present Indicative	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*walēō	*walēor
2nd. Sing.	*walēs	*walēzo
3rd. Sing.	*walēt	*walētor
1st. Plur.	*walēmos	*walēmor
2nd. Plur.	*walētes	*walēmenai
3rd. Plur.	*walēnt	*walēntor
Past Indicative	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*walēβam	*walēβar
2nd. Sing.	*walēβas	*walēβazo
3rd. Sing.	*walēβad	*walēβator
1st. Plur.	*walēβamos	*walēβamor
2nd. Plur.	*walēβates	*walēβamenai
3rd. Plur.	*walēβand	*walēβantor
Future Indicative	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*walēsō	*walēsor
2nd. Sing.	*walēses	*walēsezo
3rd. Sing.	*walēst	*walēstor
1st. Plur.	*walēsomos	*walēsomor
2nd. Plur.	*walēstes	*walēsemenai
3rd. Plur.	*walēsont	*walēsontor
Present Subjunctive	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*walēōm	*walēōr
2nd. Sing.	*walēēs	*walēēzo
3rd. Sing.	*walēēd	*walēētor
1st. Plur.	*walēōmos	*walēōmor
2nd. Plur.	*walēētes	*walēēmenai
3rd. Plur.	*walēōnd	*walēōntor
Past Subjunctive	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*walēsōm	*walēsōr
2nd. Sing.	*walēsе̄s	*walēsе̄zo
3rd. Sing.	*walēsе̄d	*walēsе̄tor
1st. Plur.	*walēsōmos	*walēsōmor
2nd. Plur.	*walēsе̄tes	*walēsе̄menai
3rd. Plur.	*walēsōnd	*walēsōntor
Optative	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*walēojam	*walēojar
2nd. Sing.	*walēojas	*walēojazo
3rd. Sing.	*walēojad	*walēojator
1st. Plur.	*walēojamos	*walēojamor
2nd. Plur.	*walēojates	*walēojamenai
3rd. Plur.	*walēojand	*walēojantor
Present Imperative	Active	Passive
2nd. Sing.	*walē	*walēzo
2nd. Plur.	*walēte	—
Future Imperative	Active	Passive
2nd/3rd. Sing.	*walētōd	—
Participles	Present	Past
Tense	*walēnts	*walatos
Verbal Nouns	tu-derivative	s-derivative
Type	*walatum	*walēzi

Third Conjugation

The bulk of Proto-Italic verbs were third-conjugation verbs, which were derived from Proto-Indo-European root thematic verbs. However, some are derived from other PIE verb classes, such as *linkʷō (PIE nasal-infix verbs) and *dikskō (PIE *sḱe-suffix verbs).

Example Conjugation: *ed-e/o- (to eat)^[18]

Present Indicative	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*edō	*edor
2nd. Sing.	*edes	*edezo
3rd. Sing.	*edet	*edetor
1st. Plur.	*edomos	*edomor
2nd. Plur.	*edetes	*edemenai
3rd. Plur.	*edont	*edontor
Past Indicative	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*edoβam	*edoβar
2nd. Sing.	*edoβas	*edoβazo
3rd. Sing.	*edoβad	*edoβator
1st. Plur.	*edoβamos	*edoβamor
2nd. Plur.	*edoβates	*edoβamenai
3rd. Plur.	*edoβand	*edoβantor
Future Indicative	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*edesō	*edesor
2nd. Sing.	*edeses	*edesezo
3rd. Sing.	*edest	*edestor
1st. Plur.	*edesomos	*edesomor
2nd. Plur.	*edestes	*edesemenai
3rd. Plur.	*edesont	*edesontor
Present Subjunctive	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*edōm	*edōr
2nd. Sing.	*edе̄s	*edе̄zo
3rd. Sing.	*edе̄d	*edе̄tor
1st. Plur.	*edōmos	*edōmor
2nd. Plur.	*edе̄tes	*edе̄menai
3rd. Plur.	*edōnd	*edōntor
Past Subjunctive	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*edesōm	*edesōr
2nd. Sing.	*edesе̄s	*edesе̄zo
3rd. Sing.	*edesе̄d	*edesе̄tor
1st. Plur.	*edesōmos	*edesōmor
2nd. Plur.	*edesе̄tes	*edesе̄menai
3rd. Plur.	*edesōnd	*edesōntor
Optative	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*edojam	*edojar
2nd. Sing.	*edojas	*edojazo
3rd. Sing.	*edojad	*edojator
1st. Plur.	*edojamos	*edojamor
2nd. Plur.	*edojates	*edojamenai
3rd. Plur.	*edojand	*edojantor
Present Imperative	Active	Passive
2nd. Sing.	*ede	*edezo
2nd. Plur.	*edete	—
Future Imperative	Active	Passive
2nd/3rd. Sing.	*edetōd	—
Participles	Present	Past
Tense	*edents	*essos
Verbal Nouns	tu-derivative	s-derivative
Type	*essum	*edezi

Third Conjugation jō-variant

This conjugation was derived from PIE *ye-suffix verbs, and went on to form most of Latin 3rd conjugation io-variant verbs as well as some 4th conjugation verbs.

Example Conjugation: *gʷen-je/jo- (to come)^[18]

Present Indicative	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*gʷenjō	*gʷenjor
2nd. Sing.	*gʷenjes	*gʷenjezo
3rd. Sing.	*gʷenjet	*gʷenjetor
1st. Plur.	*gʷenjomos	*gʷenjomor
2nd. Plur.	*gʷenjetes	*gʷenjemenai
3rd. Plur.	*gʷenjont	*gʷenjontor
Past Indicative	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*gʷenjoβam	*gʷenjoβar
2nd. Sing.	*gʷenjoβas	*gʷenjoβazo
3rd. Sing.	*gʷenjoβad	*gʷenjoβator
1st. Plur.	*gʷenjoβamos	*gʷenjoβamor
2nd. Plur.	*gʷenjoβates	*gʷenjoβamenai
3rd. Plur.	*gʷenjoβand	*gʷenjoβantor
Future Indicative	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*gʷenjesō	*gʷenjesor
2nd. Sing.	*gʷenjeses	*gʷenjesezo
3rd. Sing.	*gʷenjest	*gʷenjestor
1st. Plur.	*gʷenjesomos	*gʷenjesomor
2nd. Plur.	*gʷenjestes	*gʷenjesemenai
3rd. Plur.	*gʷenjesont	*gʷenjesontor
Present Subjunctive	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*gʷenjōm	*gʷenjōr
2nd. Sing.	*gʷenjе̄s	*gʷenjе̄zo
3rd. Sing.	*gʷenjе̄d	*gʷenjе̄tor
1st. Plur.	*gʷenjōmos	*gʷenjōmor
2nd. Plur.	*gʷenjе̄tes	*gʷenjе̄menai
3rd. Plur.	*gʷenjōnd	*gʷenjōntor
Past Subjunctive	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*gʷenjesōm	*gʷenjesōr
2nd. Sing.	*gʷenjesе̄s	*gʷenjesе̄zo
3rd. Sing.	*gʷenjesе̄d	*gʷenjesе̄tor
1st. Plur.	*gʷenjesōmos	*gʷenjesōmor
2nd. Plur.	*gʷenjesе̄tes	*gʷenjesе̄menai
3rd. Plur.	*gʷenjesōnd	*gʷenjesōntor
Optative	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*gʷenjojam	*gʷenjojar
2nd. Sing.	*gʷenjojas	*gʷenjojazo
3rd. Sing.	*gʷenjojad	*gʷenjojator
1st. Plur.	*gʷenjojamos	*gʷenjojamor
2nd. Plur.	*gʷenjojates	*gʷenjojamenai
3rd. Plur.	*gʷenjojand	*gʷenjojantor
Present Imperative	Active	Passive
2nd. Sing.	*gʷenje	*gʷenjezo
2nd. Plur.	*gʷenjete	—
Future Imperative	Active	Passive
2nd/3rd. Sing.	*gʷenjetōd	—
Participles	Present	Past
Tense	*gʷenjents	*gʷentos
Verbal Nouns	tu-derivative	s-derivative
Type	*gʷentum	*gʷenjezi

Athematic Verbs

Only a handful of verbs remained within this conjugation paradigm, derived from the original PIE Root Athematic verbs.

Example Conjugation: *ezom (copula, to be)^[18][20]

Present Indicative	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*ezom	—
2nd. Sing.	*es	—
3rd. Sing.	*est	—
1st. Plur.	*(e)somos	—
2nd. Plur.	*(e)stes	—
3rd. Plur.	*sent	—
Past Indicative	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*fuβam	—
2nd. Sing.	*fuβas	—
3rd. Sing.	*fuβad	—
1st. Plur.	*fuβamos	—
2nd. Plur.	*fuβates	—
3rd. Plur.	*fuβand	—
Future Indicative	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*fuzom	—
2nd. Sing.	*fus	—
3rd. Sing.	*fust	—
1st. Plur.	*fuzomos	—
2nd. Plur.	*fustes	—
3rd. Plur.	*fuzent	—
Present Subjunctive	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*ezom	—
2nd. Sing.	*ezes	—
3rd. Sing.	*ezed	—
1st. Plur.	*ezomos	—
2nd. Plur.	*ezetes	—
3rd. Plur.	*ezond	—
Past Subjunctive	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*fuzom, *essom	—
2nd. Sing.	*fuzes, *esses	—
3rd. Sing.	*fuzed, *essed	—
1st. Plur.	*fuzomos, *essomos	—
2nd. Plur.	*fuzetes, *essetes	—
3rd. Plur.	*fuzond, *essond	—
Optative	Active	Passive
1st. Sing.	*siēm	—
2nd. Sing.	*siēs	—
3rd. Sing.	*siēd	—
1st. Plur.	*sīmos	—
2nd. Plur.	*sītes	—
3rd. Plur.	*sīnd	—
Present Imperative	Active	Passive
2nd. Sing.	*es	—
2nd. Plur.	*este	—
Future Imperative	Active	Passive
2nd/3rd. Sing.	*estōd	—
Participles	Present	Past
Tense	*sēnts	—
Verbal Nouns	tu-derivative	s-derivative
Type	—	*essi

In addition to these conjugation, Proto-Italic also has some deponent verbs, such as *ōdai (Perfect-Present), as well as *gnāskōr (Passive-Active).

Perfective Aspect^[20]

According to Rix(2002), if a verb stem is present in both the Latino-Faliscan and Osco-Umbrian (Sabellian) branches, the present stem is identical in 90% of cases, but the perfect in only 50% of cases. This is likely because the original PIE aorist merged with the perfective aspect after the Proto-Italic period. Thus, the discrepancy in the similarities of present versus perfect stems in the two groupings of the Italic clade is likely attributed to different preservations in each group. The new common perfect stem in Latino-Faliscan derives mostly from the PIE Perfective, while the perfect stem in Osco-Umbrian derives mostly from the PIE aorist.

In the Proto-Italic period, the root perfect of PIE was no longer productive. However, other PIE perfect and aorist stems continued to be productive, such as the reduplicated perfect and lengthened-vowel perfect stems, as well as the sigmatic aorist stem (found in Latin dīcō, dīxī).

Sometimes, multiple perfect forms for each stem. For example, De Vaan gives the forms *fēk-, *fak- for the perfect stem of *fakiō, and the reduplicated form <FHEFHAKED> is also attested on the Praeneste fibula in Old Latin.

In addition, there were some new innovations within the perfective aspect, with the -v- perfect (in Latin amō, amāvī) and the -u- perfect (moneō, monuī) being later innovations, for example.

Example Long-Vowel Conjugation: *fēk- (to have done).^[21] Alternatively *θēk- (from PIE *dʰeh₁-) if PIt is reconstructed at a stage before /xʷ/ and /θ/ had merged with /f/ [ɸ].

Perfect	Active
1st Sing.	*fēkai
2nd Sing.	*fēkistai
3rd Sing.	*fēked
1st Plur.	*fēkomos
2nd Plur.	*fēkistes
3rd Plur.	*fēkēri

Example Reduplicated Conjugation: *fefu- (to have been)^[22]

Perfect	Active
1st Sing.	*fefuai
2nd Sing.	*fefuistai
3rd Sing.	*fefued
1st Plur.	*fefuomos
2nd Plur.	*fefuistes
3rd Plur.	*fefuēri

Development[]

A list of regular phonetic changes from Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Italic follows. Because Latin is the only well-attested Italic language, it forms the main source for the reconstruction of Proto-Italic. It is therefore not always clear whether certain changes apply to all of Italic (a pre-PI change), or only to Latin (a post-PI change), because of lack of conclusive evidence.

Obstruents[]

• Palatovelars merged with plain velars, a change termed centumization.
  • *ḱ > *k
  • *ǵ > *g
  • *ǵʰ > *gʰ
  • Sequences of palatovelars and *w merged with labiovelars: *ḱw, *ǵw, *ǵʰw > *kʷ, *gʷ, *gʷʰ
• *p...kʷ > *kʷ...kʷ, a change also found in Celtic.
• Labiovelars lose their labialisation before a consonant: *kʷC, *gʷC, *gʷʰC > *kC, *gC, *gʰC.
• Obstruent consonants become (unaspirated) voiceless before another voiceless consonant (usually *s or *t).
• Voiced aspirates become fricatives. Word-initially, they become voiceless, while they are allophonically voiced word-medially. Judging from Oscan evidence, they apparently remained fricatives even after a nasal consonant. In most other Italic languages they developed into stops later in that position.
  • *bʰ > *f (medially *β)
  • *dʰ > *θ (medially *ð)
  • *gʰ > *x (medially *ɣ)
  • *gʷʰ > *xʷ (medially *ɣʷ)
• *s was also allophonically voiced to *z word-medially.^[23]
• *sr, *zr > *θr, *ðr.^{[clarification needed]}
• *θ, *xʷ > *f. Found in Venetic vhagsto/hvagsto (compare Latin faciō). The voiced allophones *ð and *ɣʷ remained distinct from *β in Latin and Venetic, but also merged in Osco-Umbrian.
• *tl > *kl word-medially.^[23]

Vowels and sonorants[]

• *l̥, *r̥ > *ol, *or^[24]
• *m̥, *n̥ > *əm, *ən (see above on "Vowels")
• *j is lost between vowels. The resulting vowels in hiatus contract into a long vowel if the two vowels are the same.
• *ew > *ow.^[24]
• *o > *a before labials and *l.

Laryngeals[]

The laryngeals are a class of hypothetical PIE sounds *h₁, *h₂, *h₃ that usually disappeared in late PIE, leaving coloring effects on adjacent vowels. Their disappearance left some distinctive sound combinations in Proto-Italic. In the changes below, the # follows standard practice in denoting a word boundary; that is, # at the beginning denotes word-initial.^[25] H denotes any of the three laryngeals.

The simpler Italic developments of laryngeals are shared by many other Indo-European branches:

• *h₁e > *e, *h₂e > *a, *h₃e > *o
• *eh₁ > *ē, *eh₂ > *ā, *eh₃ > *ō
• *H > *a between obstruents
• Laryngeals are lost word-initially before a consonant.

More characteristic of Italic are the interactions of laryngeals with sonorant consonants. Here, R represents a sonorant, and C a consonant.

• #HRC > #aRC and CHRC > CaRC, but #HRV > #RV
• CRHC > CRāC, but CRHV > CaRV
• CiHC and probably CHiC > CīC

Morphology[]

• General loss of the dual, with only a few relics remaining.^[26]
• Loss of the instrumental case.^[26]

Textual sample[]

Poema[]

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Proto-Italic
Kwi dōnāō lepidom nowom louðeroβom aziða modō poimike eks politom koɾneli teβi namkwe tu sweðeβas meas esi alikwid poto nugas jam tom kom awidatos este oinos weita leizom umne awiom triβos ekspliko weɾβois doktois djous pater et laβosiosis kwaɾe xaβeo teβi kwiskwid xoc louðerolosjos kwiskwokwam kom mater wizoɣo plous oino twotos et meɣo frater meneas pert atne saikolos.

Lord's Prayer[]

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Lord's Prayer
Proto-Italic: Pater nostere kwoi es kailos, sanktom fujad nomən towom. Gwenjad regnom towom. Fujad welontats towa seiked kailoi kwti terza. Pāstnim nosteɾom kwotidyanom diða noβois xoidied djowe, et demeite noβois reins deɣabetas nosteɾas kwti nos demeitemos deɣabitoɾiβos nosteɾois. Ne enduke nos nin vewskam, swed louðeɾa nos malod. Wered.
Latin: Pater noster, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo, et in terra, panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen.
English: .

Post-Italic developments[]

Further changes occurred during the evolution of individual Italic languages. This section gives an overview of the most notable changes. For complete lists, see History of Latin and other articles relating to the individual languages.

• *x debuccalises to [h]. *ɣ similarly becomes [ɦ] between vowels, but remains elsewhere. This change possibly took place within the Proto-Italic period. The result, whether [h] or [ɦ], was written h in all Italic languages. Initial *xl, *xr are reflected (in Latin at least) as gl, gr
• *θ(e)r, *ð(e)r > *f(e)r, *β(e)r in all but Venetic. Compare Venetic louder-obos to Latin līber, Faliscan loifir-ta, Oscan lúvfreis.
• *β, *ð, *ɣ > Latin b, d, g. In Osco-Umbrian the result is f (probably voiced) for all three. In Faliscan, *β remains a fricative.
• *ɣʷ > *gʷ in Latin, which then develops as below. > f in Osco-Umbrian.
• *dw > b in classical Latin, although still retained in the archaic (see Duenos inscription)
• *kʷ, *gʷ > p, b in Osco-Umbrian. They are retained in Latino-Faliscan and Venetic. In Latin, *gʷ > v [w] except after *n.
• *z > r in Classical Latin and Umbrian, but not in Old Latin or Oscan.
• Final -ā (fem. sg. nom., neut. pl. nom./acc.) > [oː] in Osco-Umbrian,^[27][28] but becomes short -a in Latin.
• Final *-ns (acc. pl. of various noun classes), *-nts (masc. nom. sg. of participles), and *-nt (neut. nom./acc. sg. of participles) developed in complex ways:^[29]

PItal	Pre-O-U	Oscan	Umbrian	Pre-Latin	Latin
*-ns	*-ns	-ss	-f	*-ns	-s
*-nts				*-nts	-ns
*-nt	*-nts	-ns	—

• Latin vowel reduction, during the Old Latin period. This merged many of the unstressed short vowels; most dramatically, all short vowels merged (usually to /i/) in open medial syllables. Furthermore, all diphthongs became pure vowels except for *ai and *au (and occasionally *oi) in initial syllables.

References[]

Bibliography[]

• Bakkum, Gabriël C.L.M. (2009), The Latin Dialect of the Ager Faliscus: 150 Years of Scholarship:Part I, Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam, ISBN 978-90-5629-562-2
• Bossong, Georg (2017). "The Evolution of Italic". In Klein, Jared; Joseph, Brian; Fritz, Matthias (eds.). Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics. 2. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-054243-1.
• de Vaan, Michiel (2008). Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages. Brill. ISBN 9789004167971.
• Sihler, Andrew L. (1995), New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508345-8
• Silvestri, Domenico (1998), "The Italic Languages", in Ramat, Anna Giacalone; Ramat, Paolo (eds.), The Indo-European languages, Taylor & Francis Group, pp. 322–344