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 (plural *ŏva) (Proto-Italo-Western-Romance)

1. egg

Reconstruction notes

Two explanations have been proposed for the development of */ɔ/ from Classical Latin /oː/. Perhaps most straightforwardly, there may have been dissimilatory pressure from the following */β/. Cf. */koˈlɔβra/, */ˈjɔβene/ < colubra, iuvenem. A somewhat convoluted alternative is to start with */ˈoβu/ and posit that first */β/ was lost due to the following rounded vowel, then */ˈou/ dissimilated to */ˈɔu/, then */ɔ/ analogically spread from the singular to the plural (resulting in */ˈɔβa/), and finally */β/ spread from the plural back to the singular (resulting in */ˈɔβu/). Romanian ou and Sardinian o(v)u could derive either from *ŏvum or directly from Classical Latin ōvum. In the former case this reconstruction would have to be assigned to Proto-Romance proper. It seems virtually certain that if not all then at the very least one of the several occurrences of ⟨ovum⟩ in late or early medieval Latin would have represented a pronunciation with [ɔ]. It is not clear how one might actually prove this in any given case.

Derived terms

• *ŏva f sg (“roe”)
  • Old French: ueve
  • Portuguese: ova
  • Spanish: hueva

Descendants

• Dalmatian:
  • juv
• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: uovo, ovo
  • Neapolitan: uovo
  • Sicilian: ovu
• North Italian:
  • Friulian: ûf
  • Lombard: euv
  • Piedmontese: euv
  • Romagnol: öv
  • Romansch: ov, öv (Puter, Vallader), iev (Sursilvan)
  • Venetan: vòvo, òvo
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: ou
  • Franco-Provençal: ôf
  • Old French: oef (see there for further descendants)
  • Gascon: ueu, güeu
  • Occitan: uòu, ueu
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Aragonese: uego, buevo
  • Asturian: güevu
  • Leonese: guevu
  • Mirandese: uobo
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: ovo (see there for further descendants)
  • Old Spanish: hueuo (see there for further descendants)

References

• Grandgent, Charles Hall (1907) An Introduction to Vulgar Latin (Heath's Modern Language Series), D. C. Heath & Company, page 72
• Joan Coromines, José A[ntonio] Pascual (1984) “huevo”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critic Castilian and Hispanic Etymological Dictionary] (in Spanish), volume III (G–Ma), Madrid: Gredos, →ISBN, page 422
• Lausberg, Heinrich. 1970 [1965]. Lingüística románica. Vol. I–II. Translated by Pérez Riesco, José; Pascual Rodríguez, E. (2nd ed.). Madrid: Gredos. §238.
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “ōvum”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volumes 7: N–Pas, page 450