Old Latin

Information about Old Latin

Old Latin
Spoken in:	Roman Republic
Language extinction:	developed into Classical Latin in 1st century BC
Language family:	}}} Italic Latino-Faliscan Old Latin}}}
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	`la`
ISO 639-2:	`lat`
ISO 639-3:	`lat`

For Latin used before the Vulgate, see .

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.

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). Also the letter C is used to represent both Classical C and G. In many locations, classical Latin turned intervocalic /s/ into /r/, which is called Rhotacism. This Rhotacism had implications for declension: early classical Latin, honos, honoris; Classical honor, honoris ("honor"). Some Old Latin texts preserve /s/ in this position, such as the Carmen Arvale's lases for lares.

Existing examples

The Forum inscription, one of the oldest known Latin inscriptions. It is written boustrophedon, albeit irregularly. From a rubbing by Domenico Comparetti.

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

Writers of later, but still early Latin:

Plautus (3rd–2nd century BC)
Cato the Elder (234–149 BC)

Grammar and Morphology (Differences from Classical Latin)

Nouns

First declension (a)

The 'A-Stem Declension'. Nouns of this declension usually end in –a and are typically feminine.

	puella, –aī girl, maiden f.
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	puella	puellai
Vocative	puella	puellai
Accusative	puellam	puella
Genitive	puellās/-es/-ai	puellōm/ -āsom
Dative	puellai	puellaīs/-eīs/ -abos
Ablative	puellād	puellaīs/-eīs/ -abos
Locative	puellā	puellaīs/-eīs

Second declension (b)

The 'O-Stem Declension'. Nouns of this declension are either masculine or neuter.

	campos, –oī field, plain m.		saxom, –oī rock, stone n.
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	campos	campoī	saxom	saxa
Vocative	campe	campoī	saxe	saxoi
Accusative	campom	campōs	saxom	saxa
Genitive	campoī	campōm/ -ōsom	saxoī	saxōm/ -ōsom
Dative	campoī	campoīs	saxoī	saxoīs
Ablative	campōd	campoīs	saxōd	saxoīs/ -oes
Locative	campō	campoīs	saxō	saxoīs/ -oes

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.

Third declension (c)

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

	Regs –es king m.
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	regs	reges
Vocative	regs	reges
Accusative	regem	reges
Genitive	regis	regōm
Dative	regei	regebos
Ablative	regeid	regebos
Locative	regei	regebos

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.

	Ego, I	Tu, You	Suī, Himself, Herself, Etc.
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	nōs	vōs	sēd
Genitive	nostrōm, -ōrum, -i	vostrōm, -ōrum, -i	sei
Dative	nōbeis, nis	vōbeis	sibei
Ablative	nōbeis, nis	nōbeis	sēd

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.

queī, quaī, quod who, what
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	queī	quai	quod
Accusative	quem	quam	quod
Genitive	quoius, quoios	quoia	quoium, quoiom
Dative	quoī, queī, quoieī, quei
Ablative	quī, quōd	quād	quōd
	Plural
Nominative	ques, queis	quai	qua
Accusative	quōs	quās	quōs
Genitive	quōm, quōrom	quōm, quārom	quōm, quōrom
Dative	queis, quīs
Ablative	queis, quīs

Verbs

Old Present and Perfects

There is not much actual proof of the morphology of Old Latin verb forms, and even these scant carvings 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.

	Indicative Present: Sum				Indicative Present: Facio
	Old		Classical		Old		Classical

Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
First Person	som, esom	somos, sumos	sum	sumus	fac(e/ī)o	fac(e)imos	facio	facīmus
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	fui	fuimus	(fe)fecei	(fe)fecemos	feci	fecīmus
Second Person	fuistei	fuisteīs	fuisti	fuistis	(fe)fecistei	(fe)fecisteis	fecisti	fecistis
Third Person	fued/fuit	fueront/-erom	fuit	fuerunt	(fe)feced/-et	(fe)feceront/-erom	fecit	fecerunt

Interestingly, many Old Latin forms bear a closer resemblance to those of Modern Spanish than the Classical Latin forms do, however, it is just an independent phonetical coincidence that historically has nothing to do with the Old Latin forms: e.g. Spanish somos is from Classical Latin sumus, as the Latin short u evolved to o in Modern Spanish; similarly Latin short i converted to e, giving Spanish fue from Classical Latin fuit.

External links

Old Latin Inscriptions

Ages of Latin • • [ e]
—75 BC	75 BC – 200	300 – 1300	1300 – 1600	1600 – 1900	1900 – present
Old Latin	Classical Latin''	Medieval Latin	Renaissance Latin	New Latin	Recent Latin
See also: History of Latin, Latin literature, Vulgar Latin, Ecclesiastical Latin, Romance languages

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Latino-Faliscan languages are a group of languages that belong to the Italic language family of the Indo-European languages. They were spoken in Italy. Latin and Faliscan belong to this group.
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Latin}}}
Official status
Official language of: Vatican City
Used for official purposes, but not spoken in everyday speech
Regulated by: Opus Fundatum Latinitas
Roman Catholic Church
Language codes
ISO 639-1: la
ISO 639-2: lat
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1st century BC - 1st century
100s BC 90s BC 80s BC - 70s BC - 60s BC 50s BC 40s BC
78 BC 77 BC 76 BC - 75 BC - 74 BC 73 BC 72 BC

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In phonetics, a diphthong (also gliding vowel) (Greek δίφθογγος, "diphthongos", literally "with two sounds," or "with two tones") is a monosyllabic vowel combination involving a quick but smooth movement from one vowel to
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Rhotacism may refer to several phenomena related to the usage of the consonant r (whether as an alveolar tap, alveolar trill, or the rarer uvular trill).

the excessive or idiosyncratic use of the r;

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declension (or declination) is the inflection of nouns, pronouns and adjectives to indicate such features as number (typically singular vs. plural), case (subject, object, and so on), or gender.
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The Carmen Arvale is the preserved chant of the Arval priests or Fratres Arvales of ancient Rome.

The Arval priests were devoted to the goddess Dea Dia, and offered sacrifices to her to ensure the fertility of ploughed fields (Latin arvum).
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Lares (pl.) (also called Genii loci or, more archaically, Lases) were ancient Roman deities protecting the house and the family - household gods. See also Genius, Larvae, Di Penates, Manes.
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6th century BC - 5th century BC

580s BC 570s BC 560s BC - 550s BC - 540s BC 530s BC 520s BC
559 BC 558 BC 557 BC 556 BC 555 BC
554 BC 553 BC 552 BC 551 BC 550 BC

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Duenos Inscription is one of the earliest known Old Latin texts, dating from circa the 6th century BC. It is inscribed on the sides of a kernos, or set of vases joined together with clay, found by Heinrich Dressel in 1880 on the Quirinal Hill in Rome.
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5th century BC - 4th century BC

530s BC 520s BC 510s BC - 500s BC - 490s BC 480s BC 470s BC
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The Garigliano bowl is a small impasto bowl with bucchero glaze likely to have been produced around 500 B.C., with an early Latin inscript. It was found in the vicinity of ancient Minturnae (now Minturno, Italy).

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The Law of the Twelve Tables (Lex Duodecim Tabularum, more informally simply Duodecim Tabulae) was the ancient legislation that stood at the foundation of Roman law.
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5th century BC - 4th century BC
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452 BC 451 BC 450 BC - 449 BC - 448 BC 447 BC 446 BC

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4th century BC - 3rd century BC
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2nd century BC - 1st century BC
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189 BC 188 BC 187 BC - 186 BC - 185 BC 184 BC 183 BC

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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 Lazio, dated late 6th century to early 5th century BC.
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The Carmen Saliare is a fragment of archaic Latin, which played a part in the rituals performed by the Salii (Salian priests, aka "jumping priests") of Ancient Rome.

The rituals revolved around Mars and Quirinus, and were performed in March and October.
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Old Latin

Information about Old Latin

Existing examples

Grammar and Morphology (Differences from Classical Latin)

Nouns

First declension (a)

Second declension (b)

Third declension (c)

Personal Prounouns

The Relative Prounoun

Verbs

Old Present and Perfects

See also

External links

Events and trends

Events and trends

Events and trends

Events and trends