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Chapter 5 - <o> for /uː/

from Part I - Old-fashioned Spellings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 May 2023

Nicholas Zair
Nicholas Zair
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge

Summary

The diphthong /ɔu/ became /oː/ and then /uː/ by the third century BC (see p. 000). On the use of <o> in place of in poplicos > pūblicus and words derived from it, see p. 000. It is possible that iodicauerunt (Kropp 11.1.1/26) in a curse tablet from Carthage, in the second century AD, for iūdicāuē̆runt < *i̯oudik- is an old-fashioned spelling representing the mid-point of the change (at any rate, no other explanation springs to mind). Since we have long /uː/ in the first syllable, this spelling cannot be explained by confusion of /ɔː/ and /u/. At least in legal texts, derivatives of iūs were particularly favoured for this (Decorte 2015: 160–2), although use of <o> for /uː/ rather than <ou> was never common, even in the archaic period.

Type
Chapter
Information
Orthographic Traditions and the Sub-elite in the Roman Empire , pp. 74
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This content is Open Access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/cclicenses/

The diphthong /ɔu/ became /oː/ and then /uː/ by the third century BC (see pp. 39–40). On the use of <o> in place of <u> in poplicos > pūblicus and words derived from it, see Chapter 17. It is possible that iodicauerunt (Kropp 11.1.1/26) in a curse tablet from Carthage, in the second century AD, for iūdicāuē̆runt < *i̯oudik- is an old-fashioned spelling representing the mid-point of the change (at any rate, no other explanation springs to mind). Since we have long /uː/ in the first syllable, this spelling cannot be explained by confusion of /ɔː/ and /u/. At least in legal texts, derivatives of iūs were particularly favoured for this (Reference DecorteDecorte 2015: 160–2), although use of <o> for /uː/ rather than <ou> was never common, even in the archaic period.

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  • <o> for /uː/
  • Nicholas Zair, University of Cambridge
  • Book: Orthographic Traditions and the Sub-elite in the Roman Empire
  • Online publication: 25 May 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009327633.006
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  • <o> for /uː/
  • Nicholas Zair, University of Cambridge
  • Book: Orthographic Traditions and the Sub-elite in the Roman Empire
  • Online publication: 25 May 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009327633.006
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

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  • <o> for /uː/
  • Nicholas Zair, University of Cambridge
  • Book: Orthographic Traditions and the Sub-elite in the Roman Empire
  • Online publication: 25 May 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009327633.006
Available formats
×