Proto-Northern-Romance (MGR)

Proto-Northern-Romance *Roumānēc / *Jermānēc / Lingua Rūstica Germāniārum
Spoken in:	northwestern Europe
Conworld:	Mundus Germaniae Romanae
Total speakers:	unknown
Genealogical classification:	Indo-European Romance Italo-Northwestern-Romance Proto-Northern-Romance
Basic word order:	SVO
Morphological type:	inflecting
Morphosyntactic alignment:	nominative-accusative
Writing system:
Created by:
P Collier, BP Jonsson	2006+

Introduction

Proto-Northern Romance is a reconstructed language. It is the posited common ancestor of today's Northern Romance languages (see below), sometimes known as the Germanican languages, that developed in northwestern Europe from the local variant of Vulgar Latin.

Modern Descendents

Distibution of the modern Romance languages in Europe. Descendants of Proto-Northern Romance are shown here in shades of green.

• {Rom-English}
• {Rom-Scots}
• {Rom-Frisian}
• {Rom-Dutch}
• {Rom-Limburgish}
• {Rom-Afrikaans}
• Low Jermench ({Rom-Low Saxon})
• (High) Jermench
• {Rom-Luxembourgish}
• {Rom-Yiddish}

 

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants
		Bilabial		Labiodental		Dental		Alveolar		Palatal		Velar		Glottal
Nasal		m						n				ŋ
Plosive		p   b ¹				t   d ¹						k   g ¹
Fricative		β ¹		f		θ   ð ¹		s				x   ɣ ¹		h
Approximant		w								j
Trill								r
Lateral								l

¹The stop allophones occured in initial position or when geminated. In other positions b d and g are realised as fricatives.

Vowels

Vowels
				Front		Near-front		Central		Near-back		Back
High				iː								uː
Near-high						ɪ				ʊ
High-mid				e								oː
Low-mid						ɛ   ɛː						ɔ   ɔː
Low								a   aː

Phonological History

Earliest Developments, Gallo-Romance/Germano-Romance Split

The earliest linguistic developments in Germania paralleled those in neighbouring Gaul. A more detailed description of Vulgar Latin and its development in Gaul can be found elsewhere.

The differing substratum in Germania however ultimately led to a divergence of Gallo- and Germano-Romance dialects from around the 2nd century CE.

One of the earliest Northern Romance developments that marks the split with Western Romance is the further development of the Vulgar Latin vowel system, as outlined below. N-Rom also did not take part in the intervocalic lenition undergone by all the W-Rom dialects.

Also distinctive is that the palatisation of stops before front vowels, a common feature of W-Rom, is not present in N-Rom where such consonants were instead geminated. Since such palatisation is singularly lacking in N-Rom despite the fact that very early evidence exists for paltisation in Latin, it is thought that not only did this feature not develop further in N-Rom but that existing palatised consonants must have reverted to pure stops. The generally accepted hypothesis for this phenomenon is that palatised consonants did not exist in the languages of Pre-Roman Germania, and this exerted a strong substratic influence causing their elimination in N-Rom.

The final major defining feature of early Proto-Northern Romance is the change in stress from the penult or antepenult to the word stem.

Stress

Pimary stress in Proto-Northern Romance moved to the word stem in all instances. Formerly stressed vowels retained a slight, secondary stress. For example: haˈbēmus > *ˈhāˌbīms. The change in stress coupled with the syncope of unstressed vowels had a considerable effect on morphology.

Vowels

The 10-vowel system of classical Latin had already, through a replacement of length distinctions with qualitative distinctions and subsequent merger of some qualities, evolved into a 7 or 8 vowel system in the Italo-Northwestern dialects of Vulgar Latin.

In Proto-Northern Romance the vowel system developed further, and a phonemic length distinction began to re-emerge.

Evolution of vowels in PNR
VL		PNR
ɪ	>	iː
e	>	ɪ
eː	>	ɪ
ɛ	>	ɛ
æː¹	>	aː
a	>	a
ʊ	>	uː
o	>	ʊ
ɔ	>	ɔː

¹ From Latin diphthong /a͡i/. In other VL dialects this vowel merged with /ɛ/.

Vowel Lengthening in Open Syllables

Vowels in open syllables became lengthened, and three new sounds /ɛː/, /eː/ and /oː/ emerged:

Open Syllable Lengthening
ɪ	>	eː
ɛ	>	ɛː
a	>	aː
ʊ	>	oː

A-Mutation

A short high vowel (/ɪ/ or /ʊ/) was lowered when the following syllable contained a non-high vowel (/aː/, /eː/, /ɛː/, or /ɔː/). The high vowel was not lowered, however, if /j/ intervened between it and the following non-high vowel. An intervening nasal consonant followed by a consonant of any kind also blocked the process.

A-Mutation
ɪ	>	ɛ
ʊ	>	ɔ

Vowel Breaking

Some long vowels broke and became diphthongs.

Vowel Breaking
eː	>	ı͡e
ɛː	>	ɛ͡ə
oː	>	o͡u
ɔː	>	ɔ͡ə

Vowel Syncope in Non-Stressed Syllables

The process of vowel elision began prior to the separate development of Proto-Northern Romance, such as with the loss of unstressed vowels between an obstruent and a liquid (e.g. Populus > *Poplus).

This syncope continued in Proto-Northern Romance, with the loss of non-initial pretonic vowels, and unstressed post-tonic e and u.

Consonants

Consonants underwent many changes in their evolution from Vulgar Latin. The main changes are summarised below.

Assimilation in Consonant Clusters

In common with Gallo-Romance, the Germano-Romance dialects assimilated some consonant clusters.

Assimilation
VL		PNR
tl	>	kl
bs	>	ps
bt	>	pt
skl	>	sl
nkt	>	nt

Simplification of Consonant Clusters

Certain consonant clusters were simplified.

Simplification
VL		PNR
ns	>	s
ks	>	s
ls	>	s
mpt	>	nt
kw	>	k ¹

¹ Except before /a/ or /aː/

Loss of Final Consonants

Final m had been lost since classical times. In Proto-Northern Romance final n was also lost (except in monosyllables) from a very early stage and, later, final d. The loss of final d is attributed to the Gallo-Romance super- / adstratum.

Interchange of w, b and u

The pronunciation of b and w had begun to merge in Vulgar Latin, as the two sounds approached /β/. In the Germanian dialects it appears w remained perhaps more distinct while b developed two allophones, [b] and [β], depending on position.

Ultimately there was some interchange of b and w, depending on position, or vocalisation of either to u, ū or au.

• b or w between i or e and a short vowel vocalised to u
• b or w between u or ō and a short vowel vocalised to ū
• b or w between o, a or ā and a short vowel vocalised to au
• w before t vocalised to ū
• b after any obstruent shifted to w
• b before w shifted to w
• w after m shifted to b
• b after m, w after any consonant (except m), and b or w in initial position remained unchanged
• all other instances of b and w merged to [β]

Consonant Shifts

The following sound shifts are also attested in Proto-Northern Romance:

Consonant Shifts
VL		PNR
Any labial	>	f	before t
Any dental + t	>	ss
ss	>	st	before r
f	>	θ	except before l
z	>	s
p	>	f ¹
(s)sj	>	x
x	>	h	between vowels
gj	>	dj
dj	>	j	in initial position
g	>	j	before front vowels

¹ Presumably via an intermediate stage as /ɸ/.

Gemination

Any consonant (except r) was geminated when immediately followed by j.

• *animaljōru > *āmmallōr
• *ratjōnis > *rattōnes

Morphology

Note with regard to spelling:

The written language of the literate Roman inhabitants of Germania was Classical Latin. Proto-Northern Romance was never transcribed, but rather was the local spoken dialect of Vulgar Latin.

As any spelling of Proto-Northern Romance is purely hypothetical, it allows a certain freedom when transcribing the language. For this reason, and ease of reading, modern spelling conventions are used in transcribing the semivowels /j/ and /w/ and those sounds not present in Classical Latin.

/j/       j

/w/       w

/θ/       th

/ð/       dh

/x/       ch

The Proto-Northern Romance phoneme /b/ was pronounced either as frictaive [β] or stop [b], depending on position (see phonology). Both allophones here are transcribed as b. Similarly /g/, which could be [ɣ] or [g], is transcribed as g.

Nouns

Latin's seven case system had reduced to four in Proto-Northern Romance – nominative, accusative, genitive and dative.

The neuter gender was lost, neuter nouns on the whole being reanalysed as masculine.

1st Declension

Group I

Mainly feminine, with some masculine exceptions. Derived from Latin 1st and 5th declensions.

1st Declension – Group I
		Singular	Plural
	Nominative	– a	– as
	Accusative	– a	– as
	Genitive	– ā	– ār
	Dative	– ā	– īs

The following Latin paradigms decline per the above (starred forms are presumed/attested in Vulgar Latin):

• terra, terrae
• *dia, *diae (< *diēs, diēī)

Notes:

The Latin paradigms Aenēas, Aenēae and Anchīses, Anchīsae have regularised their nominative singular forms by anaolgy, and thereby merged with the above.

Group II

Feminine. Derived from Latin 1st declension.

1st Declension – Group II
		Singular	Plural
	Nominative	–	– as
	Accusative	–	– as
	Genitive	– s	– ār
	Dative	– ā	– īs

The following Latin paradigm declines per the above:

• crambē, crambes

2nd Declension

Group I

Masculine. Derived from Latin 3rd declension.

2nd Declension – Group I
		Singular	Plural
	Nominative	–	– ī
	Accusative	– e	– as
	Genitive	– es	– ōr
	Dative	– ī	– īs

The following Latin paradigm declines per the above:'

• pater, patris

Group II

Masculine. Derived from Latin 3rd declension.

2nd Declension – Group II
		Singular	Plural
	Nominative	– es	– ī
	Accusative	– e	– as
	Genitive	– es	– ōr
	Dative	– ī	– īs

The following Latin paradigms decline per the above:'

• amnis, amnis
• *āeris, āeris (< āēr, āeris)
• *Periclis, Periclis (<Periclēs, Periclis)

Group III

Masculine. Derived from Latin 3rd declension.

2nd Declension – Group III
		Singular	Plural
	Nominative	– as	– ī
	Accusative	–	– as
	Genitive	– as	– ōr
	Dative	– ī	– īs

The following Latin paradigms decline per the above (starred forms are presumed/attested in Vulgar Latin):

• *amantis, amantis (< amans, amantis)
• *hērōis, hērōis (< hērōs, hērōis)

Group IV

Masculine, including originally feminine Latin nouns. Derived from Latin 2nd and 4th declensions.

2nd Declension – Group IV
		Singular	Plural
	Nominative	– s	– ī
	Accusative	–	– s
	Genitive	– ī	– ōr
	Dative	–	– īs

The following Latin paradigms decline per the above (starred forms are presumed/attested in Vulgar Latin):

• modus, modī
• portus, *portī (< portus, portūs)
• *Dēlus, Dēlī (< Dēlos, Dēlī)
• Lūcius, Lūcī

Group V

Masculine, including originally feminine Latin nouns. Derived from Latin 2nd declension.

2nd Declension – Group V
		Singular	Plural
	Nominative	–	– ī
	Accusative	–	– s
	Genitive	– ī	– ōr
	Dative	–	– īs

The following Latin paradigm declines per the above

• puer, puerī

Group VI

Masculine, including originally feminine Latin nouns. Derived from Latin 2nd declension.

2nd Declension – Group VI
		Singular	Plural
	Nominative	–	– ī
	Accusative	–	– as
	Genitive	– ī	– ōr
	Dative	–	– īs

The following Latin paradigm declines per the above

• liber, librī

Group VII

Masculine, originally neuter Latin nouns. Derived from Latin 3rd declension.

3rd Declension – Group VII
		Singular	Plural
	Nominative	– e	– ī
	Accusative	– e	– s
	Genitive	– es	– ōr
	Dative	– ī	– īs

The following Latin paradigm declines per the above (starred forms are presumed/attested in Vulgar Latin):

• *nōme, nōminis (< nōmen, nōminis)

Group VIII

Masculine, originally neuter Latin nouns. Derived from Latin 3rd declension.

3rd Declension – Group VIII
		Singular	Plural
	Nominative	– es	– ī
	Accusative	– e	– s
	Genitive	– es	– ōr
	Dative	– ī	– īs

The following Latin paradigms decline per the above (starred forms are presumed/attested in Vulgar Latin)

• *animālis, *animālis (< animāl, animālīs)
• *poēmatis, poēmatis (< poēma, poēmatis)

Group IX

Masculine, originally neuter Latin nouns. Derived from Latin 3rd declension.

3rd Declension – Group IX
		Singular	Plural
	Nominative	–	– ī
	Accusative	–	– as
	Genitive	– es	– ōr
	Dative	– ī	– īs

The following Latin paradigm declines per the above (starred forms are presumed/attested in Vulgar Latin):

• opus, operis

Group X

Masculine, originally neuter Latin nouns. Derived from Latin 3rd declension.

3rd Declension – Group X
		Singular	Plural
	Nominative	– s	– ī
	Accusative	–	– s
	Genitive	– s	– ōr
	Dative	– ī	– īs

The following Latin paradigm declines per the above (starred forms are presumed/attested in Vulgar Latin):

• *ossus, ossis (< os, ossis)

Group XI

Masculine, originally neuter Latin nouns. Derived from Latin 3rd declension.

3rd Declension – Group XI
		Singular	Plural
	Nominative	–	– ī
	Accusative	–	– s
	Genitive	– s	– ōr
	Dative	– ī	– īs

The following Latin paradigm declines per the above:

• rēte, rētis

Group XII

Masculine, originally neuter Latin nouns. Derived from Latin 2nd and 4th declensions.

3rd Declension – Group XII
		Singular	Plural
	Nominative	– s	– ī
	Accusative	–	– s
	Genitive	– ī	– ōr
	Dative	–	– īs

The following Latin paradigms decline per the above (starred forms are presumed/attested in Vulgar Latin):

• *dōnus, dōnī (< dōnum, dōnī)
• *genūus, *genuī (< genū, genūs)

3rd Declension

Group I

Feminine, including originally masculine Latin nouns. Derived from Latin 3rd and 5th declensions.

4th Declension – Group I
		Singular	Plural
	Nominative	– s	– s
	Accusative	–	– s
	Genitive	– s	–
	Dative	– ī	– ius

The following Latin paradigms decline per the above (starred forms are presumed/attested in Vulgar Latin):

• *clādis, clādis (< clādēs, clādis)
• *urbis, urbis (< urbs, urbis)
• *laudis, laudis (< laus, laudis)
• *aetātis, aetātis (< aetās, aetātis)
• rēs, *reis (< rēs, reī)
• *Naiadis, Naiadis (< Naias, Naiadis)

Group II

Feminine. Derived from Latin 3rd declension.

4th Declension – Group II
		Singular	Plural
	Nominative	– es	– es
	Accusative	– e	– es
	Genitive	– es	–
	Dative	– ī	– ius

The following Latin paradigms decline per the above (starred forms are presumed/attested in Vulgar Latin):

• *mōris, mōris (< mōs, mōris)
• *ratiōnis, ratiōnis (< ratiō, ratiōnis)

Pronouns

Pronouns
		Singular				Plural
		masculine	feminine	reflexive	impersonal	masculine	feminine	reflexive
1st person	Nominative	jō		―	―	nus		―
	Accusative	mei			―	nus
	Genitive	mīs	ma	―	―	nōster	(nōstra)	―
	Dative	mī		―	―	nous		―
2nd person	Nominative	tū		―	―	wus		―
	Accusative	tei			―	wus
	Genitive	tus	ta	―	―	wōster	(wōstra)	―
	Dative	tī		―	―	wous		―
3rd person	Nominative	el	ella	―	hōm	illī	ellas	―
	Accusative	sei			hōm(m)	sei
	Genitive	sus	sa	―	hōms	ellōr		―
	Dative	sī		―	hōmmī	sī		―
Interrogative & relative	Nominative	cī		―	―	cī		―
	Accusative	cea		―	―	cus	quas
	Genitive	cjus	quājas	―	―	cour	quār	―
	Dative	cī	quā	―	―	cius		―

Verbs

In the transition from Latin to Proto-Northern Romance, verbs went through several syntactic and semantic changes. Most of the distinctions present in classical Latin continued to be made, but synthetic forms were often replaced with analytic ones. Other verb forms changed meaning, and new forms also appeared.

In common with the other Romance dialects, Latin's synthetic passive voice was completely lost, to be replaced by a periphrastic form utilising the appropriately conjugated form of the verb 'to be' plus the past participle.

Similar new periphrastic forms also developed for the future tense, utilising the verb 'to come' plus the infinitive, and the perfect tense, using 'to have' and the past participle.

Latin's perfect tense had also functioned as a preterite (simple past). Following the development of a new periphrastic perfect tense (see above), use of the original perfect form continued but became limited solely to its preterite meaning.

Latin's imperfect tense was completely lost in Proto-Northern Romance.

Indicative Mood

1st Conjugation

Present
		Singular	Plural
	1st person	–	– āms
	2nd person	– as	– āts
	3rd Person	– at	– ant

Preterite (Simple Past)
		Singular	Plural
	1st person	– aj	– aums
	2nd person	– astī	– asts
	3rd Person	– aut	– ārnt

A small group of 1st conjugation verbs, primarily those with stems ending in – d, formed their preterite indicative like 2ii verbs. They differed however in the 3rd person singular.

Preterite (Simple Past)
		Singular	Plural
	1st person	...d – dī	...d – dīms
	2nd person	...d – distī	...d – dists
	3rd Person	...dh – iss	...d – dīrnt

2nd Conjugation

Derived from Latin 2nd and 4th conjugations

Present
		Singular	Plural
	1st person	–	– īms
	2nd person	– īs	– īts
	3rd Person	– et	– int

Group I - Preterite in – wī etc.

Preterite (Simple Past)
		Singular	Plural
	1st person	– wī	– wīms
	2nd person	– wistī	– wists
	3rd Person	– wet	– wīrnt

2i group derived from Latin 2nd conjugation.

Group II - Preterite in – ī etc.

Preterite (Simple Past)
		Singular	Plural
	1st person	– ī	– iums
	2nd person	– istī	– īsts
	3rd Person	– iut	– īrnt

2ii group derived from Latin 4th conjugation.

3rd Conjugation

Present
		Singular	Plural
	1st person	–	– (e)ms
	2nd person	– es	– (e)ts
	3rd Person	– et	– (e)nt

Preterite (Simple Past)
		Singular	Plural
	1st person	– si	– sīms
	2nd person	– sistī	– sists
	3rd Person	– set	– sīrnt

Subjunctive Mood

1st Conjugation

Present
		Singular	Plural
	1st person	–e	– īms
	2nd person	– es	– īts
	3rd Person	– et	– int

Preterite (Simple Past)
		Singular	Plural
	1st person	– wisse	– ausīms
	2nd person	– wiss	– ausīts
	3rd Person	– wisst	– wissint

2nd Conjugation

Derived from Latin 2nd and 4th conjugations

Present
		Singular	Plural
	1st person	–a	– āms
	2nd person	– as	– ātes
	3rd Person	– at	– ant

Group I Preterite 1st person plural in – wissīms

Preterite (Simple Past)
		Singular	Plural
	1st person	– wisse	– wissīms
	2nd person	– wiss	– wissīts
	3rd Person	– wisst	– wissint

2i group derived from Latin 2nd conjugation.

Group II - Preterite 1st person plural in – iusīms

Preterite (Simple Past)
		Singular	Plural
	1st person	– wisse	– iusīms
	2nd person	– wiss	– iusīts
	3rd Person	– wisst	– wissint

2ii group derived from Latin 4th conjugation.

3rd Conjugation

Present
		Singular	Plural
	1st person	–a	– āms
	2nd person	– as	– ātes
	3rd Person	– at	– ant

Preterite (Simple Past)
		Singular	Plural
	1st person	– isse	– issīms
	2nd person	– iss	– issīts
	3rd Person	– isst	– issint

Imperative Mood

Singular
	1st Conjugation		– a
	2nd Conjugation		– e
	3rd Conjugation		– e

Plural
	1st Conjugation		– āt
	2nd Conjugation		– īt
	3rd Conjugation		– t

Infinitive and Past Participles

Infinitive
	1st Conjugation		– āre
	2nd Conjugation		– īre
	3rd Conjugation		– re

Perfect Past Participle (Supine)
1st Conjugation		cun – āt
2nd Conjugation		cun – īt
3rd Conjugation		cun – t

Passive Past Participle
		Masculine	Feminine
	1st Conjugation	cun – āts	cun – āta
	2nd Conjugation	cun – īts	cun – īta
	3rd Conjugation	cun – ts	cun – ta

During the Proto-Northern Romance period the past particple increasingly came to be prefixed with *cun- (from the Latin verbal prefix con-). The precise semantic purpose of the prefix is unclear, although it clearly served to differentiate the past participle from other verb forms. It is possible the use of such a prefix had its origins in the pre-Roman languages of the Germanian tribes.

The passive participle agrees with the gender of the patient.

Auxilliary Verbs

*Esttre (to be)

Present
		Singular	Plural
	1st person	*su	*soums
	2nd person	*es	*ests
	3rd Person	*est	*sunt

Preterite (Simple Past)
		Singular	Plural
	1st person	*thwī	*thoums
	2nd person	*thustī	*thusts
	3rd Person	*thut	*thournt

*Esttre was used in conjunction with a passive participle to create the passive voice.

The passive participle agrees in gender with the patient. For example, *ella est cunāmāta (she is loved), *elle tut cundāts (it was given).

*Hābīre (to have)

Present
		Singular	Plural
	1st person	*hāb	*hābīms
	2nd person	*hābs	*hābīts
	3rd Person	*haut	*haunt

Preterite (Simple Past)
		Singular	Plural
	1st person	*houwī	*houwīms
	2nd person	*houwistī	*houwists
	3rd Person	*houwet	*houwīrnt

The present tense of *hābīre was used in conjunction with a past participle to create the perfect: *jo hāb cunthout (I have been).

The preterite of *hābīre was used in conjunction with a past participle to create the pluperfect: *wus houwīms cunwint (we had come).

*Weanīre (to come)

Present
		Singular	Plural
	1st person	*wean	*weanīms
	2nd person	*weanīs	*weanītīs
	3rd Person	*weanet	*weannt

Preterite (Simple Past)
		Singular	Plural
	1st person	*winwi	*winwīms
	2nd person	*winwistī	*winwists
	3rd Person	*winwet	*winwīrnt

The present tense of *weanīre was used in conjunction with an infinitive to create the future: *tu weanīs indūccre (you will lead).

The preterite of *weanīre was used in conjunction with an infinitive to create the conditional (i.e. 'future-in-the-past): *jo winwi ferdhounāre (I would forgive).