Old High Jermench (MGR)
| Proto-Northern-Romance *Jermānēc / *Roumānēc / Lingua Rūstica Germāniārum | |
| Spoken in: | northwestern Europe |
| Conworld: | Mundus Germaniae Romanae |
| Total speakers: | unknown |
| Genealogical classification: | Indo-European
|
| 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 central and northwestern Europe from the local variant of Vulgar Latin.
Modern Descendants
- (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 | > | e͡ı |
| 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 > *rattōns
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)
- *Aenēa, Aenēae (< *Aenēas, Aenēae)
- *Anchīsa, Anchīsae (< *Anchīses, Anchīsae)
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, including originally neuter Latin nouns. Derived from Latin 3rd declension.
| 2nd Declension – Group I | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| Nominative | – | – ī | |
| Accusative | – | – s | |
| Genitive | – s | – ōr | |
| Dative | – ī | – īs | |
The following Latin paradigms decline per the above:
- rēte, rētis
- pater, patris
- *nōme, nōminis (< nōmen, nōminis)
- opus, operis
Group II
Masculine, including originally feminine Latin nouns. Derived from Latin 3rd declension.
| 2nd Declension – Group II | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| Nominative | – s | – ī | |
| Accusative | – | – s | |
| Genitive | – s | – ōr | |
| Dative | – ī | – īs | |
The following Latin paradigms decline per the above:'
- amnis, amnis
- *animālis, *animālis (< animāl, animālīs)
- *amantis, amantis (< amans, amantis)
- *ossus, ossis (< os, ossis)
- *āeris, āeris (< āēr, āeris)
- *hērōis, hērōis (< hērōs, hērōis)
- *Periclis, Periclis (<Periclēs, Periclis)
- *poēmatis, poēmatis (< poēma, poēmatis)
Group III
Masculine, including originally feminine or neuter Latin nouns. Derived from Latin 2nd and 4th declensions.
| 2nd Declension – Group III | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| Nominative | – s | – ī | |
| Accusative | – | – s | |
| Genitive | – ī | – ōr | |
| Dative | – | – īs | |
The following Latin paradigms decline per the above:
- modus, modī
- Lūcius, Lūcī
- *Dēlus, Dēlī (< Dēlos, Dēlī)
- *dōnus, dōnī (< dōnum, dōnī)
- portus, *portī (< portus, portūs)
- *genūus, *genuī (< genū, genūs)
Group IV
Masculine, including originally feminine Latin nouns. Derived from Latin 2nd declension.
| 2nd Declension – Group IV | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| Nominative | – | – ī | |
| Accusative | – | – s | |
| Genitive | – ī | – ōr | |
| Dative | – | – īs | |
The following Latin paradigms decline per the above:
- liber, librī
- puer, puerī
3rd Declension
Feminine, including originally masculine Latin nouns. Derived from Latin 3rd and 5th declensions.
| 4th Declension | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| Nominative | – s | – s | |
| Accusative | – | – s | |
| Genitive | – s | – | |
| Dative | – ī | – ius | |
The following Latin paradigms decline per the above
- *clādis, clādis (< clādēs, clādis)
- *urbis, urbis (< urbs, urbis)
- *laudis, laudis (< laus, laudis)
- *aetātis, aetātis (< aetās, aetātis)
- rēs, *reis (< rēs, reī)
- *Naiadis, Naiadis (< Naias, Naiadis)
- *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 | ellour | ― | ||
| 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 differently:
| Preterite (Simple Past) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| 1st person | ...d – ī | ...d – eims | |
| 2nd person | ...d – istī | ...d – ists | |
| 3rd Person | ...d – ūt | ...d – eirnt | |
2nd Conjugation
| Present | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| 1st person | – | – eims | |
| 2nd person | – s | – eits | |
| 3rd Person | – t | – nt | |
| Preterite (Simple Past) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| 1st person | – wī | – weims | |
| 2nd person | – wistī | – wists | |
| 3rd Person | – ūt | – weirnt | |
3rd Conjugation
| Present | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| 1st person | – | – ms | |
| 2nd person | – s | – ts | |
| 3rd Person | – t | – nt | |
| Preterite (Simple Past) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| 1st person | – si | – sims | |
| 2nd person | – sistī | – sists | |
| 3rd Person | – sit | – seirnt | |
4th Conjugation
| Present | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| 1st person | – | – īms | |
| 2nd person | – īs | – ītīs | |
| 3rd Person | – t | – nt | |
| Preterite (Simple Past) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| 1st person | – i | – iums | |
| 2nd person | – istī | – īsts | |
| 3rd Person | – iut | – īrnt | |
Subjunctive Mood
1st Conjugation
| Present | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| 1st person | – | – eims | |
| 2nd person | – s | – eits | |
| 3rd Person | – t | – nt | |
| Preterite (Simple Past) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| 1st person | – wiss | – auseims | |
| 2nd person | – wiss | – auseits | |
| 3rd Person | – wisst | – wissant | |
2nd Conjugation
| Present | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| 1st person | –a | – āms | |
| 2nd person | – as | – āts | |
| 3rd Person | – at | – ant | |
| Preterite (Simple Past) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| 1st person | – wiss | – wisseims | |
| 2nd person | – wiss | – wisseits | |
| 3rd Person | – wisst | – wissant | |
3rd Conjugation
| Present | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| 1st person | –a | – āms | |
| 2nd person | – as | – āts | |
| 3rd Person | – at | – ant | |
| Preterite (Simple Past) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| 1st person | – iss | – isseims | |
| 2nd person | – iss | – isseits | |
| 3rd Person | – isst | – issant | |
4th Conjugation
| Present | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| 1st person | –a | – āms | |
| 2nd person | – as | – āts | |
| 3rd Person | – at | – ant | |
| Preterite (Simple Past) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| 1st person | – wiss | – iuseims | |
| 2nd person | – wiss | – iuseits | |
| 3rd Person | – wisst | – wissant | |
Imperative Mood
| Singular | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Conjugation | – a | ||
| 2nd Conjugation | – ei | ||
| 3rd Conjugation | – ea | ||
| 4th Conjugation | – ei | ||
| Plural | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Conjugation | – āt | ||
| 2nd Conjugation | – eit | ||
| 3rd Conjugation | – eit | ||
| 4th Conjugation | – īt | ||
Infinitive and Past Participles
| Infinitive | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Conjugation | – ār | ||
| 2nd Conjugation | – eir | ||
| 3rd Conjugation | – ar | ||
| 4th Conjugation | – īr | ||
| Perfect Past Participle (Supine) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Conjugation | cun – āt | ||
| 2nd Conjugation | cun – ūt | ||
| 3rd Conjugation | cun – t | ||
| 4th Conjugation | cun – īt | ||
| Passive Past Participle | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | Feminine | ||
| 1st Conjugation | cun – āts | cun – āta | |
| 2nd Conjugation | cun – ūts | cun – ūta | |
| 3rd Conjugation | cun – ts | cun – ta | |
| 4th Conjugation | cun – īts | cun – īts | |
During the Proto-Northern Romance period the past particples 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 participles 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
*Esttar (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 | |
*Esttar 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), *el thut cundāts (it was given).
*Hābeir (to have)
| Present | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| 1st person | *hāb | *hābeims | |
| 2nd person | *hābs | *hābeits | |
| 3rd Person | *haut | *haunt | |
| Preterite (Simple Past) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| 1st person | *houwī | *houweims | |
| 2nd person | *houwistī | *houwists | |
| 3rd Person | *houwt | *houweirnt | |
The present tense of *hābeir was used in conjunction with a past participle to create the perfect: *jo hāb cunthout (I have been).
The preterite of *hābeir was used in conjunction with a past participle to create the pluperfect: *wus houweims cunwint (we had come).
*Weanīr (to come)
| Present | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| 1st person | *wean | *weanīms | |
| 2nd person | *weanīs | *weanītīs | |
| 3rd Person | *weant | *weannt | |
| Preterite (Simple Past) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| 1st person | *weinwi | *weinweims | |
| 2nd person | *weinwistī | *weinwists | |
| 3rd Person | *weinūt | *weinweirnt | |
The present tense of *weanīr was used in conjunction with an infinitive to create the future: *tū weanīs indūccar (you will lead).
The preterite of *weanīr was used in conjunction with an infinitive to create the conditional (i.e. 'future-in-the-past): *jo weinwi ferdhounār (I would forgive).
