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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
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • <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
×