>Common George, all the topsy- torvy
That seems topsy-turvy to you, but it isn't. It is
rather what in your second "Heimat" is called "allge-
meine Hochschulreife".
>you make here will never make from "i" an "a".
Why is there a need to apply i > a? There is the Romanian
"verde" between Lat. "virdia" and Romanian "varza". So,
there is a oasis in the desert, on the road between A
and B.
>As native speaker you know an "ie" is the
>result of diphtongation of "e" (lepore > iepure)
>pectus > piept, ferveo > fierbe. )
Only kind of a "by the way", a footnote, for you & al.,
to be aware of the fact that the original e-pronunciation
of certain words (such as those for "to boil, hot and
chest") in certain subdialects have been preserved as
such until today. (lepor > iepure doesn't belong here,
it's something else)
>"Musteatsa" shows the diftongation of "a" to "ea".
Because it's an older form. It illustrates
the transition e > ea > a.
>In so far you need an "a" there for having "vearza"
>and this "a" is the one you wont have from a form
>with "i" like "viridis" in Romanian. Got the point?
"Verde" has a widely "open" first "e", as it is
pronounced in Transylvania, Banat and much of Moldavia;
i.e., this kind of /e/ sounds almost like
a /ae/ in English. I.e., in these subdialects, "verde"
has a different pronunciation from "verde" that you're
aware of (both in your region and in standard Romanian).
So, this kind of first "e" can then smoothly be diphtonged,
e > ea. Then, in the final phase, the "ea" can easily become
an "a". Again: all these changes can occur in the *Romanian*
language.
>Alex
George
PS: A further analogy: "to see" -> infinitive "a vedea",
the "long" infinitive "vedere" (stress on the 2nd "e"),
but "vada~" both for the imperative and subjunctive.
Another one: "vadra" (bucket) -> plural "vedre". (So,
e<->a isn't that difficult a thing.)