On Wed, 18 Jun 2003 02:39:14 -0400 (EDT), Lisa Darie
<
elixir032000@...> wrote:
>Cat. aquest - Rmn. acest - the same words different spelling ->
> aquesta - acesta -
>- the same words / different spelling / now different pronunciation
>- was the earlier pronunciation the same or different? which one?
(East) Catalan is pronounced /&kEt/, /&kEst&/ (West Cat. /aket/, /akestE/),
Romanian /ac^est/, /ac^east&/.
The combination /kW/ + front vowel gives /ke/, /ki/ in Spanish and Catalan,
but /c^e/, /c^i/ in Romanian. Compare the interrogative Cat./Cast. <que> ~
Rom. <ce> < Latin quod "what".
The original form is accu-este, accu-esta /a(k)kwéste/, /a(k)kwésta/, which
is also the origin of Italian questo, questa /kwésto/, /kwésta/.
It is interesting to note that Italian follows Spanish/Catalan in cases of
old Latin /kW/, such as <quod> -> Italian che (/ke/), but that in a case
like this one, with secondary /kW/ (accu-iste > (ak)kweste)), the /w/
stays. Compare secondary /gw/ (< Germanic /w/), which gives in Spanish,
for instance, guerra /gerra/, Cat. guerra /gErr&/, but Italian guerra
/gwerra/ "war".
=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...