--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "alex_lycos" <altamix@...> wrote:
> I found some writings which means in the lingua prisca was a kind of
> post posed article like in Rom. "-ul". Since here are more experts in
> Latin I should like to give some texts here and to let them see what
> about.
> [Lots and lots of examples of Latin words in -ul- follow ...]
Latin -ul-/-cul- is not a postposed article but a derivative suffix
(*-(e)lo-/*-k-lo-), usually forming diminutives, like porculus from
porcus 'piglet', fu:nicul-a from fu:nis 'rope', oculus from *h3okW-
'eye'. It was also common in proper names. It has nothing to do with
the Romanian article, either functionally or etymologically. Similar
suffixes still occur widely in various Romance languages, e.g. It.
porco : porcello, Sp. vaca 'cow': vaquilla 'heifer', etc.
Piotr