--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "alexandru_mg3" wrote:
> Hello Mr. Iacomi,
> I need to come back with and additional question here :
>
> why :
> caput -> cap
> coda -> coadã
> calcaneus -> cãlcâi
>
> have a /k/ that is not voiced to /g/ like in <cotoneus> -> <gutui>.
>
> I cannot identify WHEN this tranformation SHOULD occur?
As stated, voicing of /k/ is occasional - that is: there is no
simple rule for /k/ > /g/ in Latin as well as in (Proto-)Romanian.
Sometimes, a word or a few words seem to be better articulated with
voiced consonant and speakers choose to use the more convenient
form (if there is no potential homonym). I hinted out that while
being accidental, this phenomenon is by no means surprising
neither in Latin, nor in Romanian: it could have happened at
any stage of evolution from Proto-Balkan Romance to Romanian.
Because the conditions of voicing are rather accidental, one has
to preserve a reminder of doubt about the precise etymology; compare
also Cat. "codony", O.Fr. "codoin", It. "cotogna" `quince`. The
Greek word (kydóni) can be considered too, but it's still a less
likely etymon since it would involve also the devoicing of /d/.
>>> For voicing of /k/ in /g/, the phenomenon is a feature already
>>> noted in AP (78: calatus non galatus) and affects several words
>>> as crassus > gras `fat` or cratis > gratie `lattice bar`.
>>> Occasional voicing of /k/ is noticed over the centuries in
>>> Romanian
Cheers,
Marius Iacomi