--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Carl Edlund Anderson <cea@...> wrote:
> Can anyone comment on the variation between /e/ and /i/ in the Latin
> reflexes of -mn.- ? I know /n./ normally goes to /en/ in Latin (which
> would account happily for /krimen/, so is there some some effect of the
> following vowel (or something like that) in the oblique stems to create
> forms like -minis?
It's a change from when Latin was accented on the first syllable.
Short vowels in unaccented non-final open syllables became /i/, unless
otherwise influenced by adjacent sounds. One of the modifications is
that it becomes /e/ before /r/, or /s/ that became /r/ (so possibly
[z] at the time). Labial consonants could influence it to become /u/,
though it is not as simple as that - while _auceps_ has genitive
singular _aucupis_, while compounds of _capio:_ end _-cipio:_. Also
compare nominative _princeps_ with genitive _principis_.
A similar change occurred to short vowels in unaccented non-final
closed vowels - they became /e/. I'm not familiar with the exceptions
to this rule, but the change /a/ > /e/ in the this environment is
helpful in understanding Latin inflection and word formation.
These rules were considered useful enough for pupils learning Latin
that the reduction to /i/ and /a/ > /e/ are included in Kennedy's
Latin Primer.
Richard.