zompist bboard

What happened in Latin to initial GN? Are there any native Latin words beginning with GN which left descendants in the Romance languages, or is my only data point the non-native name GNAEVS (from Etruscan Cneve)?

Are there any Latin words which aren't derived forms where an H is surrounded by differing vowels? What happens in the daughter languages to those?

And finally, where can I find a list of Latin words? Not a dictionary - I don't care about definitions - I just want a big list of words I can plug into ASCA. (With macrons please.)

XinuX wrote:Are there any Latin words which aren't derived forms where an H is surrounded by differing vowels? What happens in the daughter languages to those?

E.g. traho, in Spanish apparently it's just that the /h/ disappears in most forms in the present indicative (trae, traemos), only the 1sg is now traigo.

XinuX wrote:Are there any native Latin words beginning with GN which left descendants in the Romance languages

Are there any native Latin words beginning with gn-?

Gnārus 'skilled'?

Well, you may already know this, but nacere 'to be born' was originally gnacere, which is why pregnant still has a -g-. So essentially there was a sound change replacing all initial gn- with just n-. Gnarus may be a loan or it may be an exception; I wouldnt know.

Soap wrote:you may already know this, but nacere 'to be born' was originally gnacere

nascere and gnascere, rather; and the verb was deponent, so nasci and gnasci.

zompist wrote:Gnārus 'skilled'?

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/res ... gn&lang=la

gnaphalion, Gnidus (for Cnidus), gnome, gnomon, gnostice, Gnosus (for Cnosus), are Greek. gnarigavit and gnarivisse are archaisms for forms of narrare attested by a grammarian; likewise gnitus and gnixus for forms of nitor; nobilis, also, was apparently once written gnobilis. Gnatia appears to be an aphetic form for Egnatia. gnavus and gnarus are both native and are related. Gnipho is a Roman name; its etymology is probably unknown. We already know about gnosco and gnascor and Gnaeus. And the remaining words on the list are derivations. It would appear that there are three native roots, corresponding to gnosco, gnascor, and gnitor, that were anciently written with the g.