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Latin [f]

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 9:57 pm
by Chengjiang
Does it occur in native vocabulary in any environments that aren't word- or root-initial? I seem to recall PIE *bh *dh became in most non-initial positions.

Re: Latin [f]

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 11:22 pm
by Zaarin
Any example I can think of off the top of my head is either word-initial, of foreign origin (Africus), derived (efficiens < ex facio), or a compound (-folius, -formis, etc.). Isn't this expected, though? I was under the impression that Latin was distinct from other Italic languages that have the unconditioned change of Ch > f.

Re: Latin [f]

Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2017 7:41 am
by hwhatting
Zaarin is right. Words that have /f/ in non-root-initial position, like rufus, are normally regarded as loans (in this case, from Sabellic).