Lack of Syncope in Portuguese

Author(s): K. S. Roberts and Ephraim Cross

Source: PMLA, Vol. 55, No. 2 (Jun., 1940), pp. 596-598
Published by: Modern Language Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/458464
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 COMMENT AND CRITICISM

1. LACK OF SYNCOPE IN PORTUGUESE

IN an article entitled "Italian-Rumanian Long Forms as Against Spanish and

French Short Forms" (PMLA, LII, 625-630), Dr. Ephraim Cross has sought to
prove that there are no just grounds for assuming that the "Eastern" Romance
languages (Italian, Rumanian, and Eastern Rhaetic) are inherently different
from the "Western" branches (French, Spanish, and Western Rhaetic) in regard
to syncope. According to Dr. Cross, syncope was uniform in Vulgar Latin in all
parts of the Romance territory, and as proof of this the author cites: (1) the
evidence of the inscriptions and (2) a list of words which occur in Vulgar Latin
and survived in Romance, and which are supposed to have undergone syncope
in both the Eastern and Western divisions of Romance. In this article, Dr. Cross
is carrying out the conclusion of his previous dissertation on inscriptions.1
Without wishing at this point to advance an argument in favor of a definite
geographical classification (not necessarily an East-West one) of the Romance
languages in the matter of syncope, I should like to point out that there seems
to be a wide difference between Portuguese and the other Romance languages
in respect to this phenomenon.
We know that in Vulgar Latin the vowel of the posttonic penult fell regularly
between certain pairs of consonants.2 There was further syncope in the other
Romance languages between additional pairs of consonants.3 Now in Portuguese-
"If the posttonic penult was e or i (C1. L. e or 1), preceded by 1, m, n or r, or pre-
ceded by c and followed by t, it fell in the late Vulgar Latin or early Portuguese
period.... All posttonic penults which did not fall in Vulgar Latin and in which
the conditions of ?52, 1 (i.e. the section which I have quoted in the paragraph
above) did not obtain, remained in Portuguese."4
In a study of Dr. Cross's list of words, I selected those Latin forms which
came through as popular words in Portuguese and in which the posttonic penult
did not fall in either Vulgar Latin or in Portuguese. In the following words the
contrast between the long Portuguese and short Spanish forms is to be noted:
L. bacilum Optg. bagoo MPtg. bago cf. Sp. blago
L. debStam Ptg. divida cf. Sp. deuda
L. perslcum Ptg. pecego cf. Sp. prisco
L. populum OPtg. povoo MPtg. povo cf. Sp. pueblo5
L. tabulam Ptg. tdboa cf. Sp. tabla

1 E. Cross, Syncope and Kindred Phenomena in Latin

2 C. H. Grandgent, An Introduction to Vulgar Latin,
3 K. Nyrop, Grammaire historique de la langue fran
I, ?146, 258, 259.
R. Menendez Pidal, Manual de Grammdtica Historica
?25, 26.
4 E. B. Williams, From Latin to Portuguese (Philadelphia, 1938), pp. 52-53.-Cf. Groe-
ber's Grundriss der romanischen Philologie (2d ed.), I, 957, ?107.

596

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 K. S. Roberts and Ephraim Cross 597

I have collected a few examples of popular and semi-learned words not found
in Dr. Cross's list, in which, as in the examples above, we find long Portuguese
and short Spanish forms.
Lat. glandilam Ptg. landoa cf. Sp. landre
Lat. paraba lam OPtg. paravoa cf. Sp. palabra
Lat. diabolum OPtg. diaboo MPtg. diabo cf. Sp. diablo
Lat. luminaria Ptg. lumieira cf. Sp. lumbrera
Lat. biffram Ptg. bevera cf. Sp. breva
Lat. decImum Ptg. dizimo cf. Sp. diezmo
Lat. duraclnum Ptg. durdzio cf. Sp. durazno
Lat. fraxInum OPtg. freixeo MPtg. freixo cf. Sp.fresno
Lat. *retinam Ptg. redea cf. Sp. rienda
Lat. -abllem Ptg. -avel cf. Sp. -able
Lat. -ibllem Ptg. -ivel cf. Sp. -ible
Lat. capitilum OPtg. cabidoo MPtg. cabido cf. Sp. cabildo
Lat. nebilam Ptg. ngvoa cf. Sp. niebla
Lat. periciWum OPtg. perigoo MPtg. perigo cf. Sp. peligro
Lat. spatilam OPtg. espadua cf. Sp. espalda
Lat. nominare Ptg. nomear cf. Sp. nombrar
Lat. femina Ptg. femea cf. Sp. hembra
Lat. homines OPtg. homees MPtg. homens cf. Sp. hombres
Lat. semInare Ptg. semear cf. Sp. sembrar

Dr. Cross, in speaking of the unsyncopated forms of not only Italian and
Rumanian, but also of Spanish and French, attributes them to the cultural in-
fluence of Classical Latin. A study of the long Portuguese and short Spanish
forms above would then lead one to the conclusion that the cultural influence
was stronger in Portugal than in Spain. However, the fact that the number of
words that are popular in other respects beside syncope is greater in Portuguese
than in Spanish might indicate that the cultural influence was less in Portugal
than in Spain.
This difference between Portuguese and Spanish is evidence, in my opinion,
of the lack of uniformity in the development of syncope among the Romance
languages. It is to be noted that the variation occurs not between an "Eastern"
and a "Western" language, but between two languages in the Iberian territory
itself.
K. S. ROBERTS
University of Pennsylvania
II

The principles set forth in my article seem to me to be totally undisturbed by

Mr. Roberts' reference to lack of syncope in Portuguese. Although my article
concluded with a declaration of intention to examine cultural conditions in de-
tail, I see no objection to accepting Mr. Roberts' note as an addendum to my
exposition, as far as that exposition applies to Iberian Latin.
5 Note that, although povo and pueblo are both dissyllabic, the Portuguese word is
dissyllabic because of contraction and and the Spanish word because of syncope.

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598 "Light on the Dark Lady"

Surely,
Surely, Mr.
Mr. Roberts
Robertswould
wouldnot
notcontend
contend
that
that
Portuguese
Portuguese
is fundamentally
is fundamentally
different
different from
fromSpanish,
Spanish,for
forSpanish
Spanish
hashas
proparoxytones
proparoxytones
too.too.
Further,
Further,
it isita ques-
is a ques-
tion
tion as
as to
to whether
whetherPortuguese
Portuguesefemea,
femea,p6voo,
p6voo,
etc.etc.
areare
actually
actually
proparoxytones,
proparoxytones,
with
with their
their middle
middlevowels
vowelsreally
reallysemi-vowels.
semi-vowels.
Roberts'
Roberts' first
firstlist
listof
ofwords
wordssubmits
submitsfive
five
forms
formswhich
which
he assumes
he assumes
"came
"came
through
through
as popular
popular words
wordsininPortuguese
Portugueseand
and
inin
which
which
thethe
posttonic
posttonic
penult
penult
did did
not not
fall fall
in in
either
either Vulgar
VulgarLatin
LatinororininPortuguese."
Portuguese."I think
I think
this
this
assumption
assumption
bothboth
as toasthe
to the
fully
fully "popular"
"popular"character
characterofofthese
these
Romance
Romance
forms
forms
andand
lacklack
of syncope
of syncope
in Popular
in Popular
Latin is somewhat bold.
The two lists by no means show Portuguese to be in a more favorable position
for Roberts' purpose than is Italian with reference to Spanish.
The second list cites "examples of popular or semilearned words not found"
in my list, examples which show a divergence between Spanish and Portuguese.
As a matter of fact, the article does treat, either specifically or generally,
a number of these forms. The result of my examination was to indicate that the
long forms were learned or semilearned.
Where a form is otherwise (phonologically) "popular," why should we exclude
the possibility of a learned influence which would operate to preserve the unac-
cented posttonic vowel?
As to cultural influence, any difference between Spanish and Portuguese cer-
tainly would not be more striking than that between long and short forms within
the Italian peninsula.
EPHRAIM CROSS
The College of the City of New York

2. "LIGHT ON THE DARK LADY"

As the leading point of three to prove the "Identification of Edward de Vere,

Earl of Oxford, as one of the objects of the libel contained in 'Willobie his
Avisa' " Miss Pauline K. Angell says:
1. The central figure on the title-page of the book is the symbol of the cuckold. Looking
solemnly down from the top center is an ass's head adorned with a magnificent pair of
horns. Recumbent figures on either side point fingers at the poor ass. This is a derisive
touch which would not hit either Shakespeare or Southampton, since Shakespeare himself
(not his wife) has been thought of as unfaithful to the marriage vows, and Southampton
was still unmarried. It would hit the Earl of Oxford, and that, it seems, is what it was
meant to do. Upon the forehead of the ass reposes a crescent. The crescent is the dis-
tinguishing mark of the Oxford crest, which is a boar set apart from all other armorial
boars by the fact that a crescent is emblazoned upon it. Crescents also are emblazoned on
the stars of the Oxford standard. In fact, these crescents were so thoroughly identified
with Oxford that the Queen called him her Turk. And so the horned ass embellished with
a crescent which appears on the title-page of Willobie his Avisa was as good as a name-
plate in 1594.1

1 Angell, Pauline K., "Light on the Dark Lady," PMLA, LII (1937), 653-654.

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