Ducentesimum Vicesimum Primum Latinum Verbum Diei: September 20, 2010

[Christina Wallin]

Theme for this month: Glimpses of Language Shift

idoneus, idonea, idoneum

Definition: Having the right qualities, suitable, appropriate,
adequate; (with ad, in+ acc) qualified, fitted (for); (+ infinitive)
fit, able; having the money to meet obligations, solvent

Sententia: Cicero Ad Familiares 1.2.3

Ego eo die casu apud Pompeium coenavi nactusque tempus hoc magis
idoneum quam umquam antea...

By chance, on that day I came across the house of Pompey and I took
possession of this time more suitable than ever before...

Marcus Tulius Cicero was a preeminent orator, lawyer, statesman, and
philosopher of the tail end of the Roman Republican era. The
Epistulae ad Familiares is a collection of letters sent from Cicero to
friends, in a time span ranging from 62 to 43 BCE. This particular
letter is from Cicero to Publius Cornelius Lentulus, a Proconsul, in
the year 698 AUC (ab urbe condita), or 56 BCE.

From the form “magis idoneus,” we see language change at work. The
normal comparative of “idoneus” would be “idoneior,” which form was
found very rarely in very old texts, but by the time of Cicero had
changed to “magis idoneus.” The reason for this shift is linguistic—
it is very difficult to pronounce a sequence of 3 short vowels in a
row. (Some languages, like French, shy away from having even two
vowels pronounced next to each other (the pause formed is called
“vowel hiatus”)—for example, if a French noun starts with a vowel, its
form with an article will be elided: l'eau instead of la eau. ) It
turns out that comparatives in the modern Romance languages all follow
the “magis” pattern, rather than the “-ior” pattern.