Appendix Probi

The Appendix Probi ("Probus' Appendix") is the conventional name for a series of five documents believed to have been copied in the seventh or eighth century in Bobbio, Italy.^[1] Its name derives from the fact that the documents were found attached to a copy of the Instituta Artium, a treatise named after (but probably not written by) the first-century grammarian Marcus Valerius Probus.^[2]

The Appendix was likely composed in Rome^[i] around the first half of the fourth century AD.^[4]

It is specifically the third of the five documents that has attracted scholarly attention, as it contains a list of 227 spelling mistakes, along with their corrections, which shed light on the phonological and grammatical changes that the local vernacular was experiencing in the early stages of its development into Romance.

The text survives only in a carelessly transcribed water-damaged manuscript of the 7th or 8th century^[5] which is kept at the Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III^[6] as MS Lat. 1 (formerly Vindobonensis 17).

Phenomena visible in the spelling mistakes

Note that the format is "[correct spelling], not [incorrect spelling]".^[7] Scribal abbreviations have been expanded.

Syncope

speculum non speclum
masculus non masclus
uernaculus non uernaclus
angulus non anglus
uetulus non ueclus^[ii]
uitulus non uiclus
articulus non articlus
oculus non oclus
calida non calda
uiridis non uirdis

Development of yod from front vowels in hiatus

uinea non uinia
cauea non cauia
lancea non lancia
ostium non osteum
lilium non lileum
alium non aleum
tolonium non toloneum

Change of /ŭ/ to [o]

columna non colomna
turma non torma
coluber non colober

Reduction of pretonic /au̯/ to [o]

auris non oricla

Loss of final /m/

pridem non pride
olim non oli
idem non ide
nunquam non nunqua
passim non passi

Loss of /h/

adhuc non aduc
hostiae non ostiae

Reduction of /-ns-/ to /-s-/

mensa non mesa
ansa non asa
formosus non formunsus^[iii]
hercules non herculens
occasio non occansio

Loss of intervocalic /β/ before a back vowel

riuus non rius
flauus non flaus
auus non aus
pauor non paor

Confusion of /b/ and /β/

baculus non uaclus
brauium non brabium
alueus non albeus
plebes non pleuis
uapulo non baplo

Confusion of singletons and geminates

camera non cammara
garrulus non garulus
basilica non bassilica
aqua non acqua
draco non dracco

Elimination of imparisyllabic nouns

grus non gruis
pecten non pectinis
glis non glirus

Adaptation of 3rd-decl. adjectives to the 1st class

tristis non tristus
pauper mulier non paupera mulier
acre non acrum
ipse non ipsus

Adaptation of 4th-decl. feminine nouns to the 1st decl.

nurus non nura
socrus non socra

Adaptation of 3rd/4th decl. feminines to the 1st decl. via diminutive suffix

auris non oricla
fax non facla
neptis non nepticla
anus non anucla

Adaptation of neuter plural to the first declension

uico castrorum non uico castrae

Elimination of the ablative

nobiscum non noscum
uobiscum non uoscum

Alteration of nom. -es (in the third declension) to -is

cautes non cautis
tabes non tabis
uates non uatis
uulpes non uulpis
fames non famis
sedes non sedis

Reduction of the endings -es and -is to -s^[iv]

orbis non orbs
nubes non nubs

Loss of the masculine flexion -us

figulus non figel^[v]
masculus non mascel
barbarus non barbar

Metathesis, assimilation, dissimilation, etc.

persica non pessica
iuniperus non ieniperus
grundio non grunnio
sibilus non sifilus
pegma non peuma
coqus non cocus
coquens non cocens
coqui non coci

Notes

^ There is a reference on line 134 to caput africae, the name of a grammar school known to have been located in that city.^[3]
^ Note the regular dissimilation, after syncope, of /-tl-/ to /-kl-/.
^ An example of hypercorrection (Elcock 1960: 30), in this case the improper insertion of a silent ⟨n⟩, cf.Tooltip confer the spellings herculens and occansio below.
^ Perhaps by analogy with existing words like urbs or plebs (Elcock 1960: 32).
^ The unusual forms figel and mascel may reflect the replacement of the diminutive ending -ulus with -ellus, followed by the loss of both final /s/ and the unstressed /ŭ/. While the change may seem to foreshadow e.g. the Romansh form maschel, such forms are unusual for the time period and would not be seen again until the Kassel glosses (Elcock 1960: 32).

References

^ Quirk 2006
^ Powell 2007: §1
^ Barnett 2007: 705
^ Quirk 2006: 16–21, 300
^ Rohlfs 1969: 16
^ Quirk 2006
^ Elcock 1960: 28–34

Sources

Barnett, F. J. 2007. The sources of the "Appendix Probi": A new approach. The Classical Quarterly 57(2). 701–736. doi:10.1017/s000983880700064x.
Elcock, William Dennis. 1960. The Romance Languages. London: Faber & Faber.
Rohfls, Gerhard. 1969. Sermo Vulgaris Latinus: Vulgarlateinisches Lesebuch. 2nd edn. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag.
Leppänen, V., & Alho, T. 2018. On The Mergers Of Latin Close-Mid Vowels. Transactions of the Philological Society. doi:10.1111/1467-968x.12130
Powell, Jonathan G. F. 2007. A new text of the "Appendix Probi". The Classical Quarterly 57(2). 687–700. doi:10.1017/S0009838807000638.
Quirk, Ronald J. 2005. The “Appendix Probi” as a compendium of Popular Latin: Description and bibliography. The Classical World 98(4). 397–409. doi:10.2307/4352974
Quirk, Ronald J. 2006. The Appendix Probi: A scholar's guide to text and context. Newark: Juan de la Cuesta.
Quirk, Ronald J. 2017. Hypercorrection in the Appendix Probi. Philologus 161(2). 350–353. doi:10.1515/phil-2016-0119

External links

Transcription of the Appendix Probi by Sean Crist, following W. A. Baehrens, 1922, Sprachlicher Kommentar zur vulgärlateinischen Appendix Probi.

[4] There is a reference on line 134 to caput africae, the name of a grammar school known to have been located in that city.^[3]

[9] Note the regular dissimilation, after syncope, of /-tl-/ to /-kl-/.

[10] An example of hypercorrection (Elcock 1960: 30), in this case the improper insertion of a silent ⟨n⟩, cf.Tooltip confer the spellings herculens and occansio below.

[11] Perhaps by analogy with existing words like urbs or plebs (Elcock 1960: 32).

[12] The unusual forms figel and mascel may reflect the replacement of the diminutive ending -ulus with -ellus, followed by the loss of both final /s/ and the unstressed /ŭ/. While the change may seem to foreshadow e.g. the Romansh form maschel, such forms are unusual for the time period and would not be seen again until the Kassel glosses (Elcock 1960: 32).

[1] Quirk 2006

[2] Powell 2007: §1

[3] Barnett 2007: 705

[5] Quirk 2006: 16–21, 300

[6] Rohlfs 1969: 16

[7] Quirk 2006

[8] Elcock 1960: 28–34

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