63 Colloquial and Li.. - Ganino.com

Latin colloquies 417
Similarly, in spoken Latin of late antiquity, and hence in the Romance
languages, the functions of connectives such as an, ne and utrum were
assumed by si (Grandgent 1907: 10). In DRF we find three examples of
clauses introduced by ne (1.13, 3.21, 7.25) andonebyutrum (11.6), as
against only one with si (8.31 interrogatesi...invenietisviam). Again, this
preference suggests the influence of written rather than spoken Latin.
2.5 Vocabulary
Spoken Latin in the late empire was also characterised by the emergence of
certain distinctive vocabulary which subsequently became normal in the
Romance languages. For example, the verb eo was replaced in spoken Latin
with vado, from which derived Italian and Spanish vado and French je vais
(Clackson and Horrocks 2007: 283). In DRF we find sixteen examples of eo
and its derivatives, against just two of vado and its derivatives. 24 By the same
token, a large number of words, particularly adverbs and conjunctions,
which are characteristic of literary Latin, had evidently disappeared from
spoken Latin by the time Roman Imperial government had collapsed,
inasmuch as they do not have reflexes in the Romance languages: words
such as at, autem, donec, etiam etc. (Grandgent 1907: 8). It is striking
that many of these words are used by the author of DRF: autem (2.12, 6.4),
donec (2.14, 7.24), etiam (8.1, 10.9, 10.19, 11.7), postquam (6.4), saltem (7.28),
sive (2.22), ut (6.7, 7.28, 7.29), utrum (11.6) andvel (passim: 23×). In this
respect, too, the language of DRF is more easily understood as a literary
exercise modelled on earlier written Latin, than as a reflex of Latin spoken
in sub-Roman Britain.
3 conclusions
DRF was composed to teach students how to speak Latin. As we have seen,
the Latin of DRF has many features characteristic of the colloquial Latin of
late antiquity. The orthographic interchange of e and i and o and u, of b and
p, c and g and d and t; nominal forms such as poculas (accusative plural);
the significant proportion of VO constructions. In the absence of decisive
internal evidence which could be used to date DRF, these features could
arguably point to composition in Britain during the sub-Roman period.
24 Examples of eo: 1.8 (ite), 2.1 (exeat), 2.7 (exeas), 4.22 (ibo), 5.10 (eamus), 7.10 (ire), 7.13 (ibo), 7.13
(eam), 7.17 (eo vel ibo), 9.3 (ire), 9.6 (ite), 11.1 (ire), 11.3 (eamus), 11.8 (exivistis)and11.12 (ite); of vado:
1.12 (vade), 5.1 (vade).