From Latin to Portuguese
Portuguese, both in
morphology and
syntax, represents an organic transformation of
Latin without the direct intervention of any foreign language. The sounds, grammatical forms, and syntactical types, with a few exceptions, are derived from Latin. And almost 90% of the vocabulary is still derived from the language of Rome. Some of the changes began during the
Empire, others took place later. Since Portuguese was reinfluenced by it (reinfluence represented with
1), many original words are still familiar to Portuguese speakers.
N.B.: In the Latin examples below, we have used all-capitals so as to be in line with how the ancient language was actually written. Note also that the letter V was the vowel we know today as U, and that the C was always pronounced /k/, so
CENTV was pronounced /kentu/ (the derived
Cent' in Portuguese is pronunced as /se~tu/).
Nasalization — A vowel before
m and
n has a tendency to become a nasal vowel, this occurs in many languages. In the case of Portuguese, it happened between the
sixth and
seventh centuries. This change sharply distinguishes Portuguese from Spanish, in which it did not occur.
Palatalization — Another assimilation occurs before the high vowels
i and
e, or near the semi-vowel, or palatal
j.
- CENTV > tjento > tsento > cento, (hundred)
- FACERE > fatjere > fatser > fadzer > fazer, (to do)
- A more ancient evolution was FORTIA > fortsa > forca (strength)
Elision — Simultaneous influence in a consonant by vowels, occurring a sintagmatic chain.
- DOLORE > door > dor (pain) — dolorido¹ (in pain)
- BONV > boo > bom, (good)
- ANELLV > aelo > elo (Ring) — Anel¹ (hand ring)
Voicing — some consonants did not disappear but rather evolved:
- MUTV > mudo (deaf)
- LACV > lago (lake)
- FABA > fava (broadbean)
Simplificatio' of consonant clusters, especially doubled vowels, occurred:
- GVTTA > gota (drop)
- PECCARE > pecar (to sin)
Dissimilation — Modification of a sound by the influence of neighbouring sounds.
- Dissimilation between vowels:
- LOCVSTA > lagosta (lobster)
- CAMPANA > campaa > campa (tomb)
- Dissimilation between consonants:
- MEMORARE > nembrar > lembrar (to remember) — Memorizar¹ (to memorize)
- ANIMA > alma (soul) — Animado¹ (livened up)
- LOCALE > logar > lugar (place) — local¹ (place)
Some other alterations were
semi-vowel [metathesis':
PRIMARIV becomes
primeir' (Eng. first);
consonant metathesi' in
l and
r are rare in Portuguese (e.g.
TENEBRAS >
teevra' >
treva', Eng. darkness); and
epenthesi', where there is not a total assimilation by adding new sounds. Such as for wine: Vulgar Latin:
VINO, medieval Portuguese
Vi~', Modern Portuguese (since
14th or
15th centuries):
Vinh'. However, the sound of medieval Portuguese is still alive in some Portuguese dialects of Brazil and Sao Tome and Principe. Another specially relevant shift was the loss of the intervocalic /l/ in a very large set of words, already described in the list above as an example of "elision" → e.g:
SALIRE > sair;
COLARE > coar;
NOTVLA > nodoa, with the typical portuguese voicing of /t/ in /d/ (
AMATVS > amado). Fewer words remaned unchanged, such as
Tabern' (tavern).