Appendix Probi

The Appendix Probi ("Appendix of Probus") is a palimpsest appended to the Instituta Artium, a work written in the 3rd or 4th century AD. The document, which is written in Latin, contains a list of various spelling mistakes along with their corrections. These mistakes shed light on the phonological and grammatical changes that the spoken vernacular was experiencing in the early stages of its evolution into the various Romance languages.

The text survives only in a carelessly transcribed water-damaged manuscript of the 7th or 8th century.[1] In the past its authorship was attributed to the grammarian Probus, but this is now considered wrong.[2] The surviving manuscript is believed to have been transcribed at Bobbio Abbey, and it is currently kept at the Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III.[3]

Phenomena visible in the spelling mistakes

[4]

Note that the general format is "[correct spelling], not [incorrect spelling]".

Syncope in unstressed syllables

Development of [j] from front vowels in hiatus

Lowering of stressed /ŭ/

Monophthongization of unstressed /au̯/

Loss of word-final /m/

Loss of /h/

Reduction of /ns/ to /s/

Loss of intervocalic /β/ before back vowels

Confusion of /b/ and /β/

Confusion of singletons and geminates

Elimination of imparisyllabic noun declensions

Adaption of 3rd-decl. adjectives to the 1st decl.

Adaption of 4th-decl. feminines to the 1st decl.

Replacement of 3rd/4th decl. feminines with diminutives

Reinterpretation of neuter plural as feminine singular

Elimination of the ablative

Replacement of 3rd decl. nom. sing. -es with -is

Reduction of 3rd decl. -es/is to -s

[lower-roman 2]

Loss of the masculine flexion -us

Metathesis, assimilation, dissimilation, etc.

For more information about the sound changes involved, see the main article Phonological changes from Classical Latin to Proto-Romance.

Place of composition

Where precisely the Appendix was first written is uncertain, but a few theories have been advanced by scholars. Some identify the document with North Africa: for instance Gaston Paris suggests that it may have been written in Carthage. Others argue that it was likely written in Rome, citing vico capitis africae (line 134) as the name of a neighborhood in Rome. Reconciling the two views, Casimir Jarecki argues that it is perhaps the work of a teacher born in Africa but living in Rome.[3]

Notes
  1. An example of hypercorrection[5] in this case the improper insertion of a silent /s/, which also can be seen in the two entries below (herculens, occansio).
  2. Perhaps by analogy with existing words like urbs or plebs.[6]
  3. 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 a spelling would not be seen again for several centuries until the Kassel glosses.[7]

References
  1. Gerhard Rohlfs, Sermo Vulgaris, 2nd ed. (Tübingen, 1969), 16.
  2. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Probus, Marcus Valerius" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 408.
  3. Quirk, Ronald J. (2006). The Appendix Probi. ISBN 1588711099.
  4. Elcock, pp. 28-34
  5. Elcock, p. 30
  6. Elcock, p. 32
  7. Elcock, p. 32

Sources
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