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--- In romconlang@yahoogroups.com, theiling@... wrote:
> Further, what would be the status of the adverb? When did the 'mente'
> forms emerge and be used exclusively colloquially to replace the
> '-iter' morpheme?
A late reply, but I've only just joined:
1. -iter went early, because the only possible trace of it in Romance
is the -r- in forms like Rum "altminteri". In the 8th C, a Bible
commentary *in Latin* had to explain "singulariter" as "solamente".
2. "mente" was always there: "placida mente" is perfectly good
classical Latin. It is very rare in South Italian, Rumanian, and (I
think) Sardinian, though.
3. Later Latin often used the neuter adjective as an adverb, which
survives in Rum., S It. ("mi dunanu sulu" they only give me...), and
colloquial Sp. ("hablas ligero" you talk quickly).
David McCann