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Re: [romconlang] Re: What gender are the names of letters?



habarakhe4 <Anthony.Miles@hidden.email> wrote:
> --- In romconlang@yahoogroups.com, "Muke Tever" <muke@...> wrote:
>>
>> Benct Philip Jonsson <melroch@...> wrote:
>> > What gender are the names of letters in Romance languages?
>> > In Latin they are neuter, so I guess they are masculine in
>> > Romance, but you can never be sure, especially as the word
>> > LITTERA itself is feminine...
>>
>> In Latin they are often feminine themselves, probably because of
>> 'littera'.  e.g. the Latin name for the sign for long I is "I
> longa".
>
> In the Neo-Latin I was taught 'long' and 'short' are 'producta'
> and 'correpta', respectively.

Yes. "I longa" is a symbol or letter the Romans used, like an ordinary
I but somewhat taller (i.e. with a "long" stroke).  When it was used
it represented the sound of "I producta", in e.g. "dIgnus".


	*Muke!
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