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On 2/5/07, Peter Collier <petecollier@hidden.email> wrote:
Western Romance plurals derive from the accusative ending < -s>. This we know. But I keep also reading about the "loss of final s" in VL, with examples such as the singular <-us> ending becoming < -o>. This seems contradictory. What am I missing / not understanding here?
AFAIK, the Romance -o nouns don't come from the nominative (-us ending) but from the accusative (-um ending), and it was the final -m that was lost, e.g. amicum -> amigo, amicam -> amiga. The plural is also from the accusative, but this time with no loss of final consonant (amicos -> amigos, amicas -> amigas). I believe the governing characteristic in this particular case is vowel length - "amicum" and "amicam" have short final vowels, so the consonant was lost, while "amicos" and "amicas" have long final vowels, so the consonant was not. But in general, again AFAIK, determining which sequences were lost in which contexts (and in which geographic area) is a complex topic.