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In:Germanic Interrelations: Studies in memory of Hans Frede Nielsen
Edited by Stephen Laker, Carla Falluomini, Steffen Krogh, Robert Nedoma and Michael Schulte
[NOWELE Supplement Series 34] 2025
► pp. 295–311

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Latin brutes, sapo, burdo

 | Universität Zürich
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Published online: 6 May 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/nss.34.17rub
Abstract
The Germanic languages have adopted many words borrowed from Latin during the time of the Roman Empire (e.g. ModE wine, NHG Mauer < Latin vīnum, mūrus ‘wall’). The medieval Germanic languages, on the other hand, left their traces in Romance during the time Germanic peoples settled on former Roman territory (e.g. Fr. guerre, salle < Franc. *werra ‘quarrel’, *sali- ‘hall, house’). Yet, there is a third and older group of words which are quoted in Latin literature and inscriptions long before the Roman Empire came to an end and individual Romance languages emerged. Well known examples are glaesum ‘amber’ and ūrus ‘aurochs’. Some of these words became established as loanwords in Latin, while the status of others is less clear. My paper focuses on three examples from this group — brutes, sapo and burdo – and the methodological and analytical implications connected to their investigation. The main questions are if and how a Germanic origin can be substantiated and what kinds of processes might have been involved.
Article outline
  • Loans, quotes, substitutions: Latin-Germanic language contact
  • The historical context
  • The phonology of borrowing
  • The morphology of borrowing
  • Example 1: Lat. brutes, brutis, bruta
  • Example 2: Lat. sapo and related
  • Example 3: Lat. burdō ‘mule’
  • References
References (65)
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