Learning Spanish I identified some phonotactic rules of thumb how words from Latin transform into Spanish. These rules sometimes help me recognize the Latin root of an unknown Spanish word and help me understand it that way. They are also useful for memorizing new vocabulary. These are the rules I've found:
-us and -um in the ending → -o
- MANUS → mano
- OVUM → huevo
ct → ch:
- examples:
- DIRECTE → derecha
- TECTUM → techo
- PECTUS → pecho
- OCTO → ocho
- exception:
- CORRECTUS →
correchocorrecto
- CORRECTUS →
- examples:
f in the beginning → h:
- examples:
- FACERE → hacer
- FABULARE → hablar
- FUMUS → humo
- exceptions:
- FIRMARE →
hirmarfirmar - quite interesting, because of the analogy to FUMUS: FUMARE →
humarfumar
- FIRMARE →
- examples:
lio / lia → jo / ja:
- examples:
- FILIUS / FILIA → hijo / hija
- MULIER → mujer
- FOLIA → hoja
- exception:
- ANOMALIA →
anomajaanomalía - FAMILIA →
famijafamilia
- ANOMALIA →
- examples:
st / sp / sc in the beginning → est / esp / esc:
- examples:
- STARE → estar
- STUPIDUS → estúpido
- SCHOLA → eschuela
- SPECIALITAS → especialidad
- SPONGEA → esponja
- examples:
long o → ue:
- examples:
- OVUM → huevo
- SCHOLA → eschuela
- (EGO) DORMO → (yo) duermo
- CORPUS → cuerpo
- FOCUS → fuego
- exception:
- DORMITORIUM →
duermitoriodormitorio
- DORMITORIUM →
- examples:
pl / cl in the beginning → ll:
- examples:
- PLUERE → llover
- CLAMARE → llamar
- exception:
- PLUMA →
llumapluma
- PLUMA →
- examples:
double consonants become single consonants, except for rr:
- ACCEPTARE → aceptar
- COMMUNIS → comun
- CURRERE → correr
However, there are exceptions from these rules (I have named some alongside the examples). In some cases I have read that this is a sign that the word has come into Spanish via ways of written communication, while these phonetic transformations mentioned above are a sign that the respective words have made their way into Spanish via an oral route.
Besides this historic reason, are there any known systematic lexical regularities for exceptions of these rules? Or do I just need to know the loan-history of the word to predict whether it is transformed in a way above or not?