Romance Languages
In many of the Romance languages, the Vulgar Latin vowels e and o in stressed position sometimes underwent breaking. The result of breaking varies between languages: e and o become ie and ue in Spanish, but ea and oa in Romanian.
In some languages breaking is absent in some cases.
- Latin mortem "death" (acc.) → Spanish muerte (breaking), but French mort (no breaking)
- Latin festa "feast" (neuter plural) → Spanish fiesta, but Middle French feste, Modern French fête (no breaking)
Read more about this topic: Vowel Breaking
Famous quotes containing the words romance and/or languages:
“The California fever is not likely to take us off.... There is neither romance nor glory in digging for gold after the manner of the pictures in the geography of diamond washing in Brazil.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“Wealth is so much the greatest good that Fortune has to bestow that in the Latin and English languages it has usurped her name.”
—William Lamb Melbourne, 2nd Viscount (1779–1848)