Reconstruction:Latin/aetaticum

This Latin entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

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From aetātem +‎ -āticum.

• IPA^(key): /eˈdadjo/

*aetāticum m (Proto-Gallo-Romance)

1. age

Attested in Old French from ca. 1100 as edage (Song of Roland)^[1] and Old Franco-Provençal from the thirteenth century as eajo (Li Via seiti Biatrix).^[2] Originated in the north, where it competed with and eventually displaced the descendants of Latin aetātem (> Old French eé), possibly due to severe phonetic attrition in the latter. Failed to penetrate south in the early Gallo-Roman period, judging by the absence of *edatge from Occitan and Catalan, which have instead retained Latin aetātem (> edat). Both later borrowed the French word as atge.

The expected gender of nouns with this suffix in Gallo-Romance is masculine. The variable gender of Old French eage m or f may be due to contamination with the aforementioned synonym eé f.

• Old Franco-Provençal: eiajo, eajo
  • Franco-Provençal: âjo
• Old French: edage, eage, aage m or f (see there for further descendants)

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “aetas”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volumes 24: Refonte A–Aorte, page 237