Reconstruction:Latin/ovum

Etymology
From Classical Latin.

Noun

 * 1) egg

Reconstruction notes
Two explanations have been proposed for the development of */ɔ/ from /oː/. Perhaps most straightforwardly, there may have been dissimilatory pressure from the following */β/. Cf. , <, . A somewhat convoluted alternative is to start with */ˈoβu/ and posit that first */β/ was lost due to the following rounded vowel, then */ˈou/ dissimilated to */ˈɔu/, then */ɔ/ analogically spread from the singular to the plural (resulting in */ˈɔβa/), and finally */β/ spread from the plural back to the singular (resulting in */ˈɔβu/).

and could derive either from  or directly from. In the former case this reconstruction would have to be assigned to Proto-Romance proper.

It seems virtually certain that if not all then at the very least one of the several occurrences of ⟨ovum⟩ in late or early medieval Latin would have represented a pronunciation with [ɔ]. It is not clear how one might actually prove this in any given case.

Derived terms

 * *ŏva

Descendants

 * Dalmatian:
 * Italo-Romance:
 * North Italian:
 * Gallo-Romance:
 * Ibero-Romance:
 * North Italian:
 * Gallo-Romance:
 * Ibero-Romance:
 * Gallo-Romance:
 * Ibero-Romance:
 * Gallo-Romance:
 * Ibero-Romance:
 * Gallo-Romance:
 * Ibero-Romance:
 * Ibero-Romance:
 * Ibero-Romance:
 * Ibero-Romance:
 * Ibero-Romance:
 * Ibero-Romance:
 * Ibero-Romance: