A Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India v1.c4.70

v1.c4.70

Such words as *ovis*, *avis*, we see at once, have no chance; deprived at an early period of their termination, as superfluous, they sink into *ove*, *ave*, and then into *oë*, *aë*, words too slight and weak for ordinary use. It is this cause which probably led to the survival of the hard, strong words in use among the sturdy peasantry, and of the diminutives in *-culus* and *-cellus*, which give a good working basis. Thus, we find from *avicellus*, Ital. *uccello*, Fr. *oiseau*; from *auricula*, Ital. *orecchio*, Span. *oreja*, Fr. *oreille*; and thus the weak *os*, *oris*, has given way to the coarse and strong *bucca*, Fr. *bouche*, Ital. *bocca*, Span. *boca*.