Re: Which is simpler: /y/ or /iw/?

On Wed, Jun 4, 2008 at 11:53 AM, Andreas Johansson <andjo@...> wrote:
>> Ah, so it took a side trip.  Well, that explains the existence of a
>> discrepancy,
> I don't think it explains anything.
Sure it does: it pushes the question back on to the Romance speakers.
No longer is it English borrowing things differently; it's Latin
changing internally.  Poof, no longer my problem. ;-)

Ray pointed out offlist that "simplicare" did exist in Classical
Latin, while "simplificare" is not attested; yet clearly the latter
must have existed in Medieval Latin to give rise to French
"simplifier".  So the mystery is, what happened to the Latin word in
between?

--
Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>

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