Reconstruction:Latin/peturnicula

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.

Latin

Alternative reconstructions

*perturnīcula, *pōturnīcula, *quaturnīcula, *quōturnīcula

Etymology

Blend of perdīx (“partridge”) +‎ cōturnīx (“quail”) and suffixed with -ula (diminutive ending).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /peturˈnikʎe/

Noun

*peturnīcula f (Proto-Balkan-Romance)

partridge

Reconstruction notes

Some sources give the reconstruction as *perturnīcula, implying that it took on the /r/ of perdīx. If so the sound would have been lost early on, perhaps via dissimilation, to judge by its absence in the descendants.

Some follow an alternative etymology *quōturnīcula < *quōturnīx < cōturnīx (“quail”). The problems are as follows:

It would not be clear why */kw/ should have developed at all, and in any case its only attested outcome before a rounded vowel is /k/ (as elsewhere in Romance) and not /p/. Cf. the Romanian că, cum < quod, quōmodo.
It would not be clear why the descendants mean "partridge" rather than "quail".[1]
It would not be clear why the first vowel yields /e~i/ in Aromanian and /ə~o/ in Romanian.[2]

Others have proposed *pōturnīcula < *pōturnīx, a supposed Oscan variant of Latin cōturnīx, and *quaturnīcula < cōturnīx, a modification by onomatopoeia (cf. quaccola "quail" or the English quack). Both proposals run into the aforementioned semantic and vocalic issues.[3]

Descendants

Aromanian: pitruniclji, peturiclji
Romanian: potârniche, pătârniche

References

Candrea-Hecht, Ion Aurel. 1902. Les éléments latins de la langue roumaine: Le consonantisme. Paris: Bouillon. Pages 39–40.
Papahagi, T. (1974) “pitrunícl'e”, in Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, 2nd edition (overall work in Romanian and French), Bucharest, page 986
potârniche in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)
Puscariu, Sextil. 1905. Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element. Heidelberg: Winter. Page 120.

Notes

“Little quail” seems an unlikely nickname for a partridge, which is by far the larger bird.
One could assume, ignoring the phonological issues, that once */kw/ developed to /p/, the word could be associated with perdīx (“partridge”), or some derivative thereof, and that there followed a semantic blending. If however one is prepared to admit that level of influence from perdīx, it would inevitably be more economical to attribute the initial /p/ to it as well and start with, say, *pe(r)turnīcula.
For elaboration on the Romanian sound-changes and regional variation, see potârniche.
An original */a/ in the first syllable would not explain the Aromanian /i~e/, while an original */o/ would explain neither the former nor the variation with /ə/ in Romanian.

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[1] “Little quail” seems an unlikely nickname for a partridge, which is by far the larger bird.
One could assume, ignoring the phonological issues, that once */kw/ developed to /p/, the word could be associated with perdīx (“partridge”), or some derivative thereof, and that there followed a semantic blending. If however one is prepared to admit that level of influence from perdīx, it would inevitably be more economical to attribute the initial /p/ to it as well and start with, say, *pe(r)turnīcula.

[2] For elaboration on the Romanian sound-changes and regional variation, see potârniche.

[3] An original */a/ in the first syllable would not explain the Aromanian /i~e/, while an original */o/ would explain neither the former nor the variation with /ə/ in Romanian.