Suffixal Rivalries in Medieval Spanish: Preliminary Observations on the Fate of Old Spanish Deverbal Abstract Nouns in -miento

Abstract

Medieval Hispano-Romance was rich in neologisms created through suffixal derivation. Almost all the suffixes in question were inherited from Latin through oral transmission. Over time, as Spanish became more elaborated for use as a literary and scholarly language, new derivatives entered as Latinisms, often creating situations of rivalry between derivatives with vernacular and Latinate suffixes. This short paper will offer an introduction to the rivalry of deverbal abstract nouns in -miento with synonymous and functionally-similar derivatives showing Latinate suffixes, especially -ción and -ancia, -encia. The lists of Old Spanish -miento derivatives in Pattison (1975) and in Penny (1987) form the core of the data base for this study.