Latin minimal pairs distinguished only by vowel length

[Philip Newton]

What are some examples of words which are distinguished only by vowel length in Latin?

The first that comes to my mind is nominative versus ablative singular in first-declension nouns, which covers a whole host of nouns of course, e.g. via versus viā.

Another I came across yesterday is pārēre ‘obey’ versus parere ‘give birth’.

And I think hīc ‘here’ versus hic ‘this’, unless they’re the same word or one is a form of the other?

What are some other examples?

 

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

Mala mali malo mala contulit omnia mundo.

 

[Ater Gladius]

Os.

 

[Ignis Umbra]

And I think hīc ‘here’ versus hic ‘this’, unless they’re the same word or one is a form of the other?

They're not the same word. The former is an adverb while the latter is the nominative masculine singular form of the demonstrative pronoun.

 

[Philip Newton]

Mala mali malo mala contulit omnia mundo.

Ah, right, mal-. How many mal- words are there?

mālo ‘I would rather’, mălum ‘an evil, mischief’, mālum ‘apple’, mălus ‘bad’, mālus ‘apple tree’, mālus ‘a mast, pole, beam’? Any others?

Also, what does your sentence mean?

Os.

Ah, ōs, ōris ‘mouth’ versus ŏs, ossis ‘bone’. Interesting, thanks!

They're not the same word. The former is an adverb while the latter is the nominative masculine singular form of the demonstrative pronoun.

I was wondering whether the adverb could have been some fossilised case form of the demonstrative pronoun.

 

[Ignis Umbra]

I was wondering whether the adverb could have been some fossilised case form of the demonstrative pronoun.

Ah. I'm not sure about that, then.

 

[Riumka]

pōpulus / populus
pīla / pila
incīdere / incidere

 

[Philip Newton]

pōpulus / populus
pīla / pila
incīdere / incidere

Interesting; thank you!

 

[Imber Ranae]

There are quite a few, actually.

Ah, right, mal-. How many mal- words are there?

mālo ‘I would rather’, mălum ‘an evil, mischief’, mālum ‘apple’, mălus ‘bad’, mālus ‘apple tree’,mālus ‘a mast, pole, beam’? Any others?

māla 'jaw'

Also, what does your sentence mean?

It appears to be an hexameter: Māla malī mālō mala contulit omnia mundō. So that would make it: 'By an apple did the jaw of an evil man bring all ills into the world.' Perhaps a reference to the fall of Adam.

 

[Laurentius]

Liber and līber, genitives leporis and lepōris, of lepus and lepos, and since none writes it, anus and ānus.

 

[Imber Ranae]

Apparently it's a Medieval distich:

Mala mali malo mala contulit omnia mundo;​

Causa mali tanti femina sola fuit.​

​

By an apple the jaw of a villainous man every ill to our world did bring;​

But woman alone was the cause of so monstrously evil a thing.​

 

[Laurentius]

Funny, before reading your translation I associated sola with causa.

 

[Imber Ranae]

It doesn't seem to affect the meaning much either way.

 

[Pacifica]

Plaga and plága, refert and réfert, est and ést, edó and édó, venit (pres.) and vénit (perf.), óris (gen. sg. of ós) and órís (dat./abl. pl. of óra).

 

[Weebl]

Fugit (present) and fūgit (perfect).

 

[Imber Ranae]

Vocative masculine singular of 1st/2nd declension adjectives (-e) vs their typically derived adverbs (-ē), e.g. prāve vs prāvē.

Present active infinitive (-ere) / 2nd person singular passive imperative (-ere) / 2nd person singular present passive indicative (-eris or -ere) vs 2nd person singular future passive indicative (-ēre or -ēris) of 3rd conjugation verbs (unless i-stem).

fūror (verb) vs furor (noun)

levis ('light') vs lēvis ('smooth')

venīre ('come') vs vēnīre ('go for sale/be sold').

vōcem/vōcēs (from vōx) vs vocem/vocēs (from vocāre).

 

[Pacifica]

I was wondering whether the adverb could have been some fossilised case form of the demonstrative pronoun.

It looks like it must be. A fossilized locative would make sense, but the form is reminiscent of the instrumental too, so I'm not sure.

 

[Ater Gladius]

Vincere and vincēre.

The nominative and ablative of first declension noun/adjectives.

The singular and plural nominative of fourth declension nouns.

 

[Imber Ranae]

acer ('maple tree') vs ācer ('sharp')

latus 'side/flank' vs lātus ('wide' or PPP of ferre)

legit (present) vs lēgit (perfect)

Vincere and vincēre.

There is no such form as vincēre*.

The nominative and ablative of first declension noun/adjectives.

He mentioned that one in the first post.

The singular and plural nominative of fourth declension nouns.

Genitive singular, too. This only applies to masculine and feminine nouns of the 4th declension.

 

[Philip Newton]

Thank you very much for the other responses so far!

I had also wondered whether there might be any homonyms-but-for-length in form between present and perfect, and there have been several examples of that posted.