Latin minimal pairs distinguished only by vowel length

[Iáson]

dicō, dicāre, dicāvī, dicātum 'dedicate', 'give up for something'
dīcō, dīcere, dīxī, dīctum 'say'
(if no-one has mentioned this before)

 

[Iáson]

lūcis (gen. sg. of lūx)
lūcīs (dat./abl. pl. of lūcus)

 

[Clemens]

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.

My dictionary says locative, with a pre-Classical form heic.

 

[Iáson]

pedes 'on foot', 'foot soldier' (nom. sg.; gen. peditis)
pedēs 'feet' (nom. pl. of pēs, pedis); 'lice' (from pedis, pedis); 2sg. subj. of pedō, -āre 'furnish with feet' (rare)
pēdēs 2sg. fut. of pēdō, pepēdi, pēditum 'fart'

cf. also peda 'footstep' (rare), pedō, -ōnis 'someone with broad feet' (also a surname), pedum, -ī 'shepherd's crook', Pedum, -ī (name of a town), which lead to:
pedis ('of the foot')
pēdis ('you sg. fart')
pedīs (dat./abl. pl. 'with footsteps', dat./abl. pl. 'with shepherd's crooks', acc. pl. 'lice')

peda 'footstep' vs. pēdā 'fart!'

pedō 'to/with a shepherd's crook', 'flat-footed' (or from the place name), 'I furnish with feet' vs. pēdō 'I fart'

and so on... whew.

 

[Glabrigausapes]

These are divine things thou utterest.

But is there really a verb of the shape pēdō pēdāre? Or am I missing something?

 

[Bitmap]

But is there really a verb of the shape pēdō pēdāre? Or am I missing something?

Yes.

pedo [2]

Wörterbucheintrag Latein-Deutsch zu »pedo [2]«. Karl Ernst Georges: Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch. Hannover 1918 (Nachdruck Darmstadt 1998), Band 2, Sp. 1537.

www.zeno.org

 

[Pacifica]

That's pedere, not pedare.

 

[Bitmap]

Ow, how temere of me.

 

[Iáson]

pedō, not pēdō, is first conjugation; though L&S only cite forms of the participle and gerundive. I did say it was rare.

 

[Dantius]

pēdā 'fart!'

so this form doesn't exist

 

[Iáson]

Oh yes - sorry, that was my confusion.

Guess it could be a 2nd sg. subj. form with archaic elision of 's'

 

[Glabrigausapes]

Well played.

 

[Quasus]

cēdo ‘I walk’
cĕdo ’give!’

 

[Iáson]

Is the last vowel of the latter short or long?

 

[Quasus]

Secundum Gaffiot, corrupta est. Quoniam terminatio verbi anceps est, unâ et dimidiâ longitudine differunt.

 

[Iáson]

nōn omnīnō intellegō. syllabam quā terminet verbum, sī nīl aliud additur, dīcimus ancipitem esse, ita, sed vōcālis nihilominus habet suam propriam longitūdinem. sed rēctē dīcis - sī secunda vōcālis longa fuisset, vērisimiliter correpta esset ob iambum. sed fortasse aliquis cui maiior facultās Plautum scandendī potest accurātius hoc cōnfirmāre.

 

[Bitmap]

Isn't Plautus written in iambic septenarii and octonarii and other such lovely stuff?

 

[Quasus]

sed vōcālis nihilominus habet suam propriam longitūdinem.

Quae tamen in tempore mutari potest. Legi -o corripi imprimis apud seriores poetas, etiam nonnunquam apud classicos, exempla tamen dare nequeo.

 

[Pacifica]

Persaepe fit. Dubito tamen quos poetas dicas seriores — alii enim alios "seriores" putant.

Catullus scripsit:

Odi et amo. Quare id faciam fortasse requiris.
Nescio sed fieri sentio et excrucior.

Passim fit, ut dixi; hoc tamen exemplum solum continuo succurrit.

 

[Bitmap]

Quae tamen in tempore mutari potest. Legi -o corripi imprimis apud seriores poetas, etiam nonnunquam apud classicos, exempla tamen dare nequeo.

Not every single -o, but the -o of 1st person singular verbs, the -o of future imperatives (memento), and the -o of a nominative singular (like in Naso) can be both long or short* (I think there were other examples, but I don't remember them off the top of my head ... I remember that my dictionary said this could also happen with the gerund in the ablative singular, but I've never seen an example of that).
So, yes, theoretically, the o in cēdo can also be short, although that seems a lot less common to me.

* I'm obviously talking about cases where it cannot be explained by iambic shortening.