Final AE in Latin Case-Forms

F. Sommer, in the revised edition of his Handbuch der lateinischen Laut- und Formenlehre, offers no explanation of the development of final -āi in the dative singular of ā -stems (= first declension) to -ae rather than to ī ; see pp. 146, 327–28. Yet the development of the long diphthong āi to ī in non-initial (= unaccented) syllables is certain in the dative-ablative plural of ā -stems, and an identical development of the long ōi is seen in the same forms of the o -stems, where length is assured by the Sanskrit form: inst. pl. devāis = Latin dīvīs. The long diphthong in the dative singular of ā -stems is proved by the Greek ending in ‘terrae,’ ‘deae

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