Fitonimi del napoletano con plurale in -a

Abstract

This study presents a group of Neapolitan phytonymic lexemes from the 2nd Latin declension that exhibit a mixed paradigm from a morphological point of view (singular in -o, plural in -a and/or -e): àceno, aceniéllo, agrumme, ceraso, cetrangolo, cétro, cetrulìllo, cetrulo, chiuppo, ciéuzo, cutugno, crisuómmolo, granato, limunciéllo, melillo, milo, niéspolo, percuóco, piérzeco, piro, pruno, pummo, purtuallo, suórvo, turzìllo, turzo. Such a sample of entries allows us to reflect on the problem of the existence of a distinct morphological gender in central-southern dialects, the “alternating neuter”, which would characterise nouns with singular in -o and plural in -a (and/or -e), of the piro/pera type, first theorised by Loporcaro-Paciaroni (2011).