Lesser-known Historical Grammars of Latin VII

Mariano Bassols de Climent was a professor of Latin at Barcelona, best known for his two volume Sintaxis latina (1956).  The work pictured at left is not quite as ambitious. It's a mid-sized review of the standard subjects.  It is thorough and accurate as far as Latin goes (forms from Sanskrit are often incorrect or missing diacritics). Fonetica latina was first published in 1962 and included an appendix on "fonematica latina", i.e. a structuralist sketch of the sound system by Sebastian Mariner Bigorra.

The 8th edition (1992) has 4 pages of addenda, mostly devoted to the laryngeal theory—the non-standard model of Rodriguez Adrados gets an endorsement.  It is interesting to compare this work and Faria's work, both published about the same time with the same scope.  Personally, I find Faria a more thought-provoking  book.  But that is not a knock on Bassols de Climent's book, which serves its purpose and audience well.


Bassols de Climent, Mariano, 1992. Fonetica latina, 8th ed. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas.