Ennius <i>Alii rhetorica tongent</i>: towards the problem of early influence of rural dialects on Latin
The article deals with the origin of the Latin verb <i>tonge</i>ō, its Oscan correspondences, and the relations with L. <i>tonde</i>ō and <i>sponde</i>ō, that have the similarity with <i>tonge</i>ō (vocalism <i>o </i>of the root; the various possible causes of this fact are considered). The hypothesis is that <i>tonge</i>ō (and possibly <i>tonde</i>ō and <i>sponde</i>ō) reflects the specific pronunciation of some rural areas near Rome.