Final Theta in Spanish

[David L. White]

> You're right, (in areas where it occurs) /-_DH_/ > /-_TH_/ only
> occurs finally --at the end of words or syllable final before nasals (I
> can't think of any other consonants that might follow <d>)

        I meant theta from Latin /k/ before /i, e/, corresponding to various
affricates and sibilants in other Romance.  I was not aware (or had managed
to forget) that in some cases (one might also note "paz") final vowels had
been lost, pretty much destroying my developing argument, unless perhaps the
present situation has been created by some sort of dialect mixture.  Why are
these words so rare, evidently?  Should not all Latin 3rd declension nouns
in /k/ show up with final theta in Spanish, if "lux" and "pax" do?  I cannot
at the moment think of any more, but there must have been more than 2 ...

                                                        Dr. David L. White