Mutations are not exclusive to genes. Languages mutate too and often in a similar way as genes, with just single letter changes (like SNPs in genetics). This happens because humans aren't perfect. They mishear words or mispronounce them. It was all the more frequent before universal education and before languages acquired codified, fixed spellings.
When linguists created the spelling rules of modern Romance languages, they usually used the Latin etymology of words to reshape the new standardised language. Standard Italian bears striking similarities to Latin spellings, unlike Italian dialects that evolved more freely.
In contrast French pronunciation has changed so much from Latin that when French académiciens had to decide on the standard spelling of words, they had to add many silent letters to keep as much resemblance as possible to the Latin root of words. This has become a nightmare for learners of French, be them native or foreign, as the written language bears little similarity to the spoken one. English is in a similar situation.
Spanish may be a phonetic language (it is written exactly as it is pronounced), but that did not prevent it from undergoing mutations before its spelling was codified. I have made a list here.
By category:
When linguists created the spelling rules of modern Romance languages, they usually used the Latin etymology of words to reshape the new standardised language. Standard Italian bears striking similarities to Latin spellings, unlike Italian dialects that evolved more freely.
In contrast French pronunciation has changed so much from Latin that when French académiciens had to decide on the standard spelling of words, they had to add many silent letters to keep as much resemblance as possible to the Latin root of words. This has become a nightmare for learners of French, be them native or foreign, as the written language bears little similarity to the spoken one. English is in a similar situation.
Spanish may be a phonetic language (it is written exactly as it is pronounced), but that did not prevent it from undergoing mutations before its spelling was codified. I have made a list here.
Spanish | French | Italian | Latin |
alimaña | animal | animale | animālia |
ancla | ancre | ancora | ancŏra |
ausentarse | s'absenter | assentarsi | absentare |
bendición | bénédiction | benedizione | benedictiōne |
blandir | brandir | brandire | |
cautivar | captiver | captare | |
desear | désirer | desiderare | desiderare |
disminuir | diminuer | diminuire | deminuĕre |
ensayar | essayer | (assaggiare) | from exagium |
escolta | escorte | scorta | (from Italian) |
honrar | honorer | onorare | honorāre |
invertir | investir | investire | investire |
mensaje | message | messaggio | missaticum (from missus) |
nombrar | nominer | nominare | nomināre |
oso | ours | orso | ursum |
peluca | perruque | parrucca | |
poseer | posséder | possedere | possidère |
postrado | prostré | prostrato | prostatus |
propio | propre | proprio | proprio |
quebrar | crever | crepare | crepāre |
reclutar | recruter | reclutare | (from French) |
rendición | reddition | resa | redditio |
retaguardia | - | retroguardia | (from Italian) |
sentarse | s'asseoir | sedersi | sedere |
soplar | souffler | soffio, soffiare | sufflāre |
temblar | trembler | tremare | tremulāre |
By category:
- Added 'n' : bendición, mensaje, rendición, sentarse
- Other additional consonnant : disminuir, nombrar
- Missing 'r' : desear, oso, postrado, propio, quebrar, temblar, retaguardia
- Shift from 'r' to 'l' : ancla, blandir, escolta, peluca, reclutar
- Shift from 'b' or 'p' to 'u' : ausentarse, cautivar
- Consonnant replaced by another : alimaña, invertir, soplar