Latin oboedio: between phonological explanation and diastratic variation

If we accept the origin of oboedio as a compound of ob and audio, the result is completely clear from the semantic point of view but unexpected from the phonological one. In fact, the diphthong oe is not justifid as a result of reduction (it should be *obūdio, like inclūdo and preclūdo from claudo, and defrdo from frudo, etc.) or of other changes. Th phonological hypothesis is mostly founded on reconstruction of the ancient stages of audio, probably from *aṷizdii̯ ō (ób-aṷizdii̯ō > *oboṷizdii̯ō > *oboizdii̯ō > oboedio). Instead, a second explanation considers oboedio a hypercorrected form of an original that has not survived: *obūdio. Ths paper aims to analyse these reconstructions and selects the only one that would seem to yield effctive results. Using evidence from a sociolinguistic perspective, it explains that oboedio contains a form of hypercorrection, probably invented by middleclass speakers, involving the archaizing and ennobling power of the diphthong oe, which the overall conservatism of Latinity, and in particular of some institutions and uses, (law and religion) may have kept alive.