Is Old Latin a better option for revival than Classical Latin?

When discussing revival of Latin, the subject usually centers around whether Classical Latin or Medieval (Church) Latin would be best. One option rarely (if ever) discussed though is the option of choosing Old Latin, that used before 75 B.C and yet with quite a large corpus thanks to writers like Plautus. The interesting thing about Old Latin is that the older forms of words usually end up being more aesthetically pleasing and/or clear than those from Classical Latin. For example rēx (king) which becomes rēgis in CL is simply rēgs and then rēges in OL, no switching from x to g. One also finds o in place of u much of the time (sum --> som, campus --> campos), thus resembling modern Romance languages a bit more.

Declension is the most interesting part however, as the genitive, dative and ablative seem to be particularly clear. Students of Classical Latin are always having to play around with vowel length in order to distinguish one from the other, whereas Old Latin more often makes a clear distinction with consonants at the end. Classical Latin pullae could either mean of the girl, to the girl, or girls. But in Old Latin we have puellās for of the girl, puellāi for to the girl, and puellāī for girls. The distinction isn't quite so striking in other declensions yet they still end up being a bit clearer; campō in Classical Latin could be either dative or ablative, whereas in Old Latin campō is dative whereas campōd is ablative.

Old Latin does have a large number of alternate forms, but if we are treating it as a revived language then it should be no problem to simply choose the easiest and clearest form (modern users may prefer campe as the plural of campos for example as it is easy to pronounce and doesn't conflict with any other declensions) and then go with that.

Here are some words for comparison. Old Latin is on the left, Classical Latin on the right.


Classical puella, -ae, Old puellā, –āī
girl, maiden f.

	Singular	Plural		Singular	Plural
Nominative	puellā	puellāī		puella	puellae
Genitive	puell-ās/-āī/-ais	puell-om/-āsōm		puellae	puellārum
Dative	puellāi	puell-eis/-abos		puellae	puellīs
Accusative	puellam	puellās		puellam	puellās
Ablative	puellād	puell-eis/-abos		puellā	puellīs

Classical campus, -ī, Old campos, –ī
field, plain m.

	Singular	Plural		Singular	Plural
Nominative	campos	camp-oe/-e/-ei/-ī /-ēs/-eis/-īs		campus	campī
Genitive	camp-ī/-ei	camp-ōm/-ūm		campī	campōrum
Dative	campō	camp-ois/-oes/-eis/-īs		campō	campīs
Accusative	campom	campōs		campum	campōs
Ablative	campōd	camp-ois/-oes/-eis/-īs		campō	campīs

Classical saxum, -ī, Old saxom, –ā
rock, stone n.

	Singular	Plural		Singular	Plural
Nominative	saxom	sax-ā/-ă		saxum	saxa
Genitive	saxī	sax-ōm/-ūm		saxī	saxōrum
Dative	saxō	sax-ois/-oes/-eis/-īs		saxō	saxīs
Accusative	saxom	sax-ā/-ă		saxum	saxa
Ablative	saxōd	sax-ois/-oes/-eis/-īs		saxō	saxīs

Classical rēx, rēgis, Old rēgs, -ēs

	Singular	Plural		Singular	Plural
Nominative	rēgs	rēg-eīs/-īs/-ēs/-ĕs		rēx	rēgēs
Genitive	rēg-es/-is/-os/-us	rēg-om/-um/-erum		rēgis	rēgum
Dative	rēg-ei/-ī/-ē/-ě	rēg-ebus/-ebūs /-ibos/-ibus		rēgī	rēgibus
Accusative	rēgem	rēg-eīs/-īs/-ēs		rēgem	rēgēs
Ablative	rēg-īd/-ĭd/-ī/-ē/-ĕ	rēg-ebus/-ebūs /-ibos/-ibus		rēge	rēgibus

Classical senātus, Old senātus

	Singular	Plural		Singular	Plural
Nominative	senātus	senātūs		senātus	senātūs
Genitive	senāt-uos/-uis/-ī/-ous/-ūs	senāt-uom/-um		senātūs	senātuum
Dative	senātuī	senāt-ubus/-ibus		senātuī	senātibus
Accusative	senātum	senātūs		senātum	senātūs
Ablative	senāt-ūd/-ud	senāt-ubus/-ibus		senātū	senātibus

	Singular	Plural		Singular	Plural
Nominative	ign-is/-es	ign-eīs/-ēs/-īs/-ĕs		ignis	ignēs
Genitive	ignis	ign-iom/-ium		ignis	ignium
Dative	ign-i/-eī/-ē	ign-ibus/-ibos		ignī	ignibus
Accusative	ignim	ign-eīs/-ēs/-īs		ignem	ignīs, ignēs
Ablative	ign-īd/-ĭd /-ī/-ē/-ĕ	ign-ebus/-ebūs /-ibos/-ibus		ignī, igne	ignibus