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PROVENÇAL LANGUAGE
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Drome, of lsére, and of Hautes Alpes, and Castel, Castanet, Cazal, farther to the south. Analogously, g initial, or second consonant of a group, followed by a, becomesj (i.e. dzh=O. Fr. and Eng. j in jam) in the same zone; G a r ric a is Jarrija, Jarria in Dordogne, Corréze, Cantal, Haute Loire, lsere, and Garriga farther south. Between two vowels t becomes d; edat, emperador, nadal, amada aetatem, imperat6rem, natale, amata). This was

also the case in O. Fr. until about the 10th or 11th century (honurede, emperedur, lavadures, &c., in the Life of St Alexis). But in the northern zone this d, representing a Latin t, fell away as early as in French. In an 1 Ith-century text from the environs of Valence we read muraor, coroaa (*m u r a t 6 r e m, c o r r o g 5. t a), Fr. corvée (P. Meyer, Recueil d'anciens textes, Provencal section, No. 4O)» In the south, Latin d between two vowels was preserved almost everywhere until about the middle of the I2th century, when it became z (as in Fr. and Eng. zero): cruzel, azorar, auzir, vezer (crudelem, adorare, audire, videre). In the 14th and 15th centuries this z, like every z or s soft of whatever origin, was liable to become r (lingual, not uvular): aurir, 'veren (audire, videntem). In Béarn and Gascony d remained; but in the northern zone Latin d, instead of changing into z, r, disappeared as in French and quite as early. The poem of Boethius, of which the MS. is of the 11th century, shows in this respect great hesitation: e.g. d preserved in chaden, credet, tradar, veder (c a d e n the m,

  • credé-dit, *trad§ .re, videre); d fallen away in creessen,

feeltat, traazo, ve12t, ]iar (*credessent, fidelitatem, *tradati6nem,

  • vidutum, p. ple. ofvidére, fidare). Oneof

the most general facts in Pr. is the habit of rejecting Latin final t, of which examples to an number are presented by the verbs. In French this t was formerly retained when it followed a vowel which remained, aimet, entre! (a m a t, in t ra t), and still remains (in writing at least) when, in Latin, it follows a consonant, aiment, fait, vit (amant, facit, *fact, vivit, *vivt); but in Pr. the t is dropped in all cases, even in the most ancient texts: aman, fai, via. Yet in the northern zone we find the t retained in the 3rd per. pl. of verbs, -ant, -ont (Lat. -a nt, -u nt). H has gone completely (or at least only appears through orthographic tradition, and very intermittently, (h)erba, (h)onor, (h)umil, &c.), not only in words of Latin origin, which is the case in Old French, but even in Teutonic words (anta, ardit, arena, ausberc, elm, Fr. honte, hardi, hareng, haubert, heaume, with h aspirated). By this feature, the northern limits of which are not yet well determined, the Provencal attaches itself to the Romanic of the southern countries. N final, or standing in Latin between two vowels of which the second is to be dropped, disappears in the whole central part of the Pr. domain: gran gra, ben be, en e, 'van ve, fin fi, un u (g ra n u m, be n e, in, v e n i t, fi n e m, u n-u m). The forms with n belong to the eastern part (left of the Rhone), the western part (Gascony, but not Béarn), and the region of the Pyrenees. It is possible that this loss of n went along with a lengthening of nnal vowel; at least, in Béarnese when the n falls away the vowel is doubled: caperaa, besii, boo (capellanum, vicinum, bonum), &c.

These are the most important characteristics of the consonants in relation to the extent of space over which they prevail. Others, which appear only within a more limited area, are perhaps more curious on account of their strangeness. It will suffice to mention a few which belong to the district bounded on the west and south by the Atlantic, the Basque provinces and the Pyrenees, and which extends northward and eastward towards the Garonne and its affluents, as far as the Gironde. (This includes Béarn, Bigorre and Gasconyr) Here the sound v no longer exists, being replaced generally by b; between two vowels, in Gascony, by u with the sound of English w. Initial r assumes a prosthetic a: arram, arre, Arrobert (r 5. m u m, r e m, R o b e r t u m). Ll between two vowels becomes r: aperar, caperan, or (Béarn) caperaa, bera, era (a pellare, capellanum, bella, illa). On the contrary, at the end of words (viz. in Romanic) ll becomes g or t, d; the former change seems to belong rather to Hautes and Basses Pyrénées, Landes, the latter to Gironde, Lot et Garonne, Gets: eg, ed, et (ille), arrasteg, -ed, -et(r a s the l l u m), casteg, -ed, -et (c a s the l l u m), capdeg, -ed, -et (c a p i t el l u m), whence Fr. cadet (in 16th century capdet, originally a Gascon word). For further details upon the consonants in this region of south-west France see Romania, iii. 435'43§ » V- 368'369-Flexion.—Old

Provengal has, like Old French, a declension consisting of two cases for each number, derived from the Latin nominative and accusative. In certain respects this declension is more in conformity with etymology in Provengal than in Old French, having been less influenced by analogy. The following are the types of this declension, taking them in the order of the Latin declensions. (1) Words in -a coming from Latin 1st dec], increased by certain words coming from Latin neuter plurals treated in Prov. as feminine singulars; one form only for each number: sing. causa, pl. causas. (2) Words of the Latin 2nd decl., with a few from the 4th; two forms for each number: sing. subject cavals (cab allu s), object caval (c a b al l u m); pl. subject caval (c a b al l i), object cavals (c ab a l l o s. (3) Words of Latin 3rd decl. Here there are three Latin types to be considered. The first type presents the same theme and t e same accentuation in all the cases, e.g. ca n i s. The second 4-93

presents the same accentuation in the nominative singular and in the other cases, but the theme differs: c o-m e s, c o-m i the m. In the third type the accentuation changes: p e c c a-t o r, p e c c at 6-r e m. The first type is naturally confounded with nouns of the 2nd decl.: sing. subj. cans or cas, obj. can or ca. The second and third types are sometimes followed in their original variety; thus cams answers to co-mes, and co-mte to co-mitem. But it has often happened that already in vulgar Latin the theme of the nominative singular had been refashioned after the theme of the oblique cases. They said in the nom. sing. h e r e d is, p a r e n t i s, principis, forheres, parens, princeps. Consequently the difference both of theme and of accentuation which existed in Latin between nominative and accusative has disappeared in Pr. This reconstruction of the nominative singular after the theme of the other cases takes place in all Latin words in -as (except abbas), in those in -io, in the greater 'part of those in -or, at least in all those which have an abstract meaning. Thus we obtain bontatz (b o n itatisforboni tas) and bontat(bonitatem), ciutatz (civitatisforcivitas) andciutat (civitatem), amors (amoris

for a m o r) alld amor (a m o r e m). All present participles in the subject case singular are formed in this way upon refashioned Latin nominatives: amans (a m a n t i s for a m a n s), amant (a m a nt e m). It is to be remarked that in regard to feminine nouns Pr. is more etymological than French. In the latter feminine nouns have generally only one form for each number: bonté for the subj. as well as for the obj. case, and not bontés and bonté; in Pr. on the contrary bontatz and bontat. Still, in a large number of nouns the original difference of accentuation between the nominative singular and the other cases has been maintained, whence there result two very distinct forms for the subjunctive and objective cases. Of these words it is impossible to give a full list here; we confine ourselves to the exhibition of a few types, remarking that these words are above all such as designate persons: a-bas aba-t, pa»stre pasta-r, sor sofa-r, cantai-re cantado-r (c a n t 5. t o r, -6 r e m), emperai-re emperad~0r, bar barocompa-nh companho-, lai-re lairo- (la t r o, -6 n e m). To this class belong various proper names: E~ble Eblo-, Gui Guia-, Us Ugo-. A few have even come from the 2nd decl., thus Pei-res Peiro-, Pans Ponso-, Ca-iles, Carlo, the vulgar Latin types being Petrus, -6nem, Pontius, -6nem, Carolus, -6nem.,

(On this peculiarity of the vulgar Latin declension, see Philipon, in Romania, xxxi. 213-228.) We may mention also geographical adjectives, such as Bret Breto», Befgo-nhz Bergonho-, Gasc Gasco-, &c. The plural of the 3rd decl. is like that of the second: subj. aba-t, soro-r, cantado-r, emperado-r, baro-, companho-, lairaobj. aba-tz, soro-rs, cantado-rs, emperadows, baro-s, companho-s, laira-s, as if the'Latin nominative pl. had been a b b ii t i, s o r 6 r i, c a n t a t 6 ri, &c. It is barely possible that such forms actually existed in vulgar Latin; no trace of them, however, is found in the texts, save in the glosses of Cassel (8th century), sa p i e n ti for s a p i e n the s, and in a great many ancient charters p a r e n t or u m, which implies a nominative p a r e n t i. The words of the 4th and 5th declensions present no points requiring mention here. This declension of two cases is a notable character of the whole Romanic of Gaul, north as well as south, i.e. French as well as Provengal. It must be noted, however, that in the south-west it existed only in a very restricted measure. In thejold texts of Gascony it is no longer general in the 13th century. In Béarn it appears to have been completely unknown, the nouns and adjectives having only one form, usually that of the objective case. In Catalan poetry its application is often laid down in the 13th century, but as the charters and documents free from literary influence show no trace of it, its introduction into the poetry of this country may be assumed to be an artificial fact. In the region where it is best observed, i.e. in the centre and north of the Provencal territory, it tends to disappear from ordinary use already in the 13th century. The poet-grammarian Raimon Vidal of Besalu, who f'flourished about the middle of the century, points out in various troubadours transgressions of the rules of declension, and recognizes that in colloquial speech they are no longer observed. The general tendency was to retain only a single form, that of the objective case. For certain words, however, it was the subjunctive form which survived. Thus in modern Pr. the words in the ending -ai-re (answering to Lat. -a t o r) are as frequent as those in -adow (repr. - a t 6 r e m). But there is a slight difference of meaning between these two suffixes.

Adjectives, generally speaking, agree in fiexion with the nouns. But there is one fact particular to adjectives and past participles which is observed with more or less regularity in certain 12th and 13th-century texts. There is a tendency to mark more clearly than in the substantives the flexion of the subj. pl., chiefly when the adjective or participle is employed predicatively. This is marked by the addition of an i, placed, according to the district, either after the final consonant, or else after the last vowel so as to form a diphthong with it. The following are examples from an ancient translation of the New Testament (MS. in library of the Palais Saint-Pierre, Lyons, end of 13th century): “ Dic a vos que no siatz consirosi ” (ne solliciti sitis, Matt. vi. 25); “ que siatz visti d'els ” (ut v idea mini ab eis, Matt. vi. 1); “ e davant los reis els princeps seretz menadi ” (et ad presides et ad reges ducemini, Matt. x. 18). In charters of