§ 204. Beau, bel, etc. 'Beau before a consonant, bel before a vowel." This is only true when there would be real hiatus if beau were used. Thus we say, un bel enfant, but il est beau en tout temps. A pause being possible between beau and en, the hiatus is only apparent.* This is true of nouvel, mol, fol, vieux, etc. § 205. Franque, franche. That Franque and franche have a common origin is very interestingly illustrated by Archbishop Trench. Moreover the extract is à propos in other respects (§ 7) :"What a record of great social revolutions in nations, and in the feelings of nations, the word "Frank" contains, which is used, as we all know, to express aught that is generous, straightforward, and free. The Franks, I need not remind you, were a powerful German tribe, or association of tribes, who gave themselves this proud name of the 'Franks,' or the free, and who at the breaking-up of the Roman Empire possessed themselves of Gaul, to which they gave their own name. They were the ruling, conquering people, honourably distinguished from the Gauls and degenerate Romans, among whom they established themselves, by their independence, their love of freedom, their scoin of a lie; they had, in short, the virtues which belong to a conquering and dominant race in the midst of an inferior and conquered one. And thus it came to pass that, by degrees, the name of 'Frank' indicated not merely a national, but involved a moral distinction as well; and a 'frank' man was synonymous not merely with a man of the conquering German race, but was an epithet applied to any man possessed of certain high moral qualities which for the most part appertained to, and were found only in, men of that stock; and thus in men's daily discourse, when they speak of a person as being 'frank,' or when they use the words franchise, enfranchisement,' to express civil liberties and immunities, their language here, as the outgrowth, the record, and the result of great historic changes, bears test mony to facts of history whereof it may well happen that the speakers have never heard." § 206. The diæresis in aiguë. As u is not sounded in the syllable -gue (see § 76), (e.g. figue) the diæresis (") is added to the feminine of adjectives that end in gu, to show that the sound of u is to be preserved : Aigu, aiguë; exigu, exiguë. * See 'hiatus.' (§ 100. 1.) † A small part of Gaul is more correct. § 207. Grand' mère, grand' mères. 1. Adjectives like clarus, clara; altus, alta; bonus, bona; which in Latin have one form for the masculine, and one for the feminine, had also two forms in Old French: clers, clere; halts, halte; bons, bone. Puis il s'ecrie (Charlemagne) a sa vois grant et halte (haute). (Ch. de Roland, 11th cent.) D'or est la boucle et belle a esgarder. (Ronciv., 12th cent.) 2. On the contrary, adjectives like grandis, legalis, which in Latin have only one form for both the masculine and feminine, had in Old French only one word for both genders: Hui nous defaut la leial compagnie. (Ch. de Roland, 11th cent.) Qui vaut mieux par raison loial folie ou sage trahison. (COUCY, 12th cent.) 3. In the fifteenth century the two kinds of adjectives were wrongly treated in the same way. To both kinds the letter e was added in the feminine. This is the modern rule.* 4. The correct etymological feminine survives in the following compounds: grand' cérémonie, grand' chère, grand' chose, grand' faim, grand' soif, grand' hâte, grand' mère, grand' messe, grand' peine, grand' peur, grand' pitié, grand' rue.f 5. The addition of an apostrophe to represent the elision of the imaginary e is posterior to the sixteenth century.‡ It has created a genuine irregularity in Modern French; viz., the omission of s in the plural forms of the feminine: des grand' mères. This irregularity was unknown before the sixteenth century: Le discord et les grands haines. (FROISSART, 15th cent.) 6. Thus it will be seen that in grand' mère, grand' mères, etc., (1) The omission of e is right. (2) The addition of an apostrophe is wrong. (3) The omission of s is wrong. * In Lettres royaux, archaic law term, is found the regular form. (See Adverbs.) † Grand' bande, grand' chambre, grand'salle, grand' coiffe, grand'garde, grand' sœur, grand pompe, grand' mode, grand part, occur in authors of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. "Le bal et la grand bande, à savoir deux musettes. "-MOLIÈRE. It seems to have been the invention of Vaugelas, or of some of the grammarians of his time. It is strange that, till quite lately, no better reason should have been given for this omission of the e than the one given even now in almost every descriptive grammar; viz., euphony. Bescherelle points out that the euphony which required grand' mère would necessitate our saying grand' mer, instead of the form invariably employed, grande mer. But he does not seem to have discovered the origin of the anomaly; he gives it up as "inexplicable." The apostrophe was not added to grand merci, but merci had the masculine gender thrust upon it (§ 239): a worse blunder. § 208. Defective Adjectives. 1. Fat (foppish) is only applied to men, and has no need of a feminine. For a like reason other adjectives want either a feminine or a masculine; thus, 2. Paillet (pale) is only said of vin (wine), du vin paillet. 3. Aquilin is only said of nez (nose): un nez aquilin. 4. Crasse (gross) in ordinary French is only said of ignorance: une ignorance crasse. 5. Romane (romance) is only said of langue: les langues romanes. 6. Plénière (plenary, complete). The dictionary of the Academy gives no masculine, but the masculine plénier is found in the best authors: Rien de si plénier. (MONTESQUIEU, 18th cent.) Le contraste plénier. (ST. SIMON, 18th cent.) Nevertheless it is mostly added to indulgence. Une indulgence plénière. 7. Dispos has ceased to have a feminine. The reason is wanting. The feminine is found in older French : Il les trouve disposes. (DESPERIERS, 16th cent.) 8. Châtain. It is not usual to give a feminine form to châtain; possibly because châtain has mostly a substantive use: barbe d'un châtain clair. 9. Hébreu has no feminine; hébraïque is employed instead: le texte hébreu, le texte en langue hébraïque. (LITTRÉ.) § 209. S as a mark of the Plural. In Old French of the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, substantives had still two cases, the remains of the Latin six cases : (1) The case of the subject (sujet). (2) The case of the object (régime). A. Use of the Two Cases. 1. The Subjective was strictly the nominative of a finite verb. 2. The Objective, although (a) mostly employed as the case of the direct object of a transitive verb, also occurs frequently (b) without an assistant preposition as a possessive or attributive genitive.* *This old genitive remains in a few phrases: Dieu merci (merci de Dieu); hôtel-Dieu; fête-Dieu; bain-marie (bain de marie); de par le roi (de la part du roi); de par le monde. Compare the archaism: Dieu grâce "Ils sont Dieu grâce, madame, en parfaite santé."-MOLIÈRE. "Il était presque sans ressource, lorsque le gouvernement de Guyenne lui tomba de Dieu grâce."-ST. SIMON. Faire la volontait son pere (de son père). (ST. BERNARD, 12th cent.) Je vous envoierai le pere ma femme (de ma femme). (VILLEHARDOUIN, 13th cent.) (c) Other relations require prepositions with the same objective forms. (See below for examples.) B. Formation of the Two Cases. In the formation from the Latin of these Old French cases, we find (a) the accented or tonic syllable of the Latin always preserved, and (b) the distinctive endings of the Latin declensions to some extent respected (§§ 38, 40). It will be necessary to treat of this in detail. * I. (a) In every declension of the Latin except the first are found nouns with s final in the nominative singular. In the second declension it is the characteristic letter. (b) S always ends the dative and ablative plural. (c) In the accusative plural it is only in the neuter that s final is not found. But the neuter seems to have died out in the popular Latin of Gaul, at least as early as the fourth or fifth century, and would not influence the declensions of Old French. Hence, in Old French, almost all nouns, including infinitives, employed substantively 1. Put 's' to the Subjective singular and Objective plural. 2. Omit 's' in the Objective singular and Subjective plural. This is known as the 'rule of s.' II. The Old French resultants of the first Latin declension seem successfully to have resisted the influence of the 'rule of s.' With them no s was ever put in the subjective singular. They ássume one, on the contrary, in the Subjective plural. The reason is not apparent. III. Again, the imparisyllabic resultants of such nouns as homo, ho'minem, (especially those which shift the accent with the increase of syllable, la tro, latronem), are found sometimes with s in the nominative singular, sometimes without s; the change of accent or of form being with them often + considered a sufficient distinction. IV. Two or three declensions are thus produced :— * Even in the first are found some Greek nouns in s. † Often,' for the rule of s in later manuscripts is applied to almost all nouns, without regard to etymology. (See Chips from a German Workshop.) FIRST DECLENSION. SINGULAR. SUBJECTIVE: Voie (via) OBJECTIVE: Vvoie (viæ, viam, etc.) PLURAL. voies (via) voies (vias, viis, etc.) La glorie d'icest munt n'est longement durant. (Thomas le Martyr, 12th cent.) Deux! dist li reis si penuse (pénible) est ma vie. (Chanson de Roland, 11th cent.) (Berte, 13th cent.) Al roi de gloire, merci prist a crier. (Ronciv., 12th cent.) Il m'enseigna la voie. Si j'avoie cent vies. SECOND DECLENSION (First Series). SINGULAR. SUBJECTIVE: murs (murus) OBJECTIVE: mur (murum, muri, etc.) Ou vient li rois la va li lois. PLURAL. (Id.) (PH. MOUSTRES, 13th cent.) (Berte, 13th cent.) (Berte, 13th cent.) Joieusement (ils) chevauchent n'est riens qui les tourmente. (Id.) Il furent bon ami. SUBJECTIVE: lerre, or lerres (la tro) larron (latrones). OBJECTIVE: larron (latronem) Hom (je) sui Roland (de Roland). larrons (latrones, etc.) (Chanson de Roland, 11th cent.) La fu mors uns haus homs de Flandres. (VILLEHARDOUIN, 13th cent.) Grant peche fait qui son homme veut prendre par beau sem blant monstrer. (COUCY, 12th cent.) Et par la grace de Dieu si advint que li quens (comte) Thiebaus de Champaigne et de Brie prie la crois. (VILLEHARDOUIN, 13th cent.) Cil dui conte estoient cousin germain et neveu le roi de France. Li faus enfes qui crie por la bele estoile avoir. Par tels paroles vous ressemblez enfant. (id.) (COUCY, 12th cent.) (Chanson de Roland, 11th cent.) |