§ 274. Maire, majeur, moindre, mineur. 1. Major has given us the substantive maire (mayor); majorem the word majeur, which is employed as adjective and substantive. 2. Minor remains in the adjective moindre; minorem in mineur, adjective and substantive. $275. Postérieur, extérieur, etc. In addition to the Latin comparatives meilleur, pire, moindre, which are of popular formation, exist the comparatives postérieur, extérieur, etc. (see § 147), which are of learned origin, and are formed from the Latin (ex. antérieur). Like them they have no positive. § 276. Illustrissime, etc. A few Latin superlatives of popular derivation remained in Old French; they have now died out, as grandime, saintime. Some of learned formation are still employed; they are either technical or familiar: Charles douze déclara son beau-frère généralissime de ses armées en Suède. (VOLTAIRE.) Il nous a donné un vin excellentissime. § 277. Cardinals. 1. In Old French vingt score is freely used: Le peis de trois vinz (=60 livres). (ROIs, 12th cent.) Le temple y perdit xiiii -xx homes armez (quatorze-vingt = 280). (JOINVILLE, 13th cent.) 2. The form six-vingts (120) remained till the 17th century, and was in common use by Racine, La Bruyère, Bossuet, etc. It is now obsolete. 3. A blind asylum in Paris still bears the name of les Quinzevingts. It has fifteen score (300) inmates. 4. The simpler forms: septante (70), octante (80), nonante (90), are only now used in the South of France and Switzerland. They are found in Molière, Bossuet, etc.* § 278. Ordinals. a. Prime (Latin primus), instead of premier (Latin primarius), is found in de prime-abord, de prime-saut, and in some technical phrases. Tiers (tertius) for troisième, occurs only in a few sentences: Le tiers état, etc. In the feminine we have fièvre tierce. Quart (quartus) for quatrième, is found in La Fontaine. It is now only used in medicine, fièvre quarte. Quint (quintus) instead of cinq (quinque), is confined to Charles-Quint (Spain), and SixteQuint. b. Used absolutely as substantives, le tiers (3), le quart (4), are the common forms. Le quint () is archaic. But several substantives have form 'quint.' Remain also as technical terms: sixte, none, dîme. CHAPTER II.-PRONOUNS. § 279. Pronouns are either Adjectival: determining a substantive. Substantival: standing instead of a substantive. Pronouns are of six kinds : (a) Personal, Relative, Interrogative, Indefinite: mostly substantival. (b) Possessive. Demonstrative: partly substantival, partly adjectival. Most Personal, Relative, and Interrogative Pronouns have special forms for gender, number, and case. The Possessive and Demonstrative Pronouns have special forms for gender and number, but not for case. Some Indefinite Pronouns have special forms for gender and number, but not for case. Some have neither gender, number, nor case forms. Personal Pronouns. § 280. The Personal Pronouns are all substantival. They may be conveniently divided into— (i) CONJUNCTIVE: closely joined to a verb.* Je parle au garçon, I speak to the waiter. Le guide le voit et lui parle, The guide sees him and speaks to him. (ii) DISJUNCTIVE: not closely joined to a verb.* § 282. CONJUNCTIVE PERSONAL PRONOUNS (reflexive). Me, te, nous, vous, are also used as reflexive pronouns of the Accusative and Dative cases: the Nominative and Genitive are wanting. For the third person there is a special form, se. * En, in reality an adverb (Lat. inde), is commonly employed as a genitive of the third person: Il en parle, he speaks of it. The genitive of the first and second person is wanting. Y, also an adverb (Lat. ibi), is employed as a dative of the third person; Il y va souvent, he goes there often, or he goes to it often. En and y are seldom applied to persons. 1. The Disjunctive Personal Pronouns are sometimes made more emphatic by the addition of the adjective même (-self), as: moi-même myself; I myself. nous-mêmes ourselves; we ourselves. This form is called the "Definitive," and must not be confused with the "Reflexive." Je me vois Je le vois moi-même I see myself I see it myself. Soi without même means oneself, himself, herself, itself, or themselves; but it is more emphatic when même is added. Possessive Pronouns. § 284. The Possessive Pronouns are divided into— ADJECTIVE, determining a noun expressed: Use mon, ton, son instead of ma, ta, sa, when the next word begins with a vowel or unaspirated h: mon orange est bonne, my orange is good; son histoire est longue, his story is long. § 286. SUBSTANTIVE POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS. Plural. le mien le tien le sien la mienne les miens les miennes mine * Hence the use of the Article. † Notice that leur has no special feminine form. |