§ 406. Dire (strong verb) (dicere). (a) Dire, redire and contredire, médire, dédire. (B) Maudire. (y) Bénir. (a) The difference between dire, redire and contredire, médire, dédire, is small. In the two former we have still dites from dicitis like faites from facitis. But contredire, médire, dédire make contredisez, médisez, dédisez, after the model of the first person, which has cast off the Latin. In Old French médire and contredire followed dire. Ne medittes mie. (E. DESCHAMPS, 1 th cent.) Contredites has been used in Modern French : Si vous me contredites. (FÉNELON.) In the Misanthrope, Act iii., 4, dédisez is now printed, but in the earliest edition, 1669, Molière wrote dédites: Puisque je l'ai promis, ne m'en dédites pas. (B) Maudire (= mal-dire) has wandered still further from dire; it has assumed `ss like finir, instead of s. Whether it is some fancied analogy between it and the inchoative conjugation in -ir, or the accidental adoption of a form occasionally found in Old French in dire, is not clear: probably it is the former. (y) The verb bénir, from benedicere, has changed still more : it follows finir throughout. In bénit, one of the two participles in use, we see the connecting link. The distinction between béni and bénit is now this: = consecrated. Béni blessed = bénit Les armes qui ont été bénites par l'église, ne sont pas toujours bénies du ciel, sur le champ de bataille. § 407. Savoir (strong verb). (LITTRÉ.) (a) Savoir is from sapère, through sapere. For ere=oir, see recevoir, etc. (B) Sachant, je sache, etc. The ch in these words is obtained through the gradual 'consonification' of the i in sapientem, sapiam. In such Latin words as these, where i is followed by a vowel, i is a semi-consonant. It had in Latin the sound of y in English yes, or j in German ja. To represent this sound the symbol j was introduced in late Latin. To this symbol was given in the Middle Ages the sound it now has, viz., that of a soft aspirated sibilant having a corresponding hard aspirated sibilant ch (see § 95). As only similar consonant sounds will stand together, j in the above words underwent a further change, and became ch between p and t. Eventually the p yielded. Remain sachant, sache. § 408. Seoir, messeoir, surseoir, asseoir, rasseoir (strong verbs). Seoir and its compounds, messeoir, surseoir, asseoir, rasseoir, now form perhaps the most irregular series of verbs in French. SEVIR is from sedere, like voir from videre. In Old French, the dialectic differences which have been noticed in voir, etc. (§ 390), were found in this verb. In all the dialects the radical d vanished early in most forms; the Infinitive was sevir, seir, seer, etc. Assieds, asseois : Only in the Present tense Indicative and Present Imperative, does the radical d remain. The forms in ie are those found in Old French. The e has been diphthonged like the e of tenir, venir: je tiens, je viens; or of acquérir, j'acquiers (§ 392). Asseois is of later manufacture; it was probably obtained directly from the Infinitive asseoir. This certainly is true of asseoirai, surseoirai, etc. Neither form is older than the sixteenth century. Assoyez-vous là. (RABELAIS.) Puis le chirugien s'asseoira sur le banc, vis-a-vis du patient. (PARÉ.) The other forms of the Future are also anomalous. They arise from the attraction of the form in ie. § 395.) (Compare tiendrai, In Old French the Future was regularly asserrai, surserrai, like verrai. Even these forms are now of very rare occurrence.* seventeenth century the whole verb was in common use. * They are given on Littré's authority. In the il seyait il siéra PRESENT CONDITIONAL il siérait PRESENT SUBJUNCTIVE il siée PRESENT PARTICIPLE séant, seyant SEOIR has no compound tenses in either sense. (B) Asseoir, rasseoir. Asseoir and rasseoir are not at all defective. On the con trary, most of their tenses have more than one form. j'assieds or j'asseois or j'assois j'asseyais or j'asseoyais INDICATIVE CONDITIONAL SUBJUNCTIVE IMPERATIVE INFINITIVE j'assis j'assiérai, j'asseyerai, j'asseoirai, or j'assoirai j'assiérais, j'asseyerais, j'asseoirais, or j'assoirais j'asseye or j'asseoye j'assisse assieds, asseois, or assois asseoir asseyant, asseoyant, or assoyant J'asseois or j'assois, j'asseoirai or j'assoirai, are common in familiar conversation, but rare in books: Il s'asseoit où me voilà. (BÉRANGER.) Both asseoir and rasseoir have all their compound tenses. They are usually reflexive. (y) Surseoir. Surseoir is not defective, but it has no double forms like asseoir, rasseoir. § 409. Etre (strong verb). The Latin esse is formed from two roots: (1) es, from which come sum, es, est, sumus, ero, esse, etc. (2) fu, from which come fui, forem, etc. These two roots remain in French 'être,' and, with perhaps one exception, furnish all the tenses. 1. Etre is from esse, through Low Latin essere, estěre, and Old French estre. 2. Etant is probably formed directly from estere and estre, like Imperfect étais. 3. Eté is probably from Old French verb ester (stare).* 4. Sum, es, est, sumus, estis, sunt, have given sui(s), es, est, sommes, êtes, sont. 5. The Past Imperfect j'étais (Old French, estais) is probably the regular Imperfect of Old French estre. 6. The Past Simple fui, etc., has given fu(s), etc. 7. The Future and Present Conditional are derived in the usual way from the Low-Latin Infinitive essere + ai and ais (§ 368). The Old French forms were esserai, esserais, etc., whence serai, serais. * It is this early mixture of the forms of esse and stare which has rendered impossible the separate existence of ester (see § 411), and has made it barely possible to say with certainty whether we have stare in étant, était, and été, or in été alone. Brachet derives étant, étais, directly from estre, and été from status. He makes no attempt at explaining the introduction of été. If étant and étais come directly from the Infinitive être, why may not a past participle have been so formed? Bourguignon thinks that estre had a past participle estu, and says that it remains in the patois of Lorraine. This estu he thinks was rejected for été (stare). The derivation from status leaves the impression that status has been added to the different parts having forms of esse, because esse has no past participle. This is doubtful. Littré derives étant, étais, été, from stare. But he gives no reason for the neglect of the Old French forms from esse, and the adoption of others from stare. † G. Paris and Brachet derive soyons, soyez, from siamus, siatis. Are they not rather of French formation from stem soi? § 410. Defective Verbs (§ 360). Verbs are defective from one of two reasons: (1) The part is wanting because, from the very nature of the verb, it could not be employed. Ex., falloir, pleuvoir, neiger, etc., to which it is scarcely possible to conceive an Imperative Mood, or the usual first and second persons of any tense. (2) The parts wanting have been superseded, either entirely or partially, by those of some other verb: as, chu, which has given way to tombé; clore to fermer, etc.* Many of the forms possessed by these verbs are only found in some isolated phrases or technical expressions, while others, although not thus restricted in their use, are more or less abandoned, and are only kept from becoming utterly obsolete by the remonstrances of grammarians, etc., and the occasional use to which they are put by modern writers. Those forms only are given in §§ 411-420, which are tolerably common in modern works. Grammarians differ very much about the less common ones. In some grammars may be found parts long superseded; and on the contrary, forms are declared to be obsolete which are necessary, and therefore justifiable. § 411. Ester (stare). Ester remains only in ester en jugement, to stand either as plaintiff or defendant in a suit. This verb is chiefly interesting because it seems to have furnished the past participle of être (see § 409). In Old French the verb ester was conjugated in full, but many of its parts resembled those of être (see Burguy, vol. ii. pp. 276-302), and this may possibly have much to do with its having been gradually dropped. Rester, arrêter, where no such confusion was possible, remain. § 411A. Férir (ferire). Férir remains only in sans coup férir, without striking a blow. Till the sixteenth century it was conjugated throughout: INDICATIVE. je fiers nous ferons tu fiers vous ferez il fiert ils fierent je ferais, etc. je feris, etc. je ferrai, etc. CONDITIONAL. je ferrais, etc. SUBJUNCTIVE. je fiere, etc. je ferisse, etc. La ou le soleil feroit. (JOINVILLE, 13th cent.) Et pour ce que je vous vois plus feru (épris) que la chose ne vaut. (LOUIS XI., 15th cent.) * For general causes of the death of words, see Trench's English Past and Present, Chapter Diminutions of the English Language.' |