$ 383. Traire (weak verb), trahĕre.

Traire, in Old French, had the meaning it has in Latin, to draw. It is now restricted to the sense of to milk. The real meaning of the root is better seen in attraire (attract), distraire (distract).

Why the Past Simple in these verbs should be wanting is not apparent, unless it be that a confusion was created between it and different forms of trahir. As in old French the pronunciation and the spelling was often similar, this is probably the reason: Sa mere l'enseigna a Dieu croire et a amer, et li atraït entour li toutes gens de religion. (JOINVILLE, 13th cent.) Compare: Qui ainsi m'as traïe de traïson cruel. (Berte, 13th cent.)

§ 384. Saillir and compounds (weak verbs). (a) Saillir is derived from salire through sallire.

Till the sixteenth century, both this verb and its compounds assaillir, tressaillir, were throughout non-inchoative in form. Then the influence of the inchoative conjugation began to show itself. Two forms were given to saillir; one with all the inchoative tenses possessed by finir; the other non-inchoative, like sentir. To the form like finir was given the sense to gush out. To the non-inchoative form was given the sense of to jut out. These distinctions still exist :

Les eaux saillissent; but
Ces balcons saillent.

(B) Both assaillir and tressaillir follow the non-inchoative form only tressaillant, tressaillais, assaillant, j'assaillais, etc. But tressaillit for tressaille is found:

:

Il tressaillit de joie de voir multiplier ses pratiques.

(MONTESQUIEU.)

Un jeune animal tranquille habitant des forêts, qui entend le son éclatant d'un cor, en tressaillit, bondit et fuit.

Compare VÊTIR, etc., § 388.

(BUFFON.)

(y) Till the sixteenth century, the forms je saul, tu saus, il saut, j'assaul, tu assaus, il assaut, j'assaudrai, etc., were in use. Un jour qui n'est pas loin, elle (l'église) verra tomber la troupe qui l'assaut.

Le cœur ne me tressaut.

Compare faillir.

(MALHERBE.) (REGNIER.)

In je

§ 385. Battre (weak), batuĕre or battuĕre. Batuere or battuere was battere or batere in Low Latin. bats, tu bats, il bat, we have the form with one t. Moreover, as double final consonants never occur in French, the t of the ending is omitted in il bat. Compare il met, it vêt, il connaît, etc. As d and t are both dentals, the same omission of the t of the ending occurs in il vend, il coud, il moud.

§ 386. Coudre (weak verb), consuĕre.

(a) The real Present stem of the Verb is better seen in cousant, cousais, couse, etc.

(B) d in coudre. The sound of s and r stand with difficulty together; t or d is commonly inserted to help the pronunciation. Usually s yields, and leaves the combination dr, tr.

Compare moudre, résoudre, voudrai, vaudrai, tiendrai, faudrai, etc.

§ 387. Suivre (sequi, through Low Latin sequere).

(a) The Present Singular, je suis, tu suis, il suit, is regularly strong, like the old infinitive, suire or suir, which was common in Old French, side by side with sivre, sievre, etc. The two forms combined to form suivir, employed by Froissart, Marot, etc.;

then suivre.

(B) From suivir we have suivi, je suivis. Froissart has even suivissent, suivira, etc., but these forms have left no trace.

(y) S'ensuivre (to follow, to result) is conjugated in third person and Infinitive only. It is usually impersonal: il s'ensuit the result is.

§ 388. Vêtir (weak verb) (vestire).

(a) Vêtir is now definitely non-inchoative; but inchoative forms occur in some of the best authors of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Les Turcs achetèrent les habits des pestiférés s'en vêtissent, (MONTESQUIEU.)

etc.

De leurs molles toisons les brebis se vêtissent. (DELILLE.) Compare saillir, faillir (§ 384). The same struggle between the inchoative and non-inchoative forms occurred in revêtir, now non-inchoative. But investir, another compound of vêtir, has all the inchoative forms possessed by finir.

(8) The present singular is je vêts, tu vêts, il vet; but je vêtis, tu vêtis, il vêtit, are found. So revêtir.

Le cocotier qui ombrage, loge, vêtit, nourrit. (VOLTAIRE.)
On revêtit ses pensées en paroles.
(BOSSUET.)

Here again investir always follows finir.

(y) The Past Participle vêtu is anomalous. Vesti and vestu are both found in Old French: Investir has still the older and regular form investi.

$389. Courir (strong verb).

The

Je courrai: Courir is from currère, through currere. strong infinitive courre, from currere, was in common use till the seventeenth century.

De ces jeunes guerriers la flotte vagabonde allait courre fortune aux orages du monde. (MALHERBE, 16th cent.)

Pour s'encourager à courre dans la carrière.

Ce sera à lui à courre, et il courra.

We have of this strong infinitive:

(BOSSUET, 17th cent.)

(SÉVIGNÉ, 17th cent.)

(a) The phrase courre le cerf (hunt the stag).

(b) The Future Indicative and Present Conditional, je courrai, je courrais.

In

§ 390. Voir and compounds (strong verbs). (a) Je verrai, je rcverrai, je prévoirai, je pourvoirai. the thirteenth century the present infinitive was veoir (compare asseoir) in the Burgundian dialect, veir in the Picardian dialect, veer in the Normandy dialect. Veoir has given us voir and the different forms in oi and oy. The other forms of the infinitive may have left us je verrai, je verrais; but see § 398. follows voir. Prévoir (foresee) and pourvoir (provide), have je prévoirai, je pourvoirai; but both are modern. In Old French préverrai and pourverrai were more correctly employed. (See § 398.)

Dieu y pourverra.

Revoir

(CALVIN, 16th cent.) The future je voirai occurs in comparatively Modern French. Et ne la voirait ou si fière ou si belle.

(REGNIER, 17th cent.) (B) Il vit, il prévit, and il pourvut. In all the dialects il vit (vidit), etc., is found till the latter part of the thirteenth century, when il viut is occasionally seen.* The older and more correct form vit is retained in voir and prévoir, but pourvoir has pourvut.

§ 391. Envoyer, renvoyer and dévoyer, fourvoyer, convoyer (weak verbs).

The

Envoyer, to send, renvoyer, send away again, make j'enverrai, je renverrai. Dévoyer, to place the wrong way, fourvoyer, to mislead, louvoyer, to tack, make dévoyerai, fourvoyerai, louvoyerai. Both forms are regular. It is perhaps as with voir, je verrai, prévoir, je prévoirai, mainly a question of dialect. Burgundy dialect had as infinitive envoier, the Normandy dialect enveer. Envoyer and renvoyer have preferred the Norman; the other three the Burgundian. See, however, § 398, for a more probable explanation.

* See Burguy, vol. ii., p. 70.

§ 391A. Cueillir.

Cueillir is from colligere, through colligere, or colligire. The verb in Old French was commonly conjugated as a non-inchoative verb of the second conjugation. But we find also je cueille, etc., and cueiller. These forms remain in:

(a) Je cueille, tu cueilles, il cueille.

(b) Je cueillerai, je oueillerais.

§ 392. Variations in Present Stem depending on Tonic Accent.

1. Use of accent or double consonant in tonic syllable. (§ 353. ii. b.)

The only living modes of strengthening the tonic syllables are (a) the addition of a grave accent, (b) the addition of a second consonant.

The verbs in -eler, -eter, in which it is usual to employ an accent instead of doubling the consonant, are:

2. The strengthened syllable in the Future and Conditional. (§ 353. ii. a.)

Only the last sounded syllable of a word bears the tonic accent, but every medial syllable which is followed by a mute syllable really bears a minor accent (§ 79 note). Hence such modifications in the orthography as lèverai, jetterai, are correct in principle, although, as the grave accent or doubled consonant is employed for the full accent, they exceed the necessities of the case; strictly speaking, an intermediate symbol is needed. Whether we write je répéterai or répèterai seems indifferent, for either accent marks imperfectly the semi-tone. In some verbs it would seem better not to strengthen in any way the medial syllable preceding a mute syllable, for the sonant character of the syllable preceding the one which would be strengthened, destroys practically the semi-tone; hence j'épousseterai, moucheterai, etc., are defensible forms, and are sometimes used. But they in no way authorize épousete, étiquete, where it is no longer a question of semi but of full tone.

3. Strengthened syllable in Old French (diphthongaison).

In Old French the number of verbs which varied their present stem, according as the tonic accent was on that stem or on the ending, was much greater than at present. The mode of strengthening differed according to the dialect and according to the century. Without entering into details, it may shortly be stated that, except in the Normandy dialect, where the simple vowel was preferred (§ 28),

ue and eventually eu (see § 82), or
ui, or
oi.

(a) Amongst others, the following verbs of Modern French have adopted the diphthonged stem of some one dialect or some one period, either as the stem of the verb, or as the present stem only:

Lat. nascere) nasse z

3. nasci (Low nasso'ns

Originally ai was always a diphthong, as it is now in aille,

faille, etc.

4. cognoscere

conessons conoi's

connoître

conessei'z conoi'stre

(whence connaître)

* Littré, in his Histoire de la Langue Française, ascribes all these changes to the conflicts of dialects, and sees no leading principle (see vol. i., pp. 65, 127, 338; vol. ii., pp. 102, 115).

Brachet, Grammaire Historique, follows Littré, but has since gone over to Diez, who apparently first noticed that most short accented vowels were thus strengthened.

In all probability neither view is wrong; we owe our variations in spelling and pronunciation to both influences, but mainly perhaps to the power of the tonic accent.

Burguy, in his Grammaire de la Langue d'Oil, has given numberless examples of the strengthened syllable. He recognises somewhat the same principle as Diez. Unfortunately he has given the name of 'strong' to the verbs which change the vowel, and weak' to the others. This classification is open to serious objection. (See G. Paris, L'Accent. Latin, p. 103.)