§ 426. Formation of Adverbs. A. Adverbs have been obtained from Latin particles, sometimes with, sometimes without, composition with other particles, etc. ou, loin, tandis, souvent, donc, mieux, non, ne, la, quand, y, hier, mal, ici, devant, demain, derrière, dessous, depuis, dessus, assez, ensemble, etc. B. Adverbs have been obtained from nouns and adjectives: i. Adverbs obtained from oblique case (mostly accusative) of nouns or of adjectives, without preposition: (1) Bas, bon, chaud, clair, exprès, haut, mauvais, seul, vite, bref, faux, vrai. (2) Moult, (archaic) peu, trop. (3) Encore, lors. ii. Adverbs obtained from oblique cases of nouns and adjectives with accompanying prepositions-mostly de, à, en, par: de côté, de jour, davantage, (d'avantage), d'accord. à présent, à droite, à gauche, à l'anglaise, à l'avenir, à côté, à peine, à midi, à l'instant, alors, aval, à reculons, etc. environ, en vain, en face, en retard, en vérité, ensuite, etc. parmi, parfois, etc. iii. Adverbs formed by repetition of nouns: côte à côte, tête à tête, vis-à-vis, etc. C. Adverbs have been obtained by composition of feminine adjectives with -ment. This suffix has its origin in mente (with a mind), the ablative case of the Latin feminine substantive mens (§ 435). This is the only living mode of forming adverbs. Special Rules and Exceptions (§ 435). (a) Adjectives in -ant and -ent* form their adverbs in -amment and -emment respectively: as, constant, constamment; évident, évidemment. (B) Adjectives in i, u, é, now drop the e mute of the feminine: thus vrai makes vraiment; absolu, absolument; modéré, modérément. But beau, nouveau, fou, mou (§ 147), regularly form their responding adverbs from the feminines belle, nouvelle, folle, molle. Gai still makes gaiement or gaiment; dû makes dument; assidu, assidument (§ 56. iv.); impuni makes impunément. (y) Traîtreusement (treacherously), gentiment (prettily), brièvement (briefly), are anomalous forms. (8) The following Adjectives now take an acute accent over the final e when -ment is added : But lent, slow, and présent, follow the general rule. These must not be confused with such words as assurément from assure, assurée, where the e of the feminine has dropped out. |