368 THE STUDY OF FRENCH IN FOREIGN UNIVERSITIES. 



apply solely to the words of so-called popular or primi- 

 tive formation, which constitute the fundamental stock of the 

 language, and not to the vocables of learned or artificial forma- 

 tion, which were borrowed straightway, in barely frenchified 

 form, from classical Latin, and with which scholars of all times 

 after the Renaissance have consecutively enriched the vocabu- 

 lary.* But wherever these laws prevail they do not allow of any 

 exception. Every apparent exception is a fallacy in its way and 

 due, as shown above, either to the interference of some other 

 phonetic law, thwarting the one under consideration, or to some 

 psychological influence or other. Thus, again, Latin a placed at 

 the end of a syllable and being stressed, changes into ai before a 

 nasal. When now alongside of granum, which has given grain, 

 manus becomes main, amat becomes aime, lanum becomes laine, 

 famcn becomes faim, we find canem becoming chien, and liga- 

 men, lieu, this peculiarity is to be ascribed to the fact, that in tne 

 latter case the nature of the a had been previously acted upon 

 and modified by the guttural k and g. And again, when the 

 French word grief with its diphthong ie, which presupposes short 

 e, in classical Latin, tallies badly with the actual Latin grave, 

 because grave could not have resulted in anything else but 

 gref, as navem has resulted in nef, and trabem in 

 tref,-f then the fault lies with the ancient Gallo-roman tongue, 

 which had superseded the classical adjective grave by greve 

 with the visible, instinctive intention of drawing it closer in form 

 to two well-known and much-used adjectives, leve and breve, 

 with which it bore a great resemblance of sound. This phenom- 

 enon of instinctively drawing together and associating forms 

 which show some similarity or other, goes by the name of 

 " action analogique," and is one of the capital features of the 

 second chapter of historical grammar, of morphology. The most 

 important class of apparent exceptions to the laws of phonetics 

 are those due to the action of analogy. It is a natural tendency 

 of making alike in sound such words as are associated in the 

 speaker's mind in consequence of similarity of meaning or of 

 function, or, more rarely, in consequence of a partial resemblance 

 in sound already existing. When due attention is given to this 

 power of analogy, this craving in the popular mind for uni- 

 formity, this tendency to levelling, we might almost call it, we 

 shall more easily succeed in grasping the curious history of 

 French declension and conjugation. The procedure will be best 

 explained by quoting a few examples. Reddere instead of redre 

 becomes rendre through analogy with prendre; give and take 

 being naturally associated (similarity of meaning). We still say 

 in our days, je peux, etc., nous ponvous jc veux, etc., nous 

 voulons. Similarly, Old-French said phonetically : je treuve, tu 

 treuves, il treuve, vs trouvons vs trouvez. Us treuvent ; je demeure 

 etc., nous demourons ; but in these latter cases the vowel has been 



* See supra. 

 t Found in entrave, entraver. 



