30 J- A. Fontaine, 



With disparaitre, je snis dispani is equivalent to je me suis 

 disparn. 



J. J. Rousseau's La modestie dn sexe est disparue pen a pen 

 is equivalent to s' est disparne pen a pen. Compare also 

 Calvin : — 



Jesus ("hrist nc s'est point fait invisil)le mais seulement s'est disparu. 



Hence se disparaitre was used even in the Middle French, 

 and the grammarians have condemned Rousseau wrongly, as 

 they ought to have seen in his supposed mistake a remnant 

 of the old style. 



With nionter,je snis inonte is equivalent toy^ nie snis inonte. 



Si vint tcnit a pied Messire Herve jusqu'a Abbeville, la se 



monteient Froissard II. . . 214 



'^\\\\ passer, jc snis passe' \?> equivalent toj^V vie snis passe. 



Outre s'en passe Rone 65 



Si tost comme il le sot il I'alla querre, il s'en passa sans 



amende Beau. XX. . . 57 



With, pe'rir, J c snis peri is equivalent toje me snis peri. 



Perir was used in the Old French in the active voice, as 

 well as monrir. Compare : — 



Pour Dieu ne perissons niie la grant honeur que notre sire 



nous a faite Villehard. LXXXIX. 



Tellement qu'elles perissent tout ce qui se trouve en ce 



destroit Du Bellay IX. . 296 



Sire, ces seigneurs qui ci sont arcevesques, evesques m'ont 



dit que je vous deisse que la crestiente se perit . Joinville . . . 200 



Thus have I tried in the preceding pages to find instances 

 in which verbs now used as neuter were formerly reflexive 

 and therefore conjugated with the auxiliary etre. Such in- 

 stances certainly suggest a more satisfactory solution of the 

 question of the use of auxiliaries in neuter verbs than the one 

 proposed by grammarians and M. Littre, especially by the 

 latter when he says of perir, "avec I'auxiliaire etre, perir 

 exprime plus particulierement I'etat, mais cette nuance n'est 



60 



