Schlatter-—The Development of the Vowel, 1093 
are more recognizable, will show a learned or semi-learned de¬ 
velopment in that language.® 
benigno (also bendgno, obsolete; 
bene may have had some in¬ 
fluence, also) T , 
crepuscolo, 
decembre (cf. Fr. decembre), 
epitaf(f)io (illit. pitaffio), 
eterno, 
dziandio, 
febbraio (cf. French fdvrier), 
felice (semi-learned; Alice in G. 
Villani and living in some 
neighboring dialects), 
felino, 
frequentare, 
geloso (semi-learned), 
gemello, 
generale and 
generoso (besides analogy of 
gdnere), 
leale (semi-learned, li'ale in the 
old language), 
legale (besides influence of 
legge), 
leggiadro (and influence of leg- 
giero, see §26), 
legittimo (li- in Bocc.), 
legume (cf. French legume), 
levriere (borrowed from French? 
li- also found, obsolete), 
lezione (besides influence of leg- 
gere), 
medaglia, 
memoria (cf. French memoire), 
meschino (borrowed from 
French), 
mestiere (borrowed from 
French), 
metallo (cf. French metal) 
melancolia (the more pop. form 
is mal- or man-), 
necessario (cf. French neces- 
saire, nicistk in Pucci and 
com. in old language) 
neghittoso (semi-lit., cf. snighit- 
tire, obs. for sneghittire), 
negletto, 
negozio, 
penisola, 
petecchia, 
petulante, 
pre- (cf. French pre-), 
precedere (precipitare, precise, 
preludio, preoccupare, prepar- 
are, preporre, presente, pre- 
servare, presumere, preten- 
dere, prevedere, etc.), 
scellerato (cf. French scelerat), 
secondo (si- in 13, 14th centuries, 
and living in the mountains 
and in Sienese; sigondo is 
used by the peasants), 
secreto (lit. and illit., sigreto is 
illit. and peasant; segreto is 
the' usual form), 
securo (lit. and illit.; siguro in 
use among the peasants; sic- 
uro is the usual form) 6 7 8 , 
severo (si- in the Yaldichiana), 
spelonca (spi- in Fr. da Barbe- 
rino and living at Siena), 
spettacolo, 
teatro, 
tegame, 
tenzone (tincionare is a peasant 
word in Pananti), 
6. It seems that the development to I must have ceased long ago, at 
least newly-formed words, or those which became’ unaccented rather 
late, do not appear to follow the rule; cf. (il, but) del (d’ellu), nel 
(in ellu), mel (m’ellu), sen (s’ende),—so eta, meta, que’, e’’ etc. Yet, 
besides il, there is the illit. form qui’ for quel (“qui’ coso”). See 
§85 and note 5 to same and Introduction, §7. 
7. Certain words suggest a tendency to a development to E when the 
next syllable contains accented I: bellico, benigno, destino, felice, 
gengiva (but gin- illit. and peasant), gentild, genia, lentischio, meschi¬ 
no, nemico (vowel dissimilation? ni- very common especially among 
the old Florentine writers), quesire, redicolo (pop. and illit. for ri-), 
sentina, Tesifond (Dante, Inf. IX 48), trestizia (obsolete), vegilia (il¬ 
lit.), vescica. Delizia, fenice, penisola, veicolo, vestibolo, vestigio, are 
probably all literary and therefore not to be quoted in this connection. 
8. On secreto and securo being illit. forms, cf. .§6 (a), Remark,. 
