University Studies. 
 
 VOL. i. 
 
 JULY, 1888. 
 
 A, ^ 
 
 No - 1 
 
 I. — On the Transparency of the Ether . 
 
 By DeWITT B. BRACE. 
 
 Whether light coming from the remotest members of the 
 visible universe has not been enfeebled to a greater extent 
 than the variation of distance would require, is still an open 
 question. If there be absorption at all, it must be exceed- 
 ingly small through spaces comparable with the dimensions 
 of the solar system, in order that the light of these distant 
 bodies may be perceived. 
 
 It is proposed in the present paper to investigate the phe- 
 nomena which would occur if the energy were absorbed by 
 the ether itself through frictional forces or imperfect elastic- 
 ity. If absorption does take place, there must be a differen- 
 tial effect for varying wave-lengths, if the ether satisfies the 
 equations of motion of elastic bodies. Several arguments 
 have been advanced as proving that such an absorption 
 takes place, of which those of Cheseaux, Olbers, and Struve 
 are the most celebrated. Considerations on other grounds 
 would seem to suggest such a conclusion. Cheseaux and 
 Olbers, arguing from insufficient data as to stellar distri- 
 bution, have shown that if the number of stars is infinite 
 and distributed with anything like uniformity in space 
 there must be absorption of light, as otherwise the sky would 
 appear all over of a brightness approaching that of the sun, 
 
 University Studies, Vol. I., No. 1, July, 1888. I 
 
2 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
 De Witt B. Brace , 
 
 since tlie brightness at any point depends on the depth of the 
 
 luminous layer and the solid &ngle which it subtends at that 
 point. I 
 
 The researches of both Herschel and Struve prove a non® 
 uniformity of distribution in all directions, but a concentration^^ 
 of stars toward the medial plane of the Galaxy, more marked 
 
 the smaller the magnitude of the star. Struve, from conclu- f 
 sions based on the supposition of an average uniformity of I 
 stellar distribution in layers parallel to this central plane, and 
 on the assumption that the brightness is a measure of the 
 relative distance, attempted to prove that absorption must I 
 take place. In fact, for a uniform distribution the number of ( 
 calculated stars of different magnitude should vary inversely 
 as their brightness. Now the number of calculated stars of ! 
 any magnitude exceeds slightly the number observed, this 
 excess being greater with the diminution of the magnitude. 
 Hence it is concluded that absorption must take place to 
 explain this increasing discrepancy, and that there must be 
 a limit to the space-penetrating power of a telescope much 
 lower than the enfeeblement of light with the distance would 
 require. Later investigations regarding the constitution of 
 the visible universe show that Struve’s assumptions were 
 false, and that no law of uniformity in distribution or in 
 intrinsic brightness can be accepted. While it is at present 
 impossible to ascertain with much accuracy the real magni- 
 tudes of the stars, there are sufficient data to show that botl 
 their volume and their intrinsic brightness, per unit surface 
 vary between wide limits. The annual parallax of severa 
 stars, as measured by different observers, gives approximate!] 
 consistent results. A comparison of the brightness and dis 
 tances of these stars with the intrinsic brightness and dis 
 tance of the sun, as made by Zollner, shows that the sun’: 
 volume is but a small fraction of that of these stars, suppos 
 ing equal intrinsic brightness per -unit of surface. Thi: 
 method of comparison, when applied to Sirius, gives a mucl 
 greater volume than other methods would warrant, thougl 
 far exceeding that of the sun in any case. It must henc< 
 
 2 
 
3 
 
 O 
 
 On the Transparency of the Ether. 
 
 be concluded that the intrinsic brightness of a unit of its sur- 
 face is much greater than that of the sun. The results of 
 spectrum analysis point to a wide variation in the age and 
 temperature of different stars, some being very much farther 
 advanced in the process of cooling than others. It seems 
 certain from these considerations that not only the absolute 
 size but the intrinsic brilliancy vary within very wide limits, 
 some stars emitting several thousand times as much light 
 as others. 
 
 The observations on stellar distribution indicate a much 
 more complicated law than the earlier observers supposed. 
 The more or less marked crowding together of stars in cer- 
 tain .regions, with the existing intermediate voids, and the 
 only partial resolvability of these aggregations, show a ten- 
 dency to some system of clustering in which the various 
 orders of magnitudes are actually intermingled. In certain 
 regions the more minute stars are much more sparsely scat- 
 tered than in others, while the distribution should approach 
 more marked uniformity with diminishing magnitude. The 
 absence of vast numbers of stars, with excessive crowding of 
 the smallest magnitudes which such a distribution would 
 require, shows that the telescope can penetrate to the bounds 
 of the system in these regions. 
 
 The observations on the immense extent of the orbits of 
 certain binary stars furnish evidence that there exists a 
 connection between certain stars which have not heretofore 
 been suspected as being members of the same system. The 
 fact that the stars are gathered together in clusters princi- 
 pally in or near the Galactic zone indicates that they must 
 form a part of the Galaxy, since there is no reason why, if 
 they were outside our stellar system, they should not be more 
 uniformly distributed toward the poles of this zone. These 
 evidences of the complexity of the laws of distribution in 
 magnitude and distance furnish strong proof that the present 
 stellar system is finite, and that it does not appear so from 
 the ultimate absorption of the light of the remoter members 
 of an infinite system. Nothing but a cosmical veil of vary- 
 
 3 
 
4 
 
 De Witt B. Brace , 
 
 ing tenuity existing in interstellar spaces and closing our view 
 more or less effectually from the infinite expanses beyond, 
 could possibly explain these appearances, — a supposition 
 which is wholly unallowable. If there be absorption in 
 space, it must be determined by other methods than the one 
 by which Struve attempted to prove it. 
 
 If the law of the Dissipation of Energy is absolutely uni- 
 versal, then it must be allowed that no distortion of the ether 
 can take place without a certain loss of energy however 
 small, so that the luminiferous vibrations would be gradually 
 frittered down, and after an almost infinite number of such 
 distortions be dissipated away so as to escape perception. 
 On this hypothesis, from analogy with all known phenomena 
 connected with ponderable bodies under similar conditions, a 
 differential effect should be produced for different periods of 
 vibrations, which would give a perceptible coloration in dis- 
 tant stars. 
 
 If an excessively diffused material substance be supposed 
 scattered through space in a gaseous state, such a body could 
 only absorb selectively through its atoms, its molecules being 
 too widely scattered to allow of any transformation of energy 
 into molecular friction. Hence the only loss, other than by 
 selective absorption, would be in the ether itself. The ab- 
 sorption would then take place according to the same laws 
 which determine it when such a substance is not present. 
 
 In a medium in which there were dissipative forces propor- 
 tional to the rate of distortion, there would be a relative 
 change in the velocity of propagation of transverse vibrations 
 of different periods which, for sufficiently great distances, 
 might be detected in the coloration produced by any sudden 
 outburst or extinction of starlight. If the absorption were 
 small, such a difference in the velocities of different rays 
 would be exceedingly small, even for distances comparable 
 with the greatest dimensions of the stellar system, so that the 
 coloration could only last for a very short time. 
 
 The luminiferous medium bears a close analogy to the 
 ponderable substances of nature in respect to its rigidity for 
 
 4 
 
On the Transparency of the Ether. 
 
 5 
 
 high rates of distortion and its apparently perfect fluidity for 
 motions of distortion of low rates. JTe existence of such 
 apparently incompatible qualities does not seem so difficult 
 to understand, when a material substance subjected to rates 
 of distortion of far less range than the extreme limits at which 
 these two qualities are observed to exist in the case of the 
 ether appears in the one case like a rigid solid, and in the 
 other like a very mobile fluid. 
 
 Maxwell found that, by rotating a cylinder rapidly in a 
 liquid and passing a ray of polarized light close to its surface, 
 the plane of polarization was altered, proving clearly a state 
 of strain for ordinary liquids when the rate of distortion is 
 sufficently high. Sir William Thomson has also shown how 
 wax or pitch may, in the one 'case, vibrate like ordinary 
 solids, and, in the other, allow bodies to pass very slowly 
 through them without appreciable resistance. The luminif- 
 erous medium presents similar phenomena. For periods of 
 vibration comparable with those of light, it acts like a very 
 elastic solid. For low rates of distortion like those which 
 the motions of the planets and comets as -well as those which 
 the molecules of a gas produce, there is no sensible resistance, 
 and the medium seems to act like a perfect fluid. That this 
 resistance is exceedingly small is shown by the fact that the 
 comets, which are in general of extreme tenuity, give no 
 definite indications of a resisting medium in space. 
 
 While the properties of the ethereal medium manifestly 
 transcend those of ordinary matter, yet it seems to fulfil, in 
 the qualities of elasticity and fluidity, the conditions o& 
 natural bodies. Very strong analogy to the ether is furnished 
 by viscous substances, and these substances always dissipate 
 more or less rapidly any vibrations to which they are sub- 
 jected, proportionally to the rate of distortion, — at least 
 for small rates. If the ether has a corpuscular structure, — 
 and it is difficult to conceive of absorption otherwise, — and 
 the analogy in respect to viscosity is extended to it, as well 
 as the analogy in respect to its elasticity and fluidity, there 
 should be a loss or transformation of radiant energy. 
 
 5 
 
6 
 
 De Witt B. Brace , 
 
 Loss of energy may also take place in other ways depend- 
 ing on imperfect elasticity alone, or the loss may arise both 
 from viscous forces and from imperfect elasticity. In the 
 one case we have the stress varying with the rate of distor- 
 tion, and in the other, with the duration and magnitude of 
 the strain. The existence of either will give a differential effect 
 for the absorption of different rays. 
 
 Suppose that absorption does take place, the amplitude of 
 a periodic motion would be some function of the distance, 
 wave-length or period, and of the viscosity and imperfect 
 elasticity. Let it be required to find the form of the function 
 for parallel rays of light, propagated in the direction of the 
 j/-axis and with a displacement f parallel to the 4r-axis. 
 
 Let 
 
 i = Ae-^F(y,\, (i) 
 
 where Ae~&* represents a periodic motion at the origin, of 
 amplitude A, and p the coefficient of viscosity. When dissi- 
 pative forces proportional to the relative velocities are present, 
 the form of the function F is readily obtained. If the ether 
 is perfectly elastic, the equation of motion for parallel rays is 
 
 2 | 3 2 £ 
 
 » — - = n — 
 dt 2 dy~ 
 
 O) 
 
 where p is the density and n the rigidity of the ether. Now 
 Stokes has shown in his celebrated paper “On the Friction 
 of Fluids in Motion” 1 that the expressions for the stresses 
 *in an isotropic solid may be obtained directly from those 
 found for the case of a viscous fluid in motion by merely 
 substituting the displacements f, rj, f for the velocities u, v, w, 
 and the rigidity n for the coefficient of viscosity p. In the 
 case under consideration, we have not only the rigidity n , but 
 a viscous coefficient p, each of which produces a shearing 
 stress independently, so that the resulting stress will be the 
 sum of the two, and the equation of motion becomes 
 
 1 Collected Papers, Vol. I. 
 
 6 
 
On the Transparency of the Ether. 
 
 7 
 
 or, since 
 
 dfp 
 
 df 
 
 n (- ix 
 
 ^,2 1 ^ 
 
 d 2 u t 
 df’ 
 
 (3) 
 
 c^_ d 2 f d 3 j 
 
 ^ dt 2 dy 2 ^ dtdy 2 
 
 The left-hand side represents the force of acceleration per 
 unit of volume ; the first term of the right-hand side expresses 
 the force arising from the distortion of the surrounding ether, 
 and the second term the dissipative force arising from the 
 rate of distortion. A particular solution of this equation is 
 
 £ = ( 4 ) 
 
 Substituting in equation ( 3 ), we have 
 
 — pp 2 = n/3 2 — ipp/3 2 . 
 
 (5) 
 
 Since we are dealing with simple periodic motions, p must 
 be real, and /3 must therefore be complex. 
 
 Let 
 
 (3 = — K + iy, ( 6 ) 
 
 p 
 
 where y = -• Substituting in ( 5 ), and separating the real 
 and the imaginary terms, we have 
 
 whence 
 
 0 = pp 2 + M< 2 — ny 2 — 2 ppu<y, 
 0=2 nKy -f- Pplk 2 — pfiy 2 ; 
 
 y 2 ~ k 2 
 
 p 2 a 2 
 
 a*+p 2 ^ 
 
 K y 
 
 p s v 
 
 a*+p 2 v 2 ' 
 
 (7) 
 
 ( 8 ) 
 
 where v = -, is the kinematic coefficient of viscosity. Now 
 
 Ky cannot be a large quantity, since the light of stars at a 
 very great distance y reaches us ; hence k , and consequently 
 
 7 
 
8 
 
 DeWitt B. Brace , 
 
 v , must be very small, 
 tities, we have 
 
 Neglecting squares of small quan- 
 
 P 
 
 y=a' 
 
 _ p 2 v _ 2 7 r 2 v 
 2 a 3 a \ 2 ’ 
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 putting for p its value 
 
 2 7 r 2 7 r<2 
 
 T X 
 
 A very small change in the velocity may produce an ap- 
 preciable retardation of different rays for very great distances. 
 Expressing 7 to the next order of approximation, we have on 
 expanding 
 
 2 P 2 
 
 ^=?- 3K ’ 
 
 neglecting small quantities of higher orders than k 2 . Since 
 a; is a very small quantity, we may put 
 
 K = — , 
 
 y 
 
 where y is a large quantity, and w has different but not large 
 values. Putting 
 
 y — VP = at, 
 
 and substituting, we have 
 
 This shows that the relative retardation of the different 
 rays due to viscosity is too small to be observed, even when 
 the time t , necessary for light from the most distant visible 
 object to reach us, is very great. 
 
 8 
 
On the Transparency of the Ether, 
 
 9 
 
 Substituting now in (4), 
 
 £ = Ae 
 
 
 or, omitting the imaginary part, 
 
 £ = Ae aKZ y cos — ptj = Ae aK * cos 2 7 r ^ — *\ (n) 
 
 zn z v + -t 
 
 Thus E=e aK2 a approximately. (12) 
 
 Stokes 1 has advanced the view that a fluid may be an ex- 
 tremely plastic body which admits of “a finite, but exceed- 
 ingly small amount of constraint before it is relieved from its 
 state of tension by its molecules assuming new positions of 
 equilibrium.” He suggests that the ether may be like a very 
 plastic substance, which allows of the free motions of solids 
 through it, but which also admits of small amounts of con- 
 straint without permanent distortion. He instances 2 as an 
 illustration a mixture of jelly and water in varying propor- 
 tions, which will admit of a given amount of constraint with- 
 out dislocation, this constraint being less and less as the 
 mixture is made thinner. Now all solid bodies in nature 
 seem to possess to a degree more or less marked the quality 
 of “Elastic After-effect,” as observed by Weber, Kohlrausch, 
 and others, where the elastic recovery, as well as the stress 
 produced by any strain, depends on the time. Extending 
 this quality to the ether on the supposition that it is an ex- 
 tremely plastic body and should possess the same kind of 
 qualities as other plastic substances, it would seem that a loss 
 of energy could take place from this cause. In this case F 
 will have a somewhat different form from (12). 
 
 Suppose that the stress at any time is independent of the rate 
 of shear, but depends on the duration and magnitude of the 
 strain, as it would if the “ Elastic After-effect ” were present. 
 
 1 Collected Papers, Vol. I., page 125. 
 
 2 Collected Papers, Vol. II., page 12. 
 
 9 
 
IO 
 
 DeWitt B. Brace 9 
 
 The exact expression for this effect would be complicated, 
 depending as it does on previous strains. But for a succes- 
 sion of waves of given period, the change in the stress would 
 evidently be, on the whole, proportional to the distortion and 
 the time, when the distortion did not vary greatly and the 
 time was very small. 
 
 Since the duration of the shortest waves in the visible 
 spectrum is very small and about half that of the longest 
 waves, and since the relative distortion does not vary greatly 
 for the vibrations of different rays in a normal spectrum, the 
 mean relative diminution in the stress, and hence the relative 
 diminution in the amplitude, may be taken proportional to the 
 relative distortion, and to the duration of a wave period, 
 directly. The distortion at any time is proportional to the 
 displacement directly, and to the wave-length inversely. 
 
 , Hence the change in the displacement which takes place 
 during any short time At, or in passing over a space Ay, is 
 
 where a is the velocity of propagation and a is approximately 
 constant over wide ranges in the distortion. After passing 
 over a distance y — n Ay, the displacement would be 
 
 a 
 
 since is a very small quantity, and its square and higher 
 
 powers may be neglected. Hence, since the motion is a 
 periodic function of the time and distance, 
 
 (14) 
 
 Hence, in this case, 
 
 nearly. 
 
 (i5) 
 
 10 
 
On the Transparency of the Ether. 1 1* 
 
 In the actual case of solid bodies, the decay of a vibration 
 does not seem to follow either equation (14) or equation (12). 
 Sir William Thompson found that the relative diminution in 
 the amplitude of vibrating wires of different periods was less 
 than it would be if it were due to viscosity alone, and greater 
 than it would be if due to imperfect elasticity or the Elastic 
 After-effect alone. However, the diminution was more rapid 
 for short periods than for long ones, indicating a dependence 
 on the rate of shear, as well as on imperfect elasticity. The 
 law of decay, if due to both these causes, would be expressed 
 by the equation 
 
 0 1 0 2 \ 
 
 aK + aK2 ) y COS 2 IT (l- 
 
 where 6 1 and 0 2 are unknown, but may be determined by 
 experiment for different substances subjected to different 
 rates of distortion. The three formulae 
 
 Ae 
 
 -( 
 
 I. 
 
 II. 
 
 III. 
 
 £ = Ae 
 
 a \ 2 
 
 COS 2 7 r 
 
 i=Ae ^^cos 2 tt ^ 
 
 
 indicate the absorption as depending on the wave-length. If 
 absorption takes place in the ether in a way analogous to that 
 in ponderable substances, it must follow one of these laws, 
 which include all modes of absorption for ordinary bodies, 
 and hence coloration should occur in varying amounts with 
 the distance. The equation II. represents the case of mini- 
 mum coloration. 
 
 From what is known of the decay of vibrations in material 
 bodies, it seems most probable that the conditions of the 
 problem are most nearly satisfied by I. When the rate of 
 distortion in solid bodies is considerable, the viscous resist- 
 
 1 
 
12 
 
 De Witt B. Brace , 
 
 ance seems to increase less and less rapidly with the rate of 
 shear. When this rate is diminished, the law of viscous 
 resistance seems to become more and more nearly propor- 
 tional to the rate. When the rate of distortion is very small, 
 it is directly proportional to it. In III., then, the smaller 
 the rate, the larger 0 2 becomes relatively to 6 h until finally the 
 term containing 6 l may be neglected. Somewhat similar 
 considerations show that, if absorption depends on the rate, 
 as in natural bodies, the proportional law for viscous resist- 
 ance must hold in the solution of our present problem. In 
 solids, the viscous resistance to finite rates of shearing is 
 finite, and hence, for very small rates, the viscous resistance 
 must also be very small. For luminous vibrations, the rate 
 of distortion must be very great, in any case, to be percepti- 
 ble. Further, the range over which this rate extends must 
 be excessively wide, since, applying the law of the inverse 
 distance for the amplitude to the remotest visible stars whose 
 light occupies several thousand years in reaching us, it is evi- 
 dent that the amplitude must be diminished many million 
 times. If A is the original amplitude, 
 
 *=-«-** (17) 
 
 .y 
 
 is the amplitude of a spherical wave at a distance y from the 
 
 origin, if absorption is present ; — is the amplitude if it is 
 
 not present. As y is always large, even for the nearest stars, 
 k must evidently be small, in order that their light may be 
 sensible. Since, for the greater amplitudes or higher ^ates of 
 distortion, the viscous resistance of ether must be small ; for 
 the lower rates of distortion, the viscous resistance must be 
 very small stresses proportional to the rate of shear and sub- 
 ject to the principle of superposition, which has been assumed 
 in deriving I. As a ray of light from such a star is dimin- 
 ished to a small fraction of its original amplitude before pass- 
 ing over a considerable portion of its path, it may be consid- 
 ered as following this law approximately. If this law were 
 
 12 
 
On the Transparency of the Ether. * 13 
 
 not followed until a further diminution in amplitude, the rela- 
 tive coloration between the nearer and remoter stars, depend- 
 ing on the distance, would only be the more marked, since 
 the differential effect would be less for the nearer than for the 
 remoter stars. 
 
 As the light must pass through our own atmosphere, a 
 further absorption must take place, which also varies with 
 the wave-length. It will be necessary to include this effect 
 in the relative coloration to determine what the resultant 
 appearance would be. 
 
 Let 
 
 £ __ ^ e -[>K*b'+<K A )/] (18) 
 
 represent the law of absorption, where ^(X)y corresponds 
 to the exponents in I., II., III., and is the corre- 
 
 sponding exponent for atmospheric absorption through any 
 thickness y' . As both i/r and <f> are approximately indepen- 
 dent of the amplitude, they are interchangeable as regards 
 sequence in absorption, and we may suppose the atmospheric 
 absorption to have taken place first.. Hence in every case, we 
 can leave out of consideration this effect and simply apply 
 I., II., and III. to spectra as they are seen, to determine 
 the relative coloration produced by absorption in space alone. 
 
 We have now to apply I., II., and III. to a normal spectrum 
 to determine the amount of energy absorbed when coloration 
 is perceptible. In plate I., the curve A 2 represents approxi- 
 mately the distribution of energy in the visible portion of the 
 normal solar spectrum for different wave-lengths at high sun, 
 according to Langley. 1 The effect of space-absorption on the 
 solar spectrum would be inappreciable. Let now such a 
 spectrum be carried to a very great distance ; suppose the 
 rays parallel, and absorption present. The loss of energy can 
 be represented graphically by plotting curves with values 
 obtained from I., II., and III. The intensity is proportional 
 to the square of the amplitude or in I. and II. to 
 
 1 Researches on Solar Heat, Plate I. Prof, papers of U. S. S. S., No. XV. 
 
 13 
 
14 
 
 De Witt B. Brace , 
 
 I a. 
 
 £1 == A 2 e 
 
 11 a. 
 
 
 Curve I 1 represents the distribution of energy according to 
 I a. after the amplitude of a wave corresponding to .80 in the 
 diagram has been diminished .01 of its original value. Curve 
 I 2 and II 2 represent this distribution according to I a. and 
 II a. respectively after a diminution in amplitude of .16 of its 
 original value for the same wave. The law representing 
 absorption according to III. would be a curve between these 
 two. The curve A ? represents what the normal distribution 
 would be if no energy had been absorbed and the amplitude 
 had been uniformly diminished by .10. From these curves we 
 are able to determine the proportion of the rays lacking in the 
 different parts of the spectrum which would when added give 
 the original spectrum. Thus from 1 1 of the red rays about 
 .006 are lacking ; of the orange and yellow, about .020 ; of the 
 green, nearly .030 ; and of the violet, about .050. In the same 
 way for curve I 2 , about .06 of the red rays would be lacking, 
 .15 of the yellow, .20 of the green, and about .50 of the violet. 
 If the law of absorption is according to curve II 2 , about .03 of 
 the red would have been absorbed to .06 of the yellow, nearly 
 .10 of the green, and nearly .40 of the extreme violet. It is 
 thus evident that the greater the absorption, the redder the 
 spectrum will appear. 
 
 Aubert has shown that less than one per cent of red mixed 
 with white is perceptible. For sufficient intensity, curve I 1 
 would be within this limit, so that a hue near the orange-red 
 would be perceptible. Either I 2 or 1 1 2 would evidently give 
 a very perceptible reddish tinge. Thus from the hue it is 
 possible, for a given intensity, to determine the total loss in 
 intensity and the diminution in amplitude. In the curve Ij 
 the amplitude of the yellow rays has been diminished from 
 two to three per cent. In curves I 2 and II 2 the diminution has 
 been about twenty per cent and fifteen per cent respectively. 
 
 14 
 
On the Transparency of the Ether. 
 
 15 
 
 In the case of the heavenly bodies there should then be a 
 coloration, becoming more marked with the distance, this col- 
 oration also depending in part on the intensity. No regular 
 gradation in hue is perceptible, and hence it may be concluded 
 that the loss of energy is small, if any. From what is known 
 of the spectra of incandescent bodies, the effect of increase of 
 temperature is to displace slightly the position of maximum 
 energy up the spectrum. Any irregular distribution of stars 
 as regards temperature would not cause the average light of 
 a certain number in one part of the heavens to differ materi- 
 ally from that of another number taken anywhere else in the 
 heavens. To carry the test for absorption to the utmost 
 limit possible, we have only to consider those milky patches 
 of light visible to the eye in the Galaxy ; or, better, those star 
 clusters which are barely resolvable with the best telescopes ; 
 or, going still further, to consider those nebulae whose spectra 
 resemble the stellar spectra, and which consequently are 
 probably resolvable into stars. From the vast number of 
 stars which must constitute such a stellar mass, it may be 
 concluded that if there were no absorption, the light with 
 which such a mass would shine would be white. In travers- 
 ing such vast distances, the absorption must be infinitesimal, 
 not to produce a perceptible coloration. The general absence 
 of gradation in color, even in the remotest visible bodies, 
 shows that but a small per cent of their light can have been 
 lost in space. This shows that e~ 2Ky cannot differ from unity 
 by more than a small quantity. Hence ny will in general be 
 
 less than unity, and k will not be greater than -, which for the 
 
 ' y 
 
 distances we have been considering, is excessively small. 
 Referring to equation (10), we see that w is nearly unity, and 
 hence the difference in time of propagation is a very small 
 quantity, even for the remotest visible bodies. 
 
 Taking now our complete equation as it would be for plane 
 polarized light propagated in spherical waves, we have for the 
 intensity at any point 
 
 e 
 
 = A 2 
 
 er 2K y ■ 
 
 09) 
 
 5 
 
6 
 
 DeWitt B. Brace. 
 
 Thus the variation in intensity with distance becomes 
 
 e -2 *y 
 
 / 
 
 approximately, 
 
 (20) 
 
 when y is taken as the dimension of the visible universe. 
 In order that the effect of absorption might equal that due 
 to the variation in distance, we should have to take a distance 
 ny, such that 
 
 or 
 
 (21) 
 
 if the diminution in amplitude from absorption were ten per 
 cent for a distance y. Thus n would have to be very great, 
 and the system would be of dimensions n times as great as 
 those of our own stellar system. To a close approximation, 
 the system should have the same appearance whether absorp- 
 tion were present or not. The apparent finiteness of the 
 stellar universe cannot thus be due to absorption, as Struve 
 supposed, his assumption of uniform distribution requiring a 
 loss of as much as one-third the light of stars of the ninth 
 magnitude. 
 
 Either, then, the universe must be finite, or, if infinite in 
 extent, the average density of distribution of self-luminous 
 bodies outside our own system must be exceedingly small, as 
 otherwise the sky would appear of a uniform brightness, 
 approximating that of the sun. 
 
 16 
 
700 - 
 
II. — On the Propriety of Retaining the Eighth 
 Verb-Class in Sanskrit. 
 
 By A. H. EDGREN. 
 
 Doubts concerning the propriety of . retaining the Hindu 
 classification of the so-called tan-verbs in a special conjuga- 
 tion date as far back as Bopp. The first, however, to devote 
 to the subject a careful investigation was Brugman in his 
 article Die achte conjugations-classe des altindischen und Hire 
 entsprechung im griechischen (Kuhn’s Zeitschr. XXIV.), where 
 he tried to prove — except for kar — the identity of the tan 
 (VIII.) and sn- (V.) classes, on principles of which I shall speak 
 later. He was followed by a Belgian savant, Professor Van den 
 Gheyn, who also tried to establish the same identity, but on 
 principles wholly different in nature from those adopted by 
 Brugman. Having myself, for the preparation of my brief 
 Sanskrit grammar (Triibner, 1884), made an independent in- 
 vestigation of this subject of the tan-verbs, and for the first 
 time in any similar work classified them with the su-ve rbs 
 as forming with these one class with the present-sign -no, 
 I put my notes together in a brief paper (‘ On the verbs 
 of the so-called tan- class in Sanskrit ’), which I presented at 
 the meeting of the American Oriental Society in May, 1885, 
 and which was subsequently reported in the proceedings of 
 that society. My short remarks, in which I took issue espe- 
 cially with Van den Gheyn, called forth from him, as a reply, 
 a special paper in Bulletins de V Acade'mie royale de Belgique 
 (XL, 1886), in which he tried to refute, with all fairness and 
 courtesy, the arguments adduced by myself, in so far as they 
 differed from his own, and to reaffirm the position he had 
 already taken. 
 
 17 
 
2 
 
 A. H. Edgren , 
 
 However improbable I judged Van den Gheyn’s mode of 
 explanation, I was satisfied to dismiss the question for the 
 time being. Byt as no agreement is yet reached with regard 
 to the treatment of the tan-ve rbs, — some, as especially 
 Sanskrit grammarians, adhering to the Hindu classification, 
 while others disagree concerning the principle on which the 
 Eighth class should be given up, — it has seemed that an 
 amplified review of my own arguments may not be useless as 
 a contribution towards a definite settlement of the disputed 
 question. 
 
 The root-verbs of the Sanskrit language are by Hindu 
 grammarians, as is well known, classified, according to the 
 various forms of their present-stems, into ten groups or con- 
 jugational classes, which are designated by the root heading 
 each group in the native lists. The present-stems of the 
 su and the tan - class ( i.e . of classes Fifth and Eighth) are 
 said to be formed respectively by adding to the root the 
 suffixes -nu ( su-nu -) and -u (< tan-u -), which are gunated in 
 strong forms. 
 
 The Hindu system of classification, and along with it the 
 distinction made between the ^-class and the tan- class, was 
 naturally enough adopted in the earlier grammars published 
 in Europe. Bopp, however, who did not fail to notice that 
 all the roots of the tan - class — kar alone excepted — termi- 
 nate in -77, doubted the propriety of separating in principle 
 the to-class from the su- class, and suggested that the tense- 
 sign for both the classes was originally -777/, and that this sign 
 in the ^77-class then lost its initial nasal after the nasal of 
 the root. Yet his doubts did not lead him to deviate in his 
 own grammar from the Hindu classification. Benfey, like- 
 wise, was inclined to combine the two classes into one, and 
 suggested, though, like Bopp, without special investigation of 
 the subject, or practical application of the principle, that the 
 nasal of the tan-verbs may in fact have been artificially trans- 
 ferred to them from the suffix. 
 
 Such suggestions, however, as were made by Bopp and 
 Benfey were generally left unheeded by later grammarians as 
 
 18 
 
3 
 
 On the Eighth Verb-Class in Sanskrit. 
 
 resting on no proofs ; and the Hindu system was reproduced 
 by them, either absolutely (as by Muller, Williams, Wester- 
 gaard, Kielhorn, etc.), or modified in such a way that the tan- 
 class, always with the suffix -u, was arranged as a sub-class 
 under the .sw-class (by Whitney and Harlez). 
 
 It is really outside of the pale of the Sanskrit grammarians 
 that some attempts have been made to pro$e by the facts of 
 the language and of comparative philology the identity, in 
 the main at least, of the two classes in question. Brugman 
 in his above-named article, Die achte conjugations-classe des 
 altindischen etc., assumes without farther argument, and as a 
 generally admitted fact, that the tan-ve rbs terminating in - n 
 have received that nasal by artificial transfer from the suffix, 
 and turns the force of his argument on the verbs in -an, which 
 he considers as forming their present system by the suffix -no 
 {nil), before which an is weakened to a (through n), according 
 to his well-known theory of a nasal vowel. As for kar, he 
 refers it, as irregular, to the second class (its root-formation 
 being yet discernible in kur-vas , kur-mds, while karo-mi, etc., 
 are formed after the analogy of kuru-tha{s ), whose second u, 
 however, is a mere phonetic addition, not a suffix). 
 
 Quite a different theory was put forth by Van den Gheyn 
 in an article on the verbs of the Eighth class, published in 
 Bulletins de V Acade'mie royale de Belgique (L., 1880), and 
 further supported by two new articles in the same publication 
 (VII., 1884, and XI., 1886). Van den Gheyn endeavors to 
 show in these articles by the facts of Sanskrit, and of cog- 
 nate languages as well, that the final nasal of the tan-verbs is 
 not original, but a later accretion, a transfer from the present- 
 sign to the root, and that these verbs properly belong to the 
 Sixth or ^-class. As for kar, he adopts the hypothesis of 
 Harlez, who considers kur to be the ‘ thbme principal ’ of the 
 verb (cf. kurmi, epic, kurvas, kurmas), and attributes its later 
 changes to analogy. As already noticed, Benfey had before 
 suggested the theory of ta instead of taproots, and Gustav 
 Meyer had likewise pointed out the analogy of forms like 
 ta-td : ra-To?, re-ra-ra, etc., in support of his hypothesis that 
 
 19 
 
4 
 
 A. H. Edgren , 
 
 the original root of these forms was ta , not tan. But Van 
 den Gheyn was the first to present a detailed argument 
 in favor of this view, and may be considered as its chief 
 advocate. 
 
 The following considerations based, in the main, on an 
 examination of the inflectional and derivative forms of the 
 tan-ve rbs in Sanskrit, but also on the evidence of cognate 
 forms in other languages, would seem to confirm, in the 
 main, the position taken by Brugman, although its cor- 
 rectness is not made dependent on the theory of a nasal 
 vowel. 
 
 The Hindus classified with the tan- class ten verbs, viz., 
 three in -rn : arn , gharn , tarn ; one in -in : ksin ; five in -an : 
 ksan (ksan), tan , man, van, san ; and one in -ar : kar , - — the 
 only one that does not terminate in a nasal. To these have 
 been added, on more or less convincing evidence from the 
 Sanskrit literature, in, han, and tar. 
 
 As regards those three roots that terminate in -rn, the fol- 
 lowing considerations are to be noticed. 
 
 The mere fact that the root arn is said to be inflected 
 exactly like the well-authenticated root ar (r), ■ — both form- 
 ing the strong and weak stems rno and rnu , — and that the 
 meaning assigned to each is the same, suggests that the for- 
 mer is nothing but an artificial extension of the latter, having 
 no independent existence whatever, — a suggestion which is 
 corroborated by the facts in the case. In the first place, no 
 verb-form whatever outside of the present system has been 
 made from a radical ant. Further, among all the derivatives 
 (not less than 35) that must be referred to either of the two 
 roots in question, only three, arnas, drna, rnd, contain a nasal. 
 But that nasal may here be explained as belonging to the 
 suffix. The primitive suffix -nas, though rare, occurs beyond 
 question in some words (cf. dp-nas ‘possession,’ -bhar-nas 
 ‘ offering,’ etc.) formed precisely like ar-nas . A primitive 
 suffix -na is, indeed, hardly met with, except in participles. 
 But drna ‘agitated,’ as a noun (m.) ‘flood,’ if not a participle, 
 is too evidently of the same stock with arnas ‘ flood ’ to be 
 
 20 
 
5 
 
 On the Eighth Verb-Class in Sanskrit. 
 
 separated from it (cf. apna- : dpnas ‘ possession/ dravina : 
 dravinas ‘ chattel ’). As for rna ‘ debt,’ its derivation is quite 
 uncertain, but if we must resort to ar or arn, nothing better 
 can be suggested tharf the participial form r-nd ‘ hurt, bur- 
 dened, in-debted, (n.) debt.’ Finally, not one of the kindred 
 words in the sister-tongues — and the number of such words 
 is quite considerable — shows any trace of a root-nasal, unless, 
 indeed, as suggested by some, it be opvvpu, whose v, however, 
 is much more likely to belong to the suffix -vv (cf. cop-op-ov, 
 etc.). 
 
 As regards gharn , which is said to mean ‘shine,’ no verb- 
 form that could be referred to such a root has been met with 
 in the extant literature. It might then be left out of consid- 
 eration here, were it not that a couple of nominal forms, 
 ghrnd ‘heat’ and ghrni ‘heat,’ seem referable to the root 
 gharn. As the native root-lists give also the root ghar (ghr) 
 
 ‘ shine,’ as belonging to the su- class, it is evident, however, 
 that this root is • the only acceptable form, and that gharn 
 sustains to ghar precisely the same relation as arn to ar 
 (ghr-nd, ghr-ni being quite regular formations). This sup- 
 position is decidedly favored by kindred words in related 
 tongues (cf. Zend gar-ema , Gr. Oep-opicu, Oep-pur), 6ep-o$, etc. ; 
 Lat . for-mus, etc. .; Goth, var-in-jam ; Slav, gr-e-ti, etc.). 
 
 With reference to tarn , said to mean ‘graze,’ it is, like 
 gharn , entirely unauthenticated ; and as there seems to be no 
 support for the acceptation of any similar root in any 
 other Indo-Germanic tongue, it may well be considered 
 as wholly fictitious, and invented to furnish an etymology 
 for the noun trna (trna) ‘grass.’ This noun may possibly 
 be a participial form (parallel with trna ) of tar in the sense 
 of ‘broken through,’ — viz. the soil (cf. tirna-padi name of a 
 plant). 
 
 We come next to the root ksin ‘destroy,’ which has no 
 more right to appear in the root-list than arn , above. Even 
 here we find a shorter and well-authenticated root ksi ‘de- 
 stroy ’ inflected according to the j&-class ( ksi-no-mi , etc.). No 
 certain or authenticated example of a nasal is found either 
 
 21 
 
6 
 
 A. H. Edgren , 
 
 outside of the present-system 1 or in derivative words. To be 
 sure, we have beside the participial form ksita also ksind 
 ‘destroyed,’ but the latter is usually understood to be one of 
 the common participles in -na. The root of the correspond- 
 ing Greek verb c^Olvco ‘perish’ is which occurs every- 
 
 where outside the present-system. Also ktlvvv/jll ‘kill’ has 
 been suggested as a parallel form, and Curtius supposes its 
 root to be rcrtv, a weakened form of ktclv = Skr. ksan. If the 
 words are connected, the double nasal of ktlvvviu may, how- 
 ever, be explained as owing to a phonetic doubling between 
 two vowels, — a process that is. not uncommon, — or else, as 
 Curtius suggests, to a special weakening in Greek. And 
 even if ksin, in spite of strong evidence to the contrary, be 
 considered as a genuine root, its conjugation in analogy with 
 ksan, of kindred form and meaning, would not be any more 
 anomalous than the inflection of nominal zzz-stems in analogy 
 with an-stems ; and the present formation of ksan , as will be 
 shown, is not ksan-o-mi, but ksa-no-mi. 
 
 It is evident from these facts that arn, gharn, and ksin 
 are, in all probability, mere figments or pseudo-roots, which 
 the Hindu grammarians have foisted into their root-lists with- 
 out any good reason, and which consequently should be 
 cancelled altogether, — as, indeed, they are, very rationally, 
 in Whitney’s grammar, in the enumeration of the tan-ve rbs 
 (§ 713, and Root-supplement). 
 
 We come next to the five roots in -an: ksan ‘destroy,’ tan 
 ‘stretch,’ man ‘think,’ van ‘win, like,’ san ‘reach.’ As their 
 nasal occurs not only in the present-system, but also, with 
 few exceptions, outside of that system and in derivatives, it 
 has been considered both by native and western grammarians 
 as pertaining to the radical forms underlying the whole con- 
 jugation-system of each of the verbs. Serious objections 
 having been made, however, to this view by a few scholars, it 
 will be necessary, before explaining the formation of the 
 present stems of above verbs, to try to determine the nature 
 of their nasal. 
 
 1 Brugman quotes ksenisydti , for which I can find no authority. 
 
 22 
 
On the Eighth Verb-Class in Sanskrit. 
 
 7 
 
 * 
 
 It is of some importance here to distinguish between that 
 stage of the Indo-European language when the radicals which 
 are now deduced by comparative analysis as those underlying 
 its formal and inflectional development were already evolved, 
 and a yet earlier stage when these radicals had not assumed 
 the form they then had. There is, indeed, every reason to 
 believe that such an evolution of roots from earlier germs, or 
 perhaps, in some cases, from earlier polysyllabic and com- 
 pounded entymons, took - place long before the language 
 passed into its inflectional stage, and in some instances we 
 may even yet discover the probable or evident traces of such 
 a development. Thus, it seems probable enough that coup- 
 lets or groups of roots like i : in ‘go,’ ci : cit ‘observe,’ mar 
 ‘ grind ’ : warn ‘ crush ’ : mai'd ‘ grind ’ : march ‘ hurt,’ etc., 
 are cognates of the same origin. If their original germ is 
 actually represented by any one of the forms preserved to 
 us, or if it is entirely lost, cannot be decided. There are 
 some faint indications, indeed, that the shortest form may, 
 ordinarily, be the most original, but they are after all 
 uncertain . 1 
 
 Now it so happens that for every one of the roots in -an 
 enumerated above has been suggested also, on more or less 
 convincing evidence, a co-ordinate radical lacking the nasal 
 and terminating in -a or, usually, in -a. Thus, cf. ksan 
 ‘hurt’ : *ksa (in ksapay- ‘destroy,’ tuvi-ksa ‘much destroy- 
 ing,’ etc.), and, perhaps, ksa ‘burn’; — - tan ‘stretch’ : ta (in 
 the pass, tayate, and in tayate ‘ stretches ’) ; — man ‘ think ’ : 
 (?) ma ‘ measure ’ ; — van ‘ win, like ’ : va * desire ’ (in the parti- 
 ciple vatd and the desid. vivasati), va (only in vasimahi) ; — san 
 ‘ procure ’ : sa ‘ procure ’ (in sata , sis-asati, etc., and in agva-sa 
 ‘ horse-acquiring,’ etc.), sa (only in sa-sa-vahs). It is evident 
 that the assumption of <£-roots finds a very meagre and doubt- 
 ful support in these comparisons (about which later). But a 
 host of forms, participles or derivatives, with a radical in -a, 
 
 x Cf H. Edgren, “On the Verbal Roots of the Sanskrit Language and the San- 
 skrit Grammarians,” Journal of American Oriental Society , XI., p. 5, etc. 
 
 23 
 
A. H. Edgren , 
 
 instead of -an ( ma-ta , ma-ti , ta-td , ta-tva , etc.), which are by 
 all grammarians and lexicographers referred directly to the 
 roots in -zzzz, have, farther, been explained by a few investiga- 
 tors as made from zz-roots instead. 
 
 This apparent variation between -zzzz, -a, and -zz-roots has 
 been made use of to prove that the present tanomi , etc., 
 was made from an zz-root by adding the suffix -no ( ta-no-mi ), 
 not, as assumed by the grammarians, from tan by the suffix 
 6 (tan-6-mi), nor, as advocated by Brugman, from tan by the 
 suffix -no, through * tn-no-mi, and that the suffixal n has pene- 
 trated outside the present system, or else that the so-called 
 ‘ general tenses ’ are formed from a root tan , existing at the 
 side of ta . 
 
 To this view some grave objections may certainly be made. 
 Thus : 
 
 a. The root-forms required by the advocates of formations 
 like ta-no-mi , etc., are not ta , etc., but ta , etc. There may, 
 indeed, seem to be some plausible reasons for accepting the 
 existence of the former (as do Delbriick and Brugman), in so 
 far as their occurrence in various forms is not yet satisfac- 
 torily explained on the basis of a phonetical change of tan , 
 etc., and as the language after all has quite a number of 
 zz-roots. But there is no very plausible, and yet less con- 
 vincing, reason for assuming any roots in -zz, like ta , etc. 
 The quoted verb-forms ksapayati, vaslmahi , sasavans are 
 nowise convincing. Causatives with p are not satisfactorily 
 explained, and may come from roots in -p ; vaslmahi , occur- 
 ring only once (R. V. XI. 72), is probably for vahslmahi ; and 
 sa-sa-vahs, which occurs a few times in different cases in the 
 Rig and the Atharva Veda, though hard to explain satisfac- 
 torily (Grassmann and Delbriick suggest that it stands for 
 sasanvdhs , and Saussure for sasavans ), cannot very plausibly 
 be derived from sa , since no perfect-form, and in fact no 
 tense-form whatever, of such a root is found in the language. 
 Outside of the above forms, where analogy would require the 
 nasal, if they are to be derived from roots in -n, the -a radical 
 hardly occurs except where analogy would require a weaken- 
 ed 
 
On the Eighth Verb-Class in Sanskrit. 
 
 9 
 
 ing of the root, especially on account of the displacement of 
 the accent, as in verbal nouns in -td -tva, -tyia {ta-ta, ta-tva , 
 ta-tya , etc.), and in nouns in -ti (formed in analogy with 
 participles in -td). 
 
 In all other cases, and they are very numerous, we find the 
 full -^.-radical ( tdn-a , tan-as , tan-u , tdn-tn , tan-tra , etc.). It 
 seems evident that we are here dealing with principles per- 
 fectly parallel with those that have produced such root- 
 variations as in han-ti : ha-tha ; hdn-am : ha-bhis ; rajan-am : 
 raja-bhis ; ds-ti : s-tha ; pitar-am : pitr-su : pi-tr-n, pitr-a , and so 
 on ; and it would be late in the day now to try to substitute 
 for the principle of accentual influence as causing these vari- 
 ations, the confusing principle of a variety of independent 
 roots and stems. 
 
 b. Since there is no evidence that the so-called ‘ general 
 tenses * are of a more recent formation than those of the 
 present-system, there is also no good reason to assume that 
 the -tf-roots have formed first the latter, and then with an un- 
 paralleled accretion, the others. We should expect at any rate 
 to find in the general tenses some trace of an earlier -a-root, 
 but there is absolutely none. As for the assumption that the 
 whole conjugation-system of the various -an-v erbs is consist- 
 ently made up of two independent roots, which, if existing at 
 all, must have been distinguished by some shade of meaning, 
 peculiar to each, it would be hard to find anything parallel. 
 To be sure, sporadic cases of root-mixture in the make-up of 
 verb-systems occur in all languages, but they are usually of a 
 different kind, consisting in the often traceable supplanting 
 of an earlier form by one of a different verb (as in French of 
 Ire by etais ), and, in all events, they never take place so 
 systematically in a whole class of verbs. 
 
 c. If the facts of the Sanskrit language itself suggest 
 clearly enough that the nasal of the ta/z-verbs is genuine, the 
 evidence of cognate tongues also favors this view. To be 
 sure, we find even in them radical elements corresponding 
 to these roots with and without the nasal. Thus, cf. Skr. 
 ■y/ksan: Gr. rcT€iv-co, ktov-os ; e-icra-Tco, 6 -ktcl-v, KTci-fievo^ \ 
 
 25 
 
IO 
 
 A. H. Edgren , 
 
 Goth, ska-tkaQ) ; — Skr. i /tan.: Gr. relv-w, tl-tcllv-w, rev-cov ; 
 ra-ros, Te-ra-fca, e-rdOrjv ; Lat. ten-do , ten-eo , ten-ax ; Goth. 
 than-jan ; — Skr. -[/ man : Gr. /lev-co, ixe-fiov-a, /lev-os ; fxav-ia\ 
 /jbe-fjLa-fjLev, iie-fjid-TCD ) Lat . mon-eo ; Goth, mun-um, ga-mun-an ; 
 Skr. -y/van: d-fd-co, d-aa-ros ] Lat. ven-ia , ven-us, ven-ustus ; 
 Goth, vnn-an , vinn-an ; — Skr. j/ san : Gr. ev-w (Fick, I. 226), 
 avvw, avco ; e-ro? ; Lat. sinit, sen-ex ; Goth, sin-ista , sin-teino ; 
 and so on. This variation, however, nowise favors the theory 
 of independent -an and -^-roots. The nasal is rarely lacking 
 except in Greek, and its absence there is frequently explain- 
 able on precisely the same grounds as in Sanskrit, viz., as 
 owing to an original weakening of the root : cf. tata : ; 
 
 tati : rao-Ls ; mata : -/jlcltos ; satd : eVo?, etc. The very fact 
 that cognate forms in other languages usually retain the nasal 
 where it is lost in Sanskrit or Greek, tends to show that it is 
 original, having disappeared in Sanskrit and Greek under 
 certain circumstances which in the cognate tongues have 
 produced different results : cf. Skr. mata or mati: Gr. yu-aro? : 
 Lat. menti-y Goth, ga-mundi- ; Skr. menima (for *me-m n-i-ma : 
 n preserved by the following i ) : Gr. fie/ia/iev : Goth, munum , 
 and so on. Analogy has in all languages, as especially in 
 Greek, wrought many changes, and must account for some 
 of the seemingly irregular non-nasal radicals. Concerning 
 the Greek forms, compare especially Brugman’s article already 
 referred to above. 
 
 If, then, contrary to the opinion of Van den Gheyn and 
 others, it seems incontestable that the nasal of the roots ksan , 
 tan , many van , and san is genuine and original, at least with 
 reference to the time when the inflectional system of the 
 Indo-European language was developed, does it necessarily 
 follow that in a stem like tano -, the suffix must be -0 and not 
 -no? Not at all. The stem would have precisely the same 
 appearance were we to suppose either, with Bopp, that the n 
 of the original -^<?-suffix has been dropped, or that the root 
 itself had suffered mutilation before such a suffix. Let us 
 then examine whether there are any considerations that will 
 warrant us in accepting either of these theories, instead of 
 
 26 
 
On the Eighth Verb-Class in Sanskrit. 1 1 
 
 abiding by the native theory of two distinct tense-signs for 
 the su and the tan-vz rbs. 
 
 As regards Bopp’s theory, two strong objections may be 
 urged against it. In the first place, I do not think there can 
 be adduced, in the whole language, a single good instance of 
 the loss of an initial nasal, or of any initial consonant what- 
 ever of a suffix or an ending, whereas the disappearance (no 
 matter here if by direct loss or by change) of the final nasal 
 of a root or a stem before a suffix consonant is a common and 
 well-known phenomenon in Sanskrit. Witness examples such 
 as ta-ta } ta-tva, ta-ti , - ta-tya , ha-tha , - ha-bhis , rdja-bhis y jitva-su, 
 bali-bhyas , etc., for *tan-ta> * tan-tva , etc. Then, such a theory 
 completely ignores any influence on the root on account of the 
 accentual shift in tanomi , though such an influence is directly 
 required not only in analogy with words of the kind quoted 
 above, but also by the analogy of other su-verbs (cf. star : str- 
 no-ti ; kar : kr-no-ti). 
 
 And it is precisely in consideration of this required weak- 
 ening of the root that we are forced to explain the formation 
 of tanomi as arising from a weakening of the unaccented tan 
 to ta before the accented suffix -no. Whether we are to con- 
 sider this weakening as consisting simply in the direct loss 
 of the final nasal of the root or in its vocalization after the 
 loss of the preceding #-vowel, is immaterial to the argument, 
 and need not here be V^cussed. It may be said, en passant , 
 however, that the objections made by Van den Gheyn in his 
 third paper against Brugman’s ^-theory are nowise convinc- 
 ing. It is true that no written language has left a trace of 
 an zz-vowel ; but written languages never perfectly represent 
 all the sounds of the spoken. No modern language has any 
 sign for either a liquid or a nasal vowel, and yet such vowels 
 are often met with (cf. English sabre , sable , fatten y button , 
 etc., pronounced, like sabr, sabl, fattn , buttii). They may 
 have existed jus as well, though imperfectly represented, in 
 older dialects, the skilful Hindu phoneticians being the only 
 ones to recognize in writing any of them (r and l). Van den 
 Gheyn also objects that while the r-vowel always leaves a 
 
 27 
 
12 
 
 A. H. Edgren , 
 
 trace of its r y the ^-vowel has entirely sacrificed its nasal in 
 Sanskrit and Greek. Even here English has a lesson to 
 teach. Dialectically the r-element of such words as father , 
 mother , arbor , etc., is often omitted in both America and 
 England (cf. Whitney, Orient, and Ling. Stud., II., p. 236). 
 But that means virtually that those words often, instead of 
 being pronounced regularly as fathr, mothr , arbr y are pro- 
 nounced as fatho , motho , arbo (<? being here used to denote 
 the indefinite z/-sound in English). The /z-vowel is not then 
 alone in losing its consonantal element. As, however, the 
 theory of a nasal vowel is nowise needed for the acceptance 
 of the theory that tan is weakened to ta in ta-nomi, I will not 
 insist any longer on its merits. 
 
 The last of the roots classified by the Hindu grammarians 
 with the Eighth class is kar ( kr ) ‘make.’ It is well known 
 that this verb was regularly conjugated according to the Fifth 
 class in the older language ( kr-no-ti ), and also in Zend (kerf* 
 nao-ti). Its later conjugation, however, is entirely anomalous, 
 and has not yet been satisfactorily explained. The objections 
 brought against Brugman’s theory by Van den Gheyn in his 
 second article seem to me, on the whole, justified. Unfor- 
 tunately, he offers nothing satisfactory in its place. Possibly 
 the whole problem might find a solution in supposing that 
 the primitive language possessed, at the side of kar y also a 
 radical karu, from which the latter (classical) present-system 
 was made. In fact, a root krv ( karv ) is given in the Dhatu- 
 patha, and analogous radicals in -v (-u) are not uncommon in 
 Sanskrit (cf. car v, bharv , turv, dhurv , raiiv, dhanv , and yet 
 others). Probably these are all denominatives from stems 
 in -u. Denominatives, to be sure, form their present-stems 
 in -a or -aya y but karu, existing at the side of krnu (which 
 was the earlier and once prevailing stem), may easily have 
 come to be conjugated in analogy with it, especially as their 
 suffixal vowels coincided. But why, then, the change to 
 kur{ii)- ip the weak forms ? As is well known, the syllable 
 ar often alternates with ur y especially in combination with a 
 
 28 
 
On the Eighth Verb-Class in Sanskrit. 
 
 13 
 
 labial (eg. 7/ tar : turyama , tuturyat ; -\/mar : mumurat , -mur, 
 murna ; -y/ par : pur ‘fulness,’ pur ‘ for tress ,’ pur i, pupiLrantu , 
 before consonants; -\/ var : vurlta , uranas , vurya ; pita- 
 ram : pitur , etc.). There is, then, nothing anomalous in assum- 
 ing that Azr, influenced by the suffixal & of the weak forms, 
 changed to kur ; especially when we consider that the root- 
 form kur, as indicated by the epic form kurmi , had a ten- 
 dency to establish itself at the side of kar. The loss of the 
 suffixal -u in the first persons ( kur-vas , kur-mas ) accords so 
 well with the usual formation of the su-ve rbs (su-n-vas, su-n- 
 mas), that it is precisely what we should expect. It is harder 
 to explain its loss in the optative active ( kur-yam ), unless, 
 indeed, we consider this tense as formed directly from kur> 
 like kurmi , i.e. as borrowed from the root-class. Owing, no 
 doubt, to the frequency of its use, kar shows a great mixture 
 of forms (cf. auxiliaries, etc., in other languages). No other 
 verb has a greater variety of stem-forms : kar- {kr-), kara -, krno- 
 ( krnu -), karo -, kuru -, kur- ; and hence there is certainly no 
 necessity to expect its conjugation in the classical period of 
 the language to be of a homogeneous nature. 
 
 Having thus disposed of the verbs assigned to the Eighth 
 class by the Hindu grammarians, little need be said of those 
 arranged along with them by later discoveries, viz. : han , in, 
 and tar. As for han , if the form hanomi , occurring only once, 
 is correct, it is subject to precisely the same treatment as 
 tart, and must be removed with it to the Fifth class. In 
 retains its nasal even outside of the present-system. If this 
 nasal is to be considered as genuine, the conjugation of in in 
 analogy with roots in -an would not be any more anomalous 
 than the inflection of nominal zVz-stems in analogy with an- 
 stems. As for tar, we have only the doubtful and anomalous 
 form tarute , occurring once in the Rig -Veda. It is too prob- 
 lematic to offer any grounds for a serious argument. 
 
 The result of the preceding investigation would then be 
 that of the thirteen roots which have been referred to the 
 
 29 
 
A. H. Edgren. 
 
 H 
 
 Eighth class, arn, gharn , tarn , and ksin are to be struck out 
 as fictitious, and tar as of wholly problematic relation to the 
 questionable form tarute , while the remaining roots must be 
 referred to the F ifth class, — fcsan, tan , man , van , san, han , as 
 formed perfectly regularly with the suffix but kar and m 
 as conjugated in analogy with verbs of that class. 
 
 30 
 
C 3 
 
 III. — On the Auxiliary Verbs in the Romance 
 Languages. 
 
 By JOSEPH A. FONTAINE. 
 
 Diez in his well-known “ Grammatik der Romanischen 
 Sprachen ” has treated the question of the use of the auxiliary 
 verbs in the Romance languages only in a general way, and 
 much must be added, especially as concerns their history. 
 Mr. Gessner in the Jahrbuch fur romanische und englische 
 Sprache und Literatur : neue Folge , III. Band , 2. Heft , has 
 made a very interesting but somewhat complicated study of 
 esse, considered as an auxiliary verb, and has, moreover, no- 
 ticed important facts that had escaped the attention of Diez. 
 M. Camille Chabanneau in his “ Histoire et Theorie de la con- 
 jugaison franqaise ” has devoted to the auxiliaries a few pages, 
 containing valuable suggestions as to their use ; but as a 
 general remark it may be said that he has treated this ques- 
 tion too briefly. It may be simply because a full treatment 
 was not directly included in the plan of his work. It may be 
 said also that, in a certain way, M. Chabanneau has explained 
 the use of the auxiliaries according to tendencies prevailing 
 in modern French, and has fallen into the error, common to 
 most grammarians, of trying to explain the inconsistent use 
 of the auxiliaries, especially with the so-called neuter verbs, in 
 accordance with modern usage. So far as I am aware, no one 
 has yet tried to explain the difficult problem by a thorough 
 comparison of modern usage with that of Old French. 
 
 The main idea of M. Chabanneau is that the auxiliary is 
 nothing but the inflectional part of the main verb. Granting 
 this to be true, such a suggestion is not an historical explana- 
 tion, and does not account fully for the various and often in- 
 consistent uses of auxiliaries. 
 
 Let it be admitted that ai and suis are merely inflectional 
 
 University Studies, Vol. I., No. I., July, 1888. 3 I 
 
2 
 
 J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 parts of verbs. In “je suis venu ,” suis is considered as the 
 inflectional part indicating the person, the number, and the 
 tense of venir. But why do we use suis rather than ai, which 
 is another inflectional part exercising the same function as 
 suis in some other Romance languages ? (Cf. Sp. He venido 
 as equivalent to Fr. Je sins venui) This is what needs 
 explanation. Whether it is possible to solve this problem I 
 shall not presume to say, but shall offer on this subject the 
 result of my own researches. 
 
 My subject naturally falls under three heads, viz. : — 
 
 Chapter I. — Auxiliaries used with Transitive Verbs ; 
 
 Chapter II. — Auxiliaries used with Intransitive Verbs ; 
 
 Chapter III. — Auxiliaries used with Reflexive Verbs. 
 
 Chapter I. — Auxiliaries used with Transitive Verbs. 
 
 In comparing the conjugational system of the Romance 
 languages, it becomes evident that in the active voice the use 
 of auxiliaries is very nearly identical. 
 
 Fr. J'ai chante. Pg. Hei cantado (tenho cantado). 
 
 It. Ho cantato. Pr. Ai cantat. 
 
 < Sp. He cantado {tengo cantado ) Wall. Am cantat. 
 
 All the Romance languages use the auxiliary habere ; two 
 of them may exchange habere for tenere. This interchange 
 of auxiliary verbs, unknown to the other Romance languages, 
 does not take place under the same circumstances in Spanish 
 and Portuguese. The Spanish uses tener with transitive 
 verbs when a certain stress is laid on the action expressed by' 
 the verb, whereas in Portuguese ter has almost completely 
 superseded haver. This discrepancy must not be overlooked, 
 since it shows how independently languages develop. 
 
 How is this production of a new auxiliary in the western 
 group of Romance languages to be explained ? I do not 
 believe it safe to think with Diez that the Spanish and 
 Portuguese have introduced their new auxiliaries from a 
 
 32 
 
Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Romance Languages . 3 
 
 desire to avoid the repetition of habere. If such had been the 
 cause in Portuguese and Spanish of that innovation, probably 
 the same cause would have exerted its influence over other 
 Romance languages and produced in them parallel changes. 
 A strong objection to the view of Diez is found in the very 
 history of habere in Spanish and* Portuguese. Why is it that, 
 during several centuries, the Spanish did not feel the neces- 
 sity of using tener for haber , when the latter was used as a 
 principal verb, and of reducing it to a mere inflectional part 
 of other verbs, or to a mere auxiliary, as subsequently hap- 
 pened ? If the use of haber from the first l^nown period of 
 the Spanish language be exhibited, it will be seen that this 
 verb was treated as a principal, or true verb, side by side with 
 tener , and that the instances of its occurrence as such by far 
 outnumbered those of tener ; that its use went on decreasing 
 steadily, but slowly, till it disappeared (except when used im- 
 personally, or with the force of debed) to play the part of a 
 mere verbal inflectional ending. Statistics here will not be 
 out of place, and they will show better than any general 
 statement the fate of haber. 
 
 Haber. Tener. 
 
 El libro de los Reyes d’ Orient. 
 
 E hovieron gozo por mira. Buena casa e fuerte tenemos. 
 
 Grant ira avia. Yo tengo tan manya cuita. 
 
 E non ayamos de ellos duelos. 
 
 Que nunqua mas fin non habra. 
 
 Vida de Santa Maria Egipciaca. 
 
 Si ayades de Dios pardon. 
 
 E los que de Dios non an cura. 
 
 Nos ende avremos grant lacerio. 
 
 Que debes haber honor. 
 
 Doce anyos hovo de edat. 
 
 Sol que aya algo quel dar. 
 
 Elios avien grant sabor. 
 
 Ella avie cinquanta vivos (amigos). 
 
 Redondas avie las orejas. La faz tenie colorada. 
 
 Si de Dios ayas amor. 
 
 Non ho talente d’aqui estar. 
 
 33 
 
4 
 
 J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 Haber. Tener. 
 
 Yo dieze, he buen corpo. 
 
 Que non he oro ni argento. 
 
 Non he conmigo mas que un dinero. 
 
 Bien se que habre pardon. 
 
 Un nombre avemos yo e ti. 
 
 Ave mercet de mi. 
 
 Non es home que paraiso hoviesse. 
 
 Dos panes e medio ha en todo su poder. 
 
 Tres panes hovo non grandes mucho. 
 
 Grandes avian las coronas. 
 
 Non avian cura. 
 
 Querie haber proprietat. 
 
 Malas intenciones havien. 
 
 Grant pavor havran. 
 
 No he vestidura ninguna. 
 
 He yo gran repintencia. 
 
 Si la gracia non he. 
 
 En Dios he mi creyenza. 
 
 Ayas tu duelo de mi. 
 
 Piedat de mi cuerpo non avre. 
 
 Que mucho mester lo avemos. 
 
 Che non tengo mas d’un dobro. 
 
 Mas non tenemos amas una via. 
 
 Tu tienes un tal tesoro. 
 
 El Poema del Cid. 
 
 Avie grandes cuydados . . 
 
 . . 6 
 
 
 
 Tanto avien el dolor . . . 
 
 . . 18 
 
 
 
 Si oviesse buen senor . . 
 
 . . 20 
 
 
 
 Del RRey non avie gragia . 
 
 . . 50 
 
 
 
 A las fijas que ha . . . 
 
 . . 384 
 
 Tiene dos areas lenas .... 
 
 II 3 
 
 Avien los de ganancia . . 
 
 . . 465 
 
 Dozientos marcos que tenie el rey 
 
 
 Myedo yva aviendo . . . 
 
 . . 1079 
 
 Alfonso 
 
 3246 
 
 Valencia que avemos por heredad, 1401 
 
 Cinco escuderos tiene don Martino, 
 
 , 187 
 
 Todo el bien que yo he . 
 
 E de mi abra perdon . . 
 
 . . 1899 
 
 Todo lo tengo delant .... 
 
 1634 
 
 Non auredes my amor . . 
 
 . . 2029 
 
 
 
 Tantos avemos de averes . 
 
 . . 2529 
 
 Tienen buenos cavallos .... 
 
 602- 
 
 
 Romancero del Cid. 
 
 
 Hayais la muerte que el hubo 
 
 1 . 99 
 
 Que tenia mil amigos .... 
 
 5 
 
 Que magiier que haya razon 
 
 . . IOI> 
 
 Si tengo razon 6 non .... 
 
 !5 
 
 Caballeros Castellanos. 
 
 
 Que como otro bien non tengo . 
 
 39 
 
 Mudafar consigo habia . . 
 
 . . 105 
 
 Y cinco hijos que tenie .... 
 
 7 i 
 
 
 
 Tiene la culpa e no el dueno . . 
 
 85 
 
 
 
 El rostro tiene turbado .... 
 
 87 
 
 
 
 Que no tienen piedad .... 
 
 97 
 
 34 
 
Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Romance Languages. 
 
 5 
 
 Tener. 
 
 
 Con quien amistad tenia. 
 
 
 Los de a pie no tienen cabo . 
 
 • 143 
 
 Y tienan gran presuncion . . 
 
 . 1 68 
 
 Testigos tiengo presentes . . 
 
 . 169 
 
 El Libre d' Appolonio. 
 
 Avian ventos derechos. 
 
 Buena fija avemos. 
 
 Aviemos tal senyor. 
 
 Un vestido he solo. 
 
 Non avie el poder de veyer. 
 
 Avia grant repintencia. 
 
 Avia placer. 1 
 
 Poema de Alexandro Magno. 
 
 Tenyen viento bueno. 
 
 Tenemos un buen home. 
 
 Senyor destas companyas. 
 
 Que no tiene vestido. 
 
 El mar que mengua tuvo leyaltad. 
 
 Avra de mi solas 
 
 3 
 
 Non tenie todas oras encobadas 
 
 
 Avian gran alegria 
 
 13 
 
 las manos. 
 
 
 Avie grant corazon 
 
 14 
 
 Tienes gran mejoria .... 
 
 47 
 
 Non he cura 
 
 38 
 
 Mas yo en mi non tengo el cor 
 
 
 Avie grandes virtudes .... 
 
 83 
 
 que vos tenedes 
 
 2123 
 
 Non avria pavor 
 
 92 
 
 
 
 Si lo avia el brazo 
 
 96 
 
 
 
 A tales a los pelos cuemo faz un 
 
 
 
 
 leon 
 
 138 
 
 
 
 Avie grant bontat. 
 
 
 
 
 Avian buenos agueros .... 
 
 274 
 
 
 
 Tornada non avremos .... 
 
 847 
 
 t 
 
 
 Los nuestros pensamientos non 
 
 
 
 
 han stabilidat 
 
 940 
 
 
 
 Ca non avria tal vulto . . . ombre 
 
 
 Tenie cara alegre. 
 
 
 nacido 
 
 1104 
 
 
 
 Avran de vos venganza .... 
 
 H 55 
 
 
 
 Yo por seso lo avria 
 
 880 
 
 No lo tengo por seso .... 
 
 879 
 
 Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos. 
 
 Avie cuerpo fermoso 
 
 128 
 
 Non avemos dinero nin oro . . 
 
 364 Un caballo tenemos en casa 
 
 Non avras nul trabaio .... 
 
 663 
 
 Avien los companneros grand 
 
 rancura 
 
 293 
 
 1 I quote from “ The Book of Appolonius ” these few instances only, having 
 placed opposite each other instances in which haber and tener are used with 
 equivalent meaning, and where the one could have been used for the other. This 
 will illustrate my position more forcibly. In “ The Book of Appolonius ” tener is 
 already used at least as often as haber. 
 
 35 
 
6 
 
 J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 Haber. Tener. 
 
 Martyrio de San Lorenzo. 
 
 Ovo grant alegria 18 
 
 Avie en la cabeza enfermedat 35 
 
 La Estoria de Senor Sant Millan. 
 
 Avie una azemila 27 El non tenie que dar li . . . . 239 
 
 Signos del Juicio. 
 
 Si io gran set avia 33 
 
 Averan fambre e frio .... 33 
 
 Cronica del Rey don Alfonso decimo. 
 
 Non abrian tiendas ningunas . . 
 
 9 
 
 Porque tenia derecho e tenia ver- 
 
 
 E si poder avian para facer 
 
 
 dad 
 
 69 
 
 emienda 
 
 26 
 
 Teniendo gran sentimiento del mal, 
 
 69 
 
 Donde avran ellos caballos e 
 
 
 Todo el pan que tenian .... 
 
 72 
 
 donde los avremos nos . . . 
 
 5 2 
 
 El pesar que tenia por el fijo . . 
 
 77 
 
 Avia grande amistad con don 
 
 
 
 
 Lope . 
 
 65 
 
 
 
 La gran guerra que ovo con el rey 
 
 
 
 
 Aben 
 
 75 
 
 
 
 Hurtado de Mendoza. 
 
 (La Vida del Lazarillo de Formes.) 
 
 El tenia una area vieja .... I 
 Sin duda debia tener spiritu de 
 
 profecia 27 
 
 Tenia cargo de proveer. 
 
 Otra cosa no tenia. 
 
 Que casi tiene forma de loro. 
 
 Tenia otras mil formas. 
 
 El gran miedo que tenia ... 25 
 
 Tenia poco caridad. 
 
 Mejor vida tienes que el Papa. 
 
 Yo no tengo dinerosf .... 38 
 
 Mala medra teneif. 
 
 Harto miedo la tengo. 
 
 49 
 
 36 
 
 Fingindo haber frio. 
 
 Yo hube miedo que con aquellas 
 diligencias 
 
 J 
 
 i 
 
Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Romance Languages. / 
 
 Haber. Tener. 
 
 Antonio de Solis. 
 
 (. Historia de la Conquista de Mexico .) 
 
 Porque tenia rara viveza de spfritu, 2 1 
 
 Tenia otras . . . de su proprio 
 
 natural 9 
 
 El poder que tenia el Cardinal . 3 
 
 El re don Fernando solo tenia 
 
 este titulo 3 
 
 Tenia en ella tres 6 quatro hijos . 16 
 
 Donde tenia el vidrio tanta esti- 
 
 macion 5 
 
 De que tenemos algunos exemplos, 4 
 
 Don Quixote de la Mancha. 
 
 Tenie en su casa una ama ... I. 
 Tenie el sobre nombre de quijada, I. 
 En que no tengo aqui dineros . IV. 
 La hermosura que tengo . . XIV. 
 Tengo riquezas proprias . . XIV. 
 No tengas pena, amigo . . . XVII. 
 
 El miedo que tienes. 
 
 Yo no tengo la culpa .... XX. 
 Tengo aficion, tengo misericordia, 
 etc., etc. 
 
 Las Mocedades del Cid : . 
 
 En mi tendra . . . un fiel vasallo, 120 
 
 Tiene la cura a su cargo . . . 157 
 
 Tiene razon 272 
 
 Honra tiene para todos . . . . 321 
 Pulso tengo todavia. 
 
 No tengo mas virtud 2254 
 
 Tiene prudencia y valor. 
 
 Tiene la leche en los labios . . 785 
 
 We see that in Don Quixote and Las Mocedades del Cid 
 haber is no longer used to indicate possession. It is used 
 only as an impersonal verb. Cf. Don Quixote : 
 
 Habiendo infinitos anos de lo uno a lo otro 
 
 Asegurando le que no hdbria cosa que mas justo le diese que saberlo . 
 
 37 
 
 XLVIII. 
 
 XLVII.j 
 
8 
 
 J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 or, in the sense of deber , cf. Las Moceclades del Cid : 
 
 Que he de poner, 710. 
 
 On glancing through the foregoing references it becomes 
 evident that haber has ceased to be an independent verb in 
 Don Quixote and Las Mocedaaes del Cid, and is used as such 
 only in a few instances in Hurtado de Mendoza, so that the 
 sixteenth century may be considered as the time of the dis- 
 appearance of haber as a principal verb. In the above quota- 
 tions I have placed side by side similar sentences, in some of 
 which Jiaber is used, and in others tener , thus showing that 
 haber and tener could be used indiscriminately, the one for 
 the other, and that no essential difference existed then between 
 those two verbs. Compare: — 
 
 Haber. Tener. 
 
 Avien ventos derechos. Tenyen viento bueno. 
 
 Buena fija avemos. Tenemos un buen home. 
 
 Un vestido he solo. Que no tiene vestido, etc. 
 
 But at the same time it must be noticed that whenever an 
 abstract idea is to be expressed, as for instance in duelo , dolor , 
 pardon , placer , miedo , etc., the preference is given, in most 
 cases, to haber. In fact, I have only noted seventeen instances 
 in which haber was used to express a concrete idea, and these 
 mostly in the earliest documents. Tener was the verb to 
 express concrete conceptions and material possession, though 
 it was also frequently used to express abstract ideas ; so that, 
 in fact, its use was more extensive and varied than that of its 
 rival haber. This being the case, tener grew in power and in 
 favor, while the reverse was true of haber. Little by little 
 haber was deprived even of the power of expressing an abstract 
 conception, and left to play the part of a pure inflectional end- 
 ing. Even here it is rivalled by tener ; for whenever a par- 
 ticular stress is laid on the verbal notion, tener takes the place 
 of haber. 
 
 Thus, instead of attributing the introduction of new auxili- 
 ary verbs in Spanish and Portuguese to a dislike of the 
 repetition of the same verb, it seems more natural to attri- 
 
 38 
 
Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Romance Languages. 9 
 
 bute it, first, to the close relatio?i of meaning existing between 
 tenere and habere , which accounts for the indiscriminate use 
 of the one for the other in the beginning ; secondly, to the 
 fact that haber , by its very meaning, was adapted to the ex- 
 pression of abstract ideas ; because, taking into consideration 
 the great importance of that development of new auxiliaries 
 in Spanish and Portuguese, it cannot be admitted that a law 
 of mere euphony, as Diez suggests, has occasioned such a 
 development. New auxiliaries are not produced to avoid too 
 frequent a repetition of one already existing, but really because 
 new ones; more expressive and more convenient to convey the 
 thoughts, offer themselves. 
 
 In tracing the history of haber and tener in Spanish, the 
 period of the language at which the two verbs had nearly the 
 same meaning and were used almost indifferently in the same 
 sentences has been shown ; as also the period at which they 
 became distinct in use, one of them even losing its independ- 
 ent existence. The same phenomenon may be observed in 
 Portuguese. A few instances will suffice. 
 
 Haber. Tener. 
 
 II canzoniere Portoghese ( MonacVs edition). 
 
 Poys mal ne bem de vos no ey . 
 
 18 
 
 Tenheu por gram 
 
 maravilha . . no 
 
 Quanto ben auya perdi .... 
 
 33 
 
 Que nu ca teneste 
 
 por ben . . . 128 
 
 E po mhavedes g m des amor 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 Poys no auedes merce de mi . 
 
 108 
 
 
 
 Q no ey en my forza ni poder 
 
 130 
 
 
 
 Cura no auedes 
 
 366 
 
 
 
 Des q mespertey ouiu gra peser. 
 
 Si vos pecado avedes .... 
 Per sonho mu g m vergonca ave- 
 
 470 
 
 Mais tenho q xha 
 
 errou 0 iograr. 
 
 des 
 
 982 
 
 
 
 In the Canzoniere, as we see, haver is by far the most in 
 use ; ter has rather the meaning of ‘ esteeming, thinking,’ than 
 * possessing.’ 
 
 Hardunf s Roma?iceiro Porttcguez. 
 
 E tres irmaos que havia . . . 159 Uma so filha que tendes .... 16 
 
 Chorava e razao havia . . . . 161 Uma irma que eu tinha .... 31 
 
 Ja se foram as galleras. As tres azenhas que tenho. 
 
 Que Dom Duardos havia . . . 161 Tendes los olhos bonitos .• . . 97 
 
 39 
 
IO 
 
 J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 Haber. Tener. 
 
 
 Antologia Portuguesa. 
 
 
 Ey gran cuidado . 
 
 . . 7 Quern frores d’amor tern . . . 
 
 • H 
 
 Que gram saber eu havya 
 
 . * 9 Se mais tevesse mais daria . 
 
 • 33 
 
 Avemos majores coidados 
 
 . . . 20 Tendes pae e tendes mae . . 
 
 . 65 
 
 Nom ha torto .... 
 
 • • • 33 
 
 
 Avian dinheiros . 
 
 • • • 37 
 
 
 Averia gran prazer migo 
 
 ... 48 
 
 
 Senhoras nam ajaes medo 
 
 . . . 156 
 
 
 Has medo que morrerei? 
 
 
 
 Hei 
 
 . . . 164 
 
 
 Up to this period haver is used more frequently than ter , as 
 was the case in Spanish. Both bore about the same meaning, 
 and could be used the one for the other in similar sentences. 
 In Sa de Miranda and in Camoens, the reverse is true. Ter 
 prevails, and haver becomes more nearly obsolete, and is 
 reduced to play the part corresponding to that of the French 
 verb avoir in “ il y a ,” or to be a substitute for convir or the 
 French falloir: Hei de par tir (il faut que je parte). 
 
 Sa de Miranda ( Os Fstrangeiros ') . 
 
 Deixay me passar que nao 
 
 Ey contigo nada 
 
 102 
 
 Tu tern cuydado de meu . . . 
 
 93 
 
 Nao ajaes vos medo 
 
 1 16 
 
 E tern razao 
 
 94 
 
 Lucrecia avia a minha filha nome 
 
 142 
 
 E essas nao tern spirito 
 
 ”5 
 
 
 
 Bons pes tenho 
 
 124 
 
 
 
 Pouca confian?a tens en Lucrecia 
 
 129 
 
 
 Os Vilhalpandos . 
 
 
 Mas ey miedo que nos fuya 
 
 0 
 
 
 
 tempo 
 
 
 
 
 E averemos todos conselho 
 
 • 273 
 
 Nao temos tempos . . . , . 
 
 273 
 
 Cuidado avia en casa 
 
 . 258 
 
 Tenho inimigos . * . 
 
 257 
 
 Quando aviamos mister mil olhos 226 
 
 Nao tive mais paciencia . . . 
 
 240 
 
 
 
 Tenho grande necessidade de ti . 
 
 192 
 
 
 
 Tinha algun sentimiento de homen 
 
 196 
 
 
 
 Aiuda tu tens boas pernas . . . 
 
 220 
 
 
 Os Lusiadas. 
 
 
 Que tambem della hao. medo , 
 
 . II.47 
 
 Victorias que tiveram .... 
 
 1-3 
 
 Portugal houve em sorte 
 
 . III. 25 
 
 Tenham inveja ...... 
 
 1-3 
 
 Este porhaver fama sempiterna IV. 60 
 
 
 
 40 
 
Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Romance Languages. ir 
 
 Haber. Tener. 
 
 Quando juntas com subita alegria Poder nao teve a morte . . . I. 14 
 
 Houveram vista da ilha namo- Por armas tern adargas . . . . I. 47 
 
 rada IX. 51 
 
 Piloto aqui tereis. 
 
 Tempo concertado eventos tinha I. 95 
 Nao teve resistencia . ... II. 69 
 
 O tu que so tiveste piedade . II. 105 
 . O tu que tens humano o gesto III. 127 
 
 As I have not had the opportunity to gather instances 
 from a later period of the Portuguese language, I cannot give 
 the exact date of the complete disappearance of haver as 
 used to indicate possession. The sixteenth century and the 
 beginning of the seventeeth may be assigned both for Spanish 
 and Portuguese as the declining period of haber , though the 
 change of this verb appears to have been slower in Portu- 
 guese than in Spanish. 
 
 Such has been the history of haber and haver , tener and ter 
 considered by themselves. It will now be shown that, con- 
 sidered as mere auxiliaries, they have passed through nearly 
 the same process of development ; that is to say, tener is used 
 to form the compound tenses in Spanish alongside with haber ; 
 and ter supersedes almost entirely haver in Portuguese. 
 
 Vida de Santa Maria Egipciaca . 
 
 Tanto la avia el diablo comprisa. 
 
 Dexare aquesta vida. 
 
 Que mucha la he mantenida. 
 
 Quando hovo fecho su jornada. 
 
 El Libre d'Appolonio. 
 
 Por el amor que yo tengo estab- 
 lecido contigo. 
 
 Des aqui adelante lograr quiero 
 lo que tengo ganado .... 649 
 
 Poema de Alexandro Magno. 
 
 El infante quando ovo su cosa Pora en Pentapolim lo tengo es- 
 
 acabada 147 leido. 
 
 Quando todas tierras ovo en paz Que esso que tu dices tenia yo es- 
 
 tornadas 223 mado 1840 
 
 41 
 
2 
 
 J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 Haber. 
 
 Et yo si non oviesse abiertos los 
 
 caminos 236 
 
 Tovieron que havian fecho bona 
 conquista 1698 
 
 La Estoria de Senor Sant Millan . 
 
 Secund esta noticia que avemos 
 
 contado 364 
 
 Que todos estos signos que vos 
 visto avedes 403 
 
 El Poema del Cid. 
 
 Bien los ovo bastidos .... 68 
 
 Quando tal batalla avemos aran- 
 
 cado 793 
 
 Desta batalla que avemos aran- 
 cada 814 
 
 Tener. 
 
 Ya tenie aguisado naves e mari- 
 neros. 
 
 Antonio de Solis. 
 
 Per que habia muerto su compa- 
 nero XIV. 
 
 Las lineas que tenia tiradas . III. 
 
 Cuyo imperio tenia el cielo des- 
 
 tinado par engrandecer . . V. 
 
 Ya tenia comprados algunos ba- 
 
 xeles VIII. 
 
 La confederacion que tenian 
 
 hecha XVII. 
 
 Don Quixote . 
 
 Tambien como otro que haya go- 
 
 bernado insulas X. 
 
 Has tu visto mas valeroso Cabal- 
 lero que yo X. 
 
 Ya no he leido ninguna historia X. 
 
 De cinco que habia dejado en 
 
 ella XXIII. 
 
 Pero ya tenia abierto uno el 
 
 barbero VI. 
 
 Lo que de la insula me tiene 
 
 promedido VII. 
 
 No se paguen donde tengo dicho X. 
 
 Como tenie tambien conecido el 
 
 humor XLV. 
 
 Thus we see that in Spanish tener is used in compound 
 tenses wherever there is a stress laid upon the verbal idea, or 
 when the action expressed by the verb is considered as not 
 belonging merely to the past, but as continuing in the pres- 
 ent. In a word, the tenses compounded with tener denote a 
 
 42 
 
Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Romance Languages. 13 
 
 more lasting and more emphatic conception. This is, of 
 course, the natural result of the stronger and more concrete 
 meaning of tener , as compared with the weaker and more 
 abstract one of haber. 
 
 A greater predominance has been accorded to the new 
 auxiliary in Portuguese than in Spanish ; for while in the 
 latter tener allows haber to play a very important part in the 
 conjugation of verbs, or replaces it only in special cases, ter 
 in Portuguese has become the true auxiliary, and haver is 
 very seldom met. The following quotations will show ter 
 superseding the auxiliary haver , as ter principal verb had 
 superseded haver principal verb. 
 
 Haber. Tener. 
 
 II canzoniere 
 
 Se qr do q lhy auia emp stado. 
 
 Nostro senhor se averez guydado 
 Gram pecado avedes de mi coy- 
 
 130 
 
 tado 
 
 131 
 
 P r qua te mal ey levado . . . 
 
 145 
 
 Que muyto mel avia jurado 
 
 *45 
 
 Mays p r q mha mentido . . . 
 
 250 
 
 Q lheu avya mandado .... 
 
 413 
 
 Muytos anos avemos passados 
 
 455 
 
 Pois me avedes preguntado . . 
 
 Ca hu iudeu avedes enganado. 
 
 903 
 
 Portoghese. 
 
 Ora senhor tenho muyt agisado . 220 
 
 Ora tenho guysado de marchar . 952 
 
 Hurdling' s Romanceiro Portuguez. 
 
 0 falcao perdido havia .... 
 
 47 
 
 Tenho feito juramento . . . . 
 
 2 5 
 
 Que nunca me has mentido 
 
 106 
 
 Aonde nunca tinha ido. 
 
 
 Ou grande traicao ha sido . . . 
 
 no 
 
 Acorda ja bella infanta. 
 
 
 
 
 Triste sommo tens dormido . . 
 
 in 
 
 
 
 Pois tudo tendes ouvido . . . 
 
 11 3 
 
 Antologia 
 
 Portuguesa. 
 
 
 Um cantar d’amig ha feyto . . 
 
 10 
 
 D’aver coita muita ten’eu guisado . 
 
 46 
 
 Mays pois m’o houveran dito . . 
 
 10 
 
 Tinha 0 cavallo sellado .... 
 
 63 
 
 Ca muitos annos avemos passados 
 
 20 
 
 A morte tenho passada .... 
 
 69 
 
 Preguntal-o-ey porque me ha des- 
 
 
 
 
 pagado 
 
 2 5 
 
 
 
 43 
 
J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 H 
 
 Haber. 
 
 
 Tener. 
 
 Ca langa ha torta d’un ramo . 
 
 • 32 
 
 "E tantos padecimientos tenho pas- 
 
 Que 0 aormir ja 0 ey perdido 
 
 . 44 
 
 sados 
 
 Eo ouve bem servido . . . 
 
 . 84 
 
 
 Senhor que nos ha livrado . . 
 
 . 109 
 
 
 Haver is more frequently used than ter as an auxiliary in 
 the Romanceiro, the Antologia, and especially in the Canzo- 
 niere, but the balance is soon changed. 
 
 Sa de Miranda (Os Vilhalpandos). 
 
 Temos gastado muito do tempo . 78 
 
 Quantos exercitos tenho eu so por 
 
 num desbaratados 161 
 
 Milagros que ja tinhao feitos . . 166 
 
 Nao sabes tu que tens mudado o 
 
 costume 216 
 
 Escudos que tinha recebidos . . 249 
 
 Quantas vezes tenho dito. 
 
 Seu conselho que eu avido tenho 124 
 O rosto do pay a que tens errado. 
 
 Cuida que me tern alugado . . 144 
 
 Os Lusiadas. 
 
 Que havendo tanto ja que as 
 
 partes vindo I. 27 
 
 Do licor que Lyeo prantado 
 havia. 
 
 Enchem vasos de vidro . . I. 49 
 
 Hajam os Portuguezes alcan- 
 
 ?ado 1-74 
 
 Nao nego que ha comtudo . VIII. 42 
 
 Nas aguas tern passado o duro 
 
 inverno I. 28 
 
 E tendo guarnecida a lassa 
 
 frota I. 29 
 
 Ouvido tinha aos Fados . . I. 31 
 
 Da determinagao que tens to- 
 
 mada I. 40 
 
 Diversos ceos e terras temos 
 
 visto I. §1 
 
 Como entendido tenho ... 1-79 
 
 Tem determinado de vir por 
 
 agua I. 80 
 
 Nao menos tem mostrado es- 
 
 forgo e manha VII. 71 
 
 Que Amor por grao mercS lhe 
 
 tera dado V. 46 
 
 Ter in the Lusiadas is used in eighty-eight per cent of 
 the instances of compound tenses. 
 
 44 
 
Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Romance Languages. i 5 
 
 Haber. Tener. 
 
 Colleccao de Tratados ( sixteenth century) por Biker. 
 
 Algunos portugueses a que vos 
 
 alteza tem dado credito ... 7 
 
 Tinha ganado Urmuz 25 
 
 Enquiry coes que sobre a dita morte 
 
 tenho tiradas 52 
 
 Os portos que tynheis ganhado aos 
 
 Mouros 25 
 
 A ilha de Maquiem que tinhao to- 
 rnado • . 52 
 
 I have found no other instances of haver in the first part 
 of the Tratados. 
 
 Chapter II. — Auxiliaries used with Intransitive Verbs. 
 
 The question concerning the use of habere and tenere as 
 independent verbs or as auxiliaries to transitive verbs, is easy 
 to study and to solve. In Italian, French, and Provencal, 
 habere is now and has always been the only auxiliary. In 
 the preceding rapid sketch, it has been shown that the use 
 of two auxiliaries in Spanish and Portuguese is due to the 
 antagonism and particular development of two words having 
 originally a similar meaning. But the question of the use of 
 auxiliaries with intransitive verbs is of a quite different kind, 
 and fraught with many difficulties. An historical treatment 
 of that question in French and Italian needs be quite exten- 
 sive. The task is easier in Spanish and Portuguese, since 
 these languages, yielding more to the power of analogy in 
 their conjugational system than either French or Italian, 
 have employed a single auxiliary for their intransitive conju- 
 gation, — at least, during the last three or four centuries. 
 
 Let us examine the question in each of the Romance 
 languages. 
 
 I. Auxiliaries used with Intransitive Verbs in French. 
 
 Two auxiliaries are used in compound tenses of the French 
 intransitive verbs : avoir and etre. The derivation of avoir 
 
 45 
 
1 6 
 
 J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 from Latin habere is perfectly clear and well understood. 
 The different tenses of the French verb etre have been taken 
 from those of the corresponding Latin verb, esse, sum,fui, etc., 
 save the imperfect e'tais from stabam, the present participle 
 etant from stantem, and the past participle e'te from statum. 
 The Old French possessed two imperfects, ere and estoie. 
 The first was used more frequently in early French docu- 
 ments, and very likely continued to be employed during the 
 next two centuries with decided preference, and we find it 
 still in the prose of Villehardouin and Joinville; but at the 
 end of the thirteenth century estoie had become the more 
 important, and in the next hundred years rose to be a rival of 
 ere, and even began to usurp its place. Now why did the 
 French reject eram for the sake of staba7n ? The reason is 
 similar to that given in explanation of the preference given 
 by the Spanish to tenere as contrasted with habere. Stare 
 bore about the same relation to esse as tenere to habere. 
 Stare in Latin could be used and was used to indicate exist- 
 ence/being thus synonymous with esse. Esse has an abso- 
 lutely abstract meaning, and expresses a permanent and inti- 
 mate state or condition of existence of the subject, while 
 stare implies a more descriptive, more external, and more 
 transient one. It is especially to this last meaning of stare 
 that the Spanish and Portuguese have given a particular 
 development. In French, stare has entirely supplanted esse 
 in its imperfect use, the imperfect being the descriptive tense 
 par excellence ; the keeping of etant and ete is due rather to 
 a lack of corresponding forms in the Latin verb esse than to 
 anything else. 
 
 The future ser-ai is generally taken from essere habeo. But 
 essere habeo ought to have given us estr-ai. This form is 
 actually found in Saint Leger, 
 
 tos consilier ia non esti-ai (16), 
 
 and in the Alexis, 
 
 Chambre, dist ele ia mais vfestras parede (29). 
 
 Could not, then, serai be derived from other sources ? We 
 shall see when we come to the Spanish. 
 
 46 
 
Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Romance Languages. ij 
 
 After these general remarks on esse in French, let us con- 
 sider the use of the auxiliaries in the intransitive verbs in 
 French. 
 
 Grammarians have laid down the following rule concerning 
 the use of these auxiliaries, viz. : With intransitive or neuter 
 verbs the auxiliary avoir is used when the verb is considered 
 as expressing an action, and the auxiliary etre is used when 
 the verb is considered as expressing more particularly a state 
 or condition. 
 
 M. Chabanneau adds : “ II n’y a pas a cet egard de regie 
 absolue, non plus que d’usage uniforme dans les langues 
 romanes.” Does this principle hold good ? When I say, Je 
 sins venu vous voir ; Quand je suis entre le theatre com- 
 menqait . . . / Les allies sont entres dans la ville , vers les sept 
 heures , I use the auxiliary etre , although the verbs venir , 
 entrer., do not denote state or condition, but express clearly 
 the action of coming and entering. Such a law as that stated 
 above is not satisfactory. M. Chabanneau tries to illustrate 
 the rule by the two following examples : Cette femme a 
 accouche ce matin ; Cette femme est accouchee heureusement. 
 In the first example, says our author, we have in mind the 
 action rather than the result of accoucher ; but in the second, 
 the result rather than the action. The dictionaries of the 
 French Academy and of Littre say the same thing. It would 
 seem bold to oppose two such authorities. Their statement 
 may be true as regards present usage, but it is not always 
 true in regard to Old French. Before showing what was the 
 case with the Old French, I shall remark that M. Chaban- 
 neau, in the two instances above given, limits the first verb 
 by an adverbial modifier, 11 ce matinf which time limitation 
 obliges us to think rather of the action than of the condition, 
 and modifies the second verb by an adverb of manner, “ heur- 
 eusement f pointing out a condition rather than an action. 
 The example given is evidently chosen to fit the rule. But 
 take the same example, omitting the modifiers referred to 
 above: Cette femme a accouche d'une file ; Cette femme est 
 accouchee d'une file. Both of these expressions are, gram- 
 
 47 
 
i8 
 
 J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 matically speaking, correct, and both express an action, show- 
 ing that there ought to be no difference between the two 
 auxiliaries. 
 
 Littre in his dictionary says that “ Elle a accouche heu- 
 reusement,” “ Elle est accouchee depuis un mois,” are faulty 
 locutions. Why ? Because the Academy says so, and be- 
 cause M. Littre asserts that a accouche expresses the action, 
 and est accouchee the condition. Compare parallel expres- 
 sions in Old French : — 
 
 Ci-dessous gist estendue et couchee 
 
 Une qu’amour si bien vaincue avoit 
 
 Que plusieurs fois elle en fust accouchee. — St. Gelai, 197. 
 
 According to M. Littre, such a locution also is faulty, because 
 plusieurs fois elle en fut accouchee expresses an action, as well 
 as elle a accouche depuis un mois. Yet we have a more strik- 
 ing instance of what M. Littre could have called a faulty locu- 
 tion in Joinville, Histoire de St. Louis , p. 218: “La Royne 
 acoucha d’un fil qui ot non Jehan. Le jour meism que elle 
 fu acouchief etc. Is not the verb accoucher used here in the 
 same way as in Littre’s “vicieuse locution,” quoted above, 
 and in Chabanneau’s “elle a accouche ce matin ” t Hence it 
 is apparent that the rule requiring etre to denote condition 
 and avoir action is based on modern usage, and, I dare say, 
 has nothing to do with the historical development of the 
 auxiliary usage itself. 
 
 It would take too long to quote in detail what other gram- 
 marians have said about the use of auxiliaries in the intransi- 
 tive verbs in French. Suffice it to say that they have divided 
 the neuter verbs of the French conjugation, numbering about 
 six hundred, in the following three classes, viz. : first class, 
 comprising verbs conjugated regularly with avoir (about five 
 hundred and forty) ; second class, comprising verbs conju- 
 
 gated with etre exclusively, viz. 
 
 : — 
 
 
 
 
 aller 
 
 avenir deceder 
 
 disconvenir 
 
 entrer 
 
 partir 
 
 rancir 
 
 tomber 
 
 arriver 
 
 avorter dechoir 
 
 echoir 
 
 mourir 
 
 provenir 
 
 redevenir 
 
 retomber 
 
 atterrir 
 
 choir devenir 
 
 emaner 
 
 naitre 
 
 rabougrir 
 
 ressortir 
 
 venir 
 
 48 
 
Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Romance Languages. 19 
 
 and third class, comprising verbs conjugated sometimes with 
 etre and sometimes with avoir , such as 
 
 f 
 
 aborder apparaitre contrevenir demeurer expirer passer resoudre 
 
 accoucher baisser croitre descendre grandir perir resulter 
 
 accourir cesser degenerer disparaltre monter rester vieillir 
 
 and some others. As to the verbs conjugated with etre alone, 
 grammarians maintain that they cannot take the auxiliary 
 avoir , because they express nothing but a state or condition. 
 As to the verbs conjugated with avoir or etre , grammarians 
 have used all their critical acumen to explain the use of the 
 one or the other. They have even censured illustrious'writers 
 for not adhering to the rules formulated by them. For in- 
 stance, Racine said in Berenice, A. II. Sc. L, II en etait sorti 
 lorsque fy suis couru. If we listen to grammarians, Racine 
 was wrong, and ought to have said, fy ai couru. We shall 
 see later whether Racine was wrong or not in saying j'y suis 
 couru. Compare courir with its compound accourir. Courir 
 must take the auxiliary avoir , and accourir may take either 
 avoir or etre. Why ? 
 
 M. Girault Durivier, in his “ Grammaire des Grammairesf 
 p. 472, says : “La raison pour laquelle courir prend toujours. 
 l’auxiliaire avoir, et accourir tantot l’auxiliaire avoir et tantot 
 l’auxiliaire etre est que courir n’exprime qu’un mouvement,. 
 qu’une action, au lieu que dans accourir qui signifie se mettre 
 en mouvement pour arriver promptement a son but on dis- 
 tingue deux choses, l’action de se mettre en mouvement pour 
 courir vers un but, et l’etat qui resulte de cette action faite. 
 Des que je V ai entendu se p lain dr e, j' ai account a son secours. 
 Je suis accouru a son secoitrs (would mean, says the author) 
 j' etais dans V e tat qui resulte de V action d' accourir au secours 
 de quelqu un." The correctness of the author is not to be 
 doubted, but the explanation is questionable. M. Girault 
 Durivier is right, according to the modern tendency which 
 dictates the use of avoir or etre in cases similar to those 
 quoted. But I hardly think that the use of the one or 
 the other auxiliary essentially modifies the verbal meaning. 
 Other Romance languages have, in their early period, made 
 
 49 
 
20 
 
 J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 use of two auxiliaries also ; but later on they were confined 
 to one, without losing the power of expressing with one 
 auxiliary shades of meaning that seem to require in French 
 the discriminating use of two auxiliaries. Voltaire said in 
 Orphelin de la Chine, II. 3 : — 
 
 Ou serais-je, Grand Dieu ! si ma credulite 
 
 Etit tombe dans le piege k mes pas presente ! 
 
 Here Voltaire seems to be wrong, because he makes use of 
 the auxiliary avoir with tomber , and tomber cannot take such 
 an auxiliary. So J. J. Rousseau, according to the same gram- 
 marian, was wrong when he said C' est ainsi que la modestie 
 du sexe est disparue peu a pen ; because here disparaitre 
 expresses an action, and not a state or condition. The same 
 remarks have been made about the use of auxiliaries with 
 other intransitive verbs, , such as perir , e'chouer , accoucher, 
 cesser , demeurer , apparaitre , croitre , partir, rester, etc. It 
 would take too long to consider these verbs, one by one, and 
 to discuss their special meaning according to the auxiliary 
 with which they are conjugated. I shall only remark that 
 the rules given by the grammarians are not observed in 
 popular usage, where 
 
 II a descendu l’escalier en courant 
 
 or 
 
 II est descendu l’escalier en courant 
 
 are used indiscriminately, and convey the same meaning. 
 
 The inconsistency of grammarians and the unsatisfactory 
 explanation they have given concerning auxiliaries may serve 
 as an excuse for my trying another explanation, based entirely 
 on the comparison of the modern with the Old French, and 
 for presenting a few considerations on, first, different kinds 
 of verbs ; secondly, the origin of the so-called neuter or 
 intransitive verbs ; and thirdly, the different kinds of neuter 
 verbs. 
 
 First : Different Kinds of Verbs. 
 
 The classification here made of verbs is based on the fol- 
 lowing principle : Every verb is active in its original and 
 
 50 
 
Use of Auxiliaiy Verbs in Romance Languages. 21 
 
 primary meaning, and expresses an action. Every verb has 
 the inherent power of being used as transitive or intransitive; 
 consequently verbs intransitive in modern French may have 
 been formerly, and can be used in the future as, transitive ; 
 verbs intransitive in some of the Romance languages have 
 been, are, or may be used as transitive in some other Romance 
 languages. Compare jouir, prosperer, courir, obeir, dormir, 
 renoncer ( intransitive dn French) , and godere, prosperare, 
 correre, ubbidfre, domire, rinunciare ( transitive in Italian ). 
 
 Ex. — Ed allora gode la fortiria (Bocc.). 
 
 Ex. — Mai hai i tuoi maestri ubbidfti, etc. 
 
 A verb is not necessarily transitive or intransitive ; it is 
 made the one or the other according to the development of 
 its own meaning, and according to the peculiar genius, stage, 
 and tendency of the language in which it is used. Hence all 
 verbs in their nature are active verbs, and express an action ; 
 in their use they are divided into two classes, viz. : transi- 
 tives, affecting an external object; and intransitives, or semi- 
 transitives, affecting the subject. For brevity’s sake, the 
 verbs of the first class may be called objective-transitives ; 
 and those of the second, subjective-transitives. The verbs of 
 the first class, expressing an activity directed towards an 
 external object, are conjugated with avoir ; the verbs of the 
 second class, expressing an action affecting the subject itself, 
 partake of the nature of passive verbs, and thus take etre. 
 
 But later on the second class of verbs was developed into 
 two classes : subjunctive transitives fully expressed : Je me 
 repens; and subjunctive transitives elliptically expressed : Je 
 meurs (for Je me meurs). Compare Spanish, Italian, Portu- 
 guese. 
 
 Secondly : Neuter Verbs. Their Origin. 
 
 To the second of the above classes belong the so-called 
 neuter verbs ; they are nothing but elliptical reflexive verbs, 
 or subjunctive transitives elliptically expressed. As a conse- 
 quence, they form in several cases their compound tenses 
 with etre , according to the principle described above. 
 
 5i 
 
22 
 
 J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 Thirdly : Different Classes of Neuter Verbs. 
 
 With reference to conjugation, neuter verbs must be 
 divided into three classes : — 
 
 First, neuter verbs, the radical significance of which being 
 still felt, are conjugated with etre ; not at all because they 
 express a state or condition rather than an action, but be- 
 cause they are elliptical reflexive verbs. 
 
 Secondly, neuter verbs still under the influence of their 
 origin, but yielding in a great measure to the effect of what 
 I should call the Romance tendency. Under that tendency 
 Romance languages have been substituting, in a less or 
 greater degree, active and reflexive for passive expressions, 
 and active verbs for passive verbs ; hence active auxiliary for 
 passive auxiliary. As a consequence, the verbs under the 
 influence of these two principles will have a wavering use of 
 the auxiliaries etre and avoir , with a slight preference for avoir. 
 
 Thirdly, neuter verbs subject to the influence of the Ro- 
 mance active tendency, and taking the auxiliary avoir exclu- 
 sively. This third class of neuter verbs is the only class to 
 be found at present in some of the Romance languages. 
 
 I will now take a certain number of verbs belonging to the 
 first class, and prove that they have been used in the Old 
 French as true reflexive verbs. For instance, with alter, Je 
 sins alle is equivalent to Je me suis alle. The study of the 
 verb aller in Old French literature is very interesting. The 
 frequency of its use may be said not to be exceeded by that 
 of any other verb. When the different ways in which aller 
 is conjugated are observed, the student is at no loss to 
 explain its auxiliary, and can no longer say with grammarians 
 that aller takes the auxiliary etre because it expresses a state 
 or condition ; as if any verb could express more clearly an 
 action than the verb aller. This verb was used, first, in the 
 reflexive form with en : s' en aller ; secondly, in the reflexive 
 form without en : s' alter ; thirdly, in the so-called neuter 
 form with en: en aller ; fourthly, in the so-called neuter form 
 without en : aller. 
 
 52 
 
Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Romance Languages. 23 
 
 Examples of the Firs'!. 
 
 Petrus dalo fors s’en aled Pass. Chr. . . . 197 
 
 Tot s’en vait declinant Alexis .... 9 
 
 Puis s’en alat en Alsis la cite Alexis .... 86 
 
 Com s’en alat et com il s’en revint Alexis .... 285 
 
 Franc s’en iront Roland ... 50 
 
 Li empereire s’envait desuz un pin Roland . . . 168 
 
 Que en France m’en alge Roland . . . 187 
 
 S’en vait a son ostel Roland . . . 342 
 
 S’en est alez li reis Roland . . . 501 
 
 Et lors li consaus s’en rala parler an Soudanc .... Joinville . . . 186 
 
 Et vous commandons que vous ralez vers notre Seignour . Joinville . . . 248 
 
 Signor, je m’en vois outre mer Joinville ... 64 
 
 Examples of the Second. 
 
 Que a pou se ala que il ne nous afondrerent en l’yaue . Joinville . . . 168 
 
 Examples of the Third. 
 
 Et en alat en Alsis la citet Alexis .... 382 
 
 Alez en est en un vergier Roland ... 1 1 
 
 Desuz un pin en est li roi alez Roland . . . 165 
 
 Seignurs vous en irez Roland . . . 360 
 
 Li Rois d’Ermine en ala au roy des Tartarins .... Joinville ... 78 
 
 Tu en iras a ton roy . ‘ . Joinville . . . 264 
 
 Il en ala grant pas par mi son vessel Joinville ... 88 
 
 Et bien toute la voie que li connestable et je en alames 
 
 amont Joinville . . . 136 
 
 Si nous en irons tuit en paradis Joinville . . . 174 
 
 Qui en fut alez apres les Sarrazins Joinville , . . 108 
 
 Examples of the Fourth. 
 
 1 st de la nef e vait edrant a Rome Alexis . . . . 21 1 
 
 Est alez conquerant Roland . . . 553 
 
 Si l’est alez ferir 
 
 Tant que il veist que sa chevalerie feroit, qui aloit a terre . Joinville ... 6 
 
 Mais je dont se je aloie vers vous Joinville . . . 216 
 
 Car nous sommes alei contre le commandement Mahomet Joinville . . . 202 
 
 Car vous estes alei la sus sans mon commandement . . Joinville . . . 316 
 
 Qui avoit appelei contre li et estoit alez a Rome . . . Joinville . . . 370 
 
 Cf. Italian andarsene , andarne , andarse , andare. 
 
 Examples of the First. 
 
 Tu te ne andasti e si rimase seco Petrar. S. . . . 204 
 
 Secando se ne va 1 ’ antica prora Dante Inf. VIII. 29 
 
 Ora sen va per uno stretto calle Dante Inf. X. 1 
 
 53 
 
24 
 
 J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 Vattene omai Dante Purg. XIX. 139 
 
 L’ una gente s’ en va l’altra s’ en viene Dante Purg. XXVI. 46 
 
 Di Tebaida andati se n’ erano Bocc. Dec. . . 3. 9 
 
 Examples of the Second. 
 
 E in su una sua nave . . . n’ ando in Cipri Bocc. Dec. . . 3. 7 
 
 II peregrino tantosto n’ ando a quattro fratelli .... Bocc. Dec. . . 3. 7 
 
 Sappiendo verso che parte n’ era la fregata andata . . Bocc. Dec. . . 5. 6 
 
 Examples of the Third. 
 
 E s’ andarono tutti alio cortiglio 
 Ma vassi alia via sua . . . 
 
 Examples of the Fourth. 
 
 Da Foggia andao le Re Matteo Spinelli 1093 
 
 Remark. Alter was sometimes also conjugated with the. 
 auxiliary avoir , just as formerly in Italian, and now in Span- 
 ish. Compare 
 
 Quant j’oi un poi avant ale Roman de la Rose 5 
 
 (Ital.) Egli a andato a lui (common speech). 
 
 With arriver , je suis arrive is equivalent to je me suis 
 
 arrive. 
 
 (Arriver used as active verb.} 
 
 Cil a sa nef apareilee; entrent dedenz 
 
 II les mena tant qu’al rocher les arriva Greg, le Gr. . . 104 
 
 (Arriver used as reflexive verb.} 
 
 S’en alia outremer . . . et s’ariva a Acre Chron. d’outr. 
 
 Et ayant dit cela s’arriva contre le corps en la fosse . . Matt, de Coucy . 738 
 
 Compare Italian arrivarsi. 
 
 With entrer, je suis entre is equivalent to je me suis entre. 
 
 Si s’ en intrat en un moustier St. Leger ... 66 
 
 As porz d’Espeigne s’en est entre Rolant Ronceval ... 14 
 
 Compare Italian : — 
 
 Non potea riveder d’ ond’ io m’ entrassi Purgatorio XXVIII. 24 
 
 Da lui ne dall’ amor che in lor s’ entrea Parad. XIII. . . 57 
 
 Ignudi amenduni se n’ entrarono nel bagno Bocc. Dec. . . 8. 10 
 
 54 
 
 Matteo Spinelli 1093 
 Purg. XXV. . . 5 
 
Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Romance Languages. 25 
 
 Compare Provencal : — 
 
 Ab aquestas paraulas lo rey s’en es intratz. 
 
 With mourir , je suis mort is equivalent to je me suis mort. 
 
 Por 0 s furet morte a grant honestet 
 
 Eulalie. 
 
 
 11 se fut morz, dam i fud granz 
 
 
 51 
 
 Et disoit que li ennemis si soutilz que quand les gens se 
 meurent, il se travaille tant comme il puet que il 
 les puisse faire mourir 
 
 Joinville . . . 
 
 24 
 
 E alors elle se pasma, et cuida l’on qu’elle fut morte et 
 li Roys qui cuida qu’elle se mourust retourna . . 
 
 Joinville . . . 
 
 332 
 
 Qu’ele li dist qu’il li donroit 
 
 S’amor, ou ele se morroit 
 
 Roman de la Rose 
 
 48 
 
 Les uns mouroient sans parler les autres se mourroient 
 en parlant 
 
 Rabelais 
 
 
 Here it may be remarked that the Old 
 
 French uses 
 
 se 
 
 mourir in Eulalie and St. Leger to express the very act of 
 dying, whereas in modern French se mourir means 'to be 
 agonizing ’ ( Madame se meurt , Madame est morte. — Bossuet). 
 Both meanings are found in Joinville (see above). A very 
 important fact to notice is that mourir could be used not 
 only as a reflexive verb, but also as an active verb ; and that 
 not only in the French, but in all the Romance languages. 
 Fittre, in his long article on mourir> says nothing about the 
 active meaning of this verb. 
 
 Or veez vous bien que je vous eusse bien mort, si je 
 
 vousisse 
 
 Toute voiz ce ne leur eust riens valu que li Turc ne les 
 
 eussent touz mors ou champ 
 
 Mes ce m’a mort que poi me dure 
 
 Or se ce non vous m’avez morte 
 
 Compare Italian : — 
 
 Ne necessity conviene que la gentilissima Beatrice alcuna 
 
 volte si muoi 
 
 Per una donna que s’ era morta 
 
 Per paura morte s’ erano 
 
 E dopo alcun di arrabiato si mori 
 
 Ettore avendo morti grandissima quantita di Greci . . 
 
 I quali furono morti et cacciati 
 
 Muorsi si subito nelle sue braccia 
 
 Joinville . . . 348 
 
 Joinville . . . 152 
 
 Roman de la Rose 81 
 Roman de la Rose 1 88 
 
 Vita Nuova XXIII. 
 Vita Nuova XXXIII. 
 Bocc. Dec. . . 2. 7 
 
 Dino Compagni . 506 
 
 Ricardo Mai. . 885 
 
 Ricardo Mai. . 996 
 
 Bocc. Dec. . . 3. 6 
 
 55 
 
26 
 
 J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 Nella sua vista, e cotal si moria Purg. XVII. 
 
 Sanar le piaghe c’ hanno Italia morta Purg. VII. 
 
 Per lo giusto disdegno che v’ ha morti Parad. XVI. 
 
 Compare Provencal : — 
 
 Quar non puesc vezer qui t’a mort. 
 
 27 
 
 95 
 
 [ 37 
 
 With naitrc, je sins ne is equivalent to je me snis n£. 
 
 Et s’est nee et estraite de si bonne lignee Bert. . . . 
 
 7 2 
 
 Compare the Wallachian, where naitre is only reflexive. 
 
 Eu m’am nascut la anul i860. 
 
 With partir, je suis parti is equivalent to je me suis parti. 
 
 Et quant li frere s’en furent parti 
 
 Que oncques ne s’osa partir tant que il fut accordet au 
 
 conte de la marche 
 
 Et lors je me parti de Joinville sanz rentrer ou chastel 
 
 jusques a ma revenue 
 
 Mai apertement se partirent li Turc de Diamiete . . 
 
 Mort le trebuche, l’ame s’en est partie 
 
 La parole est finee et li conseil se part 
 
 Se partit du diet lieu 
 
 Se furent de Israel partiz 
 
 Dont il s’estoient folement parti 
 
 Et se partent des cors les ames 
 
 Compare Italian : — 
 
 Poiche la gentilissima donna fu partita . . . 
 
 Messer Francesco de Loffredo partio de Tarento 
 Alcuni si sono partiti del suo proprio parlare . 
 
 Che riguardasse se partito si fosse 
 
 Rimanete con Dio che io mi parto 
 
 Quando tre ombre insieme si partiro .... 
 
 With tomber , je suis tombe is equivalent to je me suis tombe. 
 
 I was unable to find a reflexive example of tomber. 
 Du Cange says: “ tumber vero active sumitur pro dejicere, 
 vulgo faire tomber.” Hence, if tomber was used formerly as 
 a transitive verb, there is no reason to suppose that it could 
 not have been used as a reflexive verb. 
 
 56 
 
 Joinville . . . 
 
 14 
 
 Joinville . . . 
 
 56 
 
 Joinville . . . 
 
 68 
 
 Joinville . . . 
 
 90 
 
 Rone 
 
 58 
 
 Saxe XXIX. 
 
 
 Pantagruel II. . 
 
 5 
 
 Livre des R. . . 
 
 48 
 
 Guillaume de Tyr. 
 
 103 
 
 Roman de la Rose 
 
 246 
 
 Vita Nuova XXX. 
 
 
 Matteo Spinelli . 
 
 1605 
 
 Della Volg. Eloq. 
 
 73 1 
 
 Bocc. Dec. . . 
 
 i- 7 
 
 Bocc. Dec. . . 
 
 4.. 1 
 
 Infer. XVI. . . 
 
 4 
 
Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Romance Languages . 27 
 
 Instances of tomber used as a transitive verb : — ■ 
 
 Mes la contraire et la perverse 
 Quant de leur grant estat les verse 
 
 Et les tombe autor de sa roe Du Cange. 
 
 Icellui Giraut donna au dit Manson un si grand coup sur 
 
 l’espaule qu’il le tomba par trois fois en la charriere Du Cange. 
 
 Puis le tombent en un fosse Roman de la Rose 52 
 
 Now it is clear that Voltaire, in saying, “Eut tombe dans 
 le piege,” was not wrong, since the verb tomber is conjugated 
 with the auxiliary avoir in Old French, and bears an active 
 meaning. The sentence of Voltaire, though obsolete in the 
 time he wrote, had nothing wrong in itself. 
 
 With venir , je suis venu is equivalent to je me suis venu . 
 
 The reflexive form of this verb is generally found in con- 
 nection with en. But se venir and s’ en venir must be re- 
 garded, just as s en alter and s alter were regarded ; that is to 
 say, en does not change the reflexive nature of venir and 
 aller , but when that en is found in a sentence in connection 
 with venir and alter, it controls and necessitates in most 
 cases the use of the reflexive form, which, however, is per- 
 fectly independent of it. It is only necessary to compare 
 the instances cited above, of s' aller, and the Italian venirse, 
 or venirne, and venirsene. 
 
 Ma viensi per veder le vostre pene Inf. XII. ... 21 
 
 Ma vienne omai che gia tiene ’1 confine Inf. XX. . . . 124 
 
 Venir sen deve giu tra’ miei meschini Inf. XXVII. . . 115 
 
 L’ un poco sovra noi a star si venne Purg. VIII. . . 31 
 
 Sen venne suso ed io per le su’ orme Purg. IX. . . 60 
 
 Io mi vengo a star un po teco 
 
 Si vinse il peggiore Ricardo Mai. . 990 
 
 Ove in Leone ad incontrar si venne Orlando .... Orl. Furi. . . 46. 21 
 
 Let us now examine a few of those verbs that take either 
 etre or avoir, according to their peculiar meaning, as gramma- 
 rians say. I hold, on the contrary, that when those neuter 
 verbs take etre, they are purely elliptical reflexive verbs, just 
 as those of the above list ; and that when they take avoir, 
 they follow the general tendency of development that pushed 
 the Romance verbal-system towards an active auxiliary. The 
 Old French used such forms as etre apparu and etre peri very 
 
 57 
 
2 8 
 
 J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 frequently, whereas the modern French avoids them and 
 generally prefers the active auxiliary form. 
 
 With apparaitre , je suis apparu is equivalent to je me suis 
 apparu. 
 
 Si s’aparust et sor mon chief me mist sa main .... Rom. delaR. 10,347 
 
 Tout fust il ainsi que nus ne se fust aparus contre eux . Beau 54 
 
 La deesse Vesta s’apparust a lui Amyot. Rom. . 4 
 
 Jesus Christ glorieux s’apparut Flechier. 
 
 L’ange du seigneur s’apparut a lui Volt. Phil. V. .110 
 
 De rechef s’apparut Dieu en Silo Livre de Rois I. 
 
 Saint Andrius apareuz a lui Guill. de Tyr. . 208 
 
 With cesser , la pluie est cesse'e is equivalent to la pluie s' est 
 cessee. 
 
 Quand ce cri fut repandu parmi l’ost tous se cesserent . Froissard II. . . 215 
 
 Je me veux cesser de parler de faitz d’Angleterre . . . Commine . . . 3. 7 
 
 With croitre , la riviere est erne is equivalent to la riviere 
 s est erne. 
 
 The only example found of se croitre is in Lacurne’s Dic- 
 tionary. Se croistre, he says, is used for s' accroitre in Perard’s 
 Histoire de Bourgogne. Very likely the reflexive use of 
 croistre has been transmitted to the ’compound s' accroitre. 
 Compare the active use of crescere in Italian. 
 
 Madama voi dalla poverth di mio padre . . . come figliuola 
 
 cresciuta m’ avete Bocc. Dec. . . 2. 8 
 
 E che piii volte v’ ha cresciuta doglia Inf. IX. ... 96 
 
 With demeurer , je suis demeure is equivalent to je me suis 
 d erne ure. 
 
 The first meaning of demeurer was to ‘stop at,’ to ‘delay.’ 
 (See instances of se demeurer in Lacurne’s Dictionary.) 
 
 E si li estoient chil doy roy si prochain que a envis s’en 
 
 mesloit et a envis s’en demoroit . . . «, . . Froissard II. . . 481 
 
 Compare Italian dimorarsi : — 
 
 Mi sono dimorato in Parigi sei anni. 
 
 58 
 
Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Romance Languages. 29 
 
 t 
 
 With descendre , je suis descendu is equivalent to je me suis 
 descendu. 
 
 Si se descendirent et se firent leurs logis sur ces beaux pres 
 
 sur la riviere de Dordogne Froissard II. . . 3 
 
 Et loerent au roy que il se descendit de la nef Ik ou il estoit Joinville . . . 342 
 II n’y avoit en la mer ilecques pres ancun port la oii il se 
 
 peut descendre Joinville ... 28 
 
 With courir, je suis couru is equivalent to je me suis count. 
 
 We have seen that Racine’s expression,/ 'y suis couru , has 
 been condemned by grammarians. But M. Littre, in his 
 Dictionary, has justified the great poet in the following man- 
 ner : “ Les Grammairiens condamnent cet emploi et disent 
 que courir exprimant une action ne peut recevoir l’auxiliaire 
 etre. Mais venir exprime aussi une action et ne s’en con- 
 jugue pas moins avec l’auxiliaire etre. Ici encore l’usage est 
 pour l’auxiliaire avoir. L’auxiliaire etre est tres peu usite, 
 mais il est egalement correct, dans l’ancienne langue il etait 
 de plein usage.” Here M. Littre recognizes the fact that 
 the auxiliary etre is as justifiable as the auxiliary avoir in that 
 neuter verb, and that everything depends on usage, — rather, 
 
 I should say, on the development of the language, as it is 
 very clearly seen in the case of venir and coitrir. Conse- 
 quently M. Littre ought not to defend, as he does everywhere 
 in his Dictionary, the idea of grammarians who say that 
 neuter verbs are conjugated with etre when they express a 
 state or condition, and with avoir when they express an 
 action. The rules of grammarians are rules of assertion and 
 not of investigation, made for the present stage of the lan- 
 guage without any reference to the past. Hence such rules 
 are not always observed by great writers, nor by the people 
 either. Racine was right in that particular instance, and, 
 according to our own theory, j'y suis count stands for je my 
 suis couru. Compare the Old French : — 
 
 Roland regarde puis (se) lui est couru Roland . . . 153 
 
 Chascuns y est couru la merveille esgarder Berthe III. 
 
 Ils se coururent sus l’espee au poing Montaigne I. . . 256 
 
 II s’en court en disant : A Diep me recommande . . . Regnier St. XI. 
 
 Le pauvre homme s’en courut La Fontaine. 
 
 59 
 
30 
 
 J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 4 
 
 With disparaitre , je snis disparu is equivalent to je me suis 
 disparu. 
 
 J. J. Rousseau’s La modestie du sexe est disparue pen a peu 
 is equivalent to s est disparue peu d peu. Compare also 
 Calvin : — 
 
 Jesus Christ ne s’est point fait invisible 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 monter , je suis monte is equivalent to je me s?iis monte. 
 
 Si vint tout ik pied Messire Herve jusqu’a Abbeville, la se 
 
 monterent Froissard II. . . 214 
 
 With passer , je suis passe' is equivalent to je me suis passe. 
 
 Outre s’en passe . . Rone 65 
 
 Si tost comme il le sot il 1 ’alla querre, il s’en passa sans 
 
 amende Beau. XX. . . 57 
 
 With perir, je suis peri is equivalent to je me suis peri. 
 
 Perir was used in the Old French in the active voice, as 
 
 well as mourir. Compare : — 
 
 Pour Dieu ne perissons mie 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 l’auxiliaire Hre, perir 
 exprime plus particulierement l’etat, mais cette nuance n’est 
 
 60 
 
Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Romance Languages. 31 
 
 pas toujours observee.” It appears, on the contrary, that 
 with the auxiliary etre, perir , as well as all the other verbs 
 examined above, is of reflexive origin, and that with avoir 
 they constitute a development towards active forms. All 
 shades' of meaning attributed to neuter verbs in modern 
 French, according as they are conjugated with avoir or with 
 etre , may be assigned not only to a refinement of thought and 
 of style, but also to the subtle distinctions of grammarians. 
 
 In the above considerations I have taken account only of 
 such neuter verbs as either retain etre exclusively, or take 
 both etre and avoir , making no mention whatever of those 
 conjugated with avoir alone. A couple of instances will show 
 that those also were used reflexively. 
 
 Dormir : — 
 
 Charles se dort qu’il ne s’esveillet mie Rol 724 
 
 Pleurer : — 
 
 Amarement mult se ploret Pass, du Christ . 198 
 
 II. A uxiliaries used with Intransitive Verbs in Italian. 
 
 Since the Italian system of conjugating the neuter verbs 
 presents about the same character as that of the French, I 
 have thought proper in the preceding to bring such parallel 
 instances of Italian as I might find directly under those of 
 the French. This was done to illustrate the one language 
 by the other, and to bring stronger proofs to my assertion 
 that neuter verbs conjugated with esse in either of these lan- 
 guages are merely remnants of reflexive verbs elliptically ex- 
 pressed. I may add here that in Italian authors like Matteo 
 Spinelli, Ricordamo Malespini, Dino Compagni, Dante, Boc- 
 caccio, and Ariosto, this alternating use of elliptical reflexives 
 with full reflexive verbs is more frequent than in any French 
 author I have read. 
 
 The Italian still uses the auxiliary essere with a few neuter 
 verbs, where, the French now uses the auxiliary avoir. I 
 have found two striking instances of such - difference in 
 fuggire and vivere. 
 
 6 1 
 
32 
 
 J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 Sono fnggito is equivalent to mi sono faggito. 
 
 Compare : — 
 
 S’ erano fuggiti Hist. Fior. Bk. IV. 40 
 
 La o altrove si fosse fuggito Bocc. Dec. . . 2. 2 
 
 Ridendo gli contarono perche s’ eran fuggiti .... Bocc. Dec. . . 2. 5 
 
 Compare : — 
 
 S’en estait fulz Guill. de Tyr. . 468 
 
 Lesquels estoient fuis Rab. Garg. . 41.276 
 
 Sono vissuto is equivalent to mi sono vissuto. 
 
 Compare : — 
 
 Numitore si vivette nel suo campo Ricord. Mai. . . 886 
 
 Gli nomini si vivono quietamente Machiavelli del Pr. III. 
 
 La donna onestamente con lui si visse Bocc. Dec. . *3-9 
 
 Gia mi vivea di mia sorte felice Orlando F. . 13. 5 
 
 Non so, risposi lui, quant’ io mi viva Purg. XXIV. . 76 
 
 Compare Old French : — 
 
 Par les pasture de quoi ils se vivent Guill. de Tyr. . 77 
 
 S’il n’a dont il se puisse vivre Roman de la Rose 19 
 
 Et se font povre et si se vivent Roman dela Rose 5 
 
 III. A uxiliaries used with Intransitive Verbs in Spanish . 
 
 Just as we saw the Spanish using two verbs to indicate 
 possession, so we shall find that it makes use of two different 
 verbs to indicate existence : esse and stare. As to the rela- 
 tion of esse to stare , I shall refer to page 16, where the rela- 
 tion between the F rench imperfects ere and estoie was spoken 
 of. The Latin stare furnished all the forms of the Spanish 
 estar, but esse did not furnish those of ser in the same meas- 
 ure. The infinite esse and the subjunctive sim have been 
 lost in Spanish, and the corresponding forms, sedere and 
 sedeam , have been taken from a verb whose transferred 
 meaning denotes existence, just as stare does. In the oldest 
 documents of the Spanish no traces of esse and sim can be 
 found, and if those forms were used at all, it must have been 
 at a period antedating those documents. 
 
 62 
 
Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Romance Languages. 33 
 Compare : — 
 
 Bien seya castigado Vida de Santa M. Eygp. 
 
 Seya dixeron todos puesto e otorgado 
 
 Devie seyer en vida tal ome adorado Libre d’App 91 
 
 Devemos seyer todos firmes en la sua tenencia . Libre d’App 93 
 
 It is, in fact, a question whether, in Old Spanish, the whole 
 verb sedere Was not used in all its tenses to denote existence, 
 for besides the infinitive sedere and the present subjunctive 
 sedeam and also the gerund sedendo , I have found instances 
 of the indicative present sedeo , and especially of the imperfect 
 
 sedebam. 
 
 De san Millan criado en la su merced seo .... Vida de St. Dom. . . 757 
 
 Sennores e amigos quantos aqui seemos Est. de St. Millan . 317 
 
 Mientre que esta duenna en tal caita sedie .... Vide d. S. D. d. S. . 562 
 
 La casa de Onorio que sedie escarnida Est. de S. Mill. . . 198 
 
 Como era mal apriso sedie fuert embargado . . . Est. de S. Mill. . . 333 
 
 Sedie una eglesia non mueho aredrada Milag. de N. S. . . 415 
 
 Sus gentes mui devotas sedien en oracion .... Milag. de N. S. . . 415 
 
 Quando esta palabra udieron los trufanos 
 
 Que sedien mas rabioscs que carniceros canes . . Duelo de la Virg. . 39 
 
 Seyendo aun el rey en la batalla Chro. del Rey Alp. X. 52 
 
 Seven do estas companias llegadas Chro. del Rey Alp. X. 27 
 
 Hy sedie una mesa de cobre bien labrada .... Sacrif. de la Misa . 9- 
 
 Now, if there can be no doubt that the Spanish ser is a 
 contracted form of sedere , and that the future sere is for 
 sedere habeo , could not the French serai be derived from 
 the same source ; and ought not estrai to be considered 
 as the only form coming from essere habeo f Compare 
 page 1 6. 
 
 After these few remarks about ser and estar , it will be 
 shown how they were used in the oldest period of the 
 Spanish language. 
 
 It is recognized that in Spanish ser expresses what is essen- 
 tial and permanent, whereas estar expresses an accidental and 
 transitory state. Indeed, this distinction may be observed to 
 have existed from the recorded beginning of the language. 
 There may be some instances in which the difference is not 
 observed ; but, I dare say, they are very few. 
 
 63 
 
34 
 
 J« A. Fontaine , 
 
 Ser. Estar. 
 
 El Libro de los Reyes d'' Orient. 
 
 Tu que major e mejor eres. 
 
 Dios es sin dubdanza. 
 
 Vida de Santa Maria Egipciaca. 
 
 Fija tu eres de gran natura. Porque estas en mala natura. 
 
 Di me donde eres. O como estas. 
 
 El Libre d’ Appolonio . 
 
 Tu eres la raiz, tu fija el cimal. Antiocho estando en tamanya error. 
 
 Rev yo fui esse e fuy verdadero. Estaba en tal guisa. 
 
 Mientre ellos estaban en esta encencia. 
 Dixo el marinero que en somo estaba. 
 Las ondas mas pagadas estar no podien. 
 Desuyo le sangre que estaba enagada. 
 No sabie do estaba. 
 
 Poema d' Alexandro Magno. 
 
 Tornal como se fusse su mortal Que escusa non ayas porque estas 
 
 enemiga 2193 desarmado 123 
 
 Quando estas irado as fiera cata- 
 
 dura 212 
 
 Que estaban lidiando a una gran 
 pressura 500 
 
 El Poema del Cid. 
 
 Yo so Ruiz Dias 721 Estando en la cruz 351 
 
 Tres reyes veo de moros derredor 
 do mi estar. 
 
 Cronica del Rey Alfonso X. 
 
 Veyendo como era de tan poco e a los que estaban y con el . . X. 
 
 poder II. a Toledo do estaba el Rey Alfonso. 
 
 Entonces era vivo el rey don 
 
 Jaimes VIII. 
 
 Que era tuerto de un ojo . . . XIII. 
 
 La Vida del Lazarillo de Tormes. 
 
 Quien ere su padre. para los que estaban de parto. 
 
 Era'huerfano. pensando que yo estaba enten- 
 
 Ser la misma avaricia, diendo 14 
 
 64 
 
Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Romance Languages. 35 
 
 Ser. 
 
 Don Quixote. 
 
 Estar. 
 
 Que era hombre docto .... I. 
 Aquel idolo de Mahoma que era 
 
 todo de oro I. 
 
 Hombre que por ser muy gordo 
 era muy pacifico II. 
 
 Estaba confuso mirando lo . . III. 
 
 El estaba alii pronto paro obede- 
 cerle. 
 
 cuando estaba muy cansado . . V. 
 
 Now let us consider ser and habere intransitive auxiliaries. 
 The Spanish conjugated its neuter verbs or its elliptical re- 
 flexives with ser and haber , mostly with ser , till the beginning 
 of the thirteenth century, when haber began, little by little, 
 to supersede ser , and at last, about the middle of the sixteenth 
 century, completely displaced it. It was about the same 
 period of time that haber ceased to be considered as a prin- 
 cipal verb ; so that we may consider the beginning of the 
 sixteenth century as the period when the tendencies of the 
 Spanish language to use haber became exclusive. 
 
 Ser. Haber. 
 
 El Libro de los Reyes d' Orient. 
 
 a Jesu Christo que era nado. Quando Erodes sopo. 
 
 El angel fue a el venido. Que por hi non le han venido. 
 
 Vida de Santa Maria Egipciaca. 
 
 En Alexandria es venida. 
 
 En tal hora hi fue entrada. 
 
 Quando fue passada. 
 
 A 1 monasterio son tornados. 
 
 El Libre 
 
 Ya es del siglo passado. 
 porque era hi venido. 
 
 Si entonces fuesse mortuo. 
 
 n Appolonio. 
 
 Porque por muchas tierras no avia an- 
 dado. 
 
 Avian de la marina gran partida an- 
 dada. 
 
 Quando toda la hove la ribera andada. 
 
 Poema de Alexandro Magno. 
 
 El infante fue venido .... 107 Avie tan fiera lluvia ante noche 
 
 passada 
 
 Alegre fue el rey quando fue ar- 
 ribado 272 
 
 65 
 
 1883 
 
3 6 
 
 J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 Ser. Haber. 
 
 El Poem a del Cid. 
 
 Car por il agua a passado . . . 150 
 
 Cronica del Rey don Alfonso X. 
 
 E soy aqui venida a pedirle 
 
 
 
 
 ayuda 
 
 XVII. 
 
 
 
 Era venido a recebir .... 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 
 
 Despues que Don Nuno fue 
 
 
 Dos caballeros hermanos que 
 
 
 partido ....... 
 
 24 
 
 havian passado 
 
 63 
 
 Seyendo estas companias lle- 
 
 
 Aquel camino que aveva ido antes 
 
 77 
 
 gadas 
 
 27 
 
 
 
 Supo de commo Aben Yuzaf 
 
 
 
 
 era passado 
 
 62 
 
 
 
 Romancero del Cid. 
 
 
 A tiempo eres venido. 
 
 
 Cuatro veces he venido .... 
 
 16 
 
 Amigos salidos somos . . . 
 
 . 119 
 
 Un romero habia llegado. 
 
 
 Por su tiempo es pasado . . 
 
 • 93 
 
 Y lides do habeis entrado . . . 
 
 46 
 
 Nuevas al Cid son venidas . . 
 
 . 187 
 
 Venido han en perdicion . . . 
 
 46 
 
 Until now, neuter verbs conjugated with haber and ser 
 have been found, but hereafter the auxiliary haber is univer- 
 sally met in compound tenses of neuter verbs. 
 
 Hurtado de Mendoza . 
 
 El qual habia muerto en la batalla. 10 
 Mucha gente que le habia ido a 
 
 socorrer 30 
 
 los dias que no habia muerto. 
 de mi amo habia ido fuera del 
 
 lugar 37 
 
 porque no podria menos de haber 
 
 caido 47 
 
 Etc. 
 
 Antonio de Solis. 
 
 Creyendo que ... la voz que 
 
 habia corrido III. 
 
 Cuyo suceso habia llegado ya a 
 
 stf VI. 
 
 la brujula y carta que habian 
 
 decaido XIV. 
 
 66 
 
Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Romance Languages. 37 
 
 Ser. Haber. 
 
 Don Quixote . 
 
 No habia pasado de hidalgo . V. 
 
 Esta noche me ha sucedido 
 
 una de las mas XVII. 
 
 El miedo que habia entrado 
 en su corazon. 
 
 he ya que hemos caido en sos- 
 
 pecho XXIII. 
 
 al cual ya habia venido . . XXIV. 
 
 Las Mocedades del Cid. 
 
 He venido. Ha venido? He 
 venido. 
 
 Ya he caido en tu pesar . . . 1574 
 
 To come back to my theory and prove that the above 
 neuter verbs are merely elliptical reflexives, I shall give a 
 few instances where the same verbs are used as full reflec- 
 tives. For example: — 
 
 Estos reyes son se tornados 
 
 Quando desto te avras partido 
 
 No pudo estar que non se iria 
 
 El obispo don iheronimo se entrava 
 
 Entraron se en la cibdad 
 
 Y de secreto se ha ido 
 
 Encendieron su fuego que se les era muerto 
 
 De mi mal se parte 
 
 Ya se iban las naves 
 
 Si de nos non te partes avras mal ventura 
 
 Que se iba para Burgos 
 
 Commo do Fernando se venia 
 
 Los moros que se iban con el 
 
 Reyes d’Orient. 
 Santa M. Eg. 
 Santa M. Eg. 
 
 iglesia 
 
 Que de mi y de ellos se habio ido 
 
 Para el gafe se venia. En terra se descendia . 
 
 Mas en castillo se entraba 
 
 A vos me vengo 
 
 Se habia venido a recoger aquel su castello . 
 Donde vieron que se habia entrado .... 
 
 . Poema del Cid . . 
 
 1579 
 
 . Poema del Cid . . 
 
 2896 
 
 . Romancero del Cid . 
 
 VII. 
 
 . Libre d’Ap. . . . 
 
 K/\ 
 
 00 
 
 . Alexandro .... 
 
 118 
 
 . Alexandro. 
 
 
 . Alexandro .... 
 
 120 
 
 . Alf. X 
 
 8 
 
 . Alf. X 
 
 66 
 
 . Alf. X 
 
 74 
 
 la 
 
 
 . Vida del Lazar. . . 
 
 55 
 
 La vida del Lazar. . 
 
 85 
 
 . Rom. del Cid . . . 
 
 XXII. 
 
 . Rom. del Cid . . . 
 
 3 i 
 
 . Rom. del Cid. 
 
 
 . Rom. del Cid. 
 
 
 . Rom. del Cid . . . 
 
 15 
 
 67 
 
38 
 
 J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 IV. Auxiliaries used with Intransitive Verbs in Portuguese. 
 
 It has been shown above that in Spanish ser expresses 
 what is essential and permanent, whereas estar expresses an 
 accidental and transitory state. The same thing is true 
 of the corresponding auxiliaries in Portuguese, and a rapid 
 glance at the earliest and most important written documents 
 of the Portuguese language will be proof sufficient that such 
 is the case. 
 
 Ser. Estar. 
 
 Canzoniere Portoghese. 
 
 Si foss eu rey 37 Poys ante vos estou aqui . . . 141 
 
 mays de tato seede sabedor . . 1220 
 
 Har dung's Romanceiro Portuguez. 
 
 Era esse dom Beltrao 6 como estas bem assentada. 
 
 Pensando que era verdade . . .31 Chegando aonde elle estava . . 10 
 
 tu es uma mana minha .... 64 Zamora estava cercada .... 17 
 
 ja esta vain en mar largo. 
 
 Antologia Portuguesa. 
 
 E se era vos c’ant’o prazo saido . 15 Yo me estaba em Coimbra . . . 76 
 
 Melhor e de seer traedor ... 34 Despois de estar ja vestido . . 258 
 
 E em que sempre cuidando seyo . 43 
 
 Sd de Miranda. 
 
 E este teu amigo he tao meren- Estas tao demudado 192 
 
 corio vil 144 Estava como fora de mim . . . 201 
 
 Os Lusiadas. 
 
 O mouro astuto esta confuso . I. 62 
 O capitao que a tudo estava 
 
 attento I. 98 
 
 Now ser and ter will be considered as intransitive auxil- 
 iaries. 
 
 The Portuguese auxiliaries follow the same development 
 and undergo the same changes as their Spanish equivalent, 
 and, as far as I can make out, at about the same period. 
 
 68 
 
Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Romance Languages. 39 
 
 Ser. 
 
 
 Canzoniere Portoghese. 
 
 Por em mais en q mal dia fui 
 
 
 nado 
 
 17 
 
 Por semp sodes de mi partido . 
 
 834 
 
 E se no fosse antexpo nado . . 
 
 1013 
 
 Hardung's Romanceiro . 
 
 Chegadas sao as gall eras . . . 
 
 13 
 
 Saiban quantos sao nascidos . 
 
 *5 
 
 Que meu pae que era morto . . 
 
 100 
 
 Mas anno e dia e passado . . . 
 
 113 
 
 Agora a saber son vindo ... 
 
 7 2 
 
 Sd de Miranda (Os Estrangeiros). 
 
 A tanto sao chegados .... 78 
 
 Pois tu es vindo a salumento . . 118 
 
 ja tudo esso he passado a Por- 
 tugal 147 
 
 Os Lusiadas. 
 
 Sao chegadas 
 
 . I. 78 
 
 meio caminho a noite tinha 
 an dado 
 
 II. 60 
 
 Sendo 0 capitao chegado . 
 
 . I. 104 
 
 ja tinha vindo Henrique da 
 conquista 
 
 III. 27 
 
 A Melinde foi chegado . . 
 
 . . . antes que chegado 
 
 . II. 57 
 
 Chegado tinha 0 prazo promet- 
 
 tido 
 
 Ou que partes do mar corrido 
 
 HI. 37 
 
 Seya este capitao . . . . 
 
 I. 76 
 
 tinhan 
 
 Do mar temos corrido e navi- 
 gado toda a parte .... 
 
 I. 50 
 
 I. 51 
 
 The Lusiads represent the period when ser and ter could 
 be used equally well with neuter verbs. After that time ter 
 must have gotten the upper hand very rapidly. I shall say 
 nothing of the Provencal, since it agrees, so far as I know, 
 with the French. 
 
 Chapter III. — Auxiliaries used with Reflexive Verbs. 
 
 The question concerning the use of auxiliaries in the com- 
 pound tenses of the reflexive verbs has been extensively 
 treated, but whether the best explanation has yet been found 
 
 69 
 
40 
 
 J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 is very doubtful. It would be too long a task to review fully, 
 one after the other, the authors that have written on that 
 subject. The question has been fully examined by Gessner 
 ( Jahrbuck fur romanische und englische Sprache und Litera- 
 tur , XV, p. 20 1 ) and by A. Mercier (. De V Histoire des parti- 
 cipes fran^ais). Gessner is the one author who seems to have 
 treated the debated question more fully than any other. The 
 principal thing to be considered in this author’s work, and by 
 far the most important (Mr. Gessner himself calling it the 
 “Kernpunkt” of the whole question), is the assertion that 
 the reflexive pronoun^ accompanying the verb is in the accu- 
 sative, and yet not the direct object of the verb. Mr. Gess- 
 ner tries to illustrate his theory for the German language by 
 selecting as an instance two expressions, one reflexive and 
 the other active, and showing that the former is more vivid 
 than the latter, describing more intensively the actual situation 
 or feeling of the subject. Who will deny that the reflexive 
 pronoun adds a mild, poetical meaning to the verbal expres- 
 sion ? But at the same time, Mr. Gessner tries to prove that 
 logically the reflexive pronoun, though in the accusative, is 
 not the direct object of the verb. Let us take two French 
 sentences directly representing those given by Gessner in 
 German : — 
 
 II craint le danger ; 
 
 II s' effr aye du danger. 
 
 In both cases, he says, danger is the direct object of the verb ; 
 accordingly the reflexive pronoun cannot be the direct object 
 (“ dieser Accusativ kein Object ist ”). As far as the meaning 
 is concerned, nothing is changed in adopting that view, and 
 Mr. Gessner is right ; but if we take into consideration the 
 syntactical connection, he is wrong. If I say simply, Cet 
 homme s effr aye facilement , undoubtedly we have to consider 
 the reflective se as being the direct object of eff'/ayer , just 
 as the first personal pronoun me would be in Cet homme 
 m ejfraye. 
 
 Now if to our first sentence cet homme s' ejfraye, I add dti 
 danger , will these few words change the relation of the reflex- 
 
 70 
 
Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Romance Languages. 41 
 
 ive pronoun to its verb so completely as to prevent it from 
 being any longer the direct object of the verb ? I do not 
 think so. The reflexive pronoun will remain in the accusa- 
 tive case and be the direct object of the verb. The words du 
 danger merely explain why the subject is under the control 
 of fear, and could be replaced by en face du danger or a cause 
 du danger. 
 
 This way of looking at the logical construction of words 
 seems to me the natural one. Mr. Gessner is too obscure 
 when he pretends that in expressions like the above the re- 
 flexive pronoun is in the accusative case and yet not the 
 object of the verb, and that this accusative adds to the reflex- 
 ive idea an interior intenseness, and has a tendency to de- 
 prive the verbal notion of all exterior activity, reducing it to 
 an especially interior expression. 
 
 M. Littre, I think, was on the way towards a more plausible 
 explanation of the difficulty, when he said in his Histoire de 
 la langue franqaise, II, 317, “ Se erant convers, of the Frag- 
 ment de Valenciennes, presupposes the low Latin sc erant 
 conversi." The explanation he gives of the connection be- 
 tween convertor passive and convertor reflexive is good, but he 
 fails to see that the pronouns me , te , se, etc., had been added 
 in the low Latin to the perfect of convertor through an ana- 
 lytic tendency, and in analogy with convertor reduced to me 
 converto in Romance, and he concludes in saying that se is 
 not an accusative case, but that it represents all the cases 
 with the exception of the nominative, being “a regime inde- 
 termine sans cas determine and that as such “Sea pu se 
 joindre a des verbes neiUres, tels que s' en aller , s' enfuir, se 
 taire , s' eerier." 
 
 M. Chabanneau, in his Histoire de la conjugaison franqaise, 
 considers the auxiliaries as mere inflectional endings of the 
 verbs in their compound tenses. Whether that inflectional 
 ending be the auxiliary etre or avoir, it does not change the 
 nature of the relation of the verb to its object. So M. 
 Chabanneau recognizes in the reflexive pronoun not only an 
 accusative case, but also a direct object of the verb ; for he 
 
 7 l 
 
42 
 
 J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 says, “ Dans je me suis frappe, par exemple, me est le com- 
 plement de suis frappe, comme il le serait de ai fj'appe dans 
 la phrase supposee plus correcte je m’ai frappe.” We agree 
 thoroughly with M. Chabanneau, and indeed a rigorous pars- 
 ing of the sentence cannot be made to yield to the reflexive 
 pronoun me or se any other office (compare the “direct 
 object ” of the Latin deponent verb). It seems to me that 
 M. Chabanneau is very near solving the question when he 
 says (p. 5 of the work quoted above) : “A l’epoque du haut 
 moyen age tous les verbes deponents (du latin) suivaient 
 dans la langue parlee la conjugaison active, du moins quant 
 a leurs temps simples, car leurs temps composes etaient trop 
 d’accord avec les tendances des langues nouvelles qui se for- 
 maient pour ne pas etre maintenus, et nous les retrouvons 
 parfaitement conserves dans la conjugaison de nos verbes 
 reflechis et d’un grand nombre de nos verbes intransitifs.” 
 
 Although I prefer the theory of M. Chabanneau to that of 
 Mr. Gessner, as being more complete and giving a safer clue 
 to the question, I by no means intend to depreciate that of 
 Mr. Gessner. The poetical meaning, the emphatic expres- 
 siveness added to the verb by the use of the reflexive pronoun 
 se cannot be doubted, and this is felt by every one who is well 
 acquainted with the French language ; for it is very easy to 
 notice that between two expressions, the one active and the 
 other reflexive, the French generally chooses the latter, be- 
 cause there is in it something agreeing better with the genius 
 of the language. But all this is far from explaining to us 
 the difficulty presented by the reflexive verb system of the 
 Romance languages, especially when we take into account 
 the different tendency of some of these languages to use -the 
 auxiliary esse rather than the auxiliary habere , and that with 
 either one of these auxiliaries they could convey their reflex- 
 ive meaning, sometimes making use of the poetical reflexive 
 pronoun and sometimes leaving it out, without causing the 
 verb to undergo any change in its meaning, probably also 
 without its losing any of its poetical coloring. This is espe- 
 cially striking in the first centuries of the development of the 
 
 72 
 
Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Romance Languages. 43 
 
 Romance languages, where very often one is at a loss to find 
 any difference in the meaning of a verb when accompanied 
 by a reflexive pronoun and when without it. Wishing now, 
 after these observations, to discover why the reflexive pro- 
 noun is sometimes omitted and sometimes expressed, and the 
 reasons why some languages have adopted the auxiliary esse 
 and some others the auxiliary habere , I must present, to begin 
 with, a few considerations on the fat$ of the Latin verb itself. 
 
 On considering what has become of the deponent and neuter 
 verbs of the Latin in coming down to the Romance languages, 
 and how they have been used, especially in the old stage of 
 these languages as purely transitive verbs (compare se mourir , 
 moui'ir quelqu un, imiter quelqu! un, etudier quelque chose, perir, 
 se perir , perir quelque chose , se naitre , se venir ), it may be 
 assumed that all the Latin verbs that have survived in the 
 Romance languages have been handed down in an active 
 form, having an active meaning and capable of expressing a 
 transitive action. Among these verbs there was a certain 
 number that contained in themselves a reflexive idea, that is, 
 that the subject was doing the action for its own seif. Such, 
 for instance, are *morio , ambulo , venio , vado , vivo , descendo , 
 ascendo , etc. The idea expressed by these verbs might be 
 rendered by morio me, ambulo me, venio me, vado me, vivo 
 me, etc. We know that a strong analytical tendency pre- 
 sided over the formative period of the verbal system in the 
 Romance languages, and it was, no doubt, this tendency that 
 caused them to give to Latih verbs that were intransitive in 
 their synthetical state, complements, just as other comple- 
 ments were given to other verbs more intransitive in their 
 outward appearance. But since the verbs of the first cate- 
 gory, on account of the very essence of their internal mean- 
 ing (which meaning was arrived at by the disintegrating- or 
 analytic genius of the new languages) were left, by general 
 consensus undoubtedly, to express an action especially for 
 che benefit of the subject itself, without going outside of it ; 
 so that no other complement could be given them but a 
 reflexive complement expressed by the pronouns me, te, se. 
 
 73 
 
44 
 
 J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 Hence we have the name of reflexive verbs given to me 
 morio , me vivo , me vado, me descendo, me venio, etc., which 
 verbs have been used in a reflexive form in all the Romance 
 languages, and are the legitimate growth and legitimate rep- 
 resentatives according to the analytical tendency of the Latin 
 verbs vivo , venio , morior , etc. 
 
 Grammarians say that j' ai ve'cu, je suis mort,je suis allege 
 suis venn , je suis descendu , etc., are neuter verbs. Appar- 
 ently they are ; but before these forms arose we had je me 
 suis vecu,je me suis mort, je me suis alle, je me suis venu , je 
 me suis descendu :, etc. ; and these verbs are nothing but re- 
 flexive verbs. When the question of the conjugation of such 
 verbs as me vivo , me morio , me venio arose, or, to speak more 
 plainly, when these verbs came to be used in all their tenses, 
 it was very easy to conjugate them in their simple tenses. 
 But in compound tenses (and here let us remember what 
 M. Chabanneau said in his Flistoire , p. 5) the difficulty was 
 greatly increased. There must have been, at the time of the 
 formative period, two tendencies working in the Romance lan- 
 guages : one, the analytical, resolving the compound tenses 
 into periphrastical by combination of the auxiliary habere and 
 of the past participle of the conjugated verb. The indicative 
 present being je me vais, je me descends , je me pars , the com- 
 pound tenses of the preterite regularly became je m ai alljje 
 mai descendu , je m ai parti. This is the most natural ex- 
 planation, and this accounts for the well-known fact that a 
 great number of French dialects still use the auxiliary avoir 
 in combination with compound tenses of reflexive verbs, and 
 that children and uneducated people do the very same thing. 
 It would be of great importance to know the relative use of 
 esse and habere ' in the different Romance dialects. Very 
 likely in all of them instances of the use of both auxiliaries 
 are to be found, with this difference, that they are more or 
 less abundant, according to each dialect. M. Chabanneau 
 has mentioned the fact that several dialects of France make 
 use of avoir a,s well as etre. I may say,, that in the Parler 
 Sancerrois , and in the Berry generally, this use is very com- 
 
 74 
 
Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Roma?ice Languages. 45 
 
 mon. For instance, it would not be rare to hear some one 
 say, Je m avais trompe, il s avait sauve \ je m avais plaint , il 
 sa bien donne de la peine , etc. The use of avoir is extended 
 also to neuter verbs, like il a tombe \ etc. 
 
 Compare also the Franco -Venetian in Romania, XIV., 177. 
 
 Avec lui m’avero corucer . . . . 
 
 Que a lui plu s’avoit aprosmer . . 
 
 Ni an Milon no se soit consoler 
 Dapois que de Fran?a m’avi sevrer 
 Mai vero l’ore q’i s’en aura sevrer . 
 Mere fait il porqe vos ert envier 
 
 Berta e Milone 
 
 • 251 
 
 Berta e Milone 
 
 • 274 
 
 Berta e Milone 
 
 
 Orlandino . . 
 
 • 399 
 
 Orlandino . . 
 
 • 234 
 
 Orlandino . . 
 
 . 232 
 
 But besides that tendency of analysis on the part of modern 
 languages, there must have been another, not less powerful, 
 which may be termed the Latinistic, by which is meant the 
 tendency to conjugate deponent or reflexive verbs in accord- 
 ance with the system prevailing in the Latin language. Par- 
 tior had given in the preterite under the influence of the ana- 
 lytical tendency, je m ai parti ; the same verb will give under 
 the Latin influence, je suis parti ( partitzts sum). The table 
 on pp. 46 and 47 will illustrate the effect of the two tendencies. 
 
 This table shows us the analytical or active tendency of 
 the modern languages, which tendency, had it not been 
 checked by another, would have caused that all the com- 
 pound tenses of Romance reflexive and neuter verbs should 
 be conjugated with habere , just as they are at present in 
 Spanish and Portuguese. These two languages have carried 
 out thoroughly the analytical tendency, though not without 
 at first yielding to the syntactical influence of the Latin verb- 
 system. Thus we see that the analytical and conservative 
 tendencies have been working side by side, the one overrul- 
 ing the other in different languages ; and as a result of that 
 struggle we have a double system of conjugating reflexive 
 verbs in the Romance languages, just as the struggle between 
 the strong Latin conjugation and the weak Romance conju- 
 gation resulted in the development of two classes of verbs. 
 Which one of these tendencies was the stronger at the begin- 
 ning is difficult to say ; but I am inclined to think that the 
 
 75 
 
46 
 
 J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 Latin tendency was the stronger, at least in French and 
 Italian. In the Fragment de Valenciennes we find etre alone 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Romance Analysis. 
 
 Latin. 
 
 .tnorior 
 
 morio me 
 
 mortuus sum 
 
 French 
 
 Italian 
 
 Spanish 
 
 je me meurs 
 (or je meurs) 
 mi muoio 
 (or muoio) 
 me muero 
 (or muero) 
 
 Portuguese . 
 
 me morro 
 (or morro) 
 
 parti or 
 
 partio me 
 
 pa 
 
 rtitus sum 
 
 French . 
 Italian . 
 Spanish . 
 
 je me pars 
 (or je pars) 
 mi parto 
 (or parto) 
 me parto 
 (or parto) 
 
 Portuguese . 
 
 me parto 
 (or parto) 
 
 venio , *venior 
 Cf. venitur 
 
 venio me 
 
 *venitus sum 
 or 
 
 *venutus sum 
 
 French . 
 •Italian . 
 Spanish . 
 
 je me viens 
 (or je viens) 
 mi vengo 
 (or vengo) 
 me vengo 
 (or vengo) 
 
 Portuguese . 
 
 me venho 
 (or venho) 
 
 intro, *intror 
 
 intro me 
 
 *intratus sum 
 
 French . 
 Italian . . 
 
 Spanish . . 
 
 Portuguese . 
 
 je m’ entre 
 (or j’entre) 
 mi entro 
 (or entro) 
 me entro 
 (or entro) 
 me entro 
 (or entro) 
 
 used. In the Alexis and Chanson de Roland we find avoir 
 only three times, but etre very often. It is very difficult to 
 say how long avoir continued to be used in the conjugation 
 
 76 
 
Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Romance Languages. 4 7 
 
 of reflexive verbs in French proper. The latest instances I 
 have found occur in the Roman de la Rose and Villehardouin ; 
 
 Romance Analogy. 
 Full Reflexive Verbs. 
 
 Latin Influence. 
 Elliptical Reflex. V’bs. 
 
 Romance Creation, 
 or Active Tendency. 
 
 Reduced Expression. 
 
 me morluus sum 
 
 morluus sum 
 
 me mortuum habeo 
 
 mortuum habeo 
 
 je me suis mort 
 
 je suis mort 
 
 
 
 mi sono morto 
 
 sono morto 
 
 
 * 
 
 me soy muerto 
 
 soy muerto 
 
 me he muerto 
 
 he muejrto 
 
 me sou morto 
 
 sou morto 
 
 me tenho morto 
 
 tenho morto 
 
 me partitus sum 
 
 partitus sum 
 
 me partitum habeo 
 
 partitum habeo 
 
 je me suis parti 
 
 je suis parti 
 
 
 
 mi sono partito 
 
 sono partito 
 
 
 
 me soy partido 
 
 soy partido 
 
 me he partido 
 
 he partido 
 
 me sou partido 
 
 sou partido 
 
 me tenho partido 
 
 tenho partido 
 
 me venitus sum 
 or 
 
 me venutus sum 
 
 venitus sum 
 
 or 
 
 venutus sum 
 
 me venitum habeo 
 
 venitum habeo 
 
 je me suis venu 
 
 je suis venu 
 
 
 
 mi sono venuto 
 
 sono venuto 
 
 
 
 me soy venido 
 
 soy venido 
 
 me he venido 
 
 he venido 
 
 me sou vindo 
 
 sou vindo 
 
 me tenho vindo 
 
 tenho vindo 
 
 me intratus sum 
 
 intratus sum 
 
 me intratum habeo 
 
 intratum habeo 
 
 je me suis entre 
 
 je suis entre 
 
 
 
 mi sono entrato 
 
 sono entrato 
 
 
 
 me soy entrado 
 
 soy entrado 
 
 me he entrado 
 
 he entrado 
 
 me sou entrado 
 
 sou entrado 
 
 me tenho entrado 
 
 tenho entrado 
 
 but I dare say that avoir was used with reflexive verbs in 
 French about as long as ser was used in Spanish with the 
 same reflexive verbs. We shall see further on when the 
 
 77 
 
48 
 
 J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 latest traces of the Spanish reflexive verb conjugated with 
 ser are to be found. We see, then, that as long as the French 
 and Spanish languages can be compared, the opposite pro- 
 cess of development in this particular took place. Thus, 
 while the Latin or conservative influence was predominating 
 in the French, the modern tendency was predominating in 
 Spanish. The explanation of this is plain enough. We know 
 that the southwest languages of the Romance family (the 
 Spanish and Portuguese) have a development totally inde- 
 pendent of that of the northeast group (the French and Ital- 
 ian). One of these characteristics is found in the way these 
 different languages have treated their verbal system. Where- 
 as, on the one hand, the French, and yet more the Italian, 
 have striven against the influence of analogy to keep alive 
 the strong Latin conjugation, whether by retaining original 
 Latin strong verbs, or by making weak Latin verbs strong, the 
 Spanish and Portuguese have, on the other hand, transferred, 
 we may say, the whole of the Latin strong conjugation to the 
 weak conjugation, thus yielding to the unifying power of anal- 
 ogy. Thus one may see how independently each language or 
 each group of languages develops. And we must not wonder 
 that the Spanish and Portuguese use haber and ter with their 
 reflexive verbs, and the French and Italian esse, Even in 
 these two languages the development of the use of esse was 
 not totally accordant. From the very beginning the French 
 made no difference whether the reflexive pronoun that accom- 
 panied the verb was in the accusative case or dative ; every- 
 where etre was made use of. The Italian, on the contrary, 
 used at first avere whenever the reflexive pronoun was in a 
 dative case, and essere when it was in the accusative case ; 
 but later on avere yielded to essere in the dative case also. 
 I have already mentioned above the great freedom of the 
 Romance languages in older times to express or to leave out 
 the reflexive pronoun without altering the meaning of the 
 verb. How shall we account for that peculiarity, which is 
 common to all the Romance languages ? Here, again, I 
 attribute it to two tendencies : the conservative, which was 
 
 78 
 
Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Romance Languages. 49 
 
 to represent the compound tenses with sum (as in Latin) and 
 the past participle, without adding to it any reflexive pro- 
 noun ; and the analytical tendency, which was to apply to 
 compound tenses the analysis made of simple tenses. The 
 former tendency had given : — 
 
 morior ( morio me), mortuus sum, 
 partior (partio me), partitus sum; 
 
 the latter tendency gave : — 
 
 morior, morio me, (me) mortuus sum, 
 partior, partio me, (me) partitus sum, 
 
 thus carrying the use of reflexive pronouns from simple 
 tenses to compound tenses. Hence there was a conflict 
 between these two tendencies, the one leaving out the ana- 
 logical reflexive pronoun of the compound tenses, while the 
 other had introduced it. But, of course, the meaning was 
 perfectly preserved, and remained the same in both cases. 
 
 In this way could be explained the apparent inconsistencies 
 of the reflexive Romance conjugation. The Latin tendency, 
 which was weaker than the analytical, has gained the upper 
 hand in one class of verbs, called above “elliptical reflexive 
 verbs,” and consequently the pronoun has been omitted : 
 Je me suis parti , je me suis alle, je me suis venu , have settled 
 definitely into je suis parti , je suis alle , je suis venu. 
 
 But the tendency that had pushed the Spanish language 
 towards adopting the auxiliary haber for the conjugation of 
 all the neuter verbs was also working in French, and our first 
 class of verbs having adopted, through Latin influence, etre, 
 the second class of neuter verbs adopted the auxiliary avoir. 
 In yet a third class of verbs neither tendency prevailed, and 
 to this very day they make use of the two auxiliaries. 
 Compare : — 
 
 Je suis monte 01* fai monte ; 
 
 Je suis descendu or fai descendu; 
 
 Je suis reste or fai reste ; 
 
 Je suis passe or fai passe, etc. 
 
 Grammarians have decided that etre must be employed 
 when the verb marks state or condition, and avoir when it 
 
 79 ' 
 
50 
 
 J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 indicates an action, and generally our feeling is influenced by 
 this distinction ; but I have tried to show that such was not 
 the case in the Old French period. 
 
 It has already been assumed, in the first part of this trea- 
 tise, that every verb is active, and consequently all the verbs 
 that have come down to the Romance languages from the 
 Latin mother tongue must have been verbs belonging to the 
 active voice. To explain this phenomenon we must go back 
 to the early period of the Latin, just as to explain the Italian 
 forms struggere and traggo we have to go back to the period 
 when- the classical forms struere and traho were represented 
 by the more primitive forms strugere , trag(Ji)o. The g of 
 these latter forms is still preserved in the sigma perfects, 
 traxi, struxi standing for trag-si, striLg-si. By going back to 
 the formative period of the Latin, we shall see that the active 
 voice was the only voice this language then possessed. 
 
 It has been said (cf. Die Verbal Flexion der lateinischen 
 Sprache of Westphal and others) that the Greek constructed 
 its middle and passive voices (the aorist and future excepted) 
 with the same inflexional endings, jjlcu, crcu, tcu, and these 
 endings were originally, as the comparison with other lan- 
 guages proves, endings of the middle voice, which afterwards, 
 through a transfer of meaning, were used as passive endings. 
 The Latin verb must have once possessed endings similar to 
 the fiat, (tcu, tcu of the Greek, and with a parallel meaning ; 
 but they were afterwards lost, a periphrastic expression being 
 introduced in its stead. That periphrastic expression was 
 made up of an. active form, eg. amo, and the reflexive se. 
 But the Latin did not keep this new formation in its primi- 
 tive state, and a fusion of the periphrastic expression into a 
 single word took place, and amo se became amor{e), amas-se , 
 amar(i)s, etc. Just as the endings fiat, acu, tcu had served 
 as inflexional endings to the middle and passive voices, so the 
 parallel Latin endings formed its passive and deponent forms. 
 Thus four periods might be distinguished in the verbal growth 
 of the Latin, viz. : The first period, when the Latin had forms 
 similar to that of the Greek in /jlcu, ecu, Tat ; the second 
 
 80 
 
Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Romance Languages. 51 
 
 period , when the active voice became middle by the independ- 
 ent use of se (eg. amo-se) ; the third period, when the verb 
 and se combined into a single word (aino + se > amo'd), and 
 the reflexive meaning was changed to a passive. Such trans- 
 fer of a reflexive to a passive meaning was the regular devel - 
 opment of human thought, which with a reflexive idea necessa- 
 rily and logically associates a passive idea ; so that in the 
 classical period of the Latin language the same endings had 
 to express a reflexive and a passive verbal notion. The new 
 period having been created by a tendency towards a passive 
 notion or idea, it is natural that the passive verbs should have 
 been more developed in the classical Latin than the reflexive 
 verbs ; but.^ at the same time the tendency was not so strong 
 as to push all the more ancient reflexive verbs into passives. 
 Hence we have a certain number of them reserved by classi- 
 cal authors to a reflexive use exclusively ; but even these con- 
 tained in themselves the power of being used passively as 
 well as the others, and that power had been given them by 
 the general tendency that had pushed Latin verbs from reflex- 
 ives to passives. This seems the most plausible way to 
 explain how deponent verbs like adhortari , admirari , consolari, 
 dilargiri , meditari , partiri , sortiri , reserved by classical writers 
 to deponent use, are found in the passive voice, especially in 
 
 the past participle (compare Livy : — 
 
 Partitis divenditisque reliquiis XXI. 21 
 
 Ex malignitate praedae partitae V. 20 
 
 Compare also Draeger, Historiche Syntax, I., p. 156) ; and 
 how passive verbs retained the deponent meaning and were 
 
 used as deponent verbs (compare Livy : — 
 
 Sed ruinae' maxi^ne modo jumenta cum oneribus devolvebantur . . . XXI. 33 
 
 Ut idem in singulos annos orbis volveretur III. 10 
 
 Priusquam hostes moverentur XXXVII. 18). 
 
 The fourth period, when the passive meaning was given up 
 through popular influence, and the original reflexive mean- 
 ing was restored by means of decomposition resulting in the 
 independent expression of the verb-form and the reflexive 
 pronoun. This last change, beginning at a time when the 
 
 81 
 
52 
 
 J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 Latin language had no longer power to restrain the inde- 
 pendent growth of the popular idioms, was carried out by the 
 Romance languages. That decomposition was so thorough 
 that abstract notions and inanimate things that can only 
 express a passive idea, were clad with active forms in such 
 a way that they seem to be the agents of the verbal notion. 
 
 Compare the French expressions : Ce livre se trouve sur la 
 table ; ce bois se fend difficilement ; cette maison se bdtit lente- 
 ment ; cette terre se desseche ; cette expression s emploie ; cette 
 chose se dit ; ce pays se mine , etc., etc. 
 
 Why the Latin abandoned its middle endings would be 
 difficult to say, since we have lost nearly all traces of the 
 languages that surrounded the Latin in its formative period, 
 but that transformation is no more surprising than a great 
 number of other linguistic phenomena. Nor is the use of se 
 for all the persons of passive verbs in Latin inexplainable. 
 The idea contained in the word se (one’s self) is of an inde- 
 finite character, and hence se can be connected with any 
 person in any number. This same phenomenon is to be 
 found in Scandinavian dialects, as well as among Romance- 
 speaking people of a certain portion of Switzerland, the 
 Rhato-romonsch. Compare Grammatica elementara dil Inn- 
 gatg Rhato-romonsch , scritta da J. A. Btihler, p. 64 : “ II 
 pronom 1 se ’ ei en tuttas formas, persunas, modas tuts temps 
 ligiaus vid il verb . . . ridicul ei de voler declinar quei pronom 
 ‘ se ’ a la moda italiana e franzosa, sco p. t.j'eu mi fidel , tu te 
 fidas , la flexiun de quei pronom ei en el lungatg romonsch 
 buca veguida cultivada e nos ureglia romonscha sa buca vertir 
 pei quei Italianismus.” 
 
 Thus we see that in this particular language the reflexive 
 verb takes the reflexive pronoun se in all the persons, in 
 both numbers. The “ se” is now yielding to me, te, se, and 
 that under the influence of the Italian and of the French. 
 Consequently the reflexive verbs of the Romance languages 
 are nothing but the legitimate representatives of the first 
 Latin type amo-se, with the difference that they have under- 
 gone from the very beginning the change which the Ro- 
 
 82 
 
Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Romance Languages. 53 
 
 monsch is undergoing now. Their analytic tendency caused 
 them to substitute for se alone the different pronouns me , te, 
 se, nos , vos. 
 
 After these considerations let us review the history of the 
 reflexive conjugation in the different Romance languages. 
 This history has been extensively treated by Gessner and 
 others in the works quoted above, for French especially ; 
 and as far as the last language is concerned, we have but' 
 very little to add. 
 
 I. Auxiliaries with Reflexive Verbs in French , without Direct 
 
 Object. 
 
 It has been already stated in the foregoing part of this 
 article, that French, making no difference whether the pro- 
 noun was in the accusative or in the dative case, used the 
 auxiliary etre in conjugating its reflexive verbs. As an excep- 
 tion to the above rule is found a certain number of compound 
 tenses of reflexive verbs conjugated with the auxiliary avoir. 
 A list of s'uch instances is found in Chabanneau’s and Gess- 
 ner’s works, and in some others. Two instances nowhere 
 found quoted are given here, since it is desirable that such a 
 list should be as complete as possible : 
 
 S’ai moi dedens Varchiere mis (Roman de la Rose, 22. 616); 
 
 E quand chascun s'ot a sa terre assene (Villeh. Conq. de C. 100). 
 
 It is very probable that avoir has not been Used in compound) 
 tenses of French reflexive verbs since the beginning of the 
 fourteenth century. 
 
 II. Auxiliaries with Reflexive Verbs in French , with Direct 
 
 Object. 
 
 M. Littre, in his Histoire de la langue fran^aise , p. 321, says 
 that “je me suis coupe le doigt” ought to be considered as a 
 solecism, and that the correct expression would be u je-mai 
 coupe le doigt But since we have considered the reflexive 
 pronoun in such cases as je me suis coupe as being the direct 
 object of the verb, we shall easily understand that here; the 
 
 83 
 
54 
 
 J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 personal pronoun me , being accompanied by a more explica- 
 tive and descriptive object upon which finally the action 
 expressed by the verb falls, yields its place to it and assumes 
 a dative case. When we say je me suis coupe , me receives 
 entirely the action expressed by the verb ; but when we 
 specify more by adding le doigt , the pronoun receives the 
 action only indirectly, and consequently assumes the place of 
 ‘an indirect object. It is, as we see, a mere change of case, 
 which does not entirely break the relation of the reflexive 
 pronoun with the verb, but still leaves £he latter under the 
 indirect influence of the former ; and hence there is not a 
 sufficient ground to allow the verb to change its auxiliary. 
 Indeed, in such cases the Italian, as a rule, used to change its 
 auxiliary and take avere ; but this fact only proves that the 
 tendency towards a single type of conjugation, when a reflex- 
 ive pronoun accompanied the verb, had a more powerful sway 
 in French than in Italian. But if M. Littre’s assertions that 
 the French had sacrificed the rule of the grammar for the 
 sake of euphony, and had been imposed upon with -a solecism, 
 were correct, the same thing could be said of the Italian of to- 
 day, since the latter follows the same rules as the French in 
 the reflexive conjugation. This will be clearly shown later on. 
 
 Speaking of the supposed anomalous expression ,“je me suis 
 coupe le doigt” M. Littre says : “ Je ne sais si elle est ancienne, 
 je suis porte a croire que non, mais je n’ai la-dessus aucun 
 renseignement.” I have tried to collect a certain amount of 
 material to prove that it was ancient, and as a result find 
 plenty of reflexive verbs with direct object in Livre de Job, 
 Sermons St. Bernard, Livre des Rois, Guillaume de Tyr, Join- 
 ville, Villehardouin, but none in compound tenses. But there 
 is no reason to suppose that the Old French, taking a direct 
 object in the single tenses of reflexive verbs, should have 
 avoided it in compound tenses. However, we find in Rabe- 
 lais and Montaigne so many instances of reflexive verbs 
 accompanied by a direct object in compound tenses, that it 
 is impossible not to think that the same thing had been done 
 a long time before them. 
 
 84 
 
Use of Auxiliary 'Verbs in Romance Languages. 55 
 
 Compare : — 
 
 II se frottait ordinairement le ventre d'un panier (Rab. 123); 
 Elle s'etait fait aucun mal (Rab. 396); 
 
 S’est rompu le coul (Rab. 74 2 ); 
 
 S’etre avec une plume tire un ciron de la main (Rab. 117 2 ); 
 S’etant un peu frotte le front et secoue les oreilles (Rab. 294 s ) ; 
 Nous estant been a point saboures I’estomac, etc., etc. 
 
 III. Auxiliaries with Reflexive Verbs in Italian. 
 
 In the most ancient writers of the Italian language, Matteo 
 Spinelli, Ricordamo Malespini, Dino Compagni, and Dante, I 
 do not find a single exception to the rules of the accusative 
 and dative cases. That is to say, reflexive verbs accompanied 
 by a personal pronoun in the dative case take the auxiliary 
 avere , and those accompanied by the personal pronoun in the 
 accusative case take the auxiliary essere. 
 
 Matteo Spinelli. 
 
 Dative Case: — 
 
 Ma che imprestassero alio re chilli denari che se avevano portati per le spese 
 (1101). — Che s’ avesse fatta la tassa delle spese a se et a soi famigli (1069). — 
 E cha isso se 1 ’ havia recuperata per viva forza da maiio di due Papi (1087). — 
 Per che isso se 1 ’ haveria tenuto come a figlio (1087). — Lo re disse cha non 
 volea fare perdere la ventura a quella zitella que per la belleza si se P havia 
 procacciata (1095). 
 
 Accusative Case: — ; 
 
 Che se ne erano fuggiti in Schiavonia (1079). — Che Napoli si era arrenduta 
 (1085). — Li frati della zitella se ne sariano contentati (1093). — Dove s’ era 
 ritirato lo comte di Tricario (1107). — Recuperando quelle terre che s’erano 
 ribellate (1107). 
 
 Ricordamo Malespini. 
 
 Accusative Case : — 
 
 II centurione si era dilungato (893). — La quale cittk non s’ era rifatta (907). 
 — I quali s’ erano recati in contado de Firenze (908). — E di poco s’ erano 
 levati d’ uno poggio (931). — Allora s’ era retta la citta sotto signoria de’ consoli 
 (942). — S’ erano posti ad assedio al castello di Capraja (970). — II suo fratello 
 bastardo Manfredi se n’ era fatto vicario (976). — Manfredi s’ era coronato re di 
 Ci cilia (978). — S’ erano messi ad assalire tutta 1’ oste dei Fiorentini (989). — 
 Molta buona gente del regno di Sicilia s’ erano partiti (1024% — II re Carlo no 
 s’ era voluto imparentare con lei (1024). 
 
 85 
 
56 
 
 J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 Cronaca di Dino Compagni. 
 
 Accusative Case: Cavalieri novelli s’ erano fatti (473); Niuno se sarebbe 
 campato (503); Ma poi che i Bianchi si furono partiti (517); Reggio e Modena 
 s’ erano rubellate (520). 
 
 Dante. 
 
 Dative Case : — 
 
 Quando s’ebbe scoperta la gran bocca Inf. XII. 79 
 
 Dali’ altra gia m’ avea lasciata Setta . . XXVI. 1 1 1 
 
 Tre Frison s’ averian dato mal vanto XXXI. 64 
 
 Gualandi con Sismondi e con Lanfranchi, 
 
 S’ avea messi dinanzi dalla fronte XXXIII. 33 
 
 Rivolsersi alia luce che promessa 
 
 Tanto s’ avea Parad. VIII. 44 
 
 Dell’ anime, che Dio s’ ha fatte amiche XXV. 90 
 
 Dell’ eterno Valor poscia que tanti 
 
 Speculi fatti s’ ha XXIX. 144 
 
 Accusative Case : — 
 
 Considereremo come gli uomini molto onorati si siano da esse loro proprie 
 partiti (Della Vol. El. 750). — Alcuni si sono partiti dal suo proprio materno 
 parlare (752). 
 
 Ed io, che del color mi fui accorto Inf. IV. 15 
 
 E poi ch’ alia man destra si fu volto IX. 132 
 
 Vedi \h. Farinata che s’ e dritto X. 32 
 
 Credo que s’ era inginocchion levata X. 54 
 
 Restato m’ era X. 74 
 
 E quel medesmo, che si fue accorto XIV. 49 
 
 Gittato mi sarei tra lor disotto XVI 47 
 
 Ma perch’ io mi sarei bruciato e cotto XVI. 49 
 
 Che questa, per la quale io mi son mosso Purg. I. 63 
 
 Ma s’ io fossi fuggito ni v£r la Mira V. 79 
 
 L’ ombra, che s’ era al giudice raccolta VIII. 109 
 
 Con Beatrice m’ era suso in cielo 
 
 Cotanto gloriosamente accolto Parad. XI. 13 
 
 E ch’ io non m’ era li rivolto a quelli XIV. 135 
 
 Boccaccio. 
 
 Dative Case : — 
 
 Li quali come vestiti s’ ebbe a suo dosso fatti parevano (Decam. 2. 2). — Par- 
 lando s’ arebbe vitupero recato (3. 2). — Hommi posto in cuore di fargliele alcuna 
 (3. 3). — S’ avea posto in cuore di non lasciarla mai (3. 7). — In tanto che pa- 
 rente ne amico lasciato s’ avea che (4. 10). — Avendo si prima tirato il cappuccio 
 (6. 10) — Per venire a costui che non pensa cui egli s’ ha menata a casa (7. 2). 
 — Avendosel tirato un poco innanzi (7. 5). — Egli s’ avesse molto messo il cap 
 
 86 
 
Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Romance Languages. 57 
 
 pucio innanzi (7. 5). — Messer lo geloso s’ avea messe alcune petruzze in bocca 
 (7.5). — Ma tuttavia che egli s’ abbia di me detto (7. 8). — Avendo se adunque 
 questa promession fatta (7. 10). — Per non poterti vedere t’ avresti cavati gli 
 occhi (8. 6). — Avendo si P* anello di lei messo in bocca (10.9). — I panni che 
 spogliati s’ avea (10. 10). — Que gli che la mi diede se 1 ’ ha ritolta (La Fiam- 
 metta, V.). 
 
 Accusative Case : — 
 
 D’ ogni cosa opportuna a dovere . . . fornito s’ era (Decam. 3. 5). — E poi che 
 egli in diverse maniere si fu molto ingegnato (3. 7). — S’ era per paura gittato 
 nel canale (4. 2). — Fuggita si sarebbe del padre e venuto se ne a Gerbino (4. 4). 
 
 — Alcuna posta vicina al cuore gli s’ era rotta (4.6). — Della sua novella s’ era 
 deliberata (6. 9). — Tu ti sei ingannato di dimostrarmi (1. 2). — Che riguardasse 
 si partito si fosse (1. 7). — Altrui s’ e di beffare ingegnato. La altrove si fosse 
 fuggito (2. 2). — Si io mi fossi di cio accorto (2. 3).-r-Che maggiore non si saria 
 potuta portare (2. 8). — Io non avrei mai creduto che . . . ti fossi guardato (2. 8). 
 
 — E quando ella si sarebbe voluta dormire (3. 4). 
 
 Two exceptions to the rule of the accusative case are 
 found in Boccaccio: — 
 
 Che alia gelosia tu t’ hai lasciato accecare (7. 5) ; Poiche la donna s’ ebbe as- 
 sai fatta pregare. 
 
 * Machiavelli. 
 
 Dative Case : — 
 
 Trovando si ingannati . . . di quel futuro bene que si avevano presupposto 
 (II Principe, III.). — I gentiluomini Romani si aveva guadagnato (VII. 37). — 
 E tanto erano validi i fondamenti che in si poco tempo si aveva fatti (VII.). — 
 Li gradi della milizia quali ... s’ aveva guadagnato (VIII.). — Onde avendo si 
 creato odio (XIX.). — Tutta la gloria che si avevano' nel principio acquistata (Isto- 
 rie F. II. 281). — Le quale per la morte di Messer Niccolo si avevano acquistate 
 (II.). — Parendo gli aversi tirato addosso troppo importante nimico (VI. 229). — 
 Cosimo avendo si alia sua potenza la publica et la privata via aperta (VII. 239). 
 
 — Quella citta che non s’ avevano saputa conservare (VII. 276). — Pensando di 
 godersi . . . quello stato che s’ avevano stabilito (VII. 293). 
 
 Accusative Case : — 
 
 E quelli che se li erano gittati in grembo (II Principe, III. 17). — La virtu dell’ 
 animo loro si saria spenta (IV. 28). — Si non si fusse lasciato ingannare da Cesare 
 Borgia (VIII.). — Si era del regno di Napoli insignorito (Istorie F. II. 281). — 
 Mold ghibellini che si erano con loro accostati (II.). — E se da Francesco s’ era 
 avuto poco (VII. 263). 
 
 Just as were found in Boccaccio exceptions to the rule 
 given about the use of the auxiliary when the pronoun was 
 in the accusative case, so in Machiavelli was found one ex- 
 
 87 
 
58 
 
 J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 ception to the rule given when the pronoun was in the 
 dative. Here, for the first time, I met with esse in the com- 
 pound tense of a reflexive verb preceded by a pronoun in 
 the dative case : — 
 
 Per non gli potere satisfare in quel modo que si erano presupposto (II Principe, II.). 
 
 Dative Case : — 
 
 • Ariosto. 
 
 Che piede o braccio s’ abbia rotto e smosso 1-59 
 
 E piu volte s’ averan rotta la fronte 2. 66 
 
 Polinesso che gih s’ avea proposto 
 
 Di far Ginevra al suo amator nemica 5-36 
 
 E composto fra te t’ hai queste cose 5-39 
 
 Che per dolor s’ avea dato la morte 5. 61 
 
 Che s’ avea per non esser conosciuto 
 
 Cambiati i panni e nascose le chiome 5. 65 
 
 Che a difender Ginevra s’ avea tolto 5-77 
 
 Dove li dui guerrier dato e risposto molto s’ aveano 5. 80 
 
 (Compare 
 
 <_n 
 
 00 
 
 O 
 
 7-6 4; c 
 
 )• 73 
 
 ; 10. 6 ; 
 
 IO. 
 
 99-; 
 
 12. 
 
 61 ; 
 
 15 - 
 
 30; 
 
 i 5 - 
 
 29 ; 
 
 16. 
 
 60 ; 
 
 16. 
 
 79 ; 
 
 17. no; 
 
 18. 
 
 II 7; 
 
 20. 
 
 10; 
 
 2 J. 
 
 2 ; 
 
 23- 
 
 IO; 
 
 23 - 
 
 53 ; 
 
 24. 
 
 21 ; 
 
 25- 51 ; 
 
 25 - 
 
 85; 
 
 26. 
 
 91 ; 
 
 27. 
 
 71 ; 
 
 27. 
 
 132 
 
 ; 28. 36 
 
 ; 28. 65 
 
 to 
 
 vp. 
 
 00 
 
 29. 
 
 37 ; 
 
 31. 
 
 41 ; 
 
 3 i* 
 
 79; 
 
 3 i- 
 
 88 ; 
 
 32 . 
 
 30; 
 
 32 . 
 
 40; 
 
 32. 64; 
 
 32. 
 
 59; 
 
 32. 
 
 72 ; 
 
 32 . 
 
 79 ; 
 
 33 - 
 
 43 ; 
 
 33 - 
 
 71 ; 
 
 34 - 
 
 41 ; 
 
 37 - 35 ; 
 
 37 - 
 
 40; 
 
 38. 
 
 78; 
 
 39 - 
 
 57 ; 
 
 40. 
 
 21 ; 
 
 40. 
 
 56 ; 
 
 40. 
 
 00 
 
 41. 41 ; 
 
 43 - 
 
 85; 
 
 44. 
 
 74; 
 
 45 - 
 
 69 ; 
 
 41. 
 
 49 -) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Accusative Case : — 
 
 Piu volte s’ eran gih non pur veduti . 
 
 Che s’ era in mar sommerso Ariodante . 
 Ed armato con lui s’ era condutto . 
 
 D’ all’ onde Idaspe udita si saria . . 
 
 E perche molto dilungata s’ era . . 
 
 Che s’ erano serbati in quegli affanni 
 Ma Farrau che sin qui mai non s’ era 
 Col re Marsilio suo troppo disgiunto 
 Che ’1 pagan s’ era tratto in quella parte 
 A caminar se gli era messo a lato 
 Malgrado di Christian rimesso s’ era. 
 
 I. 16 
 5-57 
 • 5 - 9 i 
 7 - 36 
 8. 32 
 14. 101 
 
 , 16. 71 
 , 16. 89 
 18. 30 
 
 (Compare 18. 76 ; 18. 91 ; 18. 103 ; 21. 64 ; 23. 17 ; 23. 50 ; 
 26. 108; 27. 56; 27. 75; 27. 1 12; 27. 1 15; 27. 137; 29. 
 58 ; 30. 80 ; 33. 65 ; 34. 41 ; 36. 54 ; 37. 4 7 \ 38. 72 ; 40 - 62 ; 
 
 88 
 
Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Romance Languages. 59 
 
 40. 71; 48. 8; 42. 39; 43. 125; 43. 187; 44. 89; 45. 8; 
 46. 26 ; 46. 50 ; 46. 63 ; 46. 77 ; 46. 108 ; 46. 120.) 
 
 I found also in Ariosto two exceptions to the rule for 
 the accusative, the first of which is undoubtedly due to 
 
 the rhyme : — 
 
 Non cosi strettamente edera preme 
 Pianta ove intorno abbarbicata s’ abbia ; 
 
 Come si stringon li due amanti insieme; 
 
 Cogliendo dello spirto in sulle labbia ; 
 
 Suave fior 7. 29 
 
 E poi che ’1 Sol s’ ebbe nel mar rinchiuso 34. 68 
 
 Francesco Guicciardini. 
 
 During the time of Guicciardini, that is to say in the latter 
 part of the fifteenth century and the beginning of the six- 
 teenth, several important rules must have become general in 
 Italian, at least in prose-writers ; for one does not find in 
 Guicciardini forms in ade , ate , for a, and conditionals in aria 
 like avria for avrebbe. And it must be also about that period 
 that the auxiliary essere was used to conjugate reflexive verbs 
 with a pronoun in the dative case, just as it was used to con- 
 jugate reflexive verbs with a pronoun in the accusative case. 
 Of course avere was also used, and plenty of instances are 
 found in Guicciardini himself ; but we may say that from 
 that time on avere was decreasing all the time in its use 
 as auxiliary of reflective verbs with dative case pronouns. 
 From the eighteenth century on, I do not find traces of it in 
 the authors examined. 
 
 Istoria d' Italia. 
 
 Dative Case : — 
 
 Pero poi che lungamente si ebbe rivolto per 1 ’ animo lo stato delle cose (I. 25). 
 
 — Cominciassero cosi presto a non corrispondere a quel che di lui s’ aveva pro- 
 messo (I. 69). — Che una famiglia sola s’ avesse arrogata la potesta (I. 136). 
 
 — I quali Alessandro con doni s’ aveva fatti benevoli (I. 166). — Mold che s’ 
 avevano proposta maggior larghezza (II. 200). — S’ avevano astutamente insino 
 allora lasciata libera la facoltk di fare il contrario (II. 224). 
 
 Accusative Case: — 
 
 Si la morte non si fosse interposta a’ consigli suoi (I. 18). — Non si sarebbe 
 per avventura la pace d’ Italia perturbata (I. 26). — Desideroso di ricorreggere 
 
 89 
 
6o 
 
 J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 quel che ... s’ era fatto (I. 29). — Nel qual modo si erano altre volte abboc- 
 cati insieme (II. 333). — II quale quella mattina s’ era unito con Ercole, fu morto 
 (III. 94). — E se ne s^rebbero fuggiti molti piu (IV. 270)'. 
 
 Dative Case with Essere : — 
 
 Quando ben si facessero poi* effetti molto maggiori di quegli che gli uomini 
 prima si erano promessi (III. 68). — Si erano promessi molto prima la vittoria 
 degl’ inimici (IV. 226). 
 
 Thus we see that in the first four books of the Istoria 
 cT Italia we find two instances that make an exception to 
 the dative case rule. 
 
 Torquato Tasso. 
 
 Dative Case : — 
 
 Ne trattane colei ch’ alia partita 
 
 Scelta s’ avea compagna Gerusalemma, lib. VI. 9 
 
 Le belle arme si cinge e soppravvesta 
 
 Nuova ed strania di color s’ ha presa XVIII. 1 1 
 
 E insanguinati 1’ aquila gli artigli 
 
 E ’1 rostro s’ abbia XX. 113 
 
 Accusative Case : — 
 
 Che s’ e d’ Egitto il Re gia posto in via Gerusalemma, lib. 1. 67 
 
 Gia 1’ aura messaggiera erasi desta III. 
 
 Recato s’ era in atto di battaglia 
 
 Gia la guerriera III. 26 
 
 S’ erano all’ alte mura avvicinati III. 33 
 
 Del suo avaro pensier non m’ era avvisto V. 48 
 
 S’ era del lor partir Goffredo accorto V. 85 
 
 Mentre con tal valor s’ erano strette 
 
 L’ audaci schiere XI. 41 
 
 A suoi liberator s’ era condutto XX. 6 
 
 ( Aminta .) 
 
 Accusative Case : — 
 
 Poi che s’ e posto in uso il grano e 1’ uva Atto I. Sc. I. 
 
 Ahi ! che s’ e certo ucciso III. I, 
 
 Che s’ era tutto abbandonato IV. II. 
 
 io che m’ era nascoso , III. I. 
 
 Accusative Case with Avere : — 
 
 Per uccider se stesso e s’ avra ucciso IV. I. 
 
 This is the last exception I found in Italian to the rule 
 given for the accusative case. And in this particular in- 
 
 90 
 
Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Romance Languages. 61 
 
 stance the auxiliary avere must have been used to suit the 
 metre. 
 
 From the time of Beccaria on, the use of avere as auxiliary 
 of reflexive verbs must have been mostly confined to popular 
 usage, and avoided by writers as being inelegant ; for not a 
 single instance of it is to be found in Beccaria, Goldoni, 
 Silvio Pelico, Ugo Foscolo, Manzoni, Cantu, etc. 
 
 Beccaria. 
 
 Dative Case : — 
 
 Si e riserbato a se solo il diritto di essere legislatore e giudice nel medesimo 
 tempore (Dei delitti e delle pene). 
 
 Accusative Case: — 
 
 Per sostenere questa vana metafora molte vittime si sono sacrificate (VIII.). 
 — Alcune societa si sieno astenute dal dare la morte (XV.). — Gli uomini si siano 
 voluti assoggettare ai minori (XIX.). 
 
 Ugo Foscolo. 
 
 Dative Case : — 
 
 Mi sono assai volte dimenticato il mio Linneo sopri i sedili del giardino 
 (Jacopo Ortis, 36). — Una lunga treccia di capelli che Teresa, alcuni giorni 
 prima delle sue nozze s’ era tagliati senza che . . . (no). — S’ era piantato un 
 pugnale sotto la mammella sinistra ( 1 1 7) . — Ma se 1 ’ era cavato dalla ferita, e gli 
 era caduto a terra ( 1 1 7) . — Poi non potendo ne volendo ritrarla egli solo delle 
 rapine e degli incendj, si contento si farsi consigliero de’ capi che la moltitudine 
 s’ era eletti, e s’ armo con essi (Commentario Pol. III. XV.). 
 
 Manzoni. 
 
 In the remaining quotations I shall only mention reflexive 
 verbs accompanied with a pronoun in the dative case, and 
 show that they take the auxiliary essere as well as when ac- 
 companied with a pronoun in the accusative : — 
 
 Dative Case : — 
 
 Cosi dicendo, s’ era levata la chiave di tasca e andava ad aprire (i Promessi 
 Sposi, II. 22). — Ah! gli disse poi vi siete perd fatto tagliare il ciuffo (III. 31). 
 — Come un materialone dopo essersi cacciata in bocca stoppa (III. 33). — Le 
 donne nella sua assenza dopo essersi tristamente levate il vestito delle feste 
 e messo quello del giorno di lavoro (III. 34). — Non lasciava mai sfuggire un’ 
 occasione d’ esercitarne due altre che s’ era imposti da se (IV. 49). — Ma non c’ 
 
 9 1 
 
62 
 
 J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 era quell’ allegria che la vista del desinare suol pur dare a chi se i’ e meritato con 
 la fatica (VI. 70). — Cosi impegnandosi a ogni delitto che gli venisse comandato, 
 colui si era assicurata 1 ’ impunita del prime (VII. 81). — Dopo aver sofferto ed 
 essersi morse le labbra un pezzo (X. 136). — Un piccol sentiero indicava che altri 
 passeggieri s’ eran. fatta una strada ne’ campi (XI. 48). — Quando Renzo si fu 
 levato il farsetto (XV. 290). — Facendo tutta via litigar le dita co’ bottom de’ panni 
 che non s’ era ancor potuto levare (XV. 190). — Si trovava ancora indosso quegli 
 stessi vestiti que s’ era messi per andare a nozze in quattro salti (XVII. 215). 
 — E proprio del vestro paese quello che se 1 ’ e battuta per non essere impiccato 
 (XVIII. 229).. — S’ e fatto scrupulo di darle una briga di piu (XVIII. 236). — ma 
 appena partito costui sentendo scemare quella fermezza che s’ era comandata per 
 promettere (XX. 253). — L’ innominato penso subito a rispondere a questa che s’ 
 era fatta lui stesso (XXI. 269). — Dopo essersi cacciate le mani ne’ capelli (XXIV. 
 306). — E di paragonarlo con 1 ’ idea che da longo tempo s’ eran fatta del perso- 
 naggio (XXIV. 309). — Si mille volte se n’ eran fatti beffe, non era gia (XXIV. 
 314). — L’ avrebbe preteso e se ne sarebbe fatto render conto (XXV. 317). — 
 Della fllosofia naturale s’ era fatto piu un passa tempo che . . . (XXVII. 348). — 
 Questo aveva sempre continuato a far cio che ... s’ era proposto (XXIX. 376). — 
 Nessuno scrittore d’ epoca posteriore s’ e proposto d’ esaminare (XXXI. 389.). — 
 Andasser facendo di quegli atti che s’ erano figurati che dovessero fare gli untari 
 (XXII. 413). — S’ eran promesse di non uscir dal lazzaretto (XXXVI. 470). 
 
 Cesare Cantu. 
 
 Ora mangiavano di quel che s’ erano preparato (Margherita Pusterla, I. 6). — 
 Sotto i piedi dei destrieri s’ era per alcuni minuti vista la morte ad un pelo (II. 
 22). — Margherita erasi recato in mano un libriccino (III. 38). — Franciscolo . . . 
 si era assunta la esibita ambasceria a Mastino (IV. 58).' — non mostrava d’ averli 
 in quel conto ch’ e’ s’ erano ripromesso (V. 80). — Onde erasi formato un modo 
 proprio di vederle (V. 83). — E s’ era fatto premura di recarli quella sera a Mar- 
 gherita (V. 82). — II cui padre lavorando s’ era acquistato pel paese un triste nome 
 (VIII. 144). — i soldati eransi tolta in mezzo la Margherita (IX. 160). — Ma s’ 
 erano lasciato fuggire Franciscolo (XIII. 221). — Per riparare la quale erasi cavato 
 la giubba (XII. 223). — Quivi entrando Luchino, sebbene gia si fosse messa in- 
 torno al cuore la calcolata freddezza (XX. 365). - — E due gran mustacchi che s’ 
 era acconci (conclusione). 
 
 Nuova Antologia ( Volume 48). 
 
 Arrigo il Savio. 
 
 E quando mi ha scritto che aveva bisogno di me, si figuri, mi sono augurato 
 u-n bel paio d’ ali (478). — Guasti pur troppo la bella immagine che io m’ era for- 
 mata dell’ amor tuo (494). — Il conte Guido non si era proposto di andare (Vol. 
 49. 98). — Te lo diro un’ altra volta quando mi saro formato una vera certezza 
 intorno a certe cose (233). 
 
 92 
 
Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Romance Languages. 63 
 
 Vita e avventure di Riccardo Joanna { Volume 52). 
 
 Riccardo si era annodato dietro la nuca, con molta disinvoltura il tovagliolo 
 bianco (690). 
 
 Dalla culla alia tomba {Volume 54). 
 
 Gli uomini s’ eran presi un pezzo di crescia sotto al braccio (460). — S’ eran 
 messo 1’ abito piu bello benche non dovesse accompagnare il battesinio (467). 
 
 Montegu {Volume 46). 
 
 Egli in vece si era dato ogni premura per soddisfare a tutte le richieste di danaro 
 che gli venivan fatte (89). — Il rincrescimento di dover rinunciare a un tratto alia 
 fama di giovinetto elegante e alia moda ch’ egli s’ era conquistata (276). — Chi 
 avrebbe avuto fiducia in un uomo che s’ era mangiato il suo (280). — E che per 
 conto mio me ne sarei lavate le mani (460). — Piena di freddo, sebbene si fosse 
 tirate le coltri fin quasi sopra il capo (463). — Anche quella volta s’ era preso i 
 guanti e il cappello (469). — Il tenente Aschieri per aver detto cio, s’ era presa una 
 sciaftolata (479). — Bianca si era creata un mondo a parte (651). — Parendo le 
 oramai di esserselo guadagnato il suo Leonardo (Vol. 47, 296). — La tutta Milano 
 si era dato convegno alia corte d’ assise (87). 
 
 Scuola nor male feminile ( Volume 49). 
 
 L’ alunna sedette soddisfatta perche almeno il suo zero se 1 ’ era quadagnato. 
 
 IV. Auxiliaries with Reflexive Verbs in Spanish. 
 
 In the earliest documents of the Spanish language reflexive 
 verbs are found conjugated with the auxiliaries ser and haber. 
 
 El Libro de los Reyes d’ Orient. 
 
 Ser . . Estos reyes complieron sus mandados 
 
 E son se tornados 
 
 46 
 
 Vida de Santa Maria Egipciaca. 
 
 Haber . Quando desto te avras partido 
 Nos te daremos buen marido. 
 
 Romancero del Cid. 
 
 Ser . . E de el me soy escapado . 
 Haber . Y de secreto se ha ido . . 
 
 66 
 
 7 
 
 93 
 
64 
 
 J. A. Fontaine , 
 
 
 
 Libre d' Appolonio. 
 
 
 Ser . . 
 
 Ancoraron las naves in ribera del puerto 
 
 Encendieron su fuego que se les era muerto 
 
 00 
 
 w-> 
 
 Ser . . 
 
 Los que solia tener por amigos leyales 
 
 Torftados se le son enemigos mortales 
 
 • • 59 
 
 
 Poema de Alexandro Magno. 
 
 
 Ser . . 
 
 Sennor dixo 1 griego tengo me por tu pagado 
 
 Quando vassallo tuyo me soe tornado 
 
 ro 
 
 00 
 
 Ser . . 
 
 Cuemo sabial falso que se fues arrancado 
 
 . • 152 
 
 Ser . . 
 
 Que se se fusse ende estovies bien recaudada 
 
 
 Era se ya tornado 
 
 
 
 La Estoria de Senor Sant Millan. 
 
 
 Ser . . 
 
 Que se era probado por sancto muy complido 
 
 . . 3 22 
 
 
 Milagros de nuestra Senor a. 
 
 * 
 
 Ser . . 
 
 Mucho mas li valiera si se fuesse quedado 
 
 • • 73 i 
 
 
 Cronica del Rey don Alfonso. 
 
 
 In this cronica reflexive verbs are conjugated with haber , 
 
 except 
 
 in the two following cases : — 
 
 
 Ser . . 
 
 E que dejase los arrayaces porque el oviese dellos emienda 
 
 E cobrase la tierra con que se le eran alzados 
 
 . . 16 
 
 Ser . . 
 
 E el era se ido dfinde a le facer guerra de los castillos . . 
 
 . . 76 
 
 Hurtado de Mendoza. 
 
 All the reflexive verbs take the auxiliary haber in this 
 author. 
 
 Haber . Que de mi y de ellos se habia ido 85 
 
 Don Quixote. 
 
 I have found only one instance of a reflexive verb conju- 
 gated with ser. 
 
 Compare : — 
 
 Ya se es ido el caballero (XXI. 1 1 7) . 
 
 La demas gente de casa toda se habia ido a comer. 
 
 94 
 
Use of Auxiliary Verbs in Romance Languages. 65 
 
 Don Quixote is the last work in which any trace of a 
 reflexive verb conjugated with the auxiliary ser is to be 
 found. 
 
 V. Auxiliaries with Reflexive Verbs in Portuguese. 
 
 In leading such old Portuguese texts as were obtainable, I 
 found only doubtful cases of reflexive verbs having ser in 
 their compound tenses. Haver is the auxiliary met with 
 in Hardung’s Romanceiro and other Portuguese texts. 
 
 Cf. A el-rei se ha queixado (Romanceiro, 123). 
 
 VI. Auxiliaries with Reflexive Verbs in Provencal. 
 
 The verbal system of the Provencal follows very closely 
 that of the French. In Le Moine de Montaudon, Pierre 
 Vidal, Bertrand de Born, Roman de Flamenca, I found the 
 auxiliary esser always used to conjugate the compound tenses 
 of reflexive verbs. 
 
 Compare Le Moine de Montaudon. 
 
 Qu’ieu m’en sui tant defendutz e loignatz. 
 
 For de mon cor que s’es en vos mudatz. 
 
 Que de drut s’es tornatz maritz. 
 
 Pierre Vidal. 
 
 De chantar m’era laissatz. 
 
 Bertrand de Born. 
 
 Quand lo reis Richartz s’en fou passatz outra mar. 
 
 Dizon que trop me sui cochatz. 
 
 Roman de Flamenca. 
 
 Et al rei si son presentat 
 
 E quan si fou agenolhatz. 
 
 Roman de Jaufre. 
 
 El reis es se meravillatz. 
 
 Cant la vi pueis es se seinatz. 
 
 E Jaufres s’es apareillatz. 
 
 S’en es vengutz a Melian. 
 
 95 
 
66 
 
 J. A. Fontaine. 
 
 Gerard de Rossil/on. 
 
 S’en es issiht lo como de grand iror. 
 
 Chronique des Albigeois . 
 
 Car lo due de Bergonha s’en es ladoncs crozat. 
 Que el cap des castel se son tuit amagatz. 
 
 E s’es vengutz a Roma. 
 
 Lo reis P. d’Arago felos s’en es tornatz. 
 
 Roman de Fierabras. 
 
 Devas Contastinoble s’es lo rey regardatz. 
 
 Ab aquestas paraulas lo rey s’en es intratz. 
 
 Mireio. 
 
 En-lio jamai s’es plus fa veire I. 42 
 
 S’ei roustido lou comi e la cara au souleu II. 58 
 
 . . . Un trau 
 
 S’ero fa de l’emboucaduro II. 64 
 
 The lack both of proper texts and time makes it necessary 
 to end here the investigation of the use of the Auxiliary 
 Verbs in the Romance languages. Should this article be 
 found of any use or interest to the student of Romance com- 
 parative grammar, it is the intention of the writer to complete 
 it by further examination in the Wallachian, Catalan, Rhato- 
 romonsch, and other minor Romance dialects. 
 
 96