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Heath’s Modern Language Series

AN OUTLINE
OF THE
PHONOLOGY AND MORPHOLOGY
OF
OLD PROVENÇAL

BY
C. H. GRANDGENT
Professor of Romance Languages in Harvard University

Revised Edition

BOSTON, U. S. A.
D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS
1909

Copyright, 1905,
BY D. C. Heath & Co.

PREFACE.

This book, which is intended as a guide to students of Romance Philology, represents the result of desultory labors extending through a period of twenty years. My first introduction to the scientific pursuit of Provençal linguistics was a course given by Paul Meyer at the École des Chartes in the winter of 1884-85. Since then I have been collecting material both from my own examination of texts and from the works of those philologists who have dealt with the subject. Besides the large Grammars of the Romance Languages by Diez and by Meyer-Lübke, I have utilized H. Suchier’s Die französische und provenzalische Sprache (in Gröber’s Grundriss der romanischen Philologie, I, 561), the Introduzione grammaticale in V. Crescini’s Manualetto provenzale, the Abriss der Formenlehre in C. Appel’s Provenzalische Chrestomathie, and many special treatises to which reference will be made in the appropriate places. Conscious of many imperfections in my work, I shall be grateful for corrections.

I have confined myself to the old literary language, believing that to be of the greatest importance to a student of Romance Philology or of Comparative Literature, and fearing lest an enumeration of modern forms, in addition to the ancient, might prove too bewildering. I should add that neither my own knowledge nor the material at my disposal is adequate to a satisfactory presentation of the living idioms of southern France. These dialects have, however, been investigated for the light they throw on the geographical distribution of phonetic variations; my chief source of information has been F. Mistral’s monumental Dictionnaire provençal-français. Catalan and Franco-Provençal have been considered only incidentally. I have not dealt with word-formation, because one of my students is preparing a treatise on that subject.

Readers desiring a brief description of Provençal literature are referred to H. Suchier and A. Birch-Hirschfeld, Geschichte der französischen Literatur, pp. 56-96; A. Stimming, in Gröber’s Grundriss der romanischen Philologie, II, ii, pp. 1-69; and A. Restori, Letteratura provenzale. For a more extended account of the poets they should consult Die Poesie der Troubadours and the Leben und Werke der Troubadours by F. Diez; and The Troubadours at Home by J. H. Smith. The poetic ideals are discussed by G. Paris in Romania, XII, pp. 516-34; and with great fulness by L. F. Mott in The System of Courtly Love. The beginnings of the literature are treated by A. Jeanroy in his Origines de la poésie lyrique en France au moyen âge, reviewed by G. Paris in a series of important articles in the Journal des Savants (November and December, 1891, and March and July, 1892) reprinted separately in 1892 under the same title as Jeanroy’s book. Contributions by A. Restori to several volumes of the Rivista musicale italiana deal with Provençal music; some tunes in modern notation are to be found in J. H. Smith’s Troubadours at Home, and in the Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen, CX (New Series X), 110 (E. Bohn).[1] Aside from the editions of individual poets, the best collections of verses are those of C. Appel, Provenzalische Chrestomathie; V. Crescini, Manualetto provenzale; and K. Bartsch, Chrestomathie provençale. Earlier and larger anthologies are M. Raynouard’s Choix des poésies originales des troubadours, and C. A. F. Mahn’s Werke der Troubadours and Gedichte der Troubadours. The only dictionary of importance for the old language is the Lexique roman (six volumes) of M. Raynouard, augmented by the Supplement-Wörterbuch of E. Levy (now appearing in instalments). The poetic language of the present day can be studied to advantage in E. Koschwitz’s Grammaire historique de la langue des Félibres.

C. H. GRANDGENT.

Cambridge, Mass., November, 1904.

ABBREVIATIONS AND TECHNICAL TERMS.

• Abl.: ablative.
• Acc.: accusative.
• Cl.L.: Classic Latin.
• Cond.: conditional.
• Cons.: consonant.
• Einf.: W. Meyer-Lübke, Einführung in das Studium der romanischen Sprachwissenschaft, 1901.
• F.: feminine.
• Fr.: French.
• Free (of vowels): not in position.
• Fut.: future.
• Gram.: W. Meyer-Lübke, Grammaire des langues romanes, 3 vols., 1890-1900.
• Grundriss: G. Gröber, Grundriss der romanischen Philologie, 2 vols., 1888-1902.
• Imp.: imperfect.
• Imper.: imperative.
• Intertonic (of vowels): following the secondary and preceding the primary accent.
• Intervocalic (of consonants): standing between two vowels.
• It.: Italian.
• Körting: G. Körting, Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch, 2d ed., 1901.
• Lat.: Latin.
• Levy: E. Levy, Provenzalisches Supplement-Wörterbuch, 1894-.
• Ltblt.: Literaturblatt für germanische und romanische Philologie, monthly, Leipzig.
• M.: masculine.
• Nom.: nominative.
• Obj.: objective (case).
• Part.: participle.
• Perf.: perfect.
• Pers.: person.
• Phon.: P. Marchot, Petite phonétique du français prélittéraire, 1901.
• Pl.: plural.
• Pr.: Provençal.
• Pres.: present.
• Pret.: preterit.
• Raynouard: M. Raynouard, Lexique roman, 6 vols., 1836-44.
• Rom.: Romania, quarterly, Paris.
• Sg.: singular.
• V.L.: Vulgar Latin.
• Voc.: H. Schuchardt, Vocalismus des Vulgärlateins, 3 vols., 1866-68.
• Voiced (of consonants): sonant, pronounced with vibration of the glottis.
• Voiceless (of consonants): surd, pronounced without glottal vibration.
• Vow.: vowel.
• Zs.: Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie, 4 to 6 nos. a year, Halle.

SIGNS AND PHONETIC SYMBOLS.

N. B.—Phonetic characters not entered in this list are to be pronounced as in Italian. Whenever it is essential to distinguish spelling from pronunciation, italic type is used for the former, Roman for the latter.

• · (under a vowel): close quality.
• ¸ (under a vowel): open quality.
• ¯ (over a vowel): long quantity.
• ̆ (over a vowel): short quantity.
• ̑ (under a letter): semivowel, not syllabic.
• ´ (over a letter):