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Grammar

21 Possession

Possession in Old French noun phrases is expressed primarily by the oblique case, with or without a preposition:

· Without preposition:

		li Deo inimi (Eul. 3, Lesson 4) 'the enemies of God'
		le rei gunfanuner (CdR 106, Lesson 1) 'the standard bearer of the king'
		al tens Noë		(Al. 6) 'in the time of Noah'
		el ventre la baleine (Elie. 3607) 'in the stomach of the whale'

· With preposition:

		la nef a cel saint home (Al. 197, Lesson 3)
		'the ship of that holy man'
		filie d'un noble Franc (Al. 40)
		'(the) daughter of a Frankish nobleman'
		fille ad un conpta de Rome (Al. 42)
		'the daughter of a count in Rome'

The distribution of these constructions depends on semantic and syntactic criteria. From a semantic perspective, the construction with de combines with all types of nouns, animate and non-animate. The preposition a / ad only combines with nouns that are animate, whereas the construction without preposition only occurs in combination with nouns that refer to humans or animals that behave like humans (cf. the whale above). The possessor most commonly is referred to by a noun that moreover, as a rule, has no or only a few complements; generally the noun is singular, cf.:

		la fille le rei		'the king's daughter'
		les armes vos peres		'the arms of your fathers'
		li filz son hoste		'the son of his host'
		la feste seint Michel		'the holiday of St. Michael'

The various syntactic relations underlying the noun - (preposition) - noun sequences (e.g. subjective vs. objective genitive 'the love of father' vs. 'the love for father') may affect the choice of the construction, but discussion of the details would go too far in the context of this course.

The sequence of elements is most commonly 'element in possession' + 'possessor', cf.:

		la feste seint Michel
		'the holiday of St. Michael'
		la nef a cel saint home (Al. 197, Lesson 3)
		'the ship of that holy man'
		la filie d'un noble Franc (Al. 40)
		'the daughter of a Frankish nobleman'

Yet the reverse order is attested, especially in formulaic expressions (e.g. la Dieu merci), in expressions including autrui (e.g. l'autrui joie 'the joy of another person') and in early texts (e.g. li Deo inimi Eul. 3). With time the sequence 'element in possession' + 'possessor' only spread, with the exception of a few lexicalized items. Among the prepositional expressions there are very few instances in which the possessor comes first.

22 The Future: Forms and Uses

In Lesson 2 it was explained that one of the important changes in the development of the verb system from Latin to Old French was the emergence of 'have' as an auxiliary. The compound past tenses of Old French illustrate this development. Less obvious is the use of the auxiliary 'have' in the forms of the future. These forms trace back to analytic Vulgar and Late Latin formations including an infinitive and a finite form of the verb habeo 'have', cf.:

		Latin				Old French
		cantare habeo 'sing-Inf. have-1st Sg.'		>		chanterai

With time the analytic Latin forms have become synthetic.

The Old French endings trace back to present tense forms (future) as well as imperfect tense forms (past future and conditional). The paradigms are as follows:

Future, Conjugation

		Future		Past Future
1st Sg.		chanterai		chanteroie
2nd Sg.		chanteras		chanteroies
3rd Sg.		chantera		chanteroit
1st Pl.		chanterons		chanterïons
				chanterïons
2nd Pl.		chanterez		chanterïez
3rd Pl.		chanteront		chanteroient

The future forms refer to actions that take place in the future. The forms in -roie typically refer to actions that may take place in the future -- likely or unlikely -- and therefore they often occur in hypothetical sentences introduced by se 'if'.

		de soe part vos voldreie preier (Cour. de Louis 516)
		'on his behalf I would like to ask you'
		së il vos pardounot ... j'en seroie joiose
		'if he forgave you ... I would be full of joy' (Be/r., Trist. 160; 162, this lesson)

23 Common Irregular Verbs: voloir, pooir, aler

Irregular Verb voloir

voloir		Present		Preterite		Subjunctive Pres.
1st Sg.		vue(i)l		vo(i)l		vue(i)lle
		vol		vos
2nd Sg.		v(u)eus		volis		vue(i)lles
		viaus		vousis
3rd Sg.		v(u)eut		vo(l)t		vue(i)lle
		viaut		vout
1st Pl.		volons		volimes		voilliens
2nd Pl.		volez		volistes		voiliez
						vuelliez
3rd Pl.		vuelent		voldrent		vueillent
Imperfect		voloie
Future		voudrai - vourrai
Conditional		voudroie - vourroie
Impf. subjunctive		vosisse - volisse
Pf. Participle		volu
Pres. Participle		volant - voillant - vueillant

Irregular Verb pooir

pooir		Present		Preterite		Subjunctive Pres.
1st Sg.		puis		poi		puisse
2nd Sg.		poez		poüs		puisses
		puez		peüs
3rd Sg.		puet		poutt		puisse
		peut		pot		puist
1st Pl.		poons		poümes		puissiens
		peümes		puissons
2nd Pl.		poez		poüstes		puissiez
		peüstes
3rd Pl.		poeent		po(u)rent		puissent
		pueent
Imperfect		pooie
Future		porrai
Conditional		porroie
Impf. subjunctive		poüsse - poïsse - peüsse
Pf. Participle		poü - peü
Pres. Participle		poant - puissant

Irregular Verb aler

aler		Present		Preterite		Subjunctive Pres.
1st Sg.		vois		alai		voise
						aille, alge
2nd Sg.		vais				voises
		vas				ailles, alges
3rd Sg.		va(it)				voise, voist
		vet				aille, aut, alge
1st Pl.		allons				voisonss, voisiens
						aillens, algiens
						a(il)lons
2nd Pl.		allez				voisiez
						ailliez, algiez
3rd Pl.		vont				voisent
						aillent, algent
Imperfect		aloie
Future		irai
Conditional		iroie
Pf. Participle		alé
Pres. Participle		alant
Imperative		va(s) - alez - alons

24 Adjectives: Comparative and Superlative

Adjectives in Old French are marked for case, gender, and number. In addition the adjectival paradigm has analytic comparative forms, although a few adjectives still have synthetic formations.

The most widespread formation is analytic and includes an adverb followed by the adjective proper, cf.:

Comparative, Analytic formation

		Type of comparative		Particle		Adjective
		comparative of superiority		plus 'more'		+ adjective
		comparative of inferiority		moins 'less'		+ adjective
		comparative of equality		si 'as'		+ adjective
				aussi 'as'		+ adjective
				tant 'as'		+ adjective
				other adverbs

Among these forms, the comparative of superiority is by far the most common form.

Yet a few synthetic comparatives from Latin survive in Old French; these are very common, cf.:

Comparative, Synthetic formations

		Adjective		Comparative		Comparative
		grant 'big, large'		graindre (Nom.) /		graignor (Obl.)
						'bigger, larger'
		grant		maire (Nom.) /		maior (Obl.)
						'bigger, larger'
		petit 'small'		mendre (Nom.) /		menor (Obl.)
		bon 'good'		mieudre (Nom.) /		meillor (Obl.)
		mal 'bad'		pire (Nom.) /		peior (Obl.)
						'worse'

The following series of adjectives have a synthetic comparative form only in the oblique case; these forms typically occur in the early texts:

Comparative, Synthetic formations

		Adjective				Comp. Obl.
		fort		'strong'		forçor		'stronger'
		alt		'high'		alçor		'higher'
		bel		'beautiful'		belasor (9th c.)		'more beautiful'
						belior (12th c.)
		sordois		'worse, dirty'		sordoior		'worse, inferior'
		gent		'noble'		gençor		'more noble'

The declension of the comparative forms follows that of the third class of nouns, cf.:

Synthetic Comparative, Declension (masculine)

Masculine		Singular		Plural
Nom.		graindre		graignor
Obl.		graignor		graignors

Synthetic Comparative, Declension (feminine)

Feminine		Singular		Plural
Nom.		graindre		graignors
Obl.		graignor		graignors

Superlatives generally are not marked, and the interpretation therefore depends on the context, cf.:

		un des porz ki plus est pres de Rome (Al. 197, Lesson 3)
		'one of the ports that is closest to Rome'

Very rarely one may find a superlative that is formally marked: a definite article then combines with the comparative adjective proper (synthetic or analytic). These formations spread in later times, cf.:

		de toutes autres la gençor (Ben.)
		'of all others the most noble'

Yet if there is no analytic formation of superlatives, there are a number of synthetic formations that convey so-called absolute superlative value:

· Several synthetic Latin superlatives have survived in Old French, cf.: pesme 'very bad' (< La. pessimum), merme 'very small'(< minimum), malisme 'very bad', proismes 'very close'(< La. proximum), and others.

· There are learned formations in -isme, cf.:

Superlatives in -isme

		Adjective		Superlative
		fort		fortisme		'very strong'
		alt		altisme		'very high'
		grant		grandisme		'very big'
		saint		saintisme		'very holy'

· Finally, there is a range of adverbs that convey superlative value in combination with adjectives 'very, most', cf.: molt, tres, mais, tant, mut par and others, e.g.:

		il est mult irascut (CdR 777) 'he is very angry'
		mult grant venjance (CdR 1459) 'a very rude revenge'

25 Adjectives: Comparison

Whereas Latin had two types of comparison, Old French only has an analytic construction. In Latin the comparison was either a case construction or a so-called particle construction.

In the case construction the ablative marks the element that is being compared, cf.:

		luce		clarior
		'light-Abl.		brighter' > 'brighter than light'

In the particle construction the particle -- quam -- has that function:

		lingua		quam		manu		promptior
		tongue		than		hand		ready-Comp.' >
		'prompter in words than in action'

With the loss of synthetic froms in Latin -- case, comparative, verb forms -- the comparison in Old French has become analytic and includes either a particle or a preposition.

The particle construction (of which the Latin quam construction was a forerunner) is the most widespread type of comparison, cf.:

		plus est isnels que esprever (CdR 1535)
		'he is quicker than a sparrow hawk'

Constructions with a preposition--which trace back to the original case construction in Latin-- typically include a pronominal element or a number, cf.:

		meillor vassal n'out en la curt de lui (CdR 776)
		'there was no better knight in the court than he'
		plus de .IIII. milliers
		'more than four thousand'

The prepositional construction is also attested with a nominal referent when it functions simply as a subject, cf.:

		maines riches de mon pere (Palefroi 407)
		'less rich than my father'

Comparison constructions often include a negation, cf.:

		plus est isnels que n'est oisel ki volet (CdR 1616)
		'he is quicker than a bird that flies'

With time the particle construction spread and came to be used exclusively in comparisons, with the exception of numbers (e.g. modern French il y a plus de vingt étudiants 'there are more than twenty students'). (See Italian for a much more common use of the prepositional construction today).

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