102. What has been said concerning the inflection of nouns applies also
to adjectives: see §§ 91-101. For pronominal adjectives see §§ 114 ff.
1. The operation of phonetic laws sometimes results in a
difference in stem between the m. and the f.: _bos_ _bona_,
_larcs_ _larga_, _nutz_ _nuda_, _preon_ _preonda_; _mut_
_muda_, _prezat_ _prezada_. For _pauc_ _pauca_, _rauc_ _rauca_,
see § 65, C, 1. For _-arius_ _-aria_, _-tōrius_ _-tōria_, see §
23, 1; § 73, Ry, 1.
2. Adjectives in -s or -š are undeclinable in the m.
sg.: _glorios_, _perfieg_. Those in -s originally had no
inflectional ending in the m. pl., but later they sometimes
added -es: _divers_ _diverses_, _frances_ _franceses_. For the
pl. of those in š, see § 93, (3).
103. We must recognize two classes of adjectives: (1) those which in
Latin distinguish the feminine from the masculine; (2) those which do
not.
1. Adjectives like _acer_, which, though inflected after the 3d
declension type, could distinguish the m. from the f. in the
nom. sg., fell into one or the other--usually the first--of
the following classes (_agre_ _agra_, _alegre_ _alegra_;
_terrestre_ _terrestre_).
(1) Masculine and feminine different:--
MASCULINE FEMININE
_bĕllus_ ＞ bęls _bĕlla_ ＞ bęlla
_bĕllum_ ＞ bęl _bĕllam_ ＞ bęla
_bĕlli_ ＞ bęl _bĕllæ_ ✱_beĕllas_ ＞ bęlas
_bĕllos_ ＞ bęls _bĕllas_ ＞ bęlas
_pauper_ ＞ paubre-s _paupĕra_ ＞ paubra
_paupĕrum_ ＞ paubre _paupĕram_ ＞ paubra
_paupĕi_ ＞ paubre _paupĕræas_ ＞ paubras
_paupĕros_ ＞ paubres _paupĕras_ ＞ paubras
(2) Masculine and feminine alike:--
MASCULINE FEMININE
_gentīlis_ ＞ gentils _gentīlis_ ＞ gentils
_gentīlem_ ＞ gentil _gentīlem_ ＞ gentil
_gentīles_ ＞ gentil _gentīles_ ＞ gentils
_gentīles_ ＞ gentils _gentīles_ ＞ gentils
1. Some adjectives of the second class were attracted into the
first either in Vulgar Latin or in Provençal; this happened
to all adjectives in _-és_, _-able_, _-ible_, and also to
_comun_, _dous_, _fol_, _freble_, _graile_, _len_, _mol_,
_noble_, _paubre_ (early), _rude_, _trist_: _cortes_ _cortesa_,
_durable_ _durabla_; _comuna_, _doussa_, etc. Some kept both
inflections: _dolens_, _dolens_ or _dolenta_; _grans_, _grans_
or _granda_, etc.
104. In impersonal constructions we frequently find a nominative
singular without -s, which is apparently a survival of the Latin
neuter: _m’es bel_ (_greu_, _parven_, _semblan_, etc.) _que_.… But the
form with -s sometimes occurs in the same constructions: _m’es greus
que_.…