137. (1) In Vulgar Latin there were some shifts, the verbs of the
second and third conjugations being particularly unstable: _cadĕre_,
_capĕre_, _sapĕre_, for instance, often passed into the second,
while _mŏvēre_, _rīdēre_ frequently followed the third, and _mŏri_,
_sĕqui_ usually went into the fourth. _Pŏsse_, _vĕlle_, with the new
infinitives ✱_potēre_, ✱_volēre_, were made to conform with more or
less regularity to the second conjugation type. Beside _do_, _dant_,
_sto_, _stant_, there came into use the forms ✱_dao_, ✱_daunt_,
✱_stao_, ✱_staunt_. Beside _facĕre_ there doubtless existed a verb
✱_fare_,[102] strongly influenced by _dare_ and _stare_; the first
suggestion of shortening probably came from the monosyllabic imperative
singular _fac_ (or _fa_[103]), which must have led to a plural ✱_fate_
beside _facĭte_. _Habēre_ and _vadĕre_[103] also came under the
influence of _dare_ and _stare_; the former adopted, beside _habeo_,
_habes_, _habet_, _habent_, the forms ✱_ho_, ✱_has_, ✱_hat_, ✱_hant_ or
✱_haunt_. _Vadĕre_ generally lost its past tenses, which were replaced
by _īre_ and, in southern Gaul, by _annare_.[104]
(2) In Provençal the first conjugation was well preserved, and the
fourth lost but little. The second and the third lost many verbs
(especially learned words) to the fourth: delir, emplir, envazir,
espandir, fugir, iauzir, merir, regir, relinquir, reluzir, vertir;[105]
cọzer cozir ＜ _consuĕre_,[106] devire devezir ＜ _divīdĕre_, dire dir
＜ _dīcĕre_, lęire legir (also lire lir) ＜ _lĕgĕre_, quęrre querir ＜
_quærĕre_, sęgre seguir ＜ _sĕqui_, tenẹr tenir[107] ＜ _tenēre_.
Moreover, the second and third conjugations, which in Provençal
differed practically only in the infinitive, were much confused:
cabẹr, cazẹr, mǫrdre, rire, sabẹr; cọrre accorrẹr, mentavẹr
mentaure ＜ _mente habēre_, movẹr mǫure, quęrre querẹr, redẹbre
rezemẹr ＜ _redĭmĕre_. Uc Faidit, a 13th century grammarian, enumerates
about 500 verbs in -ar, about 100 in -er and -re, and a little over 100
in -ir.
138. The inchoative ending _-scĕre_ lost its original sense. The
_-īsc-_ type, for verbs of the fourth conjugation, was very widely
extended, the _-isc-_ becoming a part of the regular present stem of
the fourth conjugation, and disappearing from the infinitive: _finīre_,
✱_finīsco_ ＞ finir, finisc. An obscure substitute for the Latin
_-ēsc-_ type produced an ending -eissir -ezir -zir (_dis-pigrēscĕre_ =
despereissir, _evanēscĕre_ = envanezir[108]), which was used in forming
some new verbs: enfolezir[109] ＜ fǫl, envelhezir ＜ vęlh, envelzir ＜
vil, esclarzir ＜ clar, escürzir ＜ escür oscür, espaorzir ＜ paọr.[110]
The _-āsc-_ and _-ōsc-_ types appear in old verbs: _irāscĕre_ ＞
iráisser, _co(g)nōscĕre_ ＞ conọisser.[111]
139. New verbs were formed, in late Vulgar Latin and in Provençal,
only in the first and fourth conjugations. The commonest suffixes were
_-āre_, _-iāre_, _-icāre_, _-idiāre_ (＜ -ίζειν: § 57, Z), _-īre_:
✱_oblītāre_ ＞ oblidar, ✱_altiāre_ ＞ aussar, ✱_carricāre_ ＞ cargar,
✱_werridiāre_ ＞ guerreiar, ✱_abbellīre_ ＞ abelir. Germanic verbs
generally went into the first conjugation, except those in _-jan_, most
of which entered the fourth: _roubôn_ ＞ raubar (also raubir), _wîtan_ ＞
guidar; _furbjan_ ＞ forbir.