170. In the first conjugation _-abam_ regularly gave _-ava_. In the
second, through the analogy of _aβéa_ ＜ _habēbam_ (§ 153), _-ēbam_ came
to be replaced, in southern Gaul, by _-éa_, which regularly changed to
_-ía_ (§ 26). In the third, _-iēbam_ regularly became _-ēbam_ (§ 40,
1); and this and original _-ēbam_ were replaced by the _-éa_ ＞ _-ía_
of the second conjugation. In the fourth, _-ībam_, which had in the
accented syllable the characteristic vowel of the conjugation, crowded
out _-iēbam_; _-ībam_ then lost its β through the analogy of the second
and third conjugations. We have, then, in Provençal, only two sets of
endings: _-áva_, etc., in the first conjugation; _-ía_, etc., in the
second, third, and fourth.
amáva vezía fazía partía
amávas vezías fazías partías
amáva vezía fazía partía
amavám veziám faziám partiám
amavátz veziátz faziátz partiátz
amávan vezían fazían partían
1. In poetry _ía_ is sometimes counted as one syllable:
_avi͡an_, _devi͡an_.
2. For some subsequent developments of western dialects, see
Meyer-Lübke, _Gram._, II, p. 326.