172. Preterits which stress the ending throughout are called _weak_;
those which do not stress the ending throughout are called _strong_:
part_í_, part_íst_, part_í_, part_ím_, part_ítz_, part_íron_ is weak;
saup, saub_íst_, saup, saub_ém_, saub_étz_, sáub_ron_ is strong. Verbs
of the first and fourth conjugations regularly have weak preterits
(amęi, finí). Verbs of the second and third, with very few exceptions,
originally had strong preterits (_placuī_ ＞ plac, _fēcī_ ＞ fis): many
of them, however, developed weak preterits either in Vulgar Latin or in
Provençal (irasquęi, nasquęi, tessęi tesquęi, visquęi); some assumed a
weak form in -í in the 1st pers. sg. (dis dissí, pris prenguí, remas
remanguí, trais traguí: cf. §§ 173, 177); quęrre, on the other hand,
substituted a strong preterit (quis, etc.) for a weak one.
173. (1) Final _-ī_, in the first pers. sg., doubtless remained
through the earlier stages of Provençal (_habuī_ ＞ águi, _dīxī_ ＞
díssi): cf. § 51, (2). Before it fell, it changed an accented ẹ in
the preceding syllable to i (_vēnī_ ✱_vēnuī_ ＞ ✱vẹngui vinc): cf. §
27; occasionally, however, the ẹ was kept, through the analogy of
the other persons (pris prẹs). Sometimes, instead of falling, the -i
took the accent (following the analogy of the fourth conjugation) and
remained: águi ＞ ac or aguí, díssi ＞ dis or dissí (cf. § 177).
When the -i was immediately preceded by an accented vowel, it regularly
formed a diphthong with that vowel, and did not fall (_fuī_ ＞ füi): cf.
§ 51, (3); but -íi was simplified to -i (_partīvī_ _partīī_ ＞ partí).
Before enclitic l, -ei -iei were often reduced to -e -ie: cantiel.
(2) In the 2d pers. sg., _-stī_ became -st, a preceding ẹ being
changed to i (§ 27): _partīstī_ ＞ partíst, _debuĭstī_ ＞ deguíst;
sometimes, through the analogy of the 2d pers. pl., ẹ remains
(venguẹst: cf. § 27, 2). Occasionally the final -t disappears: anięst
anięs, fezíst fezís.
(3) The _-t_ of the 3d pers. sg. was lost in strong preterits:
_placuit_ ＞ plac, _vīdit_ ＞ vi. In weak preterits, it was retained by
most dialects after é, and by many after í: donęt donę, vendęt vendę;
partí partít. Cf. § 82, T.
(4) In the 1st pers. pl., _-mus_ _-mu’_ (see § 167) was reduced to -m:
_vīdĭmu’_ ＞ vim.
(5) The _-stis_ of the 2d pers. pl. regularly became -tz (§ 78, 2),
later in many dialects -s (§ 64): _debuĭstis_ ＞ deguẹtz deguẹs.
(6) The _-runt_ of the 3d pers. pl. regularly gave -ron or -ro (§ 83,
Nt): _partīrunt_ ＞ partíron partíro, _vīdĕrunt_ ＞ viron viro. In some
dialects -en is substituted for -on: _fŭĕrunt_ ＞ fọron fọren (cf. §
169).
The _e_ before _-runt_, which in classic Latin was usually long, was
always short in Vulgar Latin when it was preserved at all: _amavĕrunt_
＞ _amārunt_, _fēcĕrunt_.