GRAMMATICAL GLOSSARY

OF

ARCHAISMS, PECULIARITIES OF CON-
STRUCTION, IDIOMS, ETC.

THIS brief Résumé of the most important points of difference between French Syntax at the time of Molière and that of qur times is intended for the help of students who wish to read Molière critically, i.e. with a view to methodise their knowledge of the French language in the classical period of French literature.

Although towards the middle of the seventeenth century the French language had finally emerged from that process of crystallisation which it had taken centuries to accomplish, yet there were not a few words and turns of speech, now extinct, whose struggle for existence had not yet, at that period, ended fatally, whilst many others, though still numbered with the living, are now doing duty in a different capacity.

(1.) Omission of the ARTICLE, especially after c'est, se sont, etc.; also with même, plus:

"Ce n'est que jeu de mots, qu'affectation pure" (1. 387).
'Et même, pour Alceste, elle a tendresse d'âme " (1. 866);
thus 1. 85, 99, 124, 223, 541, 646, 1187, 1605, 1648,
1655, 1708.

(2.) The Article, especially the indefinite Art., used where it is omitted now:

"Et si, par un malheur, j'en avais fait autant" (1. 27); so l. 951-un longtemps.

(3.) ADJECTIVES:

(a) Linked with their complement by a different preposition— "En serez-vous vers moi moins coupable en effet?" (1. 1343); so libre à (l. 1300).

(b) Superlative used for a comparative: "Sa grâce est la plus forte" (1. 233).

(4.) PERSONAL PRONOUNS :

(a) on used with reference to two different antecedents"Dès qu'on (i.e. nous) voit qu'on (i.e. les gens) nous mêle avec tout l'univers" (1. 56); so 1. 355-6, 987, 1001, 1392, 1487, 1534, 1723-4-8.

(b) The pers. pron., object of an infinitive, placed before the verb preceding the infinitive, to a far wider extent than now"Vous l'est-on venu dire ?" (1. 560), instead of—est-on venu vous le dire ?" thus 1. 16, 28, 523, 646, 785, 880, 915, 1135, 1197, 1219, 1632, 1772, etc.

(c) me, obj. pron. used before the verb instead of moi after the verb, in the case of a second imperative :

"Laissons la raillerie et me dis..." (1. 835).

(5.) RELATIVE PRONOUNS :

(a) où used, to a far wider extent than now, as a relat. pron. with reference to any kind of antecedent, and in any dative or ablative relation, instead of auquel, dans lequel, pour lequel, etc.

"L'estime où je vous tiens ne doit point vous surprendre" (1. 1265); thus l. 28, 666, 886, 1109, 1114, 1156, 1170, 1278, 1485, 1619, 1760; cp. also Glossary to Cor. neille's Cid in this Series.

(b) de qui, à qui, used with reference to antecedents denoting things

“Et que c'est à sa table à qui* l'on rend visite” (l. 626).
"Un livre abominable, de qui la lecture. . ." (1. 1502).
* Notice also that the preposition governing the ante-
cedent is repeated before the relat. pronoun; thus by
all writers in the seventeenth cent.; cp. Boileau-
"C'est à vous, mon esprit, à qui je veux parler."

VERBS.

(6.) THE INFINITIVE GOVERNED BY À USED:

(a) instead of the pres. part., governed by en (= the Lat. ad with gerund in -do), a construction now only used in idiomatic phrases—

"Pensez-vous faire croire, à voir comme tout roule . . ." (1. 1005); so 1. 86, 702; cp. "To fright (i.e. in frighting) you thus, methinks I am too savage.' Shaksp. Macb., IV. ii. 70.

(b) instead of an infinitive governed by other prepositions"Il ne faut que ce faible à (= pour) décrier un homme" (1. 354); and so 1. 90, 504, 518, 606, 792, 821, 861, 1035, 1224, 1300.

"Un livre à (i.e. digne de) mériter la dernière rigueur" (1. 1503); so l. 90, 1293.

(7.) Present Participle and Infinitive used instead of a concessive or conditional clause:

"Cent choses, qui pourraient mieux aller, prenant (= si elles prenaient) un autre cours" (1. 159-60); so 1. 160, 209, 451, 1303, 1680.

(8.) Infinitive or Present Participle used with different subject implied from that expressed in the principal clause:

"Le désavouerez-vous, pour n'avoir point de seing ?" (1. 1331), instead of-parce qu'il (le billet) n'a point de seing?

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Que le ciel, en naissant (i.e. quand vous naquîtes), ne vous eût donné rien" (l. 1427).

(9.) Verbs linked with their complement by a different preposition:

"Et sa demande ici s'accorde à (for avec) mon désir" (1. 1604); thus tâcher à, l. 861, 1224; traiter de, 1. 24; mettre aux, 1. 359.

(10.) WORDS USED WITH A DIFFERENT MEANING FROM NOW:

In addition to the archaisms mentioned above, the beginner will do well to make himself familiar with the following peculiarities of poetic diction, and of French construction generally :

:

(12.) INVERTEd Order of WORDS INCIDENT TO FRENCH CON

STRUCTION IN GENERAL:

(a) Verb placed before the Subject in dependent clauses, in order better to balance the whole sentence, especially when the subject is longer than the verb, thus

"Voilà ce que peut dire un cœur vraiment épris ” (1. 413), is in every respect better than

“Voila ce qu'un cœur vraiment épris peut dire.”

“Voilà ce que marquaient les troubles de mon âme ”
(1. 1289).
"Mais si c'est une femme à qui va ce billet" (1. 1344);
"à qui ce billet va" would be intolerable; and thus
1. 707, 822, 884, 930, 938, 1204, 1289-90, 1292, 1344,
1563, etc.

(b) Verb placed before the Pronoun-Subject by the attraction of an
adverbial conjunction, as encore, aussi, à peine,
toujours, peut-être, at the head of the sentence-
"Encore en est-il bien, dans le siècle où nous sommes
(1. 117).

"Peut-être est-ce un soupçon conçu légèrement" (1. 1232); so 1. 1661.

(c) Verb placed before pronoun-subject in optative, concessive, and conditional clauses

"Je voudrais, m'en coutât-il grand'chose" (1. 201), in-
stead of "Je voudrais, quoiqu'il m'en coutât"
so also 1. 355.

(d) Predicate placed before the Subject, and the latter emphasised by que

"Et c'est n'estimer rien qu'estimer tout le monde
(1.58), instead of "Estimer tout le monde" (subj.)
"c'est n'estimer rien " (predicate); thus l. 582, 1072,
1236, 1265, 1400, 1794.

(e) Complement of que, ce que, tant, rien, placed at the end of the sentence

A tout ce que j'y vois de plus considérable" (1. 270); so also 1. 862, 867, 871, 963, 1337.

(f) Adjective used as the complement of a verb placed after the direct object

"Je souhaiterais fort vos ardeurs mieux placées" (1. 1102); which means

"Je souhaiterais fort que vos ardeurs fussent mieux placées ;" so 1. 777, 782, 798, 905, 909, 1102, 1387.

(13.) INVERTED CONSTRUCTION USED IN POETICAL DICTION

ONLY:

(a) Adjunct placed before the Noun qualified—

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Quoi de mes sentiments l'obligeante assurance" (1. 1397).

"Afin que de mon cœur l'éclatant sacrifice" (1. 1429).

I