Modern Descendants oj Latin 361

and corresponding feminine singular, masculine plural3 or feminine
plural forms Italian has a luxuriant over-growth of such fusions
between preposition and article.

IL
I
LO
GLI
L4
L£
i'

d^^ of
del
dei
dello
degli
dcila
aelle
dell'

da,from,by
dal
dai
dallo
dagii
dalla
dalle
dalT

a> to
al
ai
allo
agli
alia
alle
air

in* m
nel
nei
nello
negh
nella
nelle
nell'

con, with
col
COl
collo
cogh
coUa
colle
coll'

su3 on
sul
SUl
sullo
SUgll
suila
sulle
suir

per* for
pel
pei
perlo
per gli
per la
per le
perl'

(pello)
(pegli)
(pella)
(pelle)
(pen1)

In modern Romance languages, and in none more than in French^
the definite article is now an almost inseparable bedfellow of the noun
Consequently it has lost any personality it once had We have to use it
in many situations where no Anglo-Amencan article occurs Thus it
appears before collective or abstract nouns, e g rhomme or la nature,
names of substances, e g lefer (iron), names of countries, e g le Canada^
names of colours, e g le bleu (blue) and the generic plural, e g j'aime
les pommes (I like apples) It was not always so In early French, as in
other Romance languages, it was not the custom to put the definite article
before an abstract noun, e g covoitise est raane de toz mals for la con~
voitise est la racme de tous les maux (envy is the root of all evils) This
accounts for its absence in some set expressions (see also p 390) such as
in French, avoir raison (be right), avoir tort (be wrong), prendre garde
(take care),prendre conge (take leave), demanderpardon (ask forgiveness),
in Spanish, oir rnisa (hear mass), hacer fiesta (take a holiday), dor fin
(finish); in Italian, far onore (do honour), correr pencolo (run a nsk),
prender moglie (take a wife) Where we use the indefinite article a or an
before names of professions and trades, its equivalent is absent in
Romance languages, as in German Thus the French say il est mede&n
= he is a doctor, and the Spaniards say es medico
One of the pitfalls of French is correct use of what grammar-books
call the partitive article. Wherever English-speaking people can use
, some or any to signify some indefinite quantity of a whole, as in / had
some leer,, the French must put before the object the preposition de
together with the definite article (i e du, de lay des) Thus the French
M*