2. A few cases of irregular breaking are easily explained: püosc püesc (= pŏssum) and püosca püesca (= pŏssim) owe their diphthong either to earlier forms with s´ or to the analogy of püec; sǫfre süefre süfre (= sŭffert) are from ✱sŏfferit, formed upon ✱ŏfferit = ŏffert (cf. § [33], 1); vüelc (= vŏlui) follows the analogy of vüelh (＜ ✱vŏleo = vŏlo) and of püec.
ụ
38. Cl. L. ū ＞ V. L. ụ ＞ Pr. ü: ✱habūtus ＞ avütz, jūstum ＞ iüst, mūrum ＞ mür, mūtus ＞ mütz, nūdus ＞ nütz, plūs ＞ plüs.
The date of the change of ụ into ü is not known; there is no ü in Catalan, and there may have been none in early Gascon. It seems likely that the Celts, when they adopted Latin, pronounced ū a little further forward in the mouth than did the Romans; that their ụ continued to advance gradually toward the front of the mouth until it became ü; and that this ü spread to the parts of France that were not originally Celtic.[24] In the literary period the sound was probably ü in most or all of the Provençal dialects.
1. Pr. ọnze represents a V. L. ✱ŭndĕcim, which in Gaul and Spain replaced ūndĕcim. Lọita lücha, trọcha trücha probably go back to Latin double forms, ✱lŭcta lūcta, ✱trŭcta trūcta.
2. Nǫssas ＜ ✱nŏptias = nūptias, by analogy of ✱nŏvius, ‘bridegroom,’ from nŏvus.
3. Before u, Pr. ü apparently became i: nūbem ＞ ✱nüu ＞ niu, pūlĭcem ＞ ✱püuze ＞ piuze. See §§ [63], (4); [74], (2).
au
39. Cl. L. au ＞ V. L. au ＞ Pr. au: aurum ＞ aur, gaudium ＞ gaug, paucum ＞ pauc, thesaurus ＞ tesaurs.
1. Bloi ＜ blauþr, ioi, ioia, ioios, lotia ＜ ✱laubja, noiza, onta ＜ hauniþa, or, sor, tesor, etc., are French or Poitevin; ioi is a good Poitevin form. Iai, ‘joy,’ seems to be a fusion of ioi and Pr. iai = gai.