44. Local or partial phonetic changes affected the initial syllable of many words: demandar (do-) ＜ demandāre, emplir (üm-) ＜ implēre; ciutat cieutat ＜ cīvĭtātem; eissir issir ＜ exīre, getar gitar ＜ ✱jĕctāre; crear criar ＜ creāre; mercẹ (mar-) ＜ mercēdem; delgat (dal-) ＜ delicātum.
1. Nearly everywhere there is a tendency to change e to o, u, or ü before a labial, especially before m: premier promier prumier, remas romas, semblar somblar, trebalh trubalh. So de ves ＞ ✱do ves ＞ dous.
2. In the 13th century, nearly everywhere, iu ＞ ieu: piucela pieucela.
3. Many dialects of the north and west change ei and e to i: deissendre dissendre, eissam issam, eissi issi, eissilh issilh, leisso lisso, meitat mitat; degerir (i), denhar (i), disnar, en in, enfern (i), entrar (i), envers (i), escien icient, proclitic est ist, estar (i), estiers (i), Felip (i), gelos (i), genhos (i), genolh (i), gequir (i), guereiar (i), guerensa (i), i(n)vern, isnel irnel, peior pigor, proclitic per pir, premier (i), semblar (i), serven (i), serventes (i), sevals (i), trebalhar (i), tremblar (i). In disnar, ivern, isnel only i is found. In some dialects there is an alternation of e and i, e being used when there is an í in the next syllable, i when there is none, fenít, sirvén. In vezí ＜ vīcīnum the e probably goes back to V. L.: cf. Fr.
4. In a few dialects e in hiatus with a following vowel becomes i: crear criar, leal lial, prear priar, preon prion, real rial.
5. In many dialects of the north and west e has a tendency to become a before r: guerentia garensa, merce marce, pergamen pargamen.
6. In some dialects there is a tendency to assimilate e to an á in the next syllable: delgat dalgat, gigant iaian, deman (a), semblar (a), serrar (a), tremblar (a). So de vás (§ [42], 1) ＞ da vás ＞ dávas; hence daus, under the influence of deus ＞ de ves.
Intertonic Syllable.
45. The term intertonic is applied to the syllable that follows the secondary (§ [18]) and precedes the primary accent. In this position all vowels, except a, regularly disappeared in popular words, probably between the 5th and the 8th century[27]; a apparently remained: ✱bŭllĭcāre ＞ boiar (bollegar), bŏnĭtātem ＞ bontat, ✱carrĭcāre ＞ carcar cargar, caballĭcāre ＞ cavalcar cavalgar, cĕrĕbĕllum ＞ cervęl, cīvĭtātem ＞ ciutat, cŏllŏcāre ＞ colcar colgar, dēlĭcātum ＞ delcat delgat, excommūnĭcāre ✱excommĭnĭcāre ＞ escomeniar, vĕrēcŭndia ＞ vergọnha; calamĕllum ＞ calamęl, invadĕre ✱invadīre ＞ envazir, margarīta ＞ margarida, mīrabĭlia ＞ miravilha, parav(e)rēdus ＞ palafrẹs.
1. The vowel is preserved in a number of words in which it originally bore the secondary accent (§ [18]): abbréviáre ＞ abreuiar, calúmniáre ＞ caloniar, ✱eríciónem ＞ erisso; on the other hand, ✱cominítiáre (through ✱comín’tiáre) ＞ comensar, partítiónem (through ✱pártiónem) ＞ parso. Cf. Zs., XXVII, 576, 684, 693, 698, 701, 704. When kept, the vowel is sometimes altered: ✱carōnea ✱caróneáta ＞ caraunhada, ✱cupídietósus ＞ cobeitos cobitos, papíliónem ＞ pabalho.