65. The single medial consonants will now be considered separately, in alphabetical order:—
β, coming from b or v, became v; except in the west and a part of the centre, where, if it remained intervocalic, it changed to b: habētis ＞ avętz abętz, debēre ＞ devẹr debẹr, faba ＞ fava faba; avārum ＞ avar, æstīva ＞ estiva, brĕvem ＞ bręu,[43] clavem ＞ clau, dīe Jŏvis ＞ diiǫus, lĕvat ＞ lęva, novĕlla ＞ novęla nabęra (Gascon), vīvus ＞ vius. When the preceding or following vowel was o or u, a β before the accent fell in most dialects, being fused with the vowel: abŭndare ＞ aondar abondar, gŭbĕrnare ＞ goernar governar, proclitic ŭbĭ ＞ ọ, prŏbare ＞ proar, sŭbĭnde ＞ soẹn sovẹn sobẹn, trĭbūtum ＞ treüt; Lŭdovīcus ＞ Lozoics, Provĭncia ＞ Proẹnsa Provẹnsa, novĕllum ＞ noęl novęl, novĕmbrem ＞ noembre novembre, pavōnem ＞ paọn, pavōrem ＞ paọr (cf. § [55], V).
1. The perfect endings -avi etc., -ivi etc. had lost their v in Latin. For avia, etc., see § [87], β.
2. Abans, beside avanz, avan ＜ ab ante, apparently shows the influence of Pr. ab = apud. Abet ＜ abiĕtem (§ [40], 1) is unexplained: cf. Italian abete. Abora is a Provençal compound of ab and ora. Trap, beside trau ＜ trabem, is doubtless from the nominative traps ＜ trabs, which seems to have been differentiated in meaning from the V. L. nominative trabis.
3. Brey, grey, ney, beside breu ＜ brĕvem, greu ＜ ✱grĕvem, neu ＜ nĭvem (cf. § [25], 1, e), have been subjected to the attraction of grey ＜ grĕgem, ley ＜ lēgem. Greug is a post-verbal noun from greuiar ＜ ✱grĕviare.
4. Natiz = natius ＜ natīvus seems to have been influenced by mestis ＜ mixtīcius. Massis is from ✱massīcius.
5. Paziment = pavamen owes its z perhaps to the analogy of aizimen.
6. In purely learned words, b and v were written as in Latin: diabol, diluvi.
C, from the 4th to the 6th century, was voiced to g, and then developed like any other g. See G.
1. After au, apparently, c did not change: ✱auca (＜ ✱avĭca ＜ avis) ＞ auca, pauca ＞ pauca, rauca ＞ rauca, ✱traucare (? ＜ ✱trabucare) ＞ traucar. Cf. § [65], P, 3.