1. Adjectives like acer, which, though inflected after the 3d declension type, could distinguish the m. from the f. in the nom. sg., fell into one or the other—usually the first—of the following classes (agre agra, alegre alegra; terrestre terrestre).

(1) Masculine and feminine different:—

MASCULINEFEMININE
bĕllus＞ bęlsbĕlla＞ bęlla
bĕllum＞ bęlbĕllam＞ bęla
bĕlli＞ bęlbĕllæ ✱beĕllas＞ bęlas
bĕllos＞ bęlsbĕllas＞ bęlas
pauper＞ paubre-spaupĕra＞ paubra
paupĕrum＞ paubrepaupĕram＞ paubra
paupĕi＞ paubrepaupĕræas＞ paubras
paupĕros＞ paubrespaupĕras＞ paubras

(2) Masculine and feminine alike:—

MASCULINEFEMININE
gentīlis＞ gentilsgentīlis＞ gentils
gentīlem＞ gentilgentīlem＞ gentil
gentīles＞ gentilgentīles＞ gentils
gentīles＞ gentilsgentīles＞ gentils

1. Some adjectives of the second class were attracted into the first either in Vulgar Latin or in Provençal; this happened to all adjectives in -és, -able, -ible, and also to comun, dous, fol, freble, graile, len, mol, noble, paubre (early), rude, trist: cortes cortesa, durable durabla; comuna, doussa, etc. Some kept both inflections: dolens, dolens or dolenta; grans, grans or granda, etc.

104. In impersonal constructions we frequently find a nominative singular without -s, which is apparently a survival of the Latin neuter: m’es bel (greu, parven, semblan, etc.) que.… But the form with -s sometimes occurs in the same constructions: m’es greus que.…

1. For es mestier, see § [91], (3).

105. Most adverbs of manner were formed by adding -men (-ment, -mens, or -menz) to the feminine singular of the adjective: belamen. These adverbs were originally ablative phrases: serēna mĕnte, etc. In Provençal the specific meaning of the -men was forgotten, but the two parts might still be separated by an intervening word: ẹpsa… ment. When two adverbs in -men were used together, the ending was generally affixed to only one, oftener the first. Bona and mala could be used as adverbs without the suffix.

1. For the adverbial ending -s, see § [82], S, 3.