167. In the first person plural the final -s disappeared early, s being perhaps regarded as a distinctively second person ending[123]. The rare form ęsmes = sŭmus is the only one that retains the s: cf. § [162], (15).
Then -āmu’, -ēmu’ gave regularly -am, -ẹm: cantāmus ＞ cantám, habēmus ＞ avẹm. Likewise -ĭmu’, through the analogy of -āmu’, -ēmu’, came to take the accent on its penult, and then regularly developed into -ẹm: crēdĭmus ✱credĭ́mu’ ＞ crezẹm. This -ẹm of the second and third conjugations passed into the fourth, and entirely displaced the -im that would have been the regular representative of -īmu’: partīmus ＞ ✱partím partẹm.
1. In faim ＜ facĭmu’ the old accentuation apparently survives: cf. § [52], (4), 1.
2. In some dialects of Béarn, Languedoc, Provence, and Dauphiné, -m apparently becomes -n: devén, havén, volén; so aurián, trobarén, segrián (cf. § [152], 1; § [153], 1). Cf. § [65], M, 1.
168. In the second person plural -ātis regularly gave -atz: amātis ＞ amatz, audiātis ＞ auiatz. The regular form from -ētis is -ẹtz, which we find kept in the future (veirẹtz) and in the present subjunctive (cantẹtz); in the present indicative it was replaced by -ętz, probably through the analogy of ętz ＜ ĕstis: habētis ＞ avẹtz avętz, ✱potētis ＞ podẹtz podętz, so sezętz, valętz, etc.; the rare avẹtz and podẹtz are the only forms that preserve ẹ. The ending -ĭtis, taking the accent on its penult (cf. § [167]), became ✱-ẹtz, then -ętz: crēdĭtis ＞ crezętz. This -ętz also displaced the -itz that would have been regular in the fourth conjugation: partītis ＞ partętz.
The final -tz was reduced, in some of the principal dialects, to -s (§ [64]): cantás, sezęs, partęs. In other dialects it was replaced very early by -t (§ [64]): auiát, avęt, passát, podęt; so partirẹt, etc.
1. In faitz ＜ facĭtis the old accentuation apparently survives.
169. In the third person plural -ant, -ent, -unt gave respectively -an -ant, -en, -on -o (§ [83], Nt): amant ＞ áman ámant, audiant ＞ áuian áuiant; valent ＞ válen, ament ＞ ámen; vēndunt ＞ vẹndon vẹndo. In Languedoc -an was replaced by -on or -o in the 13th century; in other regions, later: ámon, chanto ls, coménso l. The Boeci has -en for -an: amen, monten. In Gascony and some of the Limousin territory -en partially displaced -on (floríssen, párten, vẹnden), elsewhere -on or -o displaced -en (válon).
IMPERFECT INDICATIVE.
170. In the first conjugation -abam regularly gave -ava. In the second, through the analogy of aβéa ＜ habēbam (§ [153]), -ēbam came to be replaced, in southern Gaul, by -éa, which regularly changed to -ía (§ [26]). In the third, -iēbam regularly became -ēbam (§ [40], 1); and this and original -ēbam were replaced by the -éa ＞ -ía of the second conjugation. In the fourth, -ībam, which had in the accented syllable the characteristic vowel of the conjugation, crowded out -iēbam; -ībam then lost its β through the analogy of the second and third conjugations. We have, then, in Provençal, only two sets of endings: -áva, etc., in the first conjugation; -ía, etc., in the second, third, and fourth.