Sound laws · Law 3 · Vowels

French stressed free A becomes e

A (stressed, open syllable)

Spanish

a (kept)

French

e, è, é; ie after a palatal (chien)

Italian

a (kept)

Portuguese

a (kept)

Romanian

a (kept); â before n (câine)

Catalan

a (kept)

What happened

In northern Gaul, a stressed A ending its syllable lengthened and fronted until it became an e, in the centuries before the first French texts; the other five sisters kept the a. After a consonant that had turned palatal (the ch from CA, see ca-to-cha) the result was ie instead (Bartsch's law): CANEM → chien. In most such words the i later disappeared after ch, so CARUM gave Old French chier, today cher.

Examples

Latin	Italian	Spanish	French	Portuguese	Romanian	Catalan	English relative
MARE‘sea’	mare	mar	mer	mar	mare	mar	marine
PATREM‘father’	padre	padre	père	pai	—	pare	paternal
SALEM‘salt’	sale	sal	sel	sal	sare	sal	saline
PRĀTUM‘meadow’	prato	prado	pré	prado	—	prat
NĀVEM‘ship’	nave	nave	nef	nau	—	nau	nave
CANEM‘dog’	cane	can	chien	cão	câine	ca	canine
CĀRUM‘dear’	caro	caro	cher	caro	—	car

Decoder

A French stressed e, è or é before a single consonant (or at the end) often hides an a: mer, père, pré → mar/mare, padre/pare, prado/prato. After ch, look for ca: chien, cher → cane, caro.

Exceptions

Before a nasal the A gave ai instead (PANEM → pain, MANUM → main, AMAT → aime). In a closed syllable it stayed a (PARTEM → part, CARRUM → char), and learned words keep a (natal, salaire). Spanish can and Catalan ca are literary or regional for dog; everyday Spanish says perro and Central Catalan gos.

Watch it happen: CLĀVEM

What happened

Examples

Decoder

Exceptions

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