Re: latin esse

>Where e.g. Spanish has normalized the accent on the model of the
>singular (éra, éras, éra, éramos, érais, éran),
>Romanian has done so on the model of the plural.
>Latin éram, éra:s, érat, erá:mus, erá:tis, érant
>should have given Romanian iéra, iérai, iéra, erám(u),
>erátz(i), iéra.
>This was regularized (with the vowel of the singular, the
>stress of the plural) as: ierá, ierái, ierá, ierám,
>ierátzI, ierá.

Actually: eram, erai, era, eram, erati, erau [yerám, yeráy,
yerá, yerám, yerátz', yeráu] (in older and regional
Romanian, I mean the so-called "DacoRomanian" dialect, the
plural form, 3rd person, can also be without the final u, i.e.
without diphtongation: era [yerá], as it is its singular
counterpart).

Pronunciations with [e] instead of that initial diphtongation
[ye-] are also valid (although rather perceived as of haughty
people and/or of those with... stiff upper lips).

>Modern Romanian has disambiguated the form (i)erá (1sg., 3sg.
>or 3pl.) by substituting the endings of avea (1sg. am, 2sg.
>a(re), 2pl. au), giving the paradigm of the literary language
>eram, erai, era, eram, eratzi, erau.

Hm. But in Rumanian, all praeterita 1st person singular have
the -m ending: the -A verbs: cântam, jucam / the -EA verbs: aveam,
taceam, vedeam, placeam; the -E verbs: faceam, ceream, credeam;
the -I verbs: citeam, iubeam, loveam; the -RÎ verbs: hotaram,
coboram, uram, pâram.

So, I/me has to have the -m. Without it, the verb is automatically
perceived as of the 3rd person.

>Miguel Carrasquer Vidal

George