With the first conjugation most of the verbs follow a pattern in forming the perfect passive participle, but as you move on, the participles appear to be swimming in a sea of randomness. However, we can do a bit of “surgery” on these Latin participles because almost every one them is hiding in plain sight in English derivatives. The number of these that are in English is astonishing. I learned them as I encountered them and by making connections with derivatives:
dēleō,
dēlēre, dēlēvī, dēlētus [2]: destroy > English derivative: delete
compleō,
complēre, complēvī, complētus [2]: finish > English derivative: complete
We’ll
dissect three examples and show their “journeys” through history; don’t be
concerned by their conjugation but by their perfect passive participles, how
they are formed and how they ended up in English; the English derivative is
telling you the formation of the participle.
[1]
tangō, tangere, tetigī, tāctus [3]: touch
>
Latin noun: tāctus, -ūs [4/m]: touch; the sense of touch i.e. a noun created
from the participle
>
French: tact [i.e. ending removed]
>
English: tact
[2] sentiō,
sentīre, sensī, sēnsus [4]: feel
>
Latin noun: sēnsus, -ūs [4/m]: feeling; sensation i.e. a noun created from the
participle
>
Old Fr. sens
>
Engl. sense
[3] prōmittō,
prōmittere, prōmīsī, prōmissus [3]
>
Latin noun: prōmissum, -ī [2/n] i.e. a noun created from the participle
>
Old French: promesse
>
Middle English: promis, promisse
>
Modern English: promise
You
can cut out the “middle men” of Latin nouns created from them and Old French
and Middle English and go straight to Modern English derivatives. Sure, the
meaning of the English derivative may have changed but the original spelling of
the perfect passive participle is still there.
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