Entre gerundis i participis de present en català medieval

Abstract

The aim of this article is a concise description of the form and the functioning shown by so- called gerunds and present participles in medieval Catalan, especially in 15th century texts. A description is offered of how, along a certain period, gerunds and present participles merged in some contexts, to the point that some linguists have come up with the concept of “gerundial participles”. I also draw some attention to the situation in other languages like Occitan, French and Italian, and I finally deal with some particularities of the verbal temporality in gerunds. Vagueness of verbal/adjectival character of medieval gerunds (as they tend to merge with present participles) might help us to find the explanatory basis for such particularities, in line with some observations regarding the case of present participles in contemporary French.