 In French, most of these secondary final consonants (as well as primary ones) were lost before around 1700, but tertiary final consonants later arose through the loss of < "-a".Hence masculine "frīgidum" "cold" > Old French "freit" > "froid" , feminine "frigidam" > Old French "freide" > "froide" .Palatalization was one of the most important processes affecting consonants in Vulgar Latin.