A Handbook of the English Language Part 36

_Mso-Gothic._ _Mso-Gothic._ _English._ _English._

1st. Fala, _I fold_ Faifal, _I have folded_, or _I folded_.

Halda, _I feed_ Haihald, _I have fed_, or _I fed_.

Haha, _I hang_ Haihah, _I have hanged_, or _I hanged_.

2nd. Haita, _I call_ Haihait, _I have called_, or _I called_.

Laika, _I play_ Lailaik, _I have played_, or _I played_.

3rd. Hlaupa, _I run_ Hlailaup _I have run_, or _I ran_.

4th. Slepa, _I sleep_ Saizlep, _I have slept_, or _I slept_.

5th. Laia, _I laugh_ Lailo, _I have laughed_, or _I laught_.

Saija, _I sow_ Saiso, _I have sown_, or _I sowed_.

6th. Greta, _I weep_ Gaigrot, _I have wept_, or _I wept_.

Teka, _I touch_ Taitok, _I have touched_, or _I touched_.

In Mso-Gothic, as in Latin, the perfect forms have, besides their own, an aorist sense, and _vice versa_.

In Mso-Gothic, as in Latin, few (if any) words are found in both forms.

In Mso-Gothic, as in Latin, the two forms are dealt with as a single tense; _lailo_ being called the praeterite of _laia_, and _svor_ the praeterite of _svara_. The true view, however, is that in Mso-Gothic, as in Latin, there are two past tenses, each having a certain lat.i.tude of meaning, and each, in certain words, replacing the other.

The reduplicate form, in other words, the perfect tense, is current in none of the Gothic languages except the Mso-Gothic. A trace of it is said to be found in the Anglo-Saxon of the seventh century in the word _heht_, which is considered to be _he-ht_, the Mso-Gothic _haihait_, _vocavi_. _Did_ from _do_ is also considered to be a reduplicate form.

-- 298. In the English language the tense corresponding with the Greek aorist and the Latin forms like _vixi_, is formed after two modes; 1, as in _fell_, _sang_, and _took_, from _fall_, _sing_, and _take_, by changing the vowel of the present: 2, as in _moved_ and _wept_, from _move_ and _weep_, by the addition of -d or -t; the -d or -t not being found in the original word, but being a fresh element added to it. In forms, on the contrary, like _sang_ and _fell_, no addition being made, no new element appears. The vowel, indeed, is changed, but nothing is added. Verbs, then, of the first sort, may be said to form their praeterites out of themselves; whilst verbs of the second sort require something from without. To speak in a metaphor, words like _sang_ and _fell_ are comparatively independent. Be this as it may, the German grammarians call the tenses formed by a change of vowel the _strong_ tenses, the _strong_ verbs, the _strong_ conjugation, or the _strong_ order; and those formed by the addition of d or t, the _weak_ tenses, the _weak_ verbs, the _weak_ conjugation, or the _weak_ order. _Bound_, _spoke_, _gave_, _lay_, &c., are _strong_; _moved_, _favoured_, _instructed_, &c., are _weak_.

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE STRONG TENSES.

-- 299. The strong praeterites are formed from the present by changing the vowel, as _sing_, _sang_; _speak_, _spoke_.

In Anglo-Saxon, several praeterites change, in their plural, the vowel of their singular; as

Ic sang, _I sang_. | We sungon, _we sung_.

u sunge, _thou sungest_. | Ge sungon, _ye sung_.

He sang, _he sang_. | Hi sungon, _they sung_.

The bearing of this fact upon the praeterites has already been indicated. In a great number of words we have a double form, as _ran_ and _run_, _sang_ and _sung_, _drank_ and _drunk_, &c. One of these forms is derived from the singular, and the other from the plural.

In cases where but one form is preserved, that form is not necessarily the singular; indeed, it is often the plural;--e.g., Ic fand, _I found_, we fundon, _we found_, are the Anglo-Saxon forms. Now the present word _found_ comes, not from the singular _fand_, but from the plural _fundon_; although in the Lowland Scotch dialect and in the old writers, the _singular_ form occurs;

Donald Caird finds orra things, Where Allan Gregor _fand_ the tings.--SCOTT.

-- 300. The verbs wherein the double form of the present praeterite is thus explained, fall into two cla.s.ses.

1. In the first cla.s.s, the Anglo-Saxon forms were a in the singular, and i in the plural; as--

_Sing._ | _Plur._ | Scean | Scinon (_we shone_).

Aras | Arison (_we arose_).

Smat | Smiton (_we smote_).

This accounts for--

_Present._ _Praet. from Sing. form._ _Praet. from Plur. form._

Rise Rose [54]Ris.

Smite Smote Smit.

Ride Rode [54]Rid.

Stride Strode Strid.

Slide [54]Slode Slid.

Chide [54]Chode Chid.

Drive Drove [54]Driv.

Thrive Throve Thriv.

Write Wrote Writ.

Slit [54]Slat Slit.

Bite [54]Bat Bit.

2. In the second cla.s.s, the Anglo-Saxon forms were a in the singular, and u in the plural, as--

_Sing._ | _Plural._ | Band | Bundon (_we bound_).

Fand | Fundon (_we found_).

Grand | Grundon (_we ground_).

Wand | Wundon (_we wound_).

This accounts for--

_Present._ _Praet from Sing. form._ _Praet. from Pl. form._ Swim Swam Swum.

Begin Began Begun.

Spin [55]Span Spun.

Win [55]Wan [56]Won.

Sing Sang Sung.

Swing [55]Sw.a.n.g Swung.

Spring Sprang Sprung.

Sting [55]Stang Stung.

Ring Rang Rung.

Wring [55]Wrang Wrung.

Fling Flang Flung.

[55]Hing Hang Hung.

String [55]Strang Strung.

Sink Sank Sunk.

Drink Drank Drunk.

Shrink Shrank Shrunk.

Stink [55]Stank Stunk.

Melt [55]Molt -- Help [55]Holp -- Delve [55]Dolv -- Stick [55]Stack Stuck.

Run Ran Run.

Burst Brast Burst.

Bind Band Bound.

Find [55]Fand Found.