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VII.] of the languages of our family, and need not be dwelt upon here. Of more consequence is the frequent formation of a special theme for the present tense, to which was then added a corresponding imperfect, made by means of the augment. This was accomplished in various ways: either by vowel-increment (as in Greek leipō, from lip, 'leave'), by reduplication (as in Greek dadāmi, from dā: the repetition of the root doubtless indicated repetition or continuity of the action), or by the addition or even insertion of formative elements (as in Greek deiknumi from dik, 'point out,' Sanskrit yunajmi from yuj, 'join;' Greek gignōscō, Latin gnosco, from gnā, 'know'); these last are, at least in part, noun-suffixes, and the forms they make are by origin denominatives.

Of this system of primitive verbal forms, produced before the separation of the family into branches, almost every branch has abandoned some part, while each has also new forms of its own to show, originated partly for supplying the place of that which was lost, partly in order to fill up the scheme to greater richness, and capacity of nicer and more varied expression. The Greek verb is, among them all, the most copious in its wealth, the most subtle and expressive in its distinctions: it has lost hardly anything that was original, and has created a host of new forms, some of which greatly tax the ingenuity of the comparative philologist who would explain their genesis. The Latin follows not very far behind, having made up its considerable losses, and supplied some new uses, by combinations of secondary growth: such are its imperfect in bam, its future in bo, and its derivative perfects in ui and si, in all of which are seen the results of composition with the roots of the substantive verb. Both these are greatly superior to the Sanskrit, in copiousness of forms, and in preciseness of their application. The Germanic verb was reduced at one period almost to the extreme of poverty, having saved only the ancient present, which was used also in the sense of a future, and a preterit, the modern representative of the original reduplicated perfect; each of the two tenses having also its subjunctive mood. The existing dialects of the branch have supplied a