Page:Philological Museum v2.djvu/387

377 On English Prceterites. 377 so also by Rask who writes a ae.) Gothic 6 became e or else remained 6, u remained as it was except when followed by i, which converted it into y. Gothic ai was the Ohd ei, the Anglo-Saxon a. Gothic au was the long Anglo-Saxon vowel ea (distinct altogether from the short ea). Ei became i; iu became either ed or y. Besides these changes which are universal, ea was sometimes in more modern Anglo-Saxon replaced by y, and ea by y. With this view of the relative value of Gothic or Anglo-Saxon vowels^ we may proceed to state the forms of the conjugation. There being these ten Gothic vowels, and their larger number of Anglo-Saxon equivalents, and a fixed number of consonants, we should have a very large number of possible combinations, in which one vowel followed by one consonant, and one vowel followed by two consonants appeared. Histo- rically speaking however, only the following are found in , the roots of Gothic or any other Teutonic verbs : al. am. an, ar. ap. ab. af. at. ad. ab. as. ak. ag. ah — il. im. in. air. ( = ir). ip. ib. if. iv. it. id. ip. is. ik. ig. aih ( = ih). — ul. um. un. aur ( = ur). up. ub. uf. uv. ut. ud. u]^. us. uk. ug. auh (= uh) el. em. en. er. ep. eb. ef. et. ed. ej^. es. ek. eg. eh. — 61. on. or. op. 6b. 6f. 6t. 6d. op. 6k. 6g. 6h aim. ain. aip, aib. aif. aiv. ait. aid. aip. ais. aik. aig. aih. — aup. aub. auf. auv. aut. aud. au|?. aus. auk. aug. auh eim. ein. eip. eib. eif. eiv. eit. eid. ei|7. eis. eik. eig. eih iup. iub. iuf. iuv. iut. iud. iu];. ius. iuk. iug. iuh. These are the only combinations of a vowel with one consonant found in Gothic roots ; no Gothic root can end in more than two consonants ; and though I am inclined on this point to differ from James Grimm, and to say that no Gothic root can end in more than one, I shall waive this discussion here, and proceed to give the combinations of one vowel and two consonants found in a Teutonic verb ; premising that the only consonants so combined are the following: 11. mm. nn. rr. pp. tt. kk. Im. Ip. lb. If. Iv. It. Id. p. Is. Ik. Ig. Ih. mp. mb. mf. ms. nt. nd. up. ns. nk. ng. rm. rn. rp. rb. rf. rt. rd. rj?. rs. rk. rg. rh. ft. fs. zd. zg. sp. st. sk. ht. hs. Now no long vowel stands before these combinations, so that a, i, and vi, alone unite with them in forming roots. (Deut. Gramm. n. 5 &c.)