Page:Philological Museum v2.djvu/395

385 071 English Prceterites. 385 of the praeterite singular has been put out of its place by that of the praeterite plural, the rule still holds even to our day ; and even this does not always occvu', e. g, we say sing, sang or sung; but sung always in the participle (l2th conj.) However the distinction between the singular and plural has perished entirely. So much for the first or strong conjuga- tion of verbs. Returning now to the second division of the subject, namely, such verbs as form their praeterite by the addition of a syllable, and waiving all discussion as to the meaning of the same syllable, all that requires remark is this; that such verbs form a separate, an independent, and as it appears, a younger class. This we assert in spite of Pro- fessor Rask^s opinion (Gram, by B. Thorpe, lvii.) who calls against us the Arabic verbs. Now in reply we say that by younger we do not intend a question of time, for as we are informed, the Sanskrita itself possesses a preponderating num- ber of such verbs, and as we know, the Gothic abounds in them ; but we mean a form of a derivative nature. And this we say, 1. Because the scheme of Teutonic roots is com- mon to the strong verbs, and to the oldest forms of the nouns ; 2. Because no iveak verb ever in process of time became strongs while strong verbs do become weak ; 3. Because foreign words taken into the language are inflected weak ; 4. Because the verbs formed from adjectives or nouns follow- ing the strong form are inflected weak ; and, 5. Because the active verbs formed upon the praeterites of the strong verbs, and having a modified meaning, are likewise so conjugated. Of these matters more anon. Before treating of them I shall give the Gothic weak paradigms, tracing their descent as above. In all the three Gothic weak conjugations the consonant d appears ; the conjugations are distinguished by the vowel which precedes it. The first has i ; e. g, far-jan (navigare). Praet. sing, far-ida. the second has 6 ; e. g. salb-6n (ungere). salb-oda. the third is distinguished by ai ; e. g. hab-an (habere), hab-aida. The Anglo-Saxon compresses these into two, one taking -e^ the other -6 for its distinctive vowel ; to wit,