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bcpering vowel was thrown out, and of which we shall speak hereafter: salde, paide, laide, herde, made. hadde &c., along with whit however said, paid. laid &c. also here and, there appear. In the teeth century the final e gradually disappear In Modern-English it has been abandoned. Along with el, ud på also freqently shew themselves. The manteynid me in my pride (TOWNEL. MYST. p. 7.. I storyd my cofers (SKELTON I. 3.,. I asendid Dozer 'IB.). Ye armyd you (8). I folowid him (Jack JUOL. p. 15.,; particularly in Northern dialects, where

and if (the latter also in Scotch, as in the perfect participle) also occurs: Robin that diset with me (Ms. in Halliwell s. v.); Scotch: Quhen be belerit thay war brynt (S. DAV. LINDSAY 3, p. 19.,. In a few cases e before d (and t) in Modern-English, as in Old-English, suffered syncope. See below. In poetry, however, this is frequently thrown out, but its place is then supplied. both after consonants and vowels, by the mark of elision: ask'd. wing'd, reach'd. seem'd, guess'd, cross'd. trimm`d, fann d. flow d. delay'd &c.

In the second person singular of the indicative of the weak conjugation Old-English joins edest to the verbal stem: folwedest, fordedest, ravishedést, assentedest &c. when those forms in which e before d suffers syncope preserve est: herdest, haddest, cridest, dweitest. broughtest. The syncope of e before st is rare, as in hadst and others. In Modern-English it has become the law, although the rejected e is still often supplied by a mark of elision, as was taught by grammarians in the seventeenth century Hence would'st, should'st, told'st, did'st are often found alongside of wouldst &c. The transfer of this suffix of the weak conjugation to the strong one belongs to the later Old-English. The oldest language here regularly gives an e to the second person singular in the preterite, as well as to the three persons of the singular of the conjunctive: pou slowe, drowe; bede (ROB, OF GLOUCESTER I. 133.). Thow gete.. and breke . . and sete . . and eggedest (PIERS PLOUGHм. p. 386.). Thou crewe (SKELTON I. 44.). Thou save (299.). Where gatte thou that mangey curre? (263.). E is rarely cast off: Thou saw me not (PERCY Rel. p. 8. I., [compare IB. p. 94. I.]. In Modern-English poets still sometimes use the strong form without (e)st: Thou, who didst call the Furies from the abyss, And round Orestes bade them howl and hiss (L. BYRON). In the fourteenth century we here and there meet the transfer of the suffix est to strong verbs: Ful wrongfully bygonnest thow (CHAUCER 12370.); which subsequently became universal. The e is sometimes preserved after vowels in Modern-English, as in knewest, but commonly suffers syncope and has its place supplied by the mark of elision: began'st, saw'st. The suffix has thus penetrated into the conjunctive both of strong and weak verbs. We find it even in the Romaunt of the Rose: For certes. though thou haddest it sworne &c. (p. 257. ed. Tyrwh.). Yet even in Modern-English the conjunctive form without est has been preserved, against which modern grammarians however, express themselves. See Murray p. 201.

Conversely, even in Old-English we find an influence of the second person of the strong form upon the weak conjugation, which likewise often cast off the suffix est: Thou maide bothe nyght and day (TOWNEL. MYST. p. 20.). This did thou (1B.). Thon had (p. 270.). I thank the, Lord,.. that wold vowch sayf &c. (p. 24.). Thou wisted nat right now (CHAUCER 1158. Tyrwh., where Wright, contrary to the metre, gives wost): Why nad (ne had) thou put the capil in the lathe? (4086. Wright). Thou answered (ROM, OF THE ROSE p. 225. II.). The olde name .. that thou had had (SKELTON I. p. 242.). What thou sayd yester nyght (p. 42.). Thus the preterito-presents especially are often put without the suffix. This usage is also sometimes found in Modern-English: Detested as thou art and ought to be (POPE). There thou.. once formed thy Paradise (L. BYRON).

Verbs which appear to have suffered syncope in the preterite, like cast, burst, assume edst in the preterite, that is to say, they pass into the regular form. They are, however, often found used in the second person without this suffix, for which the avoiding of the missound is quoted as the reason.

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The plural forms of the indicative and conjunctive of the preterite, which in Anglosaxon end in ëdon, odun (on) and ëdën (also edon) and in the strong conjugation in un (on), mostly offer in Old-English the forms eden, rarely oden (in the contracted forms den, ten) and en, alongside whereof also edon and on, rarely suffixes with yn occur: woneden, filleden, weyeden, hateden, refuseden, consenteden, carrieden &c.; hadden, maden, criden, laiden, lepten (from leap) &c.; clomben, ronnen, gonnen, eten &c.; destruiodon, robboden, dyodon (= died, see HALLIWELL S. v.), clepton, clombon, eton &c.; daltyn (= dealt, see HALLIWELL S. v.). Yet we very early find the rejection of the n alongside of the fuller forms, as in ROB. OF GLOUCESTER: buryode, destruiode, worrede, were, nome, wonne, overcome &c. Forms with en quite cast off, in particular in the suffix eden, often stand promiscuously with fuller ones, as in Piers Ploughman and Chaucer &c. The complete casting off of the inflective termination en was soon the result. The transfer of it to the singular, often met with in Maundeville, is peculiar: As longe as the cros myghten laste (p. 10.). Whan on overcomen, he scholde he crowned (p. 11.). Compare p. 35. 63. 77. &c.

The Imperative is in Modern-English confined to one form, that of the singular in Old-English. The plural form in eth was long preserved: Armep you faste (ROB. OF GLOUCESTER I. 18.). And witethe wel (MAUNDEV. p. 42.). And undre stondethe &c. (p. 51.). Now herkneth (CHAUCER 3138.). Aryseth you (3185.). Sitteth alle stille, and herkneth to me (PERCY Rel. p. 90. I.). The plural is also used in courteously addressing one person: Cometh ner my lady.. And ye, sir clerk, let (contracted from letteth) be your shamfastnesse, Ne studieth nat (CHAUCER 841.). Northern dialects have also s for th: Drawes on (TOWNEL. MYST. p. 8.). Herkyns alle (p. 49.). The form commonly referred to the singular is however, sometimes found for the plural before

the end of the fourteenth century: Takethe a lytille bawme .. and truth it to the far MAUNDEV. p. 51.). For the first person plural the eisjunctive with we often stands, as now: Make ce Eere & dwellyng places (= faciamus) (MAUNDEV. p. 114.). Coats with me. And wolle wce us there And crye we (PIERS PHм. p. 419). Make we to him an help (CHAUCER II. p. 335. Wright). Modern-English: Then go re near her (SHAKSP. Much. Alɔ de). Prop we not the ripened wheat, Till yonder hosts are fying BRYANT). Watch are in calmness, as they rise, The changes of that rapid dream (ID.). The sole imperative form now in use not only takes the place of the plural, but is also employed as a genuine singular: Be thou familiar, but by no meats vulgar SHAKSP. Jul. C.). Yet fear not thou (Love's L. L.. Mischief.. Take thou what course thou wilt (JUL. C.). The periphrasis with the verb let is also old: Let us gang (TowNEL. MYST. p. 9.). Let us se which of hem hath spoke most resonably (CHAUCER II. p. 348.). Modern-English: Let's stay and hear the will (SHAKSP. Jul. C.). Come, let me clutch thee (MACB.).

Among the participial forms the gerund participle, at present with the suffix ing, which in Anglosaxon is a substantive and also sometimes an adjective, has proceeded from a remarkable interchange of the suffix ende with the former. The interchange is old; the Halfsaxon of Orm and Layamon has waldinge for waldend. Both however long ran parallel with each other. Besides in the Southern dialects inde, ynde appears instead of ende, as in the Northern ande; as, for instance, in the Old-Kentish Credo: lyf errelestinde and in the Pat. Nost. cominde thi riche; in Rob. of Gloucester sykynde (I. 323.). Ofte wepynd (328.); berninde tapers (II. 534.); - carrande, rydande (Ms. in Halliwell v. carvande); prickand, speakand (ELLIS Met. Rom. II. 18.); styrande (PERCY Rel. p. 93. II.); rydand (p. 93. II.); brenand, thrustand (p. 94. I.); styncand (PIERS PLOUGHM. Creed p. 489.); lepande (ROM. OF THE ROSE p. 225. I.); sittand (p. 227. II.); doand (p. 230. II.); criand (p. 233. II.) &c., as in Scotch: askand, speikand, hopeand, growand, seand, sittand, provokand, tryumphand &c., in D. Lindsay; alongside of which run comende, fynende, contrariende &c., in Gower, losende &c. even in Skelton I, 407. As in Scotch the forms in ing likewise ran alongside (compare chusing, twyching touching, pertening, remaning, using &c. in Lindsay), so too in English. Could the frequent dialectical silence. of g in ing have supported the interchange of ind and ing, and, on the other hand the Old-French form ant the use of and? Thus in Lindsay triumphant stands along with triumphand &c. Yet here the Old-norse participle in andi may have cooperated. In the fourteenth century ing was already widely diffused, in Modern-English hardly a trace of the old terminations has been preserved.

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The suffix of the participle-perfect of the weak conjugation was and continued ed (except in forms suffering syncope, whereof below); alongside whereof we find earlier, and down to the six

teenth century id (compare shewyd, clokyd, vexyd, annexyd in Skelton; refreshid, disposid &c. in Jack Jugler), as well as in the preterite, and likewise it, as in Skelton: Thy sword, enharpit of mortale drede (I. 11), as in Scotch. Even ud is found; pat Stonhengel is yclepud (ROB. OF GLOUCESTER I. 7.). Of the participle of the strong conjugation in en we shall speak further on. Before both participles moreover, y, i (Anglosaxon ge), is frequently placed in Old-English; sometimes ye: yebent, (PERCY Rel. p 3. I.). Instances are very frequent in Old-English; in Modern-English the particle shews itself in some archaic forms as y. Compare: Spring yclad in grassy die (L. BYRON). And he that unawares had there ygazed (ID.); see p. 158. In Anglosaxon it frequently served to compound with verbs in all their inflective forms; placed before some tenses it changed the preterite into a plusquamperfect, the present into a futurum exactum, and the like. Its fundamental meaning was that of completion and duration In Old-English y also stands before other verbal forms.

The infinitive suffix en, Anglosaxon an, at first blunted down to e, has finally vanished in many verbs. In the fourteenth century forms with and without n commonly stand immediately beside each other: To bakbite and to bosten (PIERS PLOUGHM. p 33). And al day to drinken At diverse tavernes, And there to jangle and jape (IB.). Besides see p. 175.

3. The changes produced in the stem, in weak as well as in strong verbs, solely by the inflective terminations, are the following:

If a verb ends in an accented or unaccented y with a consonant immediately preceding, the vowel y is changed into i in Modern-English before suffixes originally syllabic, with the exception of ing: try, trying triest, tries, tried; carry, carrying carriest, carries, carried If e is elided and the elision denoted by ', y remains: deny'st, deny'd.

If a simple or compound verb, whose last syllable is accented, ends in a single consonant preceded by a single short vowel, the final consonant is doubled before syllabic suffixes. Here the double consonant contained in the infinitive in the fundamental

forms frequently reappears: whet whettest, whetted, whetting; remit remittest, remitted, remitting; swim swimmest, swimming; bid -- biddest, bidding, bidden. To these words other polysyllabic verbs with an unaccented final syllable ending in simple consonants have been assimilated, as: góssip, worship, kidnap, péril, counsel, trável, ríval, équal, cárol and the like, also bias and verbs in ic, as traffic, frolic, with which c is doubled as ck: traffickest, trafficked, trafficking, in which phonetic reasons partly prevail. English grammarians are not agreed upon the extent of this usage, and the doubling of the consonant in polysyllabic verbs in ip, op, it, et is disapproved of.

The not doubling the consonant in the accented final syllable with the elision of the e, as in stun'd, began'st &c., appears a fault, so far as it may give occasion to confusion, since, for Mätzner, engl. Gr. I.

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costadre, stil'd for still'd might also be taken for stiled (styled, and so in many other cases,

Anomalous Verbs of the weak Conjugation.

Among the weak verbs is a multitude of anomalous ones, which de me smile for the suffixes to the stem, but undergo partly synerge in the sun and the stem, partly changes of the suffixed conSOMS IS TË of the consonants and vowels of the stem. They THE AVILLY se contraction and assimilation, and lean for the most part 2 Anglisare forms.

an of Old-English forms the fuller and therefore older are chefy sites when the shortening of the suffixes going on even in Oldpost is not regarded. The vertal forms above cited are the infinitive, the same as the present, the preterite and the perfect participle. What as of simple words is commily true of the compounds also.

1 Some verbs regularly assumed instead of ed in the preterite and participle.

s) Here belong verbs in ay, whose y is then changed into i; they owe their origin to Anglosaxon verbs in eg, to which some Romance words are assimilated.

la: laii; laid. Anglosaxon lecgan; legde, lêde; leged, lêd. Old-English leggen. leyen; leyde. leide; leid. For ei, ai often appears in Old-English; even Anglosaxon sometimes has læde.

The compound belay is cited with the forms belaid and belayed; Anglosaron belecgan, circumdare.

say; said: said. Anglosaxon secgan. seggan; sægde, sæde; sägd, sed. Old-English seggen, seyen, siggen, sayen, sayn; seide,

saide: seid, said.

In 014-English the participle often passes into the strong form: Elde .. hath me biseye, with rejection of n in PIERS PLOUGHM. p. 437.; as with other verbs in ay: Your quene hath me betrayne (SIR TRYAMOURE 165.). The participle sain stands even in SHAKSPEARE Love's L. L 3, 1.

pay; paid; paid. Old-French paier. Old-English paien, payen; paide; paid.

stay; staid; staid. here mingle.

The Old-French estayer and esteir, steir

We also find the full form stayed: One scarce could say it moved or stayed (LONGFELLOW). In Old-English the e suffers syncope also in other corresponding verbs, as pleyen, pleide &c., preyen, preide &c., as it generally throws out e after vowels: cryde, deyde &c in Robert of Gloucester. Modern-English only exceptionally admits the syncope of the e, when it does not employ the mark of elision.

b) Similar is the syncope of e after the vowels e and o in the following two verbs, when the vowel is shortened.

flee; fled; fled. Anglosaxon fleóhan, fleón; see fleáh, pl. flugon; flogen, fugere. Old-English even mixes the strong and the weak inflection: The Bretons fleede (MORTE ARTHURE in Halliwell s. v.).

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